The decision by Pres. Barrow to dispatch his Vice President to the family of former Despot to pay respects to the departed soul of Asombi Bojang is indeed magnanimous.
The decision has reflected that indeed the President and his Vice did not only recognise the supremacy of the Gambia but also value the sociocultural unity and oneness of our people as well elucidated by Ousainou Darboe. Above all the gesture demonstrates a high level of political maturity that recognises that after all Yaya Jammeh is a former president, unfortunately.
This visit brings to memory the refusal by Yaya Jammeh to allow the bodies of the late Buba Baldeh and Kukoie Samba Sanyang to be brought to their homes for burial. Furthermore, one cannot, of course, forget the systematic abuse of human rights perpetrated by the Jammeh regime for which Ousainou Darboe and several members of this Government were direct victims.
Yet in view of such stark history and experience, the Barrow Government still contained themselves to grieve with Yaya Jammeh in his moment of affliction thereby celebrating humanity and all of its sacred values!
The lessons of this visit are therefore immense, both for Yaya Jammeh and his APRC members as well as for Pres. Barrow and the entire Gambian population.
In the first place the visit should prick Yaya Jammeh’s conscience to recognise the value of human life and the purpose of leadership. For 22 years Yaya Jammeh used his power as a leader to destroy human lives as if he was the giver and taker of human life. But just like his mother, he himself and all human beings shall die one day such that every human being must therefore recognise the sanctity of life to be protected at all times.
The gesture by Barrow should now teach Yaya Jammeh that a leader is merely a comforter among other noble functions. Today Yaya Jammeh is highly aggrieved, yet Barrow did not abandon him but came to his side to console him and pray for his mother. But years ago, Yaya Jammeh used his position as a leader to inflict such much pain and misery on other people’s mothers, fathers and children with impunity.
Indeed, if Yaya Jammeh has conscience and is honest to himself and is genuine to his claim that he believed in none other than Allah, this is the time for Yaya Jammeh to repent. This gesture by Barrow should humble down Yaya Jammeh to seek forgiveness from Gambians while he is alive. He should have seen that while his mother died in a foreign land because of his own bad actions as a leader, yet the present leaders of the Gambia came to his side to grieve with him.
The incident is an opportunity for Yaya Jammeh to reform himself. He should ask himself why his mother would die in faraway Equatorial Guinea and not somewhere in the Gambia such as Kotu or Kanilai of Bujinga. I am sure the late Asombi was not happy to live in Equatorial Guinea much more to die there. But because of the bad leadership and criminality of Yaya Jammeh he has succeeded in nothing other than victimise his own mother in life and in death.
This unfortunate incident should tell Yaya Jammeh that he is just a mere mortal man. The power he had claimed as a president was indeed the power of the people, which if taken away by the people, he becomes just any ordinary man who cannot do all for himself.
This is therefore the lesson that Barrow must also learn. This incident should teach Barrow that the reasons that took Yaya Jammeh to a faraway land with his mother can also take him, Barrow to even a farther away land if he follows in the footsteps of Yaya Jammeh.
Barrow must learn from this incident that being president is a service to your people. It is a position of honour and privilege for which one must become a true comforter, unifier and peacemaker for your society. It is a position that calls for one to be a true servant and protector of the rights and dignity of your fellow citizens. It is not a position of pomposity, abuse and self-aggrandisement.
If there are any lessons to learn, Barrow has the life of Yaya Jammeh to study because Yaya Jammeh has shown the world what a president should be or should not be. Hence Barrow must not only bask in the commendations that will follow his magnanimous gesture but must learn from this experience to realise that to be a president is to be humble, honest and responsible. To be a president is to be everything that was not Yaya Jammeh.
To the members of the APRC, this unfortunate incident should be a lesson to them too to stop acting as if Yaya Jammeh and APRC were great. The demise of Asombi in a faraway land is a direct indictment of not only Yaya Jammeh but each and every APRC member and the party as a whole. It shows that this party never protected the best interest of the country such that its founder had to flee the country only to have his mother die in a foreign land.
Hence members of APRC must humble themselves and seek forgiveness from Gambians. They must remember that while they received the current government leaders in their moment of grief, some years ago their own party leader had refused other deceased Gambians to return home.
Back then APRC did not advise Yaya Jammeh that such a decision was wrong, but they lived and rejoiced with it. But today they are expecting to receive the body of the mother of that tyrant because the current Government has agreed to allow the deceased to return home.
We hope the leaders of APRC will henceforth exercise humility, honesty and remorse at the brutal manner their party and leader misruled the Gambia. I hope they will emerge from denial and insensitivity but to recognise the pain and misery that the APRC Government inflicted on Gambians. The death of Asombi and the expression of condolence by the current Government must be enough lessons for them to understand that when you lead you must lead with justice and compassion.
For the Gambia our Homeland.
Madi Jobarteh,
During the most turbulent political impasse, Barrow lost his son bitten to death by a strayed dog, while he was hiding in Dakar.
With his usual humane nature of magnanimity, President Jammeh sent his condolences to a family that was intending to remove him from power.
Wasn’t that exemplary? Which you never mentioned nor graced. That’s your impartial nature and your dire hatred for a man who had the most tender heart.
Dying in a foreign land is absolutely nothing. Dying a Kafiir in the absence of family and Muslim Umma is worrying. Even though, the judgement and decision of SWT cannot be foreseen/determined by a human soul.
Make mention of Jammeh’s magnanimity, not the political undertone of these two HYPOCRITES; Barrow and Darbo.
What do the APRC have to apologise for? Do you think the Party is Jammeh alone? Some of your postings indeed lack respect.
