By Ebou Gaye
How can we trust you?
You have made too many unfulfilled promises since you came to power through a putsch two decades ago,
Despite your claim to be honest and sincere,
For which reason observers describe you as untrustworthy,
And suggest treating all your pronouncements with caution to avoid disappointment
How can we trust you?
You complained upon assuming office that your predecessor overstayed in power,
Contending that even 10 years in power is too long a time,
Vowing that no one would be allowed to stay in power in our country for more than 10 years from then
But you blatantly and doggedly refuse to have presidential term-limit enshrined in the constitution of your country as recommended by the Consultative Committee you set up to look into matters pertaining to the transition from military to civilian rule,
Saying repeatedly, plainly and publicly that neither election nor coup d’état will remove you from power,
And that those vying to succeed you should wait patiently like a vulture for 400 years,
Giving the impression of invulnerability and invincibility
You however lack the courage to organize free and fair elections and flatly reject the idea of providing a level playing field for elections as demanded by the opposition and recommended by the international community,
And insist on illegally maintaining in office the current chairman of the “IEC”,
Allegedly with the aim of using him to help you to steal victory or rig elections,
In spite of the thunderous, reverberating clamours of the opposition
You keep tightening your security by accumulating heavy, dangerous weapons,
Buying the loyalty of gullible members of the armed and security forces by granting them short-term privileges,
Eliminating those among them you perceive to be a threat to your security and existence as a leader by executing them or sentencing them to life imprisonment,
And pitting them against each other by ordering them to arrest, detain, torture or butcher each other,
With the aim of avoiding coup d’état
You call yourself Dictator for Development in your attempt to fool your compatriots,
Claiming that democracy is an illusion,
Accusing Western democratic countries of extreme racism and xenophobia
But you have ironically bought a mansion at an exorbitant price in a Western democratic country,
And always send your family members there for the purpose of medical treatment, extravagant visits and education,
In addition to doing your utmost best to secure citizenship for them in that country without avail,
And hire lobbyists from the same country with colossal sums of money
You try to give the impression that you are indispensable,
Pretending to be the only patriotic citizen of your country,
And stifle dissent using all means you consider necessary,
Regardless of the ramifications
Your statements and deeds are in sharp contrast
They have amply proven your selfishness, greed, grudge and malice
I treat your statement of intent as a hyperbolic one,
Because you are mortal and cannot live on earth for 400 years
But I would like to state without hesitation,
That there is every indication that you are obstinately determined to overstay your welcome and perpetuate yourself in power at all cost
Do you think you can fool us with your bluffs and make us believe credulously that you fear neither ballot nor bullet in spite of your apparent reluctance to play by the electoral rules and your numerous precautionary security measures?
If you really believe that democracy is not an ideal system of government and that Western democratic counties are too racist and xenophobic as you portray them, how come you trust such countries to the extent of purchasing an expensive property there, allowing your loved ones to reside and receive education there, and employing their citizens as lobbyists with exceedingly-hefty salaries?
What makes you cherish the illusion that you are the only one capable of leading your country?
Are you a special breed?
Did you achieve anything extraordinary before you came to power that none of your compatriots ever achieved?
What supports your pretence that you are the only patriotic citizen of your country?
Did you do anything good for your country before coming to power that no other citizen ever did?
Why are you too hostile to your opponents and always eager to victimize or eliminate them?
How can we trust you?
You adopted the catchphrase “transparency, accountability and probity”,
Chanting the slogan loudly and monotonously at every opportune moment,
And later set up Commissions of Enquiry to investigate your predecessor and members of his regime,
Saying that you wanted to recover all the money and properties you claimed they stole while in office,
And promised to present the money and properties recovered to your compatriots at the end of the exercise and ask them how they wanted the “loot” to be used
But we haven’t heard anything on the matter from you since then
A prominent, popular, vocal and brave minister of the former regime has on several occasions challenged you to publish the report of the commissions for the world to judge but you remain mute
You told us that you didn’t seize power to enrich yourself,
But later boasted of your riches saying publicly that your great-grandchildren will never be poor
Why haven’t you published the report for the sake of transparency, accountability and probity?
Is it that you haven’t recovered anything?
Is it that you have re-looted the loot?
Is it that you haven’t found anything implicating or incriminating?
Was the setting up of the Commissions of Enquiry not a mere pretext to justify your coup or enviously and begrudgingly witch hunt members of the former regime as observers have cogently and convincingly argued?
