I've finally come to the sad and ugly conclusion that every single leader of the ruling APRC party is captive to fear and motivated by the evil caprices of greed. The end result, unfortunately for the Gambia is the obscene accumulation of wealth by a small coterie of cronies, criminals, and murderers that constitute Yahya Jammeh’s government and criminal empire.
Funny, isn't it, how times have changed? Once upon a time, Muslims considered avarice a sin. They will rather go to an early grave than bear false witness. In today’s Gambia, grown men and women, religious and other opinion leaders do not hesitate for a second in serving as an agent and in some cases witnesses to the cruelty of an ignorant dictator without lifting a finger or saying a word. Ansu Machine (the renowned warrior) will be rolling over in his grave watching Gambians bled to ruin as Yahya and his cronies feed their insatiable greed while religious leaders with prayer beads cower in fear. Whatever happened to the belief that God is the final arbiter that they (religious leaders) keep preaching from the pulpit?
And of course, there's the literal blood, Gambians summarily executed by this government since 1994. There are so many victims and no perpetrators brought to justice. What else do we expect? The culprits of these heinous crimes are in charge of the government. They pardon their own crimes, thereby becoming the judge, the jury and the executioner.
Lying, conniving in the service of money and been cowardly when the interest of the country is at stake has become the trademark of every single leader of the APRC party. They help in bamboozling an agrarian, poor and illiterate population in voting against their own interest. They coerced and punish those that see their evil ways and refuse to oblige. How, one might ask do you put a wrench into this monkey’s wheel? Well for starters opposition politicians in this election year need to come together and form a common front. I know that is a common cliché, but we have to keep harking on it until they listen. A significant ingredient of representative democracy is the leader listening to the electorate and as such demands for opposition unity should be a consistent clarion call of all that seeks to see a peaceful end to Yahya Jammeh’s tyranny.
Lying, conniving in the service of money and been cowardly when the interest of the country is at stake has become the trademark of every single leader of the APRC party. They help in bamboozling an agrarian, poor and illiterate population in voting against their own interest. They coerced and punish those that see their evil ways and refuse to oblige. How, one might ask do you put a wrench into this monkey’s wheel? Well for starters opposition politicians in this election year need to come together and form a common front. I know that is a common cliché, but we have to keep harking on it until they listen. A significant ingredient of representative democracy is the leader listening to the electorate and as such demands for opposition unity should be a consistent clarion call of all that seeks to see a peaceful end to Yahya Jammeh’s tyranny.
Second, they need to ask Gambians what will make them put a leader and a party in charge of the government when all their actions and deeds undermine and arguably abolishes that very institution. They need to drive home the fact that Yahya Jammeh and his APRC use government to further their evil and greed at the detriment of the nation.
Furthermore, they need to point to the obvious fact that Yahya Jammeh has become a master at outsourcing blame. He castigates Gambian youth and calls them lazy without taking responsibility for the miserable economic environment that his policies wrought. The economic failure that is caused by his inept leadership is shifted to the victims. It is their (the youth’s) fault that reliable electricity and other infrastructure needed for economic development are virtually non-existent in the Gambia. Yahya Jammeh and his APRC can be summed up as devoted to lying to, stealing from and killing Gambians.
Opposition leaders need to take heed. Quit whining about your petty differences and close ranks. It's time to talk straight to the Gambian people and ask them to make sacrifices for the future of a nation. The Nepalese opposition just pulled a great feat and there is no reason to believe that Gambians couldn’t do the same.
Gambians are bleeding from excessive taxation. They are bleeding from the debt burden that is incurred in their name and siphoned off to overseas banks in some of the greatest corruption debacles that have occurred since independence. But what does the ruling party members of the National assembly do? Give the dictator more powers as if he needed more. The only time these groups of people have their priorities straight always involve lining their own pockets.
4 Comments:
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- ousman ceesay said...
April 26, 2006 at 12:23 PMI am flabbergasted by Chen's outburst. I wrote a piece on the greedy and cowardly behavior of Gambian politicians and he went beserk. What has my piece got to do with US hegemony or lack therof?- Anonymous said...
April 27, 2006 at 9:51 AMCongratulation, you have just been spammed for no other reason than being an American...- Crystal said...
April 27, 2006 at 1:23 PMHey there! I saw your blog featured on Global Voices and you seem like a very smart man! I leave for a 10wk trip to East Africa on Monday (starting in London) and so I'm of course fascinated with that region of the world. Economic development is probably the key to raising the standards of living for the people, but as you point out that's nearly impossible when the gov't itself is so corrupt. I know that there are many gov't officials who really are committed to upholding the law, but the bad apples spoil the bunch. Anyway, have a great day!- ousman ceesay said...
April 27, 2006 at 1:42 PMHave a safe trip crystal and thanks for stopping by.
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