He goes by the name His Excellency Sheikh Professor Dr. Alhaji, Nasirudeen,Babilimansa Yahya A.J.J Jammeh. As the tiny and oppressed nation of The Gambia goes, so goes the many titles of its’s tyrannical ruler. For a man whose names and many pompous titles are a personification of sainthood,wisdom,maturity thrust upon his fat and short frame, for one who had wisdom associated with him wearing all white ‘khaftan’ , for the leader who carries the last revelation of God on him, The Holy Koran, a sword and rosary beads, it is becoming increasingly very obvious that the Sheikh ,or shall I say the PROFESSOR , simply lacks the capacity,maturity,intelligence and right mental state to rule and move The Gambia, our homeland forward.
Without a shred doubt, I love Yahya Jammeh, albeit mostly for his theatricality and inability to grow. No; actually I like his foolishness. Haahahah. I have watched and observed with ever increasing incredulity the possibility that His Excellency Sheikh Professor Dr. Alhaji Yahya AJJ Jammeh may have a screw or two loose or at best maybe suffering from some form of mental disorder .After reading up on some cases of mental illness, I have come to the conclusion that our man at the helm maybe suffering from bipolar disorder or better still Obsessive compulsive narcissistic disorder. For so long I have written this and almost got it published but decided to sit on it and keep my ‘super Kanja’ mouth shut because speaking truth to power in The Gambia only gets you charged for treason and giving false information to the public, which is Jammeh’s favorite when he wants to send you to jail.
The other day I was talking to my mother and she warned me since its election time in The Gambia, I should keep my mouth (BAADAA) shut and not say anything about what’s going on in The Gambia because I don’t mind my business most of the time and I’m not the only educated Gambian in America who can write against the system. However, it is my business to speak truth to power since our HOLY MEN, I mean pastors and Imams have abdicated their role to fight for the wellbeing of the masses. Instead they preach about the next world, hell and sin in the mosques and churches while leaving the helpless masses to their own devices. Like a kid throwing a tantrum, the nightmare the rough kid from Kanilai is unleashing on Gambians is un-abating. An opposition youth leader is tortured to death and the entire executive of UDP who protested against his killing were arbitrarily tried and jailed by a Nigerian mercenary judge.
From whatever angle you look at events unfolding back home, you only come to the very stark reality that the political, judicial, economic and human rights mess back home will not get any better, anytime soon. All we have on the ground is state sponsored disappearances, Jugulars on rampage, sham trials, imprisonments, torture, unbearable sorrow, tears, blood and men killed and even in DEATH denied the dignity to be properly laid to rest by their families. The killing of Solo Sandeng promises to lead to the down fall of the man at the helm. The sycophantic followers and HOLY MEN at the hem are not telling the man at the helm the truth. Our so called HOLY MEN who should have been the voice of reason have lost their true role in society and have themselves become victims of a dictatorship. Instead of being advisers to a president losing his mind, they have become the advised. Instead of becoming mentors to the president they have themselves become mentees and reduced to running spiritual errands for a superstitious president.
We have a president living in denial. Instead of dealing with the corpse of an unburied protester, Solo Sandeng, he tried to deflect attention by embarking on a nationwide tour but the desire of Gambians to take back their country never ceased because the spirit of Solo Sandeng and the hostility of the dictator has not abated. Unnerved on his throne, Jammeh could not exorcise SOLO’s ghost. He said, “Avaunt and quit my sight SOLO. Let the earth hide thee, thy bone is marrowless and thy blood is cold.” yet the spirits of SOLO continues to hunt him.(Credit to Shakes Speare)
It is so hard to believe that Yahya Jammeh, the malnourished military kid who came to power promising to stamp out corruption, tribalism, parochialism, nepotism and waste in government spending is the very one leading it on a massive scale .His favorite charges against ministers of his government is abuse of office, economic crimes and misappropriation of public funds yet he is the chief mis-appropriator of public funds. Just imagine the number of ministers Jammeh hired and fired since 1994.Hardly does a week go by without Jammeh appointing, firing and rehiring ministers. What a waste of public funds!! This only happens in The Gambia and I recommend that Jammeh should be charged with abuse of office, economic crimes and misappropriation of public funds for failure to do his due diligence in hiring the right persons for ministerial positions or rather arbitrarily hiring and firing them thus wasting public funds of The Gambia.
Mr. President, we Gambians at home and abroad and future generations deserve much more than a sword wielding president only known for disgracing us everywhere we go, because of his bizarre rantings at home and abroad, diplomatic blunders, murders. You owe the family of Solo Sandeng his dead body so they can give him a decent burial. You owe Ousainou Darboe and the rest of his comrades wrongfully jailed at mile 2 their freedom. You owe us maturity as our president your Excellency. You owe us wisdom and coherence Babilimansa .You owe us transformation and the change you have promised since you came to power over two decades ago.Mr. President please give up your idiotic ways, grow up and before I even forget, why not even think about not running for another term as promised. Believe me, I will love you for it.Ohh another thing before I forget again, since you are a man of tradition, don’t be mad at me for telling you the truth unlike the sycophants you are surrounded by, my last name is Darboe and I have the traditional license to say anything to you and you can’t do anything about it because tradition dictates that you don’t.
Ends
Probably your open letter will not be the last that fell on deaf ears. I am rather taken aback by your seemingly apologetic and inconsequential conclusion remarks!
I don’t also think that there will any shortage of holy men in Gambia to lend hand in this barbaric enterprise.
I think we were caught off guard. The religious section of our society thought that with this Quran wielding man , we are finally going back to our “roots”, after 30 years of Jawara’s “secular” experiment. The Christian followers thought he is the best quarantor of their faith from the onslaught of the religious zealots from the provinces namely Imam Fatty.
Only now to realise that the man is here for himself alone. And that each of them are his means to absolute power. It was then too late. I am happy in the camp of those who have seen this apocalypse coming.
Great piece Mr Darboe. In The Gambia , we have obsessive Islamic syndrome where religious leaders refused to preach truth to the power. I do not understand why they are so obsessed with hell, sin and hereafter while they refuse to talk about the problems we face on this earth. The brand of Islam they are preaching is so scary that you would think the religion itself has no inspiration messages or motivations to enable human being to work hard for their living and be innovative. Islamic preaching in The Gambia is all about hell fire. These religious leaders never talk about lack of moral values, too much corruption, human right violations that are so prevalence in the country.