DA Jawo and president Jammeh
Opinion

Gambia: How Yahya Jammeh Has Let The People Down

DA
Demba Jawo

(JollofNews) – It is indeed quite hard for any reasonable person to understand why Yahya Jammeh, who had been posing as a nationalist and a pan-Africanist who is prepared to die in defense of the people would now want to plunge our dear country into chaos and violence just to remain in power after he had been clearly rejected by a majority of the people.

To see how erratic and unpredictable Yahya Jammeh is, let us look at below the exact words he used after conceding defeat to Adama Barrow on December 2, even before all the results were released, so that Gambians themselves can judge whether he indeed deserves any shred of sympathy and support for his present position.

Yahya Jammeh from his own mouth: “I have always made it very clear that I will never rule this country without your mandate since we started elections. And I will never cheat in elections because this is the most transparent, rig-proof election in the whole world. Our system is unique and we have decided to go to the polls for you Gambian people to decide who you want to lead you. You have spoken in no uncertain terms.

Mr Jammeh conceding defeat after the election

Remember, I have always told you that even if my opponent leads by one vote, I will accept the result because they are transparent. Our system of elections is winner take all. Be it two votes, three votes or one vote, there is a majority. We have 868, 000 Gambians registered to vote in this election,; out of this, 525, 000 Gambians voted, leaving 362, 000 who had never showed up.

Whatever are the reasons for these 300,000 plus people that have decided not to vote, that is immaterial for me. I do not wish to contest to find out why they did not vote. It is between them and God. What I am concerned about and why I am here is those who have decided to vote; 18,978 more votes than I were cast for the opposition coalition leader.

I hereby take this opportunity to congratulate Adama Barrow for his victory. It’s a clear victory because our system says a simple majority. I wish him all the best and I wish all Gambians the best. As a Muslim who believes in the Almighty Allah, I will never question Allah’s decision today or at any material time.

I came on a Friday, 22nd July 1994, today, Friday, 2nd December 2016, you Gambians have decided that I should take the back seat. You have voted for somebody else to lead your country, our country. This is our country and I wish you all the best.

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