I’m grateful to be given space in this widely read paper. I want to address some of the ongoing political situations in the Gambia. WE must all admit that our country has gone through one of the most terrible moments of its existence since attaining independence. The country’s only problem is its cowardly sadistic, brutal and killer president. Yahya Jammeh’s 22 years in power is simply beyond horrifying, which is why he must go.
As a concerned Gambian, I want to offer my little advice to my fellow Gambians as we trek the road to change.
First of all, we need to properly reform our own ways of life before we can succeed in the struggle to restore our long lost democracy. Gambians are unpredictable, with so many dabblers in the struggle to get rid of Jammeh pursuing their selfish interest. When injustice prevails, we must all come together to fight genuinely and whole heartedly. Mahatma Gandhi rightly put it that “let the first act of every morning be to make the following resolve for the day: I shall not fear anyone on earth: I shall fear GOD:- I shall not bear ill will toward anyone-I shall not submit to injustice from anyone-I shall conquer untruth by truth. And in resisting untruth, I shall put up with all sufferings.”
We must set aside all our differences: ethnic, political or religious and chase the Monster out of state house. Like all other dictators before him, Yahya Jammeh has no permanent friend. He is the Ethnic Fever that needs uprooting. And once he is gone normalcy and life as usual will return to the Gambia.
The clock is ticking fast but all the eminent signs of the criminal regime’s fall are visible for everyone to see, with the absconding of the most dangerous and cruel Interior Minister ever to exist in the Gambian soil, proving the point that Jammeh cannot sustain his power base. Ousman Sonko’s escape followed fleeing into exile of former Justice Minister Basirou Mahoney. Sweden’s deportation of Ousman Sonko to Spain is soothing for the opposition. The crook’s absence has created a hole that cannot be filled.
Gambians, we have the last chance to uproot dictator Jammeh from power. We can only achieve this by consolidating our coalition, fight vigorously and take back our country. Electing the monster for another five years is tantamount to giving him carte blanche to kill the whole of Gambia, for he will close all the doors of opportunity. By the time a famine is declared it will be too late to rescue a sinking nation and her people. We must bear in mind that dictator Jammeh has separated so many people from their loved ones either through extra-judicial killings or enforced disappearances. No class or category of Gambian is spared the Jammeh brutality.
For the sakemail of our gallant heroes and heroines illegally languishing in jail, let’s vote in office Coalition candidate Adama Barrow. Lawyer Ousainou Darboe and his United Democratic Party leadership and supporters deserve our solidarity and support. They have gone to prison for our freedom, which is why we must vote out Jammeh to free these prisoners of conscience. If the likes of Solo Sandeng and Krumang could sacrifice their lives for the Gambia, then it behooves on us to task ourselves with building bridges to kick out a single soul that is bent on destroying everything Gambian.
I cannot conclude without offering some advice to the Coalition. As the only hope of change loving Gambians, the Coalition must not let the issue of Mama Kandeh of the GDC be a distraction. We have more important issues to talk about than a single party’s refusal to toe the line. His case should never overshadow our ultimate purpose of defeating dictator Jammeh. Our target is none other than Yahya Asombie Jammeh who has over and over demonstrated to us that he is better than any of us. Let’s prove him wrong that he is not the only Gambian born to govern.
Lon live the Gambia without Yahya Jammeh!
Long live opposition Coalition!
MODOU L KORTA, LONDON
Ends
Brother you are absolutely right. This PIG(YAHYA JAMMEH ) must go by all means, but not only must go, he must go as he came (penniless ) Another five years under yahya Jammeh means a lot of dangerous things to be faced by Gambians. Many families will only eat if any, one meal a day and that may not even be a hot one. There will crime everywhere in the Gambia for many reasons. The most dangerous thing is that he will kill and jail as many people as he wishes. This PIG must go and he must go as he came ( penniless )
Thank you very much brother for this wonderful writing.
Good communication skills there bro good job and well thought!
This is what we expecting from every patriotic citizen of Gambia and is our fundamental rights to speak about undemocratic government of Yahya Jammeh in Gambia. We have seen brutality of Jammeh’s regime, and is ourselves should bring it to an end. Enough is enough and Jammeh have to go. We want democracy and human rights in Gambia and no dictatorship. Justice for everyone.
Well written call to action. I particularly endorse your foresight in calling the coalition leadership not to engage in any form of campaign against GDF. Until now the leadership has been threading well on this fine line. It is not about the GDC but about presenting Adama Barrow to the voters. The voters are not irrational. Thanks to the Multimedia, they are well informed and are now in the position to distinguish between what will rescue us from an impending abyss and what not.
Let’s redouble our efforts and galvanise the people on the ground. Immense work is underway and people on the ground deserve our recognition and support in every kind. Those in the diaspora must engage every one in their families to support the coalition. Financial support must be sustained till we bring about change.
Modou L. Korta,
Who are you more than the hundreds of thousands of Gambian voters who voted for President Jammeh in 2011 and will undoubtedly return him to the Presidency on 1st December 2016? Are you more Gambian than all those thousands of voters? That’s the mad mistakes you diasporan opposition elements always make. You take yourselves as the “saviours” of our nation, whilst sidelining the majority at home. Who the HELL do you think you are?
PRESIDENT JAMMEH WILL WIN. INSHAA ALLAH.
