“I have not enjoyed being the President of the Gambia for nearly 10 years,” President Jammeh has reportedly admitted in a private talk.
Gambian tyrant President, Alh, Yahya AJJ Professor ‘Dr’ Jammeh (Nasirudeen) is missing in the EU annual review panel on Gambia scheduled for tomorrow in Brussels, Belgium. The EU holds an Annual Review on the Gambia before advancing any help to the country. The EU defends its action of sending direct aid to the Gambia under the pretext of helping to alleviate poverty and preventing the government from collapsing due to lack of sustaining the public expenditure.
The Gambia is highly indebted to the IMF and other foreign lenders. The EU rational is that without lending budgetary support, ordinary Gambians will suffer as a result of crumbling infrastructure and delays in paying civil servants and basic amenities.
Gambian opposition and human rights activist view the continuous support to the Jammeh regime as unhelpful, since Jammeh takes all the credit for the assistance and deceive the ordinary Gambians. President Jammeh shamelessly uses all foreign aid and assistance as his personal sacrifice and love for the Gambia, while in reality, he diverted the Gambian tax revenue into his private foreign accounts.
The EU will be wiser if they stop supporting dictatorial regimes by indirectly supporting the opposition have a level playing field, thus halting the suppression and brutality taking place in the country. Sustaining the Gambia government is equal to sustaining President Jammeh. Since Jammeh does not know the difference between him and the State, he has personalised the government and the entire state infrastructure.
Gambian activist and members of the civil society organisations are flocking the EU-Africa Summit. The question remains whether President Jammeh will muster the courage to attend the event or whether he will continue to use his ‘bulldogs’ to defend his government’s tattered human rights records. Tomorrow is the D-Day for the Gambian representatives, as all indications are pointing to President Jammeh giving the occasion a ‘miss’.
Gambian activist in recent years have intensified their efforts in exposing the sadistic human rights records of Yahya Jammeh. They have compiled a list of the individuals killed, abducted, tortured, disappeared without trace or hired and fired at Jammeh’s will. The collective activism has made the world a narrow place for the Gambian dictator.
President Jammeh himself is said to have stated to an EU delegate privately that, “I have not enjoyed being the President of the Gambia for nearly 10 years.” One would wonder, why clinging onto to power if you don’t enjoy serving the country democratically. Gambians elect Yahya Jammeh election after election, yet he treats them like sub-human, and still complains of not enjoying presiding over the affairs of the state. The annual review is a high point where human righs groups and other interest parties, such the EDF, EEC external NGOs, Civil society groups and other individuals present a case against/for a given government. The Gambia has had unfriendly review over the years, but the country still continues to receive European Union aid. President Jammeh is now officially the most hated figure in African public office who is notorious for bulldozing the rights of his citizens. There is now a dramatic twist since the Gambian hunter has become the one being hunted all over Europe and America by Gambian activist.
Kairo News will analyse the unfolding events in Brussels.
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