Gambians Cherish Peace And Tranquility Under President Jammeh

jammehThe controversy over the recent unfortunate event in Senegal concerning the Gambian entrepreneur Mr. Amadou Samba and those identified as Anti-President Jammeh’s activists, once again puts the Senegalese government on the spotlight of being suspected of encouraging these elements beyond what is reasonable or tolerable. However, I at first thought that it was all about Mr. Sedia Bayo again, the “French Gambian” activist constantly poking his nose in the political affairs of the Gambia with a hostile intention of overthrowing the APRC government, until I came to realize that Dr. Amadou Scattred Janneh was also involved in the fracas that was more than just a deliberate assault and humiliation of Mr. Samba in Dakar. The incident, on the whole, had a lot to do with the convergence of Gambian dissidents in Senegal, practically under the leadership of Dr. Janneh to provoke the same kind of political crisis in the Gambia that recently caused the leadership change in the West African nation of Burkina Faso. The evidence gathered further confirmed that Dr. Janneh’s tactics to oust President Jammeh out of power was literally the same he had applied in 2011 but failed miserably, culminating to his arrest and subsequent conviction to life in Gambia’s Mile Two Central Prison. Thanks to the intervention of Reverend Jessy Jackson, In January 2012, Dr. Janneh a naturalized American citizen of Gambian descent was pardoned by President Jammeh and allowed to return back to the USA with the Civil Rights Leader. It is however worth mentioning that in 2005, Dr. Janneh on his own discretion left the USA with his entire family to take up a high-profile position of employment from President Jammeh’s government which he eventually lost in 2006, perhaps sooner than he had expected, which as a result seemed to have radicalized him into a defiant Anti-Gambia-Government activist.

Anyway to abandon whatever he was engaged in for the infantile tactic of clandestinely distributing T-shirts and banners inscribed with slogans of dissent against the Gambia government and believing that it could spark political commotion that might unseat President Jammeh was at best naïve and at worst irrationally desperate. How the former American college tutor and former Gambian Minister of Information thought he could apply the same tactic that had failed to yield any positive result in 2011 and expect a different upshot in 2014 demonstrates an enormous perceptual flaw. He did not only fail to achieve anything constructive but also ended up violating the trust and confidence of many people including the wonderful Gambian Businessman Mr. Amadou Samba known for his generosity and civility and who had always treated him as the trustable brother-in law he thought he was. And what about Reverend Jessy Jackson who had in 2012 flown all the way from the USA to the Gambia to plead with President Jammeh for his freedom?

Let me say this before elaborating on the Reverend’s position on the whole issue. It beats my imagination or, saying that differently, I find it hard to come to terms with what folks like Dr. Janneh really want in life. Did he miscalculate his priorities when he left whatever he was doing in the USA in 2005 to take up employment from the Gambia government? Or was it just about those familiar intellectual adventurists whose fascination with hopping from one occupation to another is all that matters to keep them relevant in a world they find practically difficult to fit in satisfactorily? However, unless he is faced with the problem of tenure as a professor, I see no reason why he couldn’t have come right back to his old college job after he had fallen apart with the Gambia government in 2006. I honestly refused to entertain the notion that like most of those diaspora misfits Janneh is simply unequipped to rectify whatever setback, if there was any, that had compelled him to quit the American academic world for the ministerial job in the Gambia. I will not necessarily question Mr. Janneh’s decision to commit his life on what he thinks best for him and his family given his level of academic achievement; nevertheless, I have also seen time and again that education like wealth is no guarantor of rational behavior. After all instead of being motivated by what we know, most of us are sometimes seriously controlled by the satisfaction we derived from our wild imaginations.

So for Reverend Jessy Jackson on this whole issue, Imagine how he will feel if told that Dr. Amadou Janneh, the American Gambian he had rescued from the Gambia’s prison in 2012 was again engaged in the same activities against the Gambia government that had led to his conviction in the first place? This will not just be a slap in his face for betraying the trust of the Gambian people and leadership but might as very well discourage him from ever helping such types of Americans in trouble. It was not the first time and certainly not the last for Reverend Jackson to go out of his way to rescue Americans in foreign jails; but in the case of Dr. Janneh’s with all the ongoing negative publicity, I think it will in effect undermine the Reverend’s confidence in future ventures over similar humanitarian reaches.

