By Suntou Touray
All the tyrant’s elites and all his hangers on
They cannot be anything without him
Their labours from top universities are meaningless without him
They cannot do even menial jobs
They cannot go unnoticed!
Imagine them sitting in Hagan Street every morning not knowing what to do?
Imagine them seeing their colleagues appearing on GRTS, with fine suits, and tie?
With grand portfolios, imagine them seeing that?
They want to enjoy life:
The good food ‘Afra FM calling’ fine wines
Foreign beer on the secluded streets bars of Serrekunda
Fine ladies in hotel lobbies, supermarket shopping and occasional stray eyes to
sophisticated women, the bold and arrogant walk to their cars’
How can they forfeit all that, the endless battle, hell no!
All the tyrant’s elites and the entire hangers on
It is not easy they decried
They worked hard to get 1st or 2nd degree
Yes their sound judgement tells them, the system is not reliable
Remember Nana Ann-Why-Johnson
Remember, Dr Allabouts
Remember all the former Top PPP technocrats
What do they do? People should stop blaming them for choosing
Comfort this way.
Just look at the ones with PhDs, they are no better
It is a big thing they attain that level, but even they are no different
They cannot attain higher education, civilised understanding of life and then reduce themselves to nothingness! What for?
They’re interested in being someone, in this system or even worst
They will do as the tyrant wants, they will disregard all their qualifications and superior reasoning
They will conform to the system, albeit a fraudulent and unpredictable high seas
They careless about you judgmental scribes
This is their life, they argued that, it is lived once; no tyrant or dictator will upset that.
Call them anything: compromised, a sycophant, sell out, prostitute or nincompoops
They don’t really care, for their conscience has gone to sleep and never wakes up
At the end they’re people found under the tyrant’s stinking armpits,
with GRTS as the bragging tool. Seen by all and sundry.
(Sympathy for the devils series)
Ends
Mr Touray, you have no idea what it means to be outside the influential circle here in Gambia. Your life stand still. All you said is true. But it is easier may be on the other side.
And you have judged us. Mouths to feed thank you.
Bro just saw this poem on fb. We cannot all abandon the ‘system’. I never partake in enabling the dictatorship. Never been to Kanilai. Not all of us are devils.
Why trust the sword brutally at “Hagan street”?
I work in the 1st Republic and 2nd Republic. The older generation maintain discipline and dedication whilst younger people want wealth and position on a plate. This is why they frequent Kanilia for recognition
Wrong to stereotype, caricature, ridicule and scapegoating ALL Jammeh/APRC regime elites and enablers as city based (for “Imagine them sitting in Hagan Street every morning not knowing what to do?”) or Greater Banjul products (dramatising the urban lifestyle); in poem!
The prose is well written and am not very impressed with writer’s prejudicial political thoughts because its poisonous to community; in my opinion. WHY SCAPEGOATING ON THOSE WHO ARE URBAN BASED?