Baba, an excellent and well thought out piece. You spoke on the core issues, sometimes funny but nonetheless excellent. Thanks Suntou On 11 Jun 2015 01:07, "Baba Jallow" <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > *A Gambian Hypothesis* > > By Baba Galleh Jallow > > For once, we feel some level of confidence in hypothesizing that the end > is near for Yahya Jammeh. Perhaps he might live a long life. But he might > just be at or near the end of his days in power. Recent trends in his > increasingly erratic behavior, his irresponsible and hubris-driven > pronouncements, his chest pounding and his increasingly bold insults and > assaults against both local individuals and institutions and global > institutions points to one possible conclusion: that the fate that befalls > every dictator is about to befall Yahya Jammeh. Of course like all > hypothesis, the evidence will determine the thesis. However, if history is > anything to go by, Yahya Jammeh has probably reached the end of his days in > power. We can only say amen to that because Yahya Jammeh has long outlived > his usefulness for our country and has wrecked damage on our national > conscience and institutions that it will take many years to remedy. > > Yahya Jammeh habitually brags that he will be in power for a million years > which, we think, is just his way of saying that he will be in power for as > long as he likes because he knows he cannot live even for a hundred years. > If he did he would be so old and senile that we would simply lift him up > from the throne and set him in the yard to enjoy some sunshine. This > ‘million years’ statement projects the tragic hubris of a man who is so > power drunk that he claims mastery over fate and human destiny. The > blindness of the heart and the mind of which the holy books warn has > afflicted Yahya Jammeh and as such, he no longer sees himself or knows > himself as we would say in our local Gambian languages. We hear echoes of > the Pharaoh of Moses’ day or those of Idi Amin Dada, Saddam Hussein and > many other tyrants of the human race whose power had rendered mind-blind. > You do not know a thing about how long you will stay in power Mr. Jammeh, > or when indeed you will no longer be breathing the airs of this world. No > human being does, unless they are diagnosed with a terminal illness, > physical or political. In spite of all our insights into what the future > may hold, we are as blind as a blind bat when it comes to knowing what will > happen tomorrow, as in tomorrow, the next day after this. Jammeh has become > so paranoid that he sees enemies lurking everywhere – even and especially > among his own close confidantes and members of his government, including > the human robots of his shadow state. And so he lashes indiscriminately out > at literally everybody in this world! That looks very much like the sign of > a fatal political illness. > > The Peul Futa say that if you violently shake every tree you see, you will > one day shake a tree full of hornets. Yahya Jammeh has already or will soon > shake such a tree, since he has the very unwise and hubris-driven habit of > shaking every tree he sees. He foolishly insults everybody he wishes and > thinks that he can get away with anything he says or does. From ordinary > security officers to government ministers and other civil servants, > Yahya Jammeh lashes out with unprovoked invectives, calling people names > and doling out all mighty threats of death and destruction to anyone who in > his estimation, is not doing what they should be doing according to his > standards which, incidentally, are world class low. There is a widely > circulating rumor that he even habitually insults the mothers of his > cabinet ministers at cabinet meetings. One can only hope that this is just > a rumor; but it is not beyond the realm of possibility knowing that we are > talking about a half-wit or maniac who happens to be wielding the most > power in his country and commands the power of life and death over 1.8 > million people. > > Yahya Jammeh consistently insults Gambian journalists, human rights > advocates and members of alternate parties, all of which groups he > considers, for reasons known only to him, as illegitimate and not deserving > of constitutional rights and protections. He has called journalists > illegitimate sons of Africa, among other ugly names, and has declared that > members of alternate Gambian parties are donkeys. This is coming from the > mouth of a man who habitually invokes the name of Allah, who in the holy > scriptures explicitly forbids such behavior. He habitually proclaims that > neither the ballot nor the bullet can remove him from power. While the > bullet issue is anyone’s guess, conducting elections while claiming victory > before