And don’t be fooled by how Americans project their global political and ethical images as being the greatest or the best ever in existence; at the end of the day, such boastful mentality coupled with the mere lack of good answers to our messy track records that are often conveniently dismissed as negligible human errors only help in incubating more hate, despise and vengefulness from angry people all over the world. In other words many people who we at time think we are out to help believe that America has much to atone for, both abroad and domestically. For instance in America’s arrogant mistake to shape the political destiny of Iraq, we have all witnessed the open-ended devastation triggered in that country by starting a war base on proven false pretext. With the monumental effect of calamity caused by dismantling the stabilizing components of Sadam Hussain’s Iraq, compounded by the unintended consequences of plunging the entire region into a vicious cycle of senseless violence, former President George W Bush still believes that America was right in attacking the country for allegedly harboring “weapons of mass destruction.” After all weapons that never were.

The loud and clear statement of hate and vengeance made by the Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zaidi on December 14, 2008 when he threw his shoe to President George W Bush in Bagdad and called him a dog was a clear testimony of most Iraqi’s dissatisfaction with what America did to their civilization under the guise of liberating them from Sadam Hussain. Invariably, it is only the American who expects to be taken seriously when he unequivocally assert to the world that torturing captured enemy combatants is unjustifiable but still justify the dropping of a smart bomb in a wedding ceremony in Afghanistan or Pakistan to only kill “Abu Jihadist”-one enemy combatant- suspected of being present there and dismissing the death of the innocent men, women and children in the crowd as collateral damage. No wonder when the American war mongers started re-kitting for another global military adventure into Syria, neglecting the mess they turned Iraq and Libya into, Russia defiantly stood up against it with a stern warning of never to sit and watch while America deliberately ignites unjustifiable wars they usually seem unable to extinguish. As Arundhati Roy summed it up in one of his assessments of American foreign policy, he said: The American government does not judge itself by the same moral standards by which it judges others…….. Its technique is to position itself as the well-intended giant whose good deeds are confounded in strange countries by their scheming natives, whose markets it’s trying to free, whose societies it’s trying to modernize, whose women it’s trying to liberate, whose souls it’s trying to save……It has conferred upon itself the right to murder and exterminate people “for their own good”. That may sound somewhat farfetched until one actually factors in the domestic genocide committed on Native Americans and the dehumanization of African captives over two hundred years of slavery that still bear some terrible and permanent residual effect on their living conditions. Until a week ago when the NYPD finally took steps to correct their racial policies of targeting young black men and Latinos for low-level marijuana possession that earned New York City the infamous title of being the “Marijuana Arrest Capital of the World”, about 140 people on the average were arrested daily with 86% being blacks and Latinos. Although research has consistently demonstrated that young whites use marijuana at higher rates. Unfortunately for these young minorities arrested, almost 70% are under the age of 30 years which meant criminalizing their profile and automatically ruining their prospect of being productive in a government or work establishment with minimal or zero tolerance for such minor convictions. But now that New York has passed a law decriminalizing the possession of marijuana quantity of not more than 25 grams, what now should they do about those criminalized in the past for merely being caught with a single joint? And it’s not just in New York but all over the country where millions of young people’s lives have been destroyed because of such petty crimes. So if Dr. Janneh wants to fight for the human and civil rights of the underprivileged or underdogs he could have his hands full by starting to help American youths in millions, criminalized for what is now viewed as unnecessary convictions. I could go on highlighting a lot of facts that clearly indicate that the America we often portray as the citadel of political, moral and social purity is not always necessarily as so.

