President Jammeh Is Roaring Again

Jammeh ready to end relationship

with the EU to the detriment of the public

By Baba Jobe

When you hear Yahya Jammeh roaring, you will wonder how powerful he is? In other words, when you hear him boasting you may be eager to know this man or even probably want to meet him. After finding out about him, you will know him as a President of a small West African nation called the Gambia. He came to power through a military coup in 1994, a time when he couldn’t afford bride price to get a wife for himself. He is now among the richest in The Gambia. You can do the maths.

Since coming into power, he has been ruling the country with an iron fist. He has presided over the worst human rights abuses ranging from disappearances to state torture, unconstitutional detentions of citizens, mainly, journalists, civil servants and political opponents. In 2004, he delegated the killing of a prominent journalist Deyda Hydra. In 2006, journalist  Chief Ebrima Manneh was picked by agents of the National Intelligence Agency and until now he has not return home. Many believed he has been tortured to death.

He is relentless in making negative headlines and has no regard for justice. Some years ago the so called Professor shocked the world with an announcement he can cure HIV/Aids. This was what let the world to question his sanity. But in end it was found to be nothing but a mere crab. In August 2012, in a bizarre campaign to satisfy his blood thirst Jammeh unconstitutionally executed nine death-row prisoners. That brought the Gambia death penalty moratorium to an end. Despite his determination to finish off the evil, he backtracked amidst international pressure.

Due to unending pressure from the international community, has always been on the defensive. However, with his recent heckles to sue the European, it seem that Jammeh is shifting to the offensive side. Jammeh has vowed to sue the EU over the death of African migrants in the Mediterranean sea. What a hypocrisy, when he himself is murdering his own people like animals.

Jammeh threatened to pull out from the African Union if the African bloc fail to face the Europeans over the issue, branding them as western puppets. ” I will deal with them alone” the Gambian monster roared. What a storm in a tea cup? What does he thinks justice is?

To say he will sue the EU while he has no tolerance for justice is completely nonsense and out of reach.It’s time for the African leaders to stop blaming the west for the bad fruits of African leadership. How could he expect Africans to stop fleeing when he as an example continues to slit the throats of his own citizens? Or how can they stop fleeing from countries like the Gambia, where freedom is a banned commodity. Jammeh  needs to put his house in order and stop blaming others for what’s the harvest of his own labour.

To my own perspective the death of African is not the cause of his anger over the EU. It’s the EU pressure on his dictatorial regime to improve its human rights that necessitates the fuming and  the barking. The expulsion of the EU representative to the Gambia justifies this. It could be recalled the EU, since after the execution of the nine prisoners by Jammeh has been pressing for improvements on the Gambian human rights. This could be a reason why Jammeh took an uncalculated decision

Analyst may say Jammeh’s move to expel the EU representative from the Gambia is a sign of potential severance of relationship between the Gambia and the European Union.

In 2013 Jammeh pulled the Gambia out of the Commonwealth, describing it as a “neo colonial institution”. He has also severed relationship with the Republic of China on Taiwan.

It would be unfortunate for Gambia if Jammeh decides to sever ties with the EU. Over the past years, the EU have been a major donor partner to the West Africa nation, helping in building roads and other infrastructures. It would be a big blow to the economy, which is feared to be heading to a recession due to its poor state . But Jammeh, who once said Gambians will rather eat grass than succumb to western ideas is adamant to agree with them to the detriment of the public.

Jammeh once said he will rule the for a billion years if Allah says so, however,some believe the downfall of his regime is near. Analysts will say all his rantings are due to pressure and paranoia. This why he heckles any moment he feels threatened. And his recent action on the EU is not an exception.

Ends