the fact constitutes one of many disrespectful and outright > insulting behaviors towards the Gambian people by Mr. Jammeh. Why does he > hold regular elections if he can declare before the polls that he will > remain in power until “20 million 20” in his own words. Beyond the crudity > of the obvious contempt for the Gambian constitution he expresses with such > a statement, Jammeh’s pronouncements that no other party will rule The > Gambia in a million years reveals the extent of his blinding hubris. It is > also another way of saying that suppose the majority of Gambians vote > against him in an election, he would not hesitate to use force to steal the > elections or insist on staying in power. And he will do it if he thinks he > will get away with it, which he might not next time around. > > Yahya Jammeh, the man who proclaims his Muslimhood at every possible > opportunity, also practices blatant tribalism by habitually insulting > Gambian Mandinkas. When he insults Mandinkas in general, he of course > cannot leave out anyone belonging to The Gambia’s largest ethnic group, > whether they support him or not, whether they are respectable elders or > not, whether they are women, children or even babies. While he claims to be > a unifier of Gambians on one hand, he singles out an entire people for > insults and threats for no conceivably good reason. Surely, the All Mighty > Allah whose name he invokes all the time does not approve of such ungodly > behavior. One of many conclusions we can reach on this issue is that Yahya > Jammeh is no Muslim or even a believer in the God in whose names he > castigates all who care to listen. A Muslim cannot be so rude as to > habitually subject an entire people to a barrage of insults like Yahya > Jammeh does for the mere fact that he feels he can. > > But Yahya Jammeh’s hubris-driven rudeness knows neither tribe nor age or > social status. As is now common knowledge, religious elders are a common > target of his insults and bullying. While some of these men of God perhaps > deserve such maltreatment owing to their aiding and abetting of Jammeh’s > tyranny, the majority of them are innocent of any wrongdoing. Witness the > recent case of the elderly Sheikh Muhideen Hydara, who endured seven months > of state bullying in the form of arrests, bogus charges, and repeated court > appearances for allegedly disobeying Jammeh’s order to perform the Eid > prayers on a particular day. The elderly Sheikh is just the most recent > example of Jammeh’s unjust bullying of religious leaders. The cases of Imam > Ba Kawsu Fofana and Imam Baba Leigh are also well known. Both these latter > two Imams were arrested and subjected to painful and humiliating treatment > because they dared to express an opinion on their country’s political > affairs. Having totally personalized both the Gambian state and the Gambian > nation, Yahya Jammeh sees any comment critical of his words and actions as > a personal affront and proceeds to bully those responsible. Well, it is > safe to imagine that these men of God also claim friendship with Jammeh’s > All Mighty Allah and may well be asking Him for justice against their > persecutors. There is nothing Jammeh can do about that. Even within the > confines of a tight prison cell, a person can ask for God’s intervention > either verbally or in their minds. For is not God the all-hearing, > all-knowing? Judge Thou with truth, they could pray, for You are the Best > of Judges. > > Yahya Jammeh’s favorite target for abuse and insults is of course the West > and Western countries and institutions. The reason for his obsessive hatred > of the West is not far to see: the fact that they criticize his rampant > abuse of the rights of his own people and anyone who resides in The Gambia. > Jammeh’s favorite hobby horse is of course long dead colonialism and in > this respect, it is amazing just how similar Jammeh’s regime is to the > worst of the colonial regimes that existed in Africa. Like colonialism, > Jammeh’s regime is “bula matari” to borrow Crawford Young’s memorable > phrase: it is based on foundational violence that brooks no opposition and > mercilessly crushes its critics. Like colonialism, Jammeh’s regime regards > itself “as the sole power to judge its laws”; and like colonialism, the > supreme right of the Jammeh regime is its assumed right to deny others > their rights. And like colonialism, the Jammeh regime considers its > “subjects” as mere things of power, to be treated with contempt and > impunity at every possible opportunity. The parallels are legion that the > Jammeh regime is not at all different from the most brutal colonial regimes > in Africa. In fact in some respects, the Jammeh regime is more brutal than > many African colonial regimes. But of course being