Given the fact that you were as poor as a church mouse when you came to power and that you now behave as if you are richer than the state which you have overshadowed, do you consider it morally justifiable to punish members of the former regime or anyone else for corruption or embezzlement?
Why have you abandoned your motto “transparency, accountability and probity”?
How can you reconcile your claim of not aspiring to be rich and your brag of having amassed enough wealth to cater for the needs of your great-grandchildren?
How can we trust you?
You unreservedly condemned sycophancy, praise-singing and flamboyant lifestyle at the beginning of your reign,
Claiming that they characterized society and government when your predecessor was in power,
Expressing your resolve and determination to bring “sanity”
You thus summoned, assembled, castigated and shamed griots whose only “crime” was playing their socio-cultural roles,
Only to turn round and surround yourself with sycophants, flatterers and spin doctors who eulogize, aggrandize, glorify and mystify you- including the one you have angrily called a compulsive, pathological liar on your TV and described his widely-read book as a pack of lies meant to soil your image and defame you,
And cultivate the habit of dishing out huge sums of money to musicians, filmmakers and writers who sing your praises and help you in your propaganda
You frequently organize lavish festivals and ceremonies,
Besides buying extremely-costly vehicles
If you are confident and sincere as you want to make us believe, why do you need the services of sycophants, spin doctors and praise-singers?
If you are compassionate and patriotic as you project yourself, why do you plunder and squander the meagre, direly-needed resources of the people you claimed you came to liberate and salvage?
Why have you adopted the very profligate, ostentatious lifestyle you denounced earlier?
How can we trust you?
You promised a thorough investigation after the gruesome, brutal murder of a minister who was serving in your government
Reports have it that you shed tears during your visit of condolence to the bereaved family,
Claiming that the deceased was a friend of yours
But we are yet to hear from you on the progress of the “investigation”,
And hence grow more and more impatient and suspicious of your implication and involvement in that horrendous murder
When are you going to shed light on that atrocious crime?
Have you really ordered an investigation to get to the bottom of the matter as promised?
If so, why allow the case file to gather dust in the drawers of the investigators?
If not, why have you chosen to let sleeping dogs lie?
How can you convince us that you have clear conscience about that heinous crime with your silence on the issue?
Were your tears genuine?
Weren’t they crocodile ones as alleged by many?
How can we trust you?
You attempted to befriend the press during the early days of your coup,
Promising to co-operate fully with members of the press,
Saying that journalists were free to criticize you where you went wrong
But your marriage with the press was short-lived
You hot-headedly waged a war against journalists,
Threatening to bury them six feet deep if they offend you,
And soon started persecuting them,
Lampooning them by calling them the “illegitimate sons of Africa”
Why this press-phobia and antagonistic attitude towards journalists?
Is it that you have something to hide?
Is it that you never go wrong?
Now that you have proven to be a nuisance, a menace and a disgrace to Africa by causing enormous damage, affliction and torment, do you maintain that journalists are the illegitimate sons of Africa?
If so, what sort of African son do you consider yourself to be?
Do you still believe that journalists are more undesirable elements than you are as you erroneously believed?
How can we trust you?
You made an undertaking to electrify the whole of our country- even the rural areas,
Claiming that power outrage would soon be a thing-of-the-past,
After sprinkling “spiritual” liquid on newly-acquired generators
But we haven’t yet had adequate electricity supply in the urban areas,
Talk less of rural electrification which we now believe will only come as a miracle
What is wrong?
Are you not willing to fix the electricity problem?
Do you lack the ability?
Have your demons or jinn betrayed you?
How can we trust you?
You announced the “discovery” of oil in your country long ago,
Brandishing a CD which you claimed contained information to that effect on your TV,
Promising to commence drilling the oil immediately and use its proceeds to transform our country from a begging-nation to a major-donor one
But the noise of the supposed oil discovery has subsided since
If you have started exploiting oil, how far have you gone?
How do you utilize the proceeds?
Why were you in a hurry to make the announcement of the “discovery”?
Was that a political gimmick?
How can we trust you?
You gave a pledge to build a state-of-the-art railway linking the capital of our country to the most distant town,
And provide high-speed trains to transport people and goods
But nothing has been said on the project since then
I am privy to the information that the leader of a landlocked country approached you with the intention of embarking on a railway project to facilitate the transportation of goods to his country using our ports,
As evidenced by the presence of that leader and his predecessor as high-profile guests during one of the anniversary celebrations of your coup,
Despite the fact that the latter was occupying a very high position at the African Union at the time and was a renowned, reputable democrat unlike you,
Leading observers to wonder why he accepted your invitation to grace the occasion
But you- for political gain- pretended to be the originator of the project
Are you still engaged in feasibility studies?
