(JollofNews) – The present challenges and struggle that faces the Gambian people started way back two decades ago, when the military junta led by Lt. Yaya Jammeh as he was then called; overthrow a democratically elected government and usher themselves into power.
These young soldiers hungry for power immediately announced their plans for the Gambian people. The most reasonable of them I can remember is “accountability and transparency will be the order of the day”, as the deposed government officials were in their words; living a flamboyant life style at the expense of the masses of the Gambian people.
These words echoed well with most of the Gambian population. However, this was nothing but a lip service to get support from the people.
Fellow Gambians, let us be fair and honest to ourselves; did we ever see any transparency and accountability in Yahya Jammeh’s government? When he always boast at that time that his bank is Allah when asked how he finance the lavish projects he started. The simple answer is NO! In fact they are far from being transparent let alone accountable. Who are they fooling? Clearly, it’s the Gambian people.
I was going to school back then and old enough to understand what was going around me. My sense of reasoning at the time was not totally convinced by what I was hearing looking at the examples of other African nations with similar events and trends in their political history like Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone to name but a few.
I want every Gambian young and old to understand that we are being stripped off our rights to exist as normal human beings. All this is happening because few individuals who wanted to satisfy the needs of one selfish and arrogant dictator who will jump on any progressive bandwagon that patriotic Gambians initiate and make it his own, being it business or other social development agendas.
The way our economy is run is like a sole trader business where
one person is the sole owner and makes all decisions, which I found pathetic really to say the least. I think this is evident in other dictatorial regimes in the past and also in the 21st century. How can we (Gambians as a nation) allow a tyrant who did not achieve any college education beforehand; to be precise on his educational background, misguide us for more than two decades?
We are a democratic nation according to our constitution right, but why is it that we (the Gambian people) cannot express our honest opinion on how we are being governed, how our resources are being allocated to suit the needs of Gambian people and how our social infrastructure is being managed to create a true, fairer and a prosperous society that the 21st century calls for?
If we are indeed a democratic country, why is it that Gambians cannot go out and demonstrate peacefully without being harassed, intimidated, arrested and killed by the very people we are paying to protect us and our sovereignty?
All of these are clearly evident in present day Gambia. The April 10/11 2000 student demonstration is a true account of one of the events. It has come with no evidence or reason that Solo sandeng and others should be arrested and beaten inhumanely as it has been reported by reliable sources. The same way, Ousainou Darboe, leader of main opposition United Democratic Party (UDP) also arrested and detained with some senior party members. These people are all Gambians fighting for equality, tolerance, peace and justice for the Gambian people.
I have seen no other way that this dictator will stop killing our fellow citizens until we all come together as Gambians and remove the brutal dictatorial regime of President Yahya Jammeh. Fellow Gambians, let us not succumb to dictator Jammeh’s barbaric and irresponsible behaviour towards us. Let us all stand up to him and his government and fight with the rights we have as a people to put right what has been wrong for decades. Together we can do it. The country is heading in a wrong direction and in the hands of the wrong people really. Let’s come together, work as a people to stop this dictatorship and tyranny on us and work towards a better and brighter future for ourselves and the future generations.
Together we can do it as it is clearly manifested in the fundamental principles and values, which makes the Gambia an independent nation. The Gambian people had enough of the rubbish and bloody rule for more two decades. We want power back to the people of the Gambian where it rightfully belongs. Power to the people!
