Independent View The best of Jammeh President Jammeh has delivered …his best speech to the nation and to the world yet. At last he is beginning to sound tactful, measured and presidential. He was applauded by many who said it marks the positive change in a man who was good in making opponents and detractors because of his hard line stance on many issues that tact, diplomacy and innocuous cajoling could have taken care of with ease and without incident. His inauguration Friday witnessed by an impressive line-up of his counterparts from the sub-region including Nigerian President Obasanjo was not an occasion for his usual abrasive remarks and cloying antics. Rather it was ponderous, contrite, conciliatory and movingly compassionate. Jammeh no doubt was at his rhetorical best when he asked for the nation’s forgiveness for whatever kind of suffering Gambians and others were made to suffer directly from the excesses of his regime. He spoke contritely of reconciliation, giving unconditional amnesty to Jawara the man he ousted from power seven years ago. He harped on the need to look beyond the limited and parochial confines of politics and rally to the call of building The Gambia. The speech is remarkable for three reasons. Firstly asking for forgiveness for past wrongs helps to remind the nation that Jammeh is after all human and therefore prone to self-borne mistakes and sometimes manipulation from the zealot lot of his followers who had tried to mystify him and render him indisposed to Gambians. Moreover the past seven years have not been a particularly cheerful chapter of Jammeh with the economy nose-diving, the Dalasi plummeting, human rights record reaching a rock bottom, political divisions assuming a vicious turn for the worse and Gambia’s image in international standing diminishing because of the confrontational and paranoia style of the regime. The absence of a press-friendly environment, visits, arrests and detention by the NIA and the climate of intolerance of dissent made Jawara’s days a nostalgic past. Recent sacking of civil servants, which went unexplained to a stupefied populace, also gave ammunition to critics and skeptics of the regime to pummel Jammeh with a blizzard of criticisms for his ways. But today all that may be consigned to history since his speech compelling as it were should be given the benefit of the doubt. If he is not to be taken at face value, Jammeh has propounded a fresh new beginning - a beginning for compromise, cooperation, patriotism, understanding and resolve to augment the common cause. Although skeptics say the leopard can never change its spots, words can still suffice as evidence of a changed heart, provided they are followed by actions pregnant with resolve, commitment and understanding. Although Jammeh is on record for saying one good thing and acting differently later, he may well be excused for his plea for forgiveness for the wrongs he knows his regime has committed against innocent people. Unconditional amnesty for Sir Dawda may also have come late, but it was always far better than not having it at all. It is a good start to the reconciliation the regime frequently harps on while it follows policies that can potentially divide the country. In the intervening months and years Jammeh’s actions would be judged according to those words that has endeared him to many who were sworn critics of his rule. As he settles for a second term and as Gambians try to be convinced that Jammeh’s call is sincere and patriotic and pertinent to our newfound breather in democracy let us pray that Jammeh is not like the fable leopard who found it impossible either to hide or change its spots. For a people with a peaceful way of life, excusing Jammeh for past wrongs and forgetting the injustices of the past should not be a tall order. What a refreshing way to start a new year! _________________________________________________________________ MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx <<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>> To view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] <<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>