I have recently been echoing my appeal to those Gambians who have naturalized in the USA but believe that they are obliged to commit all their energies and worthiness into civil and human right campaigns against only the Gambia government to re-examine their priorities for more realistic occupations. It doesn’t make sense to renounce your allegiance to the Gambia for the USA through naturalization here and think that Gambians will understand your help at home when you cannot help yourselves here. To the majority of Gambians at home, they all seem to prefer the way President Jammeh rules the country and therefore don’t want to hear any of our over-rated wisdom. Our arrogance to impose our alien views upon them is like insulting their intelligence especially when we have little or nothing to show them in qualifications and experiences for asserting such authoritative prerogatives. If you think of yourself as being that outstanding what in the world should prevent you from employing your ingenuity in the very countries you now call home?

Arguably, as an American holding a doctorate degree therefore Dr. Janneh should be able to find a respectable job in the USA and contribute his quota to the system that educated and sheltered him and his family. Otherwise if too obsessed with the preoccupation of being a civil or human rights activist without any ultra-agenda, I recommend that he starts from right here in the USA where the political, economic and social disparity between the rich and the poor and the blacks and whites provides ample challenges for any genuine person to take head on. But to believe that the problem is only about The Gambia government and President Jammeh is disingenuous and absolutely absurd. And to also hope that there could be any effects for political change in the Gambia by again printing and distributing mere propaganda T-shirts from a safe distance outside the country, edges on some form of hallucination. I may be wrong but I seriously believe that it was all about what happened in Burkina Faso that stirred the naïve excitement of instigating a similar political upheaval in The Gambia. Let us get this straight folks; Burkina Faso is not Gambia and Campaore is not Jammeh either.

When I heard about the sudden political turmoil in Burkina Faso and then took a quick flashback on recent similar upheavals resulting in devastating effects after uprooting stable governments without proper replacements, my first reaction was to pray and wish the country a peaceful settlement of the crisis no matter what the outcome. I can no longer celebrate such potential disasters after what Iraq, Libya and Tunisia turned into from such upheavals. Retrospectively, I will now swear to leave Sadam Hussain and Momar Gadhafi in power than settle for what I see in Iraq and Libya respectively.

And after all, regardless of what people may think or say about Blaise Campaore, he was and still is my hero for what he did for that country in the past, outstanding from all, being the necessary stoppage of the late Thomas Sankarak from transforming Burkina Faso into a brutal Marxist-Leninist state in 1987. At a time when the world had few years left to dismantle the unsustainable doctrine of socialism and communism, Sankarah had decided to lay the foundation of a decadent system in the heart of the Sub-Region with a fanatical zeal reminiscent of Stalin’s, Kim Ill Sung’s, Pol Pot’s and those hardline communist rulers of the old school. As an admirer of Fidel Castro’s Cuban Revolution, Sankara had set up Cuban-style Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDRs) that acted like the gestapo in the Third Reich of Nazi Germany. How he would have reacted to the first waves of revolts in Poland in 1989 a period often referred to as the “Autumn of Nations” that continued in Hungary, East Germany, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and Romania leading to the ultimate fall of the Berlin Wall in 1990 could be anyone’s wild guess. He would have been in total shock over the political future of Burkina Faso in the wake of the crumbling ideology of Marxism and Leninism. Thanks to Campaore for a good riddance.

After Sankara, Campaore ushered Burkina Faso into the community of modern African states, building a political and economic system modeled in the form and substance of a conventional market-oriented base. Of course like all progressive leaders he had certainly committed mistakes here and there but in general I believe that his good deeds far outweighed the bad ones. And I hope the Armed Forces of Burkina Faso will respect that and shield him and his legacy from any kind of retaliatory actions from short-sighted trouble makers who have very limited knowledge of history.

This is the kind of discussion expected from the likes of Dr. Janneh as a former professor during such political uncertainties in Africa, or the world for that matter. But to hear that he was in Senegal with the intent of duplicating the trouble in Burkina Faso into the Gambia was at best irresponsible and at worst treasonable. In the same manner that Burkina Faso yesterday needed Campaore to save them from the disaster of forcing the country into becoming communist, I believe Gambia today needs President Jammeh to save it from the overwhelming political turmoil of the world. The country enjoys perfect peace and prosperity and nothing should necessitate sabotaging it. We should all learn how to change our beliefs to suit the challenges in life especially when our attempts to defeat the challenges into what we believe continue to be elusive.

