“The tongue has no bones but it is strong enough to break a heart. So be careful with your words.”
Amadou Samba’s social media defenders are waiting to prey on whoever says or writes as it is. They have been following the Janneh Commission and taking stock of its startling revelations. They choose to shut up thinking time will fade with the story of a man who in his heydays bragged about managing the Gambia’s brutal dictator. It is a title Samba later shunned and even had the audacity to badmouth Yahya Jammeh whose business errands he (Samba) had been running left and right. The dictator trusted Samba so much that he appointed him board chairman of any government institution or parastatal that matters. Anyone in doubt can refer to the Janneh Commission.
One Jammeh trusted aide described Samba as a co-president who had unfettered access to the ousted dictator. “No one wakes up Oga even when his mother needs him. But he permits us to alert him whenever Amadou Samba shows up unceremoniously,” said the aide who got it perfectly right that the Gambia government would issue a statement condemning Sheikh Sedia Bayo for humiliating Samba in Dakar in November 2014. “Just connect the dots, you will see the logic. Samba is an essential economic pillar of Jammeh who enjoys state protection. Samba’s likes are among the inner circle members who pollute Jammeh with tribal hatred,” the aide said four years before Jammeh’s was dethroned.
We treated the aide’s account at the time with caution fearing to whip an innocent man without genuine reason. Now that Amadou Samba’s name has been mentioned in the Janneh Commission, we can no longer spare the so-called business magnate. Alagie Conteh’s last week’s testimony before the Janneh Commission lifted a lid on Samba. Some people felt like cringing when Mr. Conteh quoted Mr. Samba as telling Muhammed Bazzi that “I told you that Conteh is a Mandinka who hates the President’s development.” The statement — yet to debunked — implied that Mandinka people hated Jammeh’s development projects. What an irrational statement! How can Mandinkas hate Jammeh or his development projects when they voted for him overwhelmingly? This baloney must be condemned by all Gambians who care about social cohesion, unity and harmony among ethnic groups in the country. The hateful statement defeats the spirit of our National Anthem. Let us revisit the anthem in its entire form and see whether tribal slur or hatred has a place in, it.
For The Gambia, our homeland
- We strive and work and pray,
- That all may live in unity,
- Freedom and peace each day.
- Let justice guide our actions
- Towards the common good,
- And join our diverse peoples
- To prove man’s brotherhood.
- We pledge our firm allegiance,
- Our promise we renew;
- Keep us, great God of nations,
- To The Gambia ever true.
For us to live in peace requires busting of haters in our midst. Amadou samba’s failure to publicly refute Conteh’s allegations gives credence to the story.
Food for thought for the learned lawyer-turned-businessman: “The tongue has no bones but it is strong enough to break a heart. So be careful with your words.”
Ends
Mr. Samba and co have been doing all this underground tribal politics in the Gambia since July 22nd, 1994. Mr. Conteh’s testimony about Amadou Samba is nothing but the truth. During 22 years of dictator Yahya AJJ Jammeh’s ruling, he sees mandinka tribe as a tribe that needs to wiped out or being in confinement at mile two central prison. That’s all Yahya AJJ Jammeh wants and he has started with top political or religious leaders of Mandinka tribe. When Jammeh was going after Mandinkas, we never heard this slogan ONE PEOPLE, ONE COUNTRY AND ONE GAMBIANS by Halifa Sallah and the rest. They all keep quiet while dictator Yahya AJJ Jammeh was butchering Mandinkas. Hatred against Mandinkas didnt start with President Adama Barrow’s presidency but it has started when Yahya AJJ Jammeh came to power and it is still existing in the Gambia. But Mandinkas should not follow or pay them back with the same hatred but rather show them that ALLAH hate haters and Allah makes the Mandinka tribe the majority of the Gambia for a reason. Let Mandinkas love those who hate them. That’s the winning formula and not hatred.
EB alias Sam mansa,
According to you
”When Jammeh was going after Mandinkas, we never heard this slogan ONE PEOPLE, ONE COUNTRY AND ONE GAMBIANS by Halifa Sallah and the rest. They all keep quiet while dictator Yahya AJJ Jammeh was butchering Mandinkas”.
My brother, is this statement of yours not based on hate ? Where were you when Halifa Sallah was criticizing Yahya Jammeh and exposing him for the detentions without trials and disappearances without traces; when he risk his life by confronting that brutal tyrant to put a stop to the humiliations he was subjecting our parents to in the name of witch-hunting ? Where were you and those you hailed today as heroes and saviors of the Gambian nation ?
You know very well like your knowledge of your own name and self that Halifa Sallah from day one has been defending the natural and constitutional rights of all Gambians regardless of which ethnic group they belong. This is a fact recorded by history in it’s indelible ink. Why then would someone made such a dishonest remark about him if not because of hate ?
Fabaks. Where was Halifa when all opposition leaders came together to condemn Jammeh’s tribal vitriol against mandikas except Halifa Sallah? Are you telling us that Mr Sallah refused to condemn jammeh at the time because he agreed with him ? Why he never said one Gambia one people at the time ? If he was for one Gambia one people he would have condemned Jammeh at the time. Tell us why he refused to condemn Jammeh’s tribal vitriol?
Max, If you are honest, you would have admitted that Halifa Sallah have been criticizing and condemning Jammeh for all his constitutional violations which includes his insults and distasteful statements against all sections of the Gambian society [ Gambian men and women and tribes including his own]. The coming together of your leaders to condemn Jammeh which you referred to already found Halifa doing so to the point of risking his own life on many occasions.
This particular event that you are referring to when Jammeh insults Mandinkas at his meeting in Talinding was not his first to insult them or his own tribes, the Jolas. Why did they not do the same before or when he insulted his own tribes, the Jolas ?
Max, you have forgotten that the slogan One Gambia, One Nation, and One People is that of the Coalition 2016 and not Halifa’s; or are you telling me that you people are no more committed to that ? For us and Halifa that is a life long commitment which did not begin with coalition 2016. In fact the coalition is a byproduct of that commitment.
Thank you Kairo News for addressing Amadou Samba’s tribal hatred, slur and bigotry without being personal. Haters have no place in our new Gambia. The one who loves others always lives in peace. One by one, Allah will expose the haters who want to pollute our society with hatred.
So disappointing and disturbing! These are the very people who turned Jilanka into a beast. We will never forgive anyone that throw our people into the lion’s den. Allaku Akbar!
Lol, and paranoid Jammeh was told that “Dida Halake is a British Spy!”
My God, you could have lost your soul with such an expensive gossip. We all knew Jammeh’s hatred towards the British.
It is not a surprise to hear Mr Samba’s anti-Mandika vitriol when he was closed to the dictator. I think Gambian people should boycott mr Samba’s businesses and the commission should ensure that all his business relationship with Dictator is exposed. It is indeed selfish and unpatriotic to encourage the Dictator to alienate half of the population who Mr. Samba made his entire fortune from . Without Mandingo people or Gambian people in general mr Samba and Dictator are a worthless thing. Shame on him for being deceptive and dishonest while been closed to Jammeh . He continue to lie every time he sit on the commission.
Maxs, you are right in your discription of Amadou Samba. Amadou Samba and Yaya Jammeh became who they are thanks to the Mandinkas in general. The reciprocity from Samba and Jammeh was hate.
About Halifa, I feel pity for the guy and his followers. No sooner you mention Halifa’s name than his deciples come out shouting and Fabaks is no exception.
Thanks Alhagi for your compliments. I am proud to be called a disciple of Halifa Sallah. Yes indeed I am and I will never hesitate to expose any dishonest remarks made against that noble soul.