mind-blind and > intellectually corrupt, Yahya Jammeh has no way of seeing this blatant and > cruel irony of the proverbial pot calling the kettle black. Mind-blindness > and intellectual corruption are behind Jammeh’s arbitrary decision to pull > The Gambia out of the Commonwealth and most recently, to expel the EU > representative to The Gambia. Self-destructive hubris keeps him on the > verbal assault against Western nations and pure foolery keeps him shouting > that he will never allow the West to colonize The Gambia again. His recent > threat to deal mercilessly with the European Union and other Western > countries demonstrates the extent of his alienation from reality. How > tragic that beautiful Gambia could be sadly with such ugly leadership. > > Until recently, Yahya Jammeh only indirectly attacked his fellow African > rulers. But since the issue of term limits was raised a few weeks ago, he > has turned all African Union and ECOWAS leaders into stooges of the West > who are being used in an attempt to recolonize the continent. Here is > segment of his rant on the subject a couple of days ago as published in the > June 6, 2015 online edition of *The Standard* newspaper: “Now they [West] > are trying to use Ecowas. They said Yahya Jammeh cannot be changed by > elections. They want to use their stooges in Ecowas to impose term limit > because that is … a Western agenda. Where were the so-called Western > leaders today 20 years ago when I became head of state? Let me warn Ecowas > - Gambia is nobody's colony and our development is not dependent on Ecowas > that has already failed because it has been hijacked by the West. Even if > the whole world introduced term limit, I will not have a term limit and let > me see what you can do. Democracy is power to the people and not power to > the West. I am a pan-Africanist, but I will not subscribe to any > institution that is hijacked by the West and be used against Africa. If it > is the AU, I will leave AU; if it is Ecowas, I will leave Ecowas, but I > will not be given lecture by any of these institutions on behalf of the > West. Tell me about one electric pole here which was installed by the AU > (African Union) or Ecowas or by the British or the Americans. We are not > fools! Let them mind their own business.” > > Indeed, indeed Mr. Jammeh. And you, of course are Gambia in absolute > terms. And you, of course choose to forget your very own words back in July > 1994: “We are not here to stay and we will not allow anyone to be in power > in this country beyond ten years. In fact, ten years is too long.” I guess > you will now say that ten years is too short; even twenty years is too > short for you. You will be in power for a million years, long after you are > dead, gone, and remembered only in history lesson discussions of Africa’s > worst dictators. Anyway, suffice it to inform you sir, that your > ill-conceived attack on the African Union and ECOWAS marks the end of you > in a very real sense. You have now not only lost the respect of the entire > big wide world; you have now become the most visible pariah, the laughing > stock and the butt of unfunny smutty jokes of all your fellow African heads > of state. I guess if they are stooges of the West some of us on this side > of the paranoid and self-righteous equation might well be usefully > described as stooges of the Rest, who incidentally, are just as bad if not > worse than the West in many crucial respects! The AU and ECOWAS are > probably thinking of a forced exit for all those who refuse term limits and > insult them with impunity. They are probably thinking that the ECOMOG model > would do the job just fine with a slight tweak in its mandate. The > Johannesburg meeting is fast coming up and word on the street is that term > limits will be on the agenda again!! And many more “Western stooges” will > be in attendance!! And who knows, the West might perhaps be thinking that a > small group of Special Forces might be a good way of colonizing our small > part of Africa again as a way of convincing us that no one can be in power > for a million years or refuse to deliver on their term limit promises. In > any case, one has a feeling that the end is always near for those who would > violently shake every tree they see. > > > ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ To > unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web > interface at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html > > To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: > http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l To contact the > List Management, please send an e-mail to: > [log in to unmask] > ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ > ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