I woke up this morning feeling somewhat apprehensive due to the criticisms I’ve received for my recent visit to the Statehouse with my friend Ebrima G. Sankareh, the government spokesman, on Friday, 19 July. We met with President Adama Barrow to thank him for sponsoring the printing of my new book, “Testimony of a Gambian Military Officer and Diplomat.” Critics argue that because I served as the deputy ambassador to the United Nations from 2015 to 2017 under former President Yahya Jammeh, I should not be granted an audience with President Barrow. They believe my past loyalty to Jammeh’s government disqualifies me from such a meeting. These detractors have also made various unfounded allegations against me, suggesting that the president has violated an unwritten rule by meeting with me. This supposed rule, which does not exist in any formal capacity, implies that the president should not engage with Gambians, whether affiliated with political parties or not, who have opposed his government in the past. Even Mr. Sankareh, a noble individual, is facing harassment simply for accompanying me to the State House. I apologize to my good friend for the trouble this has caused him. Interestingly, the loudest critics of my meeting with the president belong to the same ethnic group. I’ve been hearing from these individuals since 2014, after reconciling my political differences with former President Jammeh, which led to my appointment at the UN in 2015. They are adept at fabricating stories against me without any evidence, driven purely by hatred. Ironically, many of these critics initially supported President Barrow and his government for personal gain, especially during the first three years of the coalition government. However, they turned against him following the rupture of their parent party, the United Democratic Party (UDP). This split led to the formation of the National People’s Party (NPP) and the current government. Some my critics, who are still serving in the NPP government, have also faced accusations of betraying their parent parties, including the APRC and the UDP. Despite this, they share the same ethnic background. Notably, two current ambassadors serving under the NPP government, who attended numerous NPP-APRC political rallies in 2021, have joined in the vilification. They act as if they are unaware of my membership in the coalition and my previous meetings with President Barrow since the end of Jammeh’s regime. Others categorize me among former APRC members who have betrayed Jammeh but are now serving in the NPP government, such as National Assembly Speaker Fabakary Tombong Jatta and Deputy Speaker Seedy Njie, both nominated by the president. These two ambassadors criticizing me should be ashamed, as one was a staunch supporter of Jammeh and held key positions during the APRC era until he was jailed for embezzlement. The other was a dedicated UDP militant credited with building the party’s strong foundation but betrayed it in 2019, helping to create two rival factions. He is not neutral but is working to push perceived enemies away from President Barrow. Since 2019, I have frequented President Barrow’s office numerous times to discuss national security matters and seek his support. Six months ago, he graciously approved my request to sponsor the printing of my book after meeting with me. Last Friday, accompanied by Mr. Ebrima G. Sankareh, I returned to express my gratitude, contrary to baseless rumors suggesting I sought employment. Such behavior from some Gambians prompts me to question whether we truly live in a democratic society plagued by tribal, regional, and religious divisions, or in a nation intolerant of diversity, masking itself as a democracy. The lens through which we’ve viewed our country since independence doesn’t seem to reflect the reality of our so-called democracy. It begs the question: why did the two previous political parties and their leaders—PPP with Jawara and APRC with Jammeh—end their governance poorly, before the emergence of the current NPP government? Is this pattern normal, and do we have adequate measures in place to ensure the NPP government breaks this cycle? I doubt it, especially if politics continues to generate hate based on tribal, regional, and religious prejudices. Reflecting on former President Sir Dawda Jawara and his PPP government, it’s widely agreed that the Gambia National Army had no justification to overthrow his democratically elected government in 1994. However, after more than three decades of PPP rule marked by political maneuvering, the military intervention seemed inevitable. Apart from a few elite PPP supporters, the coup was widely celebrated, particularly among opposition parties like the National Convention Party (NCP), led by the late Sheriff Mustapha Dibba, which suffered severe persecution. What changed to disillusion Gambians from the salvation-promising system of the AFPRC/APRC? Tribal and religious politics undoubtedly played a pivotal role in its downfall, fostering an unwarranted sense of entitlement among select individuals. Had it not been for the entrenched mechanisms favoring the PPP, they might have continued in power across generations. Former President Yahya Jammeh, who ruled for 22 years, nearly caused a national catastrophe in 2017 when he refused to accept his defeat in The Gambia’s presidential election, as declared by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) that he himself had established to ensure fair elections, which had been lacking during the era of the PPP. It took the threat of military intervention by ECOWAS to force him out of power and transfer government to President-elect Adama Barrow. Without this intervention, Jammeh might have clung to power indefinitely. Can we agree that the root cause of such chaos in Gambian governance lies in the “indefinite tenure” factor? If leaders were assured that their time in office would definitively end on a specified date, military interventions, both domestic and foreign, might become obsolete. Could this be the key to establishing stable governments based on principles of our constitution, which advocates for absolute secularism, free from tribal, regional, and religious biases? Time will tell. Hopefully, President Adama Barrow’s administration will not face similar challenges at the end of its term.
