*Not politics as usual*

By Baba Galleh Jallow

One of the reasons Yahya Jammeh lost the December 1st 2016 elections is
that he misread the Gambian political situation. Like all dictators, he
fell from power when he least expected it because he had been shielded from
the reality of Gambian political culture for too long. He did not see that
his repressive practices had gradually generated a mass of popular anger,
anguish, discontent and defiance just waiting for an opportunity to explode
in his face. Surrounded by sycophants and minions singing his praises and
willing to do everything he wanted, even if it was taking innocent lives,
Yahya Jammeh remained stone blind to the fact that a significant number of
Gambians had grown sick and tired of him and his repressive regime. Hence
he liked to refer to those opposed to him as “the one percent” of Gambians
who would never be allowed to destroy the ninety-nine percent good
Gambians. While this number was totally arbitrary in its conception, it
came to represent a semblance of reality for the power-drunk despot.

And so Yahya Jammeh remained supremely confident that, as he said just days
before the elections, he was going to win “the biggest landslide ever.” And
he literally hung himself before the fact by proudly declaring that our
electoral system was rig-proof and the best on the world, that no one could
ever cheat, and that even if his opponent won by one percent of the vote,
he would willingly step down. His total conviction in the inevitability of
his victory explains why he shut down both the international phone service
and the internet on election night. It was also why he declared that no
demonstrations would be allowed after the elections. He had thought that
after his anticipated “biggest landslide ever”, the opposition would cry
foul and decide to protest the results by holding demonstrations. Used to
having electoral commissions steal the vote for him, Yahya Jammeh had no
idea that things were going to be different this time around. Hence he was
literally stupefied when he lost and was in a daze and state of great
confusion when he conceded defeat. He could not believe what was unfolding
before his own eyes and needed time to compose himself and consider his
options. Because he so misunderstood and misread the landscape and tempo of
Gambian politics at the end of 2016, he believed that he could concede
defeat, turn around, reject the results, and inform the Gambian people as
he did on December 9, that “you must go back to the polls” and they would
fear and tremble and go back to the polls to elect him under his newly
appointed “God-fearing electoral commission”. He thought that as usual,
Gambians would say “hey let’s just vote for him so that peace
prevails.”  Incidentally,
a rude awakening awaited the clueless despot.

From day to day, Yahya Jammeh grew increasingly frustrated as the reality
sank that this time around, he was not going to have his way because
Gambians had dramatically changed and would not simply keep quiet or be
afraid to express their opinions or insist on their rights to change their
government. From the association of UTG teachers and staff to the Gambia
Chamber of Commerce and Industry, all kinds of Gambian civil society
organizations issued statements asking him to step down. His own
ambassadors and ministers, seeing that the former ship of state had hit the
rocks and was sinking, deserted the increasingly confused dictator.
Thankfully Alieu Momar Njie, the principled electoral commission chair
stood by the results at great personal danger to himself. And as happy fate
would have it, extenuating external circumstances aided the Gambian people.
The whole world having heard Jammeh declare that our electoral system was
rig-proof, and having seen him concede defeat, no one was willing to buy
his bogus story that the electoral commission stole the election for the
coalition. Moreover, by this time Jammeh had alienated every single
international organization that mattered in the equation of world, Gambian
and African politics. He had been rude to the African Union, had called
ECOWAS leaders stooges of the West when they agreed to institute term
limits in 2015, had withdrawn The Gambia from the Commonwealth which he
called a neocolonial institution, had expelled both EU and UN personnel
from The Gambia, and had repeatedly insulted the West in general, asking
everyone but himself to go to hell. It must have been extremely shocking
for Jammeh to see that even autocratic Russia and the Organization of
Islamic Conference states were not on his side. Eventually, he was forced
to allow himself to be persuaded to step down and to accept the reality
that times have changed and it was not politics as usual in Gambia anymore.

And it’s not ever going to be politics as usual again in Gambia. Hopefully,
Mr. Barrow and his Coalition government understand that today’s Gambians
are very different from yesterday’s Gambians. That while we still have a
lot of work to do in terms of political empowerment at the grassroots
level, sufficient numbers of Gambians have already been empowered to the
extent that they will not sit quietly by and watch politics as usual happen
in their country. The old ways of doing politics are no longer going to
work. Political power in The Gambia has forever been demystified with the
fall of the dictator who threatened to rule us for a billion years and who
swore that elections will never remove him from power. And so the new
government better take note that all of the negative baggage that
characterized the Jammeh regime need to be thrown out the door of Gambian
politics as a matter of urgency. Seemingly harmless practices like hanging
billboards and posters bearing the president’s image everywhere are passé
in Gambian politics and must be discouraged by the Barrow administration.
The thousands of dollars spent on this and other wasteful practices can be
used to help feed the hungry beggars who frequent Gambian mosques and
churches on Fridays and Sundays, or to help pay the school, college and
university fees of bright Gambian children from poor families. Also to be
discouraged is the practice of placing full page or spreadsheet
advertisements congratulating the president at every possible opportunity
by all kinds of individuals, businesses and even parastatals and government
agencies. While these ads serve as a much needed source of revenue for our
struggling local papers, the damage they cause to our national political
psyche is serious enough to justify discouraging the practice. The
government must also discourage the extremely damaging culture of
sycophancy and religious hypocrisy that was such a huge feature of the
Jammeh dictatorship.

Gambians expect that the Coalition government will be proactive in
discouraging these corruption-enhancing practices among many others and in
kick starting the significant transformative processes that would radically
and positively change the face of Gambian politics from what it was in the
past. Gambians have very high expectations of the Barrow administration and
all governments that will come after it. One can only hope that Mr. Barrow
and his team are aware of these expectations and have what it takes to do
what is expected of them by the new Gambian people. We need an enlightened,
energized and innovative politics spearheaded or otherwise actively
promoted by a principled transformative-servant leadership. Politics as
usual is just no longer an option for the Smiling Coast of West Africa.


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