It is one thing to read about the madness that is Yahya's claim to have a cure for AIDS, but to see the drama with your own eyes in moving video is priceless. Our Scandinavian based brother Buharry captured the treatment session broadcast live on Gambian television on video.
The session is interlaced with recitations from the holy Quran while Yahya could be seen in some scenes rubbing some kind of ointment on semi-nude women. How is that for all the religiosity he waxes poetic about. Without further ado:
Here are the links to the videos:
Day 1 Day 2Sky News in the United Kingdom interview Jammeh and some of his patients. It is a sad tale. Watch the video here.
The Quack in the Gambia is what the German Newspaper Der Spiegel describes our resident dictator. Here is a snippet of an excellent article they wrote on this drama:
the self-styled AIDS healer is now claiming to have discovered his fortune-telling skills. He claims to be able to predict a person's moment of death, after a single look in their eyes...
Okay, that's it: the Man is certifiably crazy.
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"It is one thing to read about the madness that is Yahya's claim to have a cure for AIDS, but to see the drama with your own eyes in moving video is priceless.
Our scandanavian based brother Buharry captured the treatment session broadcast live on Gambian television on video.
The session is interlaced with recitations from the holy Quran while Yahya could be seen in some scenes rubbing some kind of ointment on semi-nude women.
How is that for all the religiosity he waxes poetic about."
Ugh! Why didn't someone tell me? Or maybe they were just trying to save me the stress! Because I was already upset that the "treatment sessions" were interspersed with the recitations of the Qur'an which I found sickening enough! Anyway, I'd wanted to leave a comment, but the visual verification is enabled and the "listen link" is not working.
However, I really don't know what else to add but "semi-nude women"?, oh that is real good! Ugh, that is just sickening to me, and the image that popped in to my head when I read that was, well, eeewww! I got the creepy crawlies just thinking about it!
And there is some more footage on Buharray's site, he has put up more footage of Yahya Jammeh supposedly treating asthma patients! And from what I've heard, the statements from the people who were "treated" are unconvincing. However, by that time, I just didn't have the stomach to listen anymore!
As I said, hearing that poor child crying was enough to just about send me into tears myself! It's one thing if grown-ups believe all of this, but when they subject their small children to this, and then bribe them with clothes, sneakers, etc., afterwords, and according to the person describing the scene to me, make fun of the child as well, well, that was just about it for me! And this is the guy that the majority of Gambians, who bothered to vote anyway, said they wanted as their leader so what can you do? And the ones who didn't vote, well, if they are complaining about their current situation, they have no right to complain. Say what you want about the disunity of the opposition, but even if the so-called tribalist Ousainou, who some seem to hate more than Yahya Jammeh, were elected (oh the horror), I don't think you'd find him going on national TV, and even with an international audiance, proclaiming to be some kind of traditional / natural healer who can cure AIDS, asthma, diabetes, etc., and only God knows what it will be next week! Jammeh is making a national disgrace of himself and The Gambia as a whole! I even heard a parody about the whole thing on, I think it was Network Africa, or some BBC programming! So, instead of people wowing over him, like I'm sure he'd like, they are laughing at him, or at least, the sensible ones are, or they are outright condemning him. If Halifa Sallah or Ousainou Darboe would have been elected, you'd not have seen this kind of foolishness!
But anyway, it seems that some think that Ousainou is just like Jammeh, tribalism and all, and when you have a member of NADD campaigning for the APRC candidate in the recent Parliamentary elections, well, you've just got some major problems in the party that was supposed to be the hope of all Gambians. So, basically, it seems to me that you have some who have such a personal disdain for Ousainou Darboe, to the extent that they will campaign for a party whose leader has been responsible for all kinds of trouble, just because they don't want the opposition candidate, who is a member of the party whose leader they seem to dispise, to win the seat! Which makes me wonder sometimes who, in the opposition, really wants Jammeh to go? Or do any of them? I read something somewhere, basically stating the opinion that none of the opposition really wants Jammeh out, because they are not forceful enough, and they are just content to remain "the opposition". I don't know how true that is, so I don't want to go there. But, suffice it to say, I don't buy the "Gambians didn't vote because they were so disenchanted wit the break-up of the opposition that they ... " either felt they didn't have a clear choice, or they wanted to get back at the oppostion somehow. Yeah, and hurt themselves int he process. And I just find all of those excuses to be hooey to me, the people had a clear choice, and it seems that most cchose the status quo, or money, or whatever inducements were handed out to keep them from voting, and they have no one to blame but themselves for that. Democracy only works when you participate, if you don't participate in the electing of your own leaders and representatives, if you don't make your voice heard, then democracy doesn't work. And as they are only 4? opposition members of parliament now, the Gambian people are seeming to say that they are happy with their lot, that they think Jammeh is OK, and that an almost one-party state is OK with them.
Anyway, getting back to the oppositional split, everyone wants to blame *one man* for the break-up of NADD? OK, fine, you want to blame one man, sure, but it's not Darboe? Who is it? Figure that one out for yourself, if you want to put the blame on *one person*, but I'll give you a hint, it was a NADD member who campaigned for an APRC candidate, not a UDP one. So what does that say? Wa Juwara would have rather supported a murderous regime, than to either campaign himself (which he could have done, why didn't he?), or see the UDP candidate get elected. What does that say about NADD? And why don't the NADD supporters want to address this? Is NADD really the "hope for all Gambians" that some said so loudly and vehemently that they were? But no! They still want to blame Darboe! However, if you have a member of your organization who would so quickly turn on you and support the ruling party, what does that say? You can get upset at the UDP /NRP for breaking from NADD, but goodness! At least they didn't go and join and campaign for the APRC! And when this was brought up, someone said "oh a UDP candidate did the same thing, why aren't you saying something about that!?" And my answer to that question is, that is not relevant here! The truth is, NADD, and by extention its members, were supposed to be "the big hope for all Gambians", they were supposed to be the revolutionary change for Gambian politics! But they weren't! They were not, for whatever reason, able to check whatever personal problems they had betweent he at the door, and thus be able to come togeter to draft a way forward for Gambians. And for wahtever reason, the coalition did not work out. And I think that many were responsiblefor the break-down of NADD, and I'm not going to get into that now.
But you just can't help people, the majority of whom, seem content with thingsas they are! In America, we've got an election coming up of our own, I think I'll concentrate on that for a while! Because you can't help people who don't want to be helped! It's like drug addicts, or people in abusive relationships, you on the outside might be able to see their problem all too clearly, and they may even know they have a problem themselves, but they don't want to do the hard work that it takes to change their situation. So they continue the destructive behavior, continue the downward spiral, which, in turn, makes things ever worse for them, until they decide that enough is enough for them and they take steps to break the cycle!
And Yahya Jammeh, like the addictive drug, or the abusive spouse, will forever get increasingly worse! He will become more abusive, and "increasing doses" of his madness would be needed inorder to make the people think that he is invencible, super-human, and that nothing can get rid of him but God, and that even if they people don't like him, tough! He is here to stay, and no "democracy" can change that. Jammeh only has as much power as the people allow him to have! Once you challenge a bully, I mean really challenge him, they normal revert to the cowards they actually are and run away! Or, they summon their military men, the ones loyal to them, to subdue the people that they are challenging, but you *can't* kill everyone, else you will have nothing or no one left to rule! If the people in Guinea or Senegal, or all of the many other places can challenge their leaders to be accountable, than what about The Gambia? There is no reason why the Gambian people can not stand up and demand change. That is, unless they *don't* want change. And that is all I have to say for now, I could go on and on, but I won't!