I keenly look forward to 2017 when President Jammeh will be inaugurating the Yelletenda and Bambatenda Bridge one of the continental landmarks that will go down in history as one of the greatest achievements of a twenty-first century African President. There is no doubt in my mind that he will contest and win the 2016 national election by an overwhelming majority and will start a new project after the inauguration of the Trans Gambian Bridge in 2017. Perhaps that will be the construction of the Barra –Banjul Tunnel which by estimate should take five years. Great Stuff!

I am therefore still humbled to always ask for your forgiveness for doubting your wisdom in the past. I AM SORRY A MILLION TIMES.

 

SAMSUDEEN SARR,

NEWARK, NEW JERSEY

Ends

35 Comments

  1. Alimatou Sarr

    Sam Sarr has come again with another propaganda article. Please put your facts together before you put pen to paper. You err to write that Dr. Janneh left the US to take up a ministerial position in the Gambia. That’s far from the truth. Rather he was working as the head of political division at the US embassy in Banjul. You write well but you are fond of misplacing facts.

  2. Adama Jallow

    What a bullshit article coming from a retreated soldier, a soldier guilty of trial by media. How can such a person lecture us on any theory.

  3. Malang Sonko

    Sam Sarr has once again re-event himself in a harsh manner. Thomas Sankara will ever remain a hero not only in Burkina Faso but across the African continent. You are the only so-called intellectual who openly celebrated the assassination of Sankara. Is it out of jealousy that he succeeded more than you or you are just portraying your usual disease of tribalism directed at anyone who speaks nko. Anyone who has blood in his sperm does not celebrate the death of another fellow human being. Billahi, you need to repent.

  4. I have vowed never to read anything written by a man who openly confessed to lying. Mr. Sarr, when are you paying us our money because you admitted that your book was full of lies? I can’t stand your type, period.

  5. With all his buts, I am certain that Jammeh is better than the likes of Sam Sarr.

  6. Lamin Jammeh

    Jotey [Coward] Sarr is raving and ranting again. Another trash not worth reading. I regret doing so.

  7. Fatou Njie

    How dare you defend Amadou Samba, calling him a generous person when his likes shut doors of investment for those who refuse to go their way?

  8. Dawda Sowe

    Folks, Sam’s timidity is increasing by the day.

  9. Bakary Badjie

    This man has repented before Oga forgetting he owes us. When are you asking us to forgive you for lying to us?

  10. Agnes Jarra

    Sam was my hero writer until he disrespected Imam Baba Leigh in that horrible article. I was debating whether he took some bottles of red wine before writing. That article is ungodly, to call spade a spade.

  11. Demba Jobe

    I don’t agree with Sam but he has right right to be heard, freedom of expression is a fundamental Human Right and thanks Kairo News for giving space to all shades of opinion.

    • So Campaore can kill Sankara for he disagrees with his policies for Burkina Faso but Dr Janneh shouldn’t sensitize Gambians into action to claim their country from a decadent murderous looter yaya jammeh is…??? If majority of Gambians approve yaya jammeh’s treachery why is Sam Sarr not in Gambia today to prove it to the whole world that Gambia is indeed safe..?? Can Sam Sarr tell Gambians who placed a juju on Baboucarr Jatta’s seat in his office at army headquarters, to curse him into trouble spiritually, when he was the army commander with Sam his deputy; before you attacked to assault him physically when your juju couldn’t cursed him into trouble; where you were mercilessly flocked, hadn’t been for the intervention of the orderlies Baboucarr would have beaten to point of soak your… Instead Baboucarr was promoted to chief of general staff contrary to your evil juju. You promised to go back to Gambia , what is holding you from going…?

  12. Abdoulie Sallah

    Ndey san, our once heroes have been turned into praise singers. So sad! I can’t believe the same man authors Meet Me in Conakry.

  13. Just about month a go Suntou Toursy wrote an open letter to Pa Nderry M’bai, advising him not to publish anything from Sam Sarr.
    Since then Pa has never published anything authored by this idiot. Question for Suntou:Have you ever agreed with your other self?

