If Yahya Jammeh lacks any iota of self-esteem that he cannot realise and accept that he is a disgraced tinpot dictator in the eyes of the world, at least Adama Barrow should have realized that he has a duty to salvage and protect The Gambia from conflict, disgrace and regret! Unfortunately, both men seem to be competing as to who is worse than the other.
After having full and firm control of the Executive and the Legislature for 22 years, Yahya Jammeh and AFPRC/APRC deliberately and actively damaged every right and every rule of our Constitution. They flouted the rule of law and pillaged public wealth with impunity as they reneged on their legal and official responsibilities to the detriment of Gambians! Yet, today, after Gambians shunned that evil regime, Adama Barrow decides to resurrect tyranny against his own people.
While Yahya Jammeh is so shameless that he pretends to forget that he had presided over one of the most brutal, corrupt and evil regimes in the world, on the other hand Adama Barrow decides to shed off any and every element of duty and self-respect to stoop so low to a tyrant who was rejected by his own people.
When Gambians voted for Adama Barrow in 2016 it was to reject Yahya Jammeh primarily. Hence what is expected of Barrow is to validate that vote by upholding the desire of the people to bring about a true democratic governance system and completely reject the vestiges of dictatorship in every form.
But Adama Barrow decided to betray The Gambia by not only failing to bring about good and effective government but even more disappointingly and shamelessly, to give life to a disgraced tyrant and his bunch of desperate supporters who are hellbent on destroying the life and future of this country.
For Yahya Jammeh to continue to describe the 2016 election as fraud and then go to the ludicrous height of claiming that under his misrule, life was safer and more secure and better in The Gambia is the greatest insult to the dignity of Gambians. These remarks point to a direct risk to democracy and stability in the country because literally Yahya is inciting a group of citizens to violence.
It is this kind of dangerous narrative perpetrated by another irresponsible president in another country, Donald Trump of the US that led to his supporters to invade their Congress. Similarly, Yahya Jammeh is perpetuating a narrative that can only move a certain group of people to employ violence and force to implement that kind of dangerous talk.
By claiming that the 2016 presidential election was rigged and imposed by foreign forces clearly indicates that Yahya Jammeh is seeking to destabilize this country. Only an irresponsible and useless government like Adama Barrow’s Government will allow a disgraced and an exiled dictator to become a key player in the country against that same Government that removed him!
In 2013, Lasana Jobarteh was illegally arrested, detained and charged by Jammeh’s thugs for using an iPad to connect a UDP rally to online media. But today the same Yahya Jammeh, a criminal fugitive is using the same gadgets to speak to a political rally inside the country!
Yahya Jammeh has the audacity to make the call and then vomit insults and lies on Gambians thanks to the gross act of irresponsibility by Adama Barrow in creating such despicable environment.
First, Adama Barrow failed to provide the kind of effective leadership that would have ushered in a new Gambia of democracy and good governance. Thanks to his failed leadership characterized by maintaining the same structures and enablers of dictatorship, Barrow succeeded in not only weakening the State as a whole, but by so doing, also allowing corruption, abuse of office and intolerable socioeconomic conditions to continue to prevail on the people.
Because of this malaise, Barrow created the unfortunate feeling of regret in many Gambians about his leadership. In fact, by his failure, he even made some people wish we could go back to Yahya Jammeh! It’s so sad to hear some people claim that during the time of Yahya Jammeh this or that was not happening or things were better!
Secondly, due to his complete ignorance of the meaning and gravity of the Office of the President, coupled with his misguided desire to stay in power by any means, Barrow has decided to lose his way by running after the tyrant for support. He refused to realize whence we came as a country and what duty he has to this country.
Barrow is so blinded by greed and the greedy people around him that he did not even realize how much he has disrespected and betrayed he himself!
How could Barrow forget the conditions of his own life when he was a member of the UDP before 2016? How could Barrow forget how Yahya Jammeh and the APRC misruled this country for 22 years? How could Adama Barrow forget about Koro Ceesay or Deyda Hydara or April 10/11 students just to list a few victims? Most especially, how could Barrow forget his own fellow men and women of UDP who were brutally beaten, raped and killed by the Yahya Jammeh and APRC Regime? How could he?
If Adama Barrow has any drop of patriotism and belief in Allah in his body as he claims, surely he should have been vigorously seeking the extradition and prosecution of Yahya Jammeh since 2017. If Barrow had any conscience left in him, he would have distanced himself far away from all the enablers of Yahya Jammeh and demand their accountability? If Barrow had any sense of responsibility and committed to justice, he would have demanded accountability for APRC for their gross act of negligence, complicity and abuse of their legal and political responsibility to uphold and defend the Constitution.
Clearly, there’s none who poses a greater threat to The Gambia than Pres. Adama Barrow and Yahya Jammeh. Indeed, Yahya Jammeh and Adama Barrow, aided and abetted by APRC and NPP, have demonstrated that they do not deserve to lead the people because of their proven dishonesty and unpatriotism!
