Ebrima Ceesay's summarized account of President Jammeh's record since the young men in khaki toppled the PPP government in 1994 cannot be more damning. The catalogue of crimes and criminal activities of the AFPRC/APRC government looks like pages uplifted from a crime best-seller. The difference is that we're dealing here with fact and not fiction. The APRC fact sheet is pretty alarming. It is incomprehensible how African leaders such as Yahya Jammeh can behave so callously towards their people almost four decades after our nations broke off from colonialism. It is indeed insulting that our societies are still left behind due largely to the wanton destruction of our economies by childish and irresponsible leaders such as Mr. Jammeh. Almost every leader who comes to power, whether through the ballot or the bullet, utters the same empty promises and nonsense to his people only to reduce them to mere beggars. They plunder their economies and loot the national treasuries in a fraction of a second. I, therefore, believed President Jammeh when he reportedly said that his family will never again be poor. Most people have either joined in the looting and murder or closed their eyes to the crimes with the argument that: "man bokuma chi polotic (sic)", i.e. "I'm not interested in politics". Yet politics, in my opinion, is when you as a farmer do not get paid for your agricultural produce, cannot afford to pay your children's school fees, cannot purchase aspirin for a headache or when you have to go all the way to Banjul just to uproot a tooth. I've been just been told that there is no dentist in the Bansang and Basse hospitals. Of course, politics is more than the simple gesture of casting a vote or attending a political rally under the scorching sun. It is the senseless death of pregnant women due to acute anemia and under-nourishment. It is the shooting down of a child who dared raise his voice against injustice. Whether we make our political options in the closet or at the 'pencha', we're the sum total of the decisions made by our governments. A person either takes part of the credit or part of the blame. Looking at the current situation closely, it is the very children of some of these destitute families who are today shamelessly aiding and abetting the corrupt APRC government destroy The Gambia. The very children who yesterday spoke against PPP economic debacles and castigated ex-President Jawara through vapor and verse are now the henchmen of the Jammeh hegemony. I am overwhelmed to see people who yesterday engaged in revolutionary cant and who would have sacrificed their lives against falsehood and thuggery join the camp of thieves and murderers. African societies have been so much abused by their leaders that it is almost resorting to 'everyone for himself and God for us all'. The strategy of the leadership is simple, but effective: impoverish the people, intimidate them into submission, and occasionally give them some incentives (e.g. hajj tickets, utility vehicles, scholarship, etc.) out of the very money you stole from them. Simply, a carrot and stick policy. This is no doubt one of the reasons for the increase in voter apathy in most African states. The incessant wars and civil strife are nothing but an indictment of these leaders and their governments. It is heart-rending that President Jammeh is slowing pushing our country to mayhem through his quest for power and self-aggrandizement. Those who stand by him today should wait for the day when it will be said: "look ye how the mighty have fallen". Unless the Gambian electorate frees itself from the shackels of ignorance we will see many more Yayha Jammehs in our political history. Hamadi. _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask] if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------