    Remember this, it’s distressingly unfortunate to have sentimental heart but skeptical mind.

    • Malick, with my heavy cold, I will just respond to your comment. Actually, my opinion is mine, and the editorial board decided it is fair to publish Sam Sarr’s piece. If you check at the top, you will notice, our reputable Executive Editor published Sam’s piece. Me and Sam goes a while back, 2008 to be precise, so i spot the guy being a fraud since then, as someone who can’t stand the heat.
      However, editors are at liberty to publish things they deem a Gambian opinion. I disagree with everything Sam Sarr says and I will standby my statement that, all his articles should be vetted for personal attacks and propaganda sponsored by the Gambian foreign mission. It is my hunch that, the Washington embassy is supplying Sam with information on certain individuals.
      I am not perfect, but I do standby my words and that is a cardinal principle Malick. Love Suntou or hate him, I standby my words. Thanks

  14. Samba jobe we are not at a time for freedom of expression, we are at war to free our country. ignore this stupid ones like Starr and the likes, they hate Gambia more than babilmansa. stand by your brothers in struggle or SHUT UP.we can’t keep on undermining those who are trying

  15. Anna Sambou

    So you’ve peace for being jailed and exiled?

  16. Baboucarr Samba

    Suntou hold your head high up, you guys are real professionals. This shows that Kairo News draws a line between what’s personal and editorial. Keep that tradition.

  17. Lamin Jagne

    Our success in dislodging the Monster depends on hearing from all, including his enablers. Sam write the whole world.

  18. Please let Sam Sarr write whatever he feel will make him secure. Gambians are watching and changes is inevitable

  19. It is probably true that it is very hard to cope with the presence of a “turn coat”, but how do you deal with one that attacks you?

    (1)…Do you shut them up?
    (2)…Do you just tolerate them? Or
    (3)…Do you recognise and respect their rights to be heard ?

    There is no doubt that the online media is set up to fight against Jammeh’s dictatorship, but in my view, and in order to demonstrate your democratic credentials and to prove beyond any shadows of doubt, that you are better than what you are fighting, it is important that the 3rd option be chosen…Mr Sarr should be heard, regardless of how “annoying” , deceitful or “unpleasant” he may sound…

    Those who wish to engage him should do so and those who don’t, should just ignore him….Love the man or hate him, he has clearly shown what type of person he is and has not left anyone in doubt, even the ones who have never met him, what he truly is….He deserves commendation for that…

    I just want to reiterate what someone has stated in defence of late Capt.Thomas Sankara, for whom “Colonel” Sarr has no kind words…

    For millions of.people in Africa and elsewhere, late Captain Sankara was a true soldier, a man of the people and a leader who believes in selfless service …For these millions, that’s how it will remain and how he will be remembered…

    But if anyone wants to know why Africa, in particular, is in the state of backwardness that it is in today, look no further than Mr Sarr, because there are many Samsideen Sarr’s in positions of authority and influence throughout the continent today.. ..

    As for the hundreds of thousands of Burkinabe Youths who rose to drive Campaore out, Sankara was the “father” they never saw alive…That was why many held and raised high placards with the inscription, “CHILDREN OF SANKARA”….Mr Sarr’s fantastic fantasy of a brutal maxist-Leninist cannot take that away from his memory..

    Finally, Dr Janneh is no doubt more than capable of responding to the charges against him, but what I want to say is that, unlike Mr Sarr, who it seems, sees American citizenship as the ” Almighty achievement of his life”, Dr Janneh ‘s affinity with the land of his birth and his people is not eroded a bit, by his American citizen and admirable academic achievements..

    His choice to fight for Gambians is not an abandonment of the “oppressed” and “dispossessed” in America, who have no shortage of individuals and organisations championing their fights, but rather, his recognition that The Gambia needs his services more than America…The fact that Dr Janneh is attracting attention from the Jammeh regime and apologists is testimony that he has made the right choice to fight for The Gambia. ..The pressure he is generating is showing..

