When the need for holding people accountable is in contention with political calculations undergirded by a winning at all cost mentality, accountability often suffers a slow death.
This is evidenced by our embrace of unrepentant dictator enablers in the name of politics, but cloaked in efforts at reconciling the nation. But any peace or reconciliation obtained at the expense of accountability, will most likely not survive the grinding wheels of time. Such peace is fleeting and liable to implode from the very societal fissures it refused to address. Accountability is not mutually exclusive with reconciliation or the peace we yearn for.
When political calculations trump accountability, oftentimes, the argument proffered by politicians is that it is for the peace and unity of the country. Essentially, they’re saying that we need to privilege “peace” over accountability for the sake of the country. Sadly for the Victims, accountability started to suffer a defeat ever since the coalition government took over from Yaya Jammeh and they chose to wholesomely embrace his unrepentant enablers in the name of some misguided reconciliation. The result is that Gambia is arguably more divided today than it was in 2017. The unity against Jammeh imploded into more factions than ever before. If the number of registered political parties is not indicative of this division, it is definitely telling.
The question of what will happen to the TRRC recommendations is not as critical as the question of what will Gambians do if Barrow or whoever is president, decides to cherry-pick through the recommendations in line with their political agenda, as opposed to the interests of the Victims. Reason being, we have already seen how the Barrow government disregarded the recommendations of the Janneh Commission as well as the Faraba Commission. We have seen how they torpedoed the Draft Constitution, and how they’re deliberately disenfranchising Gambians based abroad. Do we need any more evidence as to the intentions of the Barrow government?
Meanwhile our parliament, on whom we should be counting on as a check on the runaway powers of the president, is overwhelmed, reactionary and ironically soporose. Civil society work or activism is a hustle for many and if they don’t see any funds, they’re rendered impotent. But forget any of those institutions for a minute. The most important question is: What are you going to do, as an individual, to ensure accountability for the Victims? Or are you going to maintain the position that the Victims are not your family so their fight for accountability is not your fight? Just as many of us did in the days of Jammeh.
Call me negativistic but what makes anyone think that TRRC recommendations will be treated any different from other commission reports or national endeavors? The Barrow government’s desire to remain in power far outweighs any desires they have for accountability. And to be fair to them, they’re not the only ones with this inclination. Many of us choose to see enablers in only those that we are not related to in any way. To Barrow and his camarilla, all that matters is to remain in power for as long as they can so they can continue to ride on the backs of Gambians.
A part of me wants to hope that Gambians will not abandon the Victims again. And especially those of us who aligned ourselves with the evil APRC government, or decided to keep quiet and play dead out of self-preservation, while our fellow Gambians were being killed, disappeared and raped. For those of us who claim they didn’t know, well now you know. What will you do?
We can all sit in our living rooms and scream ourselves hoarse about “justice”, but at the end of the day, how many of us are willing to stand up and ensure the Victims get the accountability they deserve? That is the abiding question for me and given the prevailing sentiments I observe, I am saddened to say that I’m not too hopeful. I see how the Janneh Commission report is abused and we continue to mind our business even though corruption probably indirectly kills more Gambians than we care to know. I am of the position that the Victims will be left holding the back again; that only few Gambians will care enough to stand with the Victims and try to get accountability. But I speak as a cynic.
I hope to be proven wrong and we will all be of those few people that ensure accountability! That is, if the “justice” we trumpet is not only some buzzword we shout, but it means nothing to us.