Would you help clarify matters?
Why this long silence?
Have the authorities of that landlocked country decided to cancel their plan?
How can we trust you?
You made a promise to transform your country into an economic superpower during the celebrations marking your victory in the last presidential election,
Saying that you gave a three-year notice period to countries like Dubai and the United Arab Emirates,
Asserting that our country would outstrip or overtake them and no one would talk about them in terms of development any longer,
And that all the talk would be about the rapid, considerable development of our country
But you later said while addressing youths that you intended to develop our country to the maximum but lacked the means to do so,
And that you fervidly wished you could
Point of observation!
Dubai is not a country- not even the capital of a country- but the name of an emirate, and a city in the United Arab Emirates
Coming back to your lofty “goals”, I would say that it may be good to aim high but imprudent, unwise or foolhardy to make empty promises, build castles in the air or set unachievable goals
Have you now realized that you cannot transform our country into an economic superpower and develop it to surpass the United Arab Emirates or Dubai Emirate/City in three years?
What was the basis of your promise?
How can we trust you?
You vowed to combat and curb drug peddling and consumption following the discovery of tons of hard drugs in our country
But you later instructed your rubberstamp National Assembly to decline the offer made by a foreign country to partner with our country to combat drug trafficking in its waters
The puppets among the members of the National Assembly obeyed blindly as usual,
Claiming that the proposed bilateral agreement did not favour our country,
Despite the alarmingly-high number of drug related cases reported in our country in recent years,
Pretending that they acted independently in the best interest of their country and people by rejecting the draft bilateral agreement
Your behaviour has led many people to believe that you have ulterior motive
I am not the least convinced that those members of the National Assembly acted freely or independently in the interest of their country and people as they wanted to fool us into believing
They feel that they owe you an obligation as their master and thus care more about your interest than that of the electorate
This is evidenced by their eagerness to ratify controversial bills or agreements that clearly seek to defend your personal interest or guarantee your security to the disadvantage of the populace
Chief among them is the bill granting blanket amnesty and immunity to the cruel killers of innocent, unarmed children in April 2000,
The bilateral agreement written in Spanish which was sent to the National Assembly for ratification unaccompanied by an English translation,
And the Information and Communication Act which was amended with the ultimate goal of entrenching and perpetuating you in power by intimidating and neutralizing your critics and opponents
Some members of the opposition at the National Assembly voiced their concern in all cases and cautioned their colleagues but to no avail
Do you have an axe to grind vis-à-vis the foreign policy of the country that offered to work with our country in the crusade against drug trafficking?
Why didn’t you seize the opportunity accorded to you if you truly want to see our country free of drugs as you claimed previously?
Why didn’t you accept the proposed partnership in the war on drugs if you don’t have vested interest in the drug business?
How can you debunk or dismiss the widespread allegation that you are involved in drug trafficking after turning down the offer?
How can we trust you?
You announced a food security agenda referred to as Vision 2016,
Promising us food self-sufficiency by 2016,
Claiming that consumption of imported food is the main cause of the health problems of your compatriots,
Urging us to grow what we eat and eat what we grow,
Saying that you would ban importation of rice by December 2016
Your sycophants praised you for the move as usual,
Describing the so-called vision as bold, commendable and achievable,
Pledging their support to ensure its actualization
I observed at the time that the idea of making our country self-sufficient in terms of food is a good one,
But cast doubt on its feasibility and tenability,
Based on the timeframe of the vision and your tendency to fail promises as evidenced by the aforementioned ones
I also asked whether you really believed that your lofty goal was attainable,
And whether Vision 2016 was not another campaign promise
However, you announced your decision to extend the deadline when it was about to expire,
As you realized that the vision was unrealistic and unrealizable
Your blind loyalists applauded the idea of extending the deadline,
And renewed their promise to support you
Your sceptics were not surprised,
As they didn’t believe you in the first place
How can we trust you?
It beats my imagination that you and your sycophants have the guts to call your opponents and perceived enemies liars,
And that you continue to treat us as big fools by bombarding us with pleasant promises,
Despite your failure to honour your innumerable promises
I therefore put it to you that the world now knows very well who the real liars are,
That we are not all credulous and gullible to be carried away or swayed by empty promises,
That we are not interested in your promises,
And that we yearn for your downfall
May you vanish before the end of 2016! Amen!
Ends