Then you will be disappointed and disgraced. What next? Your useless Coalition with disgraced and tribalist figures like OJ and Halifa Sallah will abandon the marionette self-styled “president” Barrow. He’s just being used as an escape-goat in revenge for OJ and Halifa.
We’ll read the results soon. In Shaa Allah.
The reality in The Gambia is far from what the opposition tabloids in the diaspora and your cohorts in the Gambia tell you. The reality is, the Gambian electorate will NOT betray President Jammeh. Don’t fool yourselves about that.
That’s the reality you are trying to evade from. A Senegalese-style opposition will NEVER work in The Gambia. President Jammeh is unlike Ex-President Abdoulaye Wade who was ousted by a Coalition of bonafide Senegalese parties.The Gambian coalition parties comprise of dysfunctional parties: PPP, NCP. PDOIS, GMC, GPDP, NRP. The only party that can be vested with some amount of authority is the UDP. Thus the reason for electing a semi illiterate coalition candidate from that party.
These parties do not commadeer the minutest percentage of the Jammeh votes. President Jammeh is a leader of the grassroots and the Gambian elders.
I’ll invite you to a President-Jammeh-victory tea on Saturday 3rd December in Amsterdam or Rotterdam.
In Shaa Allah.
Long live President Jammeh. Long live the APRC and long live the patriotic non-neocolonialist citizens of the Gambia.
What makes Halifa and O.J all of a sudden tribalist? I thought this term is reserved for only a Mandinka who pose a threat to the regime. Halifa and O.J, to my understanding, are both non-Mandinka Gambians.
It is clear that the gov’t will come up with the divisive comments again, continuing the modus operandi of the regime all these years. Notorious to this praxis, somewhere in a viper group someone posted a comment from ex-junta Ebou Jallow, who wrote verbatim “GDC shall win the elections and form a coalition with aprc, and together we can work for a better Gambia without tribalism ( Mandinkas) and hate. President Mama Kairaba(Mandinka title) Kandeh will form a unity gov’t with the aprc and the sincere ones like Halifa Sallah(excluding Mandinka) in the opposition”. Then I ask myself. With whose vote you want to achieve all that?
But again people in denial are prone to extravagance and self-fulfilling prophecies. Apartheid system denied the existence of black South Africans and went as far as denying them citizenship rights. Was that sustainable? One thing is clear Gambians interested in the future of the country as a unified entity, will stay steadfast and shall overcome these treacherous agendas. We will not be apologetic.
Your leader announced last year in Talinding that the Mandinka are foreigners and that they should convert to Islam, that there will never be a Mandinka “mansa kunda” again in the country, and if we don’t shut up, he will exterminate us all.
Was that just comedy!
Interestingly, but of course expected, they are now courting the same people for votes –people he renounced as non-citizens. I thought it will be consequential if “the Babili Mansa” confiscated the voter cards of the Mandinka people and declare that voting rights is hereby denied to the Mandinka in the Gambia. The Mandinka elders they are courting will not fell prey this time to the old deceit tactics. These elders have sons and daughter and grandchildren. They have an interest in having Gambia in which their people will have a future and not exterminated or deported back to the Mali Empire.
Fact is, the strategy manifest the old game played to knock the heads of different ethnics against one another in times when the survival of the regime is at stake. All that you are doing is selling to the Mandinkas that Halifa and O.J. are their enemies and thus falling back on the old tactics of division by playing with the old sensivities of the people. That time has ended with the resurfacing into the political stage of people with multicultural background, hence the tactics of entrenching tyranny in the Gambia has steamed off.
Undoubtedly there are enough tricks to rig this election and crown your leader the president. It is not something new and it has being the case since that infamous 22nd July 1994 undemocratic takeover of gov’t. We are not naïve to believe that power will be transferred freely or voluntary. We are taking part in the election to refute the notion that the Gambian people are behind the regime. We are taking part in the election to show to the world that what is being done by this regime is without the consent of the Gambian people. Therefore the question of illegitimacy remains hovering over the “lords” of Gambia and continues to be that way tomorrow. We have a warlord and henchmen holding the country hostage. The people, by all indications, will reject these gods at the poll. What next is another matter altogether.
What is new and important is the unity in purpose. This cooperation across the polit-landscape and across the ethnic landscape is very important for the post-tyranny era of the Gambia. It has shown and signals the transformation of the young nation, from a throw back into medieval fiefdom, to a modern entity assuming goodwill and demanding common sense from its entire people living within HER border. The fundraising, the Kafos coming together to raise funds and awareness, the Whatsapp and viper groups connecting everyone from near and far, the using of the multimedia to outsmart the conventional TV and Radio, shows exemplary that we can defeat cynism and tyranny if only we FINALLY close ranks. THERE IS NO TURNING BACK!
@Kinteh, you should be able to figure out how killers of fellow citizens sound. This guy is an authentic assasin online. He would still be impressed by a Jammeh victory who is right now campaigning with military logistics around the country. He says Inshallah. ‘Inshallah’ should be referred to and relied upon when people endeavour in what is right but you can’t be going out to rob and say, ‘The will of GOD’.
There are a lot of donkeys in human disguise who think piousness is referring to God’s name every now and then, even when they are in the mood of hazardous hypocrisies.