Folks, a very moving editorial from the independent newspaper. I sincerely
applaud the sincerrity and galantry of the independent media. Please read
on.
...................................................................

When Gambians should reflect on the very dark days of Yahya Jammeh's regime,
they will find in "the revolution" an epoch seething with rage, plunder and
recklessness. The rage of the disillusioned and the victimised as
demonstrated by the events of April 10 and 11 are indicative of the slow but
steady growth of a backlash against further blindfolding and oppression of
the common people.

Never in the history of this country have ordinary people been so cruelly
held to ransom by a gang of politicians who can employ any means necessary
to stay on despite the deleterious effect their rule may have on the lives
of the people. Utter disregard for the rule of law and of democracy have led
to a situation of uncertainty. A torrent of arrests, sudden disappearances
and a rising tide of sacked officials have left Gambians today more confused
by the uncertain direction of a revolution which is supposedly guided by His
Excellency The President in his "wisdom and magnanimity as the saviour of
The Gambia".

But many now are no longer fooled by the so-called justification that
sackings and arrests are necessary against any saboteur of the revolution.
Gambians are no longer taken in by the almost derisive official play-acting
anytime an occasion arises when the government should shed light on an issue
but elects to stay mum or feed the population with information that leaves
its members evidently brainwashed. Gambians are no longer sure whether the
revolution that they so readily fell head over heels for some six years ago
is with the requisite bite to carry on the mantra of democracy,
accountability, probity and transparency.

What happened to this post-coup AFPRC anthem tells a lot about how far our
ruling politicians in The Gambia have mellowed to the bad side of politics
in the second republic when patronage, sycophancy, blind acceptance,
God-acting and corruption have featured overwhelmingly in our political
landscape. Gambians are no longer oblivious to the chronic lack of delivery
of politicians they so fully trusted to change the scarred face of history
from one of poverty, depravation and wanton abuse to one of progress,
economic buoyancy and a healthy and all-inclusive political vibrancy. We
Gambians are just about convinced that we are today ten times unhappier, ten
times more uncertain and as many times dejected by the prospects of
developments supposedly before us.

Gambians have grown tired of tricks calculated to win their hearts when
elections are not far away. Some "last minute rush" to improve Nawec's
delivery record will be too infantile a strategy to win over the popular
votes. Gambians most of all are aware that their politicians past and
present, are of the same make - born of the desire to wine and dine in their
quiet citadels of power and preside over a general landscape of misery and
heart-rending sights of gloom and doom that is the fate of the overtaxed
lot. With the Dalasi on a steep free-fall and the cost of living at an
all-time high, where is the APRC's positive impact?

If development is not only measured in terms of infrastructure, the APRC
should just own up to its poor performance as far as providing job-chances
for Gambians are concerned. Dismally, instead of living by its promise of
engaging more Gambians, the situation has been the complete opposite when
the generality of the people are increasingly hard done by.

If the Jawara era could be blamed at all, it is for setting the pace that
today's politicians have acquired mastery and notoriety over in just a few
years after Jawara. Who else is seen dishing white money envelopes left,
right and centre other than His Excellency? Where did Jammeh acquire the
exorbitant sum spent on his "benevolent" Hajj gesture to unsuspecting
Gambians? Where did the money given to schools to mollify angry students
across the country come from?

Certainly "Allah's World Bank" will not have passed any funds through him
looking at the APRC government's terrible record of handling the country's
economy over the years. The politics of waste which he so passionately
condemned as one of the ugly hallmarks of the PPP era has been revived and
consolidated with stupefying thoroughness. As a leader, he took the lead.
Others behind him are following in his mind-boggling programme of plunder.
These, among other things should be food for thought for our
revolutionaries.



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