Jammeh, Gambia’s Mandate Thief

The Gambia’s President-elect has vehemently squashed the country’s outgoing President’s calls for fresh elections to be held. Yahya Jammeh had earlier lost the December 1st presidential elections to Adama Barrow. Mr. Jammeh on December 2nd beat people’s imagination when he called President-elect Barrow to congratulate him and concede defeat. Most people believe the man who thinks he is the only person capable of ruling the West African nation had been pressured to concede defeat.

However, the same unpredictable Yahya Jammeh has managed to put the Gambia on national and international news. In a dtamatic u-turn, Yahya Jammeh is contesting the elections results on national media instead of at the courts as stipulated in the constitution. Jammeh’s call for fresh elections to be held is the last kick of a dying horse.

The world’s reaction to the lunatic leader’s empty talk is swift. The international community is putting all options on the table if Jammeh wants to twist the will of Gambian people. Both the regional economic grouping ECOWAS and neighbouring Senegal have since been on high alert.

The opposition coalition that handed down victory to Adama Barrow says Gambians should go on their normal business. President-elect Barrow advised Jammeh to rescind his latest statement because “he has no constitutional mandate to call for fresh elections.” Only the Independent Electoral Commission reseeves the right to declare the final results. It is the same body whose officials are appointed by Yahya Jammeh that declares Adama Barrow the Gambia’s President-elect.

President-elect Barrow is expected to assume office in mid-January. In the interim he urged the coalition supporters to continue their victory celebration. He wants them to celebrate with discipline and maturity.

President Jammeh is yet to recover from the shock of losing elections on December 1st. He has since been looking into every avenue to get back the fallen Crown. “Even Jammeh’s bunch of seers told him that the fall of his hat seals his presidency,” one source says. Like dictators before him, Jammeh is drunk with power and has not prepared for the life of an ordinary citizen.

Clearly, Dictator Jammeh has nothing to gain in this squabble. Let someone tell then Lt. Jammeh that the Gambia he took over in July 1994 does not exist. He is now dealing with Generation Stand up for Our Rights and not Generation Nyakass/Bulfalleh. The Gambia’s Mandate Thief must live in reality, for he can no longer steal people’s mandate and get away with it. Was he not the one who stole Papa Jawara’s mandate and bragged about it? Gambians delivered the verdict on December 1st. There is no compelling evidence to sway this verdict.

Ends