Reading the commentariat pace Jammeh's inauguration, especially his sodding speech, it appears that Jammeh has had his epiphany as St. Paul did on his epiphanous Road to Damascus.  Talk of a "changed" Jammeh with the nation's interest at heart is not only commonplace, but gaining currency amongst those we would imagine as insightful enough not to fall for the short-termisms of gesture and posture politics. Indeed, these days talk is not of a belligerent, intolerant and tyrannical Jammeh; rather, a conciliatory, tolerant and diplomatic Jammeh, who has "forgiven" all - even granted "unconditional amnesty" to Jawara - and on a genuine progressive lurch.

If history is our guide, it would appear to me that this bien pensant interpretation and optimism in a "new" Jammeh to be not not only misplaced enthusiasm, but most importantly flatly contradicted by the facts. In a two-fer that i intend to present here in due course, it shall be my argument that:

1. Jammeh hasn't changed but merely seizing upon the new-found optimism in him by appearing to be tolerant of dissenting opinion, diplomatic and on a progressive lurch;

2. It would be Jawara's ultimate unmaking and humiliation were he to accept Jammeh's "unconditional amnesty" and return to the Gambia as things are presently constituted. There is also a law of unintended consequences at work here: were Jawara to return, it would - au fond - create a political atmosphere wherein Jammeh reigns supreme in a ghastly but farcical "multi-party democracy";

3. More than ever, there is a resolute need to resist, oppose and highlight the things that has disgusted, and continue to disgust us about Jammeh's ghastly regime. In other words, the old adage that a leopard is born with spots and will die with spots is worth remembering vis-a-vis interpreting the "new" Jammeh.