The government of President Adama Barrow has definitely been quite rattled by the events of the past few days, when the young people came out in large numbers to demand that the government come out clean on the disposal of the assets of former President Yahya Jammeh.
However, the deterioration of the situation was definitely self-inflicted because the failure of the Inspector General of Police to issue a permit to the Gambians Against Looted Assets (GALA) for a peaceful protest against the issue was definitely ill-advised. it is very likely that if the permit was issued, a few of the young people would have simply shouted a few slogans for a few hours and then go home, without any incidence.
However, the decision by the IGP to refuse the permit without advancing any genuine reason, and choosing to resort to the use of force against those who came out at the Never Again Arch, was no doubt the trigger for the ensuing confrontations. Even though the police seem to have won the first battle against the small group at the Never Again Arch, but the subsequent battle at the Westfield Junction was eventually won by the young people, thus compelling the IGP to not only climb down from his assumed high pedestal, but to eat the humble pie and unconditionally release all the detainees.
There is no doubt that a lot of lessons have been learnt by the government, and the police, in particular, who must now accept that they are no longer in a position to dictate the narrative, like was the case during the Yahya Jammeh era. We all know that the young people had quite legitimate grievances and they were quite determined to pursue their demands to their logical conclusions. Therefore, it was a big mistake on the part of the IGP to think that he could subdue them by the use of force. The sooner the police realized that we are now living in a completely different environment from what they were used to under the Jammeh dictatorship, the better for everyone.
It is therefore not a surprise that the politicians also tried to capitalize on the prevailing situation to score points against the government, which has of course put President Barrow and his administrstion in a much weaker position. They must by now realized that it was their fault not to do the right thing at the right time, which eventually led to the confrontation. Therefore, if the government had handled the Jammeh assets with the utmost transparency and decorum from the very onset, there would not have been the need for the ensuing drama of the past few days.
The question that everyone now tends to ask is whether we have seen the end of the matter, and the answer is probably, no. While some lists of how some of Jammeh’s assets were disposed off had been released by the Attorney General’s Chambers, but some of it seems to have raised more questions than answers. For instance, some of the prices that some of the items fetched seem to have raised some eyebrows.
Another question that many people seem to ask is whether it was necessary to appoint Alpha Kapital and pay them such a colossal sum to dispose off the assets when there was the Assets Management and Recovery Corporation (AMRC); the government agency created purposely for the recovery and management of public assets.
