(JollofNews)- The NIA, Yahya Jammeh’s equivalent of the brutal dogs in Animal Farm, has no place in the new Gambia of democratic dispensation and the rule of law.
One of my readers noted that he had forgotten much about Animal Farm, but can remember enough to compare Jammeh’s Information Minister Sheriff Bojang to Squealer.
I am actually helping my students revise Animal Farm for their exams in four months time. Readers can find everything we are discussing about Animal Farm here: BBC Bitesize – GCSE Literature – Modern Prose – Animal Farm.
These dogs, standing guard behind the dictator Napoleon, represented everything that the NIA represented during Yahya Jammeh’s rule. I really need say no more because Gambians have a vivid image of the tortures and killings that the NIA meted out to fellow citizens.
From the description of the tortures and killings when Solo Sandeng met his end at the hands of the NIA, there is no distinction at all between Orwell’s description of the vicious behaviour of Napoleon’s dogs and that of Yahya Jammeh’s NIA.
I transcribed the torture victims’ affidavit for KairoNews at the time and it is unforgettable. Who can forget how the NIA thugs return to the naked lifeless body of Solo Sandeng and mete out more torture to ensure he is dead? Who can forget the pain and suffering of the woman, herself tortured, holding and sympathising with the naked dying Solo Sandeng.
No really, the NIA should have been buried six-feet deep yesterday and that is all that needs to be said about them.
I sympathise with President Barrow as he washes his hand again and again, like Lady Macbeth, just because he has inadvertently and unintentional shaken the hands of Yahya Jammeh’s NIA Butcher, Yankuba Badgie.
Dida Halake,
Notting Hill,
London
I personally, cannot think of a single reason for keeping the NIA. My moral scale has many overwhelming reasons on the side of dissolving it and nothing on the side for keeping it.
It would be interesting to hear President Barrow’s justification for keeping this agency.
Someone needs to get on the band wagon and start printing T-shirts “THE NIA CANNOT STAY” or “GO AWAY NIA”!
I totally agree with Stan and Dida that the NIA, a band of uncouth and unpolished Gambians must go.
Aside from reminding us about all that was brutal and evil about the Jammeh regime, the NIA represents a drain on the Gambian economy that’s hardly worth keeping.
Can this agency be transformed into anything of value to Gambians? My answer is NO.
Does the NIA represent good value for the investment? Again the answer is NO.
Weren’t Gambians led to believe that the bulk of NIA operatives came from the Casamance? Now we know that it was and still is our own sons, daughters, nieces and nephews that wreaked havoc on the Gambian population.
Human beings are creatures of habit. The NIA represents a bunch of freeloaders that have only injected toxins in Gambian society. It’s gonna be hard as hell to reform the bad habits and mindset of the agency to serve any meaningful purpose. The agency under Jammeh practically robbed the Gambia Police Force of all their authority.
The NIA also acted to fester corruption in Gambian society. In the words of a government official in Basse, when it comes to apportioning the loot/bribe, the NIA operative never misses his cut!
In Manding, the official said, Ning Mbaa Kuday La Dawo Daa, Fo NIA Ye Maabay Jay. Bad eggs they are in the eyes of most Gambians.
Where the coalition sees value or benefit in keeping this nasty outfit for now, the same coalition will certainly be expected to account for keeping this band of scoundrels in the third republic and also prove that the NIA indeed represented good value to the Gambian taxpayers.
Equally, when the PPP created the National NSS, Gambians politicians couldn’t resist the temptation of putting them to work on their individual agendas. Folks that frequented the former Teresa’s Social Club in Fajara may be willing to share their nasty experience with what amounted to a state terror apparatus then.
Ollof Njaye Neh, Tanka Bu Duhut Banku Wola Taaly, Dogal Sanni. That’s my prescription for the NIA. Dogg Len Sanni! Get rid of them. Disband the NIA and let the police play their rightful role in policing everyone including ex NIA operatives. Keeping the NIA amounts to creating meaningless competition for the Gambia Police Force and a drain on meager resources. That’s a luxury that we do not have in the New Republic!! Live by what you preach and not the old fashion Gambian way of, do as I say but don’t do what I do. That amounts to horrible double standards.
Andy
Informative Pjalo – give us more!
Very well written Andy.
I was always taught if it was dead and started to smell you drug it around back, dug a hole and buried it. Then the smell went away. This is really starting to stink.
The moment is ripe now to be rid of this agency and move forward rather than back.
Keeping them for now is a good idea. They will be useful in a Truth and Reconciliation Commission. If they are dissolved right away, they will all disappear in tin air. The attitude and behavior of the Butcher is the talk of town. On the day President Barrow was returning home, the Butcher deliberately put on green to provoke the crowd that went there to welcome the President. But fortunately, no body bothered about his behavior. Again, when meeting a respectable individual, like a President, one would expect any decent person to remove specs, especially dark specs. But no, the disrespectful nature of the Butcher doesnt know any moral protocols.
Samba they may also tamper with evidence so by the time the commission starts there will not be a single shred of evidence to tie any one of them to the crimes they are alleged to have committed. I think Mr Barrow is making a lot of miscalculations in his attempt not to rock the boat. He is underestimating the ability of Jammeh’s cohort at re-inventing themselves. He should have put most of the senior security officers including CDS Badjie IGP Sonko on administrative leave pending the outcome of a commission of enquiry in order to establish what they know about and what their involvement was in these alleged crimes. Living them to continue in their posts as if nothing has happen can seriously compromise the commission.
Indeed Stan, the NIA stunk for a long time and is still stinking at its proper premises on Marina Parade and those hidden elsewhere in The Gambia that the coalition may never know!
Halifa may add, believe me, we will find out and set things right! Not in The Gambia that we know so well.
Whoever was planning on printing T-shirts stating, the NIA MUST GO should please do so right away so the momentum is not lost on the drumbeat to bury this odious NIA for good.
Samba, why keep the NIA when we have an underutilized police force? Didn’t Yaya Jammeh pronounce on one of his drunken stupors that the Gambia Police are too nice with the public! YES they are nice because they act like decent human beings. In fact I like the police to the extent that I call the Gambia KANYALENGOLU. My heart also goes out to their daily HUSLTLE. What Kombo calls Hustle-O.
I will quote Gambians that have been “invited” to the NIA. Mo Leh Ka Taa Jay, E May Maa (Manding) they’d add. Meaning that no one goes to the NIA without being beaten, brutalized or robbed off of your money through a well oiled shake down scheme.
These folks never had and still don’t have any scruples or respect for Gambians and that’s not gonna change anytime soon. The jockeying for NIA relevance in the new republic is gonna start in earnest if it’s not already started. The young folks would add, Fii Jollof La, Hamm Anteh Nanu Bu Bahh!
Coalition, there’s too may issues to be set right in our dear Gambia. So disbanding a bunch of Napoleon’s Dogs cannot only save us a lot of heartache down the road but do Gambian taxpayers a whole lot of good!! Why would you want to grapple with chaos??
NIA should be scrapped,all employees properly screened,those found wanting to face the full wrath of the law as that will serve as a deterrent to others.
I know most of them have hands soaked with blood of innocent countrymen/women,weed them OUT and weed them NOW!!!