I have stated, at various times, that I am weary of any African politician who tries to use religion to sell his politics. I am equally weary of any religious leader who uses politicians to sell his religion. Unfortunately, for those of us trapped in this colonial space, we don’t lack for either. Consider the case of Almameh Gibba, a confused religiopolitical hypocrite who is quoted by The Point Newspaper as saying:
“We are decent people and protected by the religion and culture. This bill is for us to maintain peace, law, and order because we believe that the law is discriminatory; it’s a law that protects one side and deters others…”
Unfettered ignorance breeds dangerous comfort, and in Almameh Gibba, this colonial space has a religious and tribal bigot who comfortably reclines in his ignorance that he confuses for enlightenment. Please take a minute to go and listen to his interview on Coffee Time With Peter Gomez. I managed three minutes of it and I left feeling sorry for Almameh and those he has managed to delude into believing in his religious hubris.
Let’s forgive Almameh’s ignorance in not knowing that all laws are discriminatory, meaning laws will always affect a subset of people. If you manage to get through Almameh’s incoherence in his various interviews, his hypocrisy takes center stage. This hypocrite, who comes attired like some supposedly pious Muslim, is the same man who callously said that Yaya Jammeh’s victims got what they deserved!
In Almameh’s book of hypocrisy, Jammeh’s satanic witch-hunt victims got what they deserved! Solo Sandeng got what he deserved. The April 10-11 children that the APRC Government killed or maimed, got what they deserved. Baba Jobe got what he deserved. Saul Ndow and Mahawa Cham got what they deserved. The Ghanaian migrants got what they deserved. In Almameh’s book, Deyda Hydara deserved to die in the hands of Yahya Jammeh’s Junglers. The women who were raped by by Jammeh and his thugs got what they deserved! Almameh Gibba looked a Victim of his APRC and mocked her about the killing of her father! Today this same Almameh Gibba, without any shame, wants to preach to us about decency! What decent person tells lies about the dead? Almameh Gibba claims he too is a victim of Yahya Jammeh just so he can dilute and lessen the pain and suffering of those still suffering. But he wants to preach to us about Islam and peace today.
Almameh Gibba is also the same hypocrite who still supports and defends Yaya Jammeh, a man who ravaged Foni through some satanic witch-hunting prohibited by the same Islam Almameh Gibba claims to champion today. The hypocrite in religious garb has no issues with Yahya Jammeh going around arresting people in a satanic ritual but he can come to us today and preach about religion protecting us. I wonder what happened to his religious zeal and its protection when the rights of the people in Foni were being trampled upon by the satanic witch-hunter he swore allegiance to.
If you follow the news, you’ll think that Almameh Gibba stands for all the people of Foni. But a name you’ll hardly, if ever, hear this hypocrite mention is Siaka Fatajo! Siaka Fatajo was forcefully disappeared in Foni in 2017. To this day, he’s children are crying for their father. But you will never hear the hypocrite Almameh Gibba mention Siaka’s name! Siaka’s humanity does not matter to Almameh Gibba because well, Siaka was not of his ethnicity or his political party! That Siaka is a Muslim who was disappeared in Almameh Gibba’s backyard does not matter to this hypocrite. Yet, he can come here today to preach to us about religion and discrimination! Where is Almameh’s piety when it comes to Siaka Fatajo and the family he was forced to leave?
In the end, you have to feel sorry for our country! That such confused tribal bigots and religious hypocrites are the ones claiming to be representatives of the people is tragic! The people deserve better and politicians being religious hypocrites like Almameh Gibba are definitely not the answer! Sadly, this colonial space is where religion meets politics at the junction of hypocrisy. But this is what happens when accountability is sacrificed at the altar of political expediency! We replaced the oarsman while ignoring the gaping holes in the boat. Is it any wonder that the boat is taking water?
Alagie Saidy-Barrow