Babu Soli
How convenient it is for you to talk about respect, something i sometimes wonder if you know what it really is. To respond in such a manner to such a balance and truthful piece from brother Madi show the gulf between the normal educated Gambian like Madi Jobarteh, Bax, Dr. Sarr, brother Jack, Bajaw, Samba, Lamin, Keluntang, Pjalo, Bourne and many others and the crazy fringe of Babu Soli and his ilks. What made this man this thick? this brutish, this dishonest and outright dumb? When is this behaviour a norm in our educated elites? How can a Gambian old age pensioner , a Muslim and a purported self proclaimed Mathematics professor get down this low, this obscene, this foolish, this pompous, this holier than holy and expect to be revered? Where is the reverence in your manners Babu Soli? Where is the civility, the comraderie, the respect for age, the common sense in your interactions with fellow men/women? What made you think that you have a total monopoly over the truth, over what is right or wrong, over who is good or bad, over what is reasonable or unreasonable, over what one can say or not say? Do you think that your western education make you any wiser than the average layman on the street of your village? If you think in the affirmative, then i urged you to think again, because i see more sense coming from my bull dog than from you. You are just an arrogant low life, a coward keyboard bully, a heartless troll, who celebrated only what is bad of a nation. You are the Yahya Jammeh of our time, a heartless little coward with a big mouth and a small brain.
Babu Solo,
You have become so stupidly and childishly jittery that Babu has overcome your shallow sense of democratic exposition with his usual and selfless style of expression. You must be very foolish to believe that I will ever express my ideas/thoughts to appease a human soul much more a FOOL like you. NEVER.
I am not in a show of intelligentsia, but in a clear climate of democratic free will, where I say what I feel damn right even if it gets thorny/bitter in your guts, man.
That’s what your foolish dominating mannerism cannot withstand. Man, get away to hell with your anger. You CAN NEVER silence Babu Soli with your irresponsible and IDIOTIC scribblings. There is a lot more coming from Soli to Solo and his bull dog, you are doggish!
Babu Soli
I am not comfortable getting into mudslinging of insults with you, nor was I attempting in any way to silence you,or have any anger towards you or anybody else for that matter. I was only showing my disgust at your brutish behaviour, behaviour that will not be acceptable even in the middle of the jungle. I wasn’t asking you to involve in any show of intelligentsia because i am not that naive not to understand your lack of human intelligence or civility. I was only reminding you of the responsibilities we all have as contributors to this and various online forums to act as good role models, modest educators and good ambassadors for our beautiful nation. We can all act the way you do by being abusive, arrogant, pompous and idiotic, but the way most of us were brought up prepared us never to be like you( an arrogant rotten low life). Just read your hate-filled post in your reaction to Dr.Sarr. Is that the reaction of a Mathematics professor or the reaction of a Mentally diseased patient languishing in some remote asylum in your village? What about your foolish and idiotic piece of garbage in response to Madi’s opinion column? Respect is a two way street Babu. If you let out your chicken in the morning, be prepared to received them in your barn yard in the evening, not your neighbour’s. Those who have no respect for anybody except a fallen exiled dictator, should be rest assured that they get no respect from their fellow men/women.
Hahaha Jack am sorry if I laugh over the statement that Mr babu soli is drama man,yes he is drama king,now his second name is Mr insult.
Good morning Jack is the same way I look into gambian problems, am not old enough to explain how jawara’s regime was conducting affairs,but I can explain a little about it because then I was getting to 19yrs old when yaya jammeh was taken over jawara’s government then I knew little about politics but politic of those days and the livehood of the citizenry was far much better than jammehs time to date if my memory can serve me well ,is the same sadness I feel so sad that I hold my tears because when I think about past I mean jawara’s time, how cheap food commodities where cheap thought we were far back in terms of infrastructure but living conditions of the people was conducive and affordable. This are things babu can’t contrast or maybe he has so much hatred in him against humanity he can explain that better ,I thank you all, who so ever is contributing immensely towards educating us and the gambians in general may Allah guide you all ,and safe us from evil minded people.am sorry am not An educationist but I tried to be abit constructive. Thanks Jack for your quick respond and wish you a pleasant day. It’s indeed very sad ,but as long we keep on advocating for peace and educating people we shall overcome the problems we have in the gambia
Babu Solo,
Our differences will remain as long as you take President Jammeh a dictator,a man I continue to consider my heroe. This is where your heart splits in hearing others with complete diverse views about a man they consider their heroe. That’s why I say you’ve failed in all categories of a democratically sane individual.
You’ve come again with your usual odd behaviour of not seeing the wrong and horrendous side of your tossed coin. Why tell lies about Soli? Review your language, your tone and your wordings to see if they are not vituperative.
Be rest assured about one thing. If you use such irresponsible language, expect harder and harsher tones from Soli. Then come to your own conclusions about me. I’m not taking a minute nonsense from individuals whose hatred for Jammeh will be vested in vilifying/insulting me.
Your CORRUPT and very bad administration is just prying on grandiose promises and projects while our masses are suffering from high prices of essential commodities, high fees at the privatized Gambia College; continued and persistent corruption, patronage, tribalism, electricity/water outages, wasteful seminars/conferences and sensitization gatherings, undemocratic tones to cow the opposition, naivety and the usual care free attitude at public offices, very poor education results… And the deliberate misappropiation of our money on family and friends.
Those who hate Jammeh but support such fiasco MUST desist from insulting me. At present I here living with these malpractices till end of August.
We just liten to LIES, manouvers to entrench their political power base and NOTHING else!
Correction
We just listen to…..
Babu soli you hate truth that’s why you are always been oppose on your opinions,no one here is trying to disrespect you but whole problems comes from you and no one,so please for Allah’s shake stop the insult. That’s all