    • Luntango Suun Gann Gi

      Bax, Gambia is UNIQUE in having the ONLY African “Intellectual” who condemns Thomas Sankara! As Gambians we should celebrate this fact … Thank You Professor Lt Colonel Sam Sarr!!

      • Hahaha…Yeah…You’re right…Please let’s add “Budaakung” to the title…Hence forth, it’s “Professor Budaakung Ltd. Col……..”

  20. Sam Sarr and his likes prefer to see Gambians living under even more brutal dictatorship than to be rescue by a Mandingo intellectual.

  21. Could this piece have come from an impostor calling himself SAMSUDEEN SARR ?

    I frankly thought Sam was long done chewing and regurgitating his nincompoopish nonsense in the Gambian online media.

    I will have to call him and confirm this from himself before I can comment any further on this infantile gibberish.

  22. Luntango Suun Gann Gi

    Daily Observer MUST publish this for it to have the SIGNIFICANCE that Sam Sarr wants it to have for him – i.e. official approval in Banjul. Otherwise Sam should just chill in New Jersey and enjoy another biting American Winter!

  23. Paul Mendy

    Wow Sam just out did Sam.

  24. This man is SICK, if you can call the status quo in the Gambia for the last two decades ‘perfect peace’ you must be oblivious to the Gambian situation or have your own hidden agenda and I believe the later is the truth. Once an army Captain and an Author I once have huge respect for, I am shocked that you turned to be an absolute JOKE. You’re really disgusting! If the Gambia have a perfect peace as you put it and that megalomaniac in the name of president is the God sent, then why don’t you go back to the Gambia! Useful idiot!

  25. Times are biting hard and Sam can no longer take the heat of being an exile for so long. However, your brother Babilli is waiting for you. He will waste no time in snarling and biting at your available bones. Babilii mansa shall wolf you. Just go for the bait. I dare you to venture. You should ask the Ousman badjies and his types. You are a spent force who wants to be comfortable in life again but you are threading a dangerous line. You are better off working in a ware house in New Jersey or take up a security job in your last dying days than hanker for a Jamemeh job. You think you are sneaky but posterity will keenly document your moves and actions.

  26. Luntango Suun Gann Gi

    @Paul Mendy. PM, Bla Bla Bla is a Civil Tort; LEXICAL PISSTAKING is a Crime. Agree my In-Law?

  27. Paul Mendy

    Dishonest intellectual . Sam calls Gambia peaceful, peace to him is spending five months in jail without a conviction.

  28. Scarlet Pimpernel

    Sam Sarr, wollahi let sleeping dogs lie. If this piece is smooth talk Jammeh then you don’t know the guy yet. Jammeh is hatching a big plan for you. I dare you my koto, if you’re brave enough go home, why the feet dragging.

  29. Mr sarr try to be honest to u r self that will make life much clearer to u.there is difference between cleverness and intelligence, I think u had the former but devoid of the later.

  30. In my opinion, there is probably more truth in Col Sarr’s delivery than fiction. As an interesting piece worthy of publication, I commend Kairo News for giving it space.

    Of course, The Daily Observer have never met the challenge from the online media…” head on”. since Dr Taal’s time…..or have they ever been allowed to. This remains and persists as the biggest mistake of the Jammeh regime.

    I think Sidia Bayo and Dr Janneh make strange bedfellows indeed.

    The unprovoked attack on Amadou Samba…was their biggest mistake. Mr Samba “handled” the matter….with consumate diplomacy dignity and skill, sadly lacking by his cowardly assailants.

    I regret what little credibility the “Senegalise” dissident movement held before this ill concieved debacle…has flown on a chilled breeze… like confetti…. from this bad tempered marriage of inconvienience.

    The real hero of this never ending struggle is Halifa Sallah. He sticks to the rules with intelligence that lifts this debate to the correct level of engagement…with truth, education and facts.

    I regret some Gambian’s would see their country burn in hell fire and call this a victory.

    My compliments to Kairo News…for opening up the debate.

Leave a Reply to Paul Mendy Cancel

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*