When I inquired from an old friend and acquaintance who was a senior government official during the previous APRC regime about the reasons behind former President Yahya Jammeh amending the 1997 constitution to include the contentious clause disqualifying Gambians with dual citizenship from holding key executive positions, including the presidency and ministerial roles, he had an interesting explanation. It is important to note that the original 1997 draft constitution, which was voted into law through a referendum in 1996, did not contain this clause. Similarly, the 1970 constitution of the Jawara regime, which prevailed for over three decades, did not have such a restriction either. My friend explained that “President Jammeh harbored a peculiar phobia against Gambians holding dual citizenship in the West, especially those who had naturalized in the USA.” Jammeh believed that Gambians with US citizenship were disloyal to The Gambia and loyal to America, making them vulnerable to being used by the US government to spy and share confidential secrets of The Gambia. When asked why, after passing the law, Jammeh at some point violated it by appointing two Gambian-American citizens to ministerial positions, my friend had little to say other than to refer to the former president’s dictatorial tendencies. Jammeh commanded the sole entitlement to do what he wanted without facing any consequences. Nevertheless, my friend attributed the subsequent dismissal of the two ministers to Jammeh’s later claim that they were indeed working for America as “spies” and not for The Gambia. Specifically, Dr. Amadou Scattred Janneh, who was appointed Minister of Information and Broadcasting, was dismissed because Jammeh suspected him of attempting to establish an American digital spy network in The Gambia when he tried to improve the country’s telecommunication efficiency with an American company, AT&T. It is self-evident that almost all Gambians acquiring citizenship status in the West, including the USA, did so primarily to legalize their status for a hassle-free life as immigrants and for better working, living, and learning opportunities. Unfortunately, this idea never resonated with President Jammeh while he was supported by several cabinet ministers and lawmakers in the National Assembly and, ostensibly, by President Barrow’s government as well. What an absurdity! Looking back, Gambian migrants in the West were often quick and desperate to explore every possible means to acquire legal status. Without it, life was miserable and unbearable. Claiming political asylum due to persecution by Jammeh and his government, even if falsely, was a highly popular and relatively easy route to legal status. If that didn’t work, circumcised women who still believed in and practiced the culture would apply for asylum, often accusing the Gambian government and Jammeh of forcing them into the practice of female genital mutilation even after he banned it. Another common method was marrying a Western citizen who would file for the person and change their status. Only a negligible few were granted legal visa status based on their expertise in their field of study. Has President Barrow’s government ever questioned why the number of Gambians being deported from the West has increased exponentially since Jammeh’s departure? One would have hoped that the coalition government he led, which came to power in 2017, would see through the nonsensical law, consider the effective contributions of the diaspora in bringing about the regime change we enjoy today, and immediately work on repealing it from the constitution. But that didn’t happen. Instead, the NPP government is in the process of taking the draconian law to another level by proposing a so-called “Foreign Affairs Bill 2024” that will deem all Gambian appointees with dual citizenship in the foreign service unfit to serve the country. After all, it is obvious that the West doesn’t need to plant Gambian spies holding citizenship of their countries to steal vital government secrets if they are already in charge of much of what our government does. Secrets about what, exactly? Let’s examine why this fear is baseless. Almost everything our government does, including its economic, security, and social programs, is either initiated, dictated, supervised or monitored by Western governments, organizations, or institutions. If the West were desperately in need of our economic secrets, all they would need to do is have the IMF or the EU send a spy disguised as a foreign financial advisor, whose presence would be deemed imperative before disbursing a future interest-free loan worth millions of dollars. Do we have qualified Gambian loyalists or institutions capable of vetting such spies if our fear of hoodwinkers is that intense? When nations express concerns about spies and disloyal citizens, the primary fear often centers around security forces, particularly the possibility of spies infiltrating the armed forces to gather secrets for enemy use. However, in our recent Security Sector Reform (SSR) initiative, the architects were not only privy to all our national security secrets but also comprised experts, sources of the concept, and funding from the West. Retired European and American military officers, paid by the EU, were deployed to advise us on the best practices to achieve an SSR. Given this scenario, why would the US government bother planting retired Lt. Colonel Samsudeen Sarr, an American citizen, to spy on us when their officers are already drafting the entire security strategy? This fear seems unfounded. Recently, I witnessed and documented instances where American government officials openly came to the country, invited serving members of the Gambia Armed Forces, and interviewed them for days at the US Embassy on state matters, all without the knowledge of the Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) or the president. In conclusion, the government needs to recognize that this phobia against Gambians holding Western citizenship, initiated by the Jammeh administration, is baseless and should be repealed immediately for the betterment of the country.
