By Alagie Saidy-Barrow
Thanks to all those who stood against the Barrow Authoritarian Treaty. You will be on the right side of history on this issue. No individual should be allowed to hold a population of over two million people hostage. No public servant’s political interests should triumph over the voice of even ten people they claim to be serving. Note that the APRC/NPP may compromise on everything EXCEPT allowing Barrow to serve another ten years! That is non-negotiable for them. That should tell you everything you need to know. They know that they can easily establish political party hegemony, amass wealth, and by the time anything changes, it will not have mattered!
Had you given this Barrow Authoritarian treaty a chance, the power and control he would have accrued would nullify your ability to check his powers. Barrow was only asking for an inch with eyes on taking a mile. It would be naive to think that you can accept Barrow’s Draft today because you will have the opportunity to change the laws you don’t want in the future. Contenders of this position ignore or miss the reality of our situation. Money talks! And money gets you power and control. Money renders the law mute. Didn’t Yahya Jammeh have a parliament and a judiciary/Justice Ministry to check his excesses? Didn’t people like Sayyindi Jatta simply collude with him to abuse Gambians? What makes you think that, given Barrow’s history, you can give him an inch today and you will be in a position to take back a yard from him in the future? Like Ismaila Ceesay once said of Barrow: He reneged on his three-year promise, failed to deliver promised reforms, and ditched the draft constitution. Adama Barrow will not deliver a free, fair, and peaceful election. He will rig it. Pseudo-democracy must not be entertained.
Had you agreed to give the APRC/NPP what they want, they would have had the legitimacy to be the authoritarian government that his cabinet and supporters want. All because they stand to be in power, control, and gain more wealth. If the APRC/NPP mean well, let them find a way to accept that which reflects the voices of the people and not what serves the interests of one individual. Or, let them change the Jammeh Constitution to reflect what the majority of the people desire and not what serves their political ambitions of power, control, and wealth-building. If the constitution is truly about and for the people, then no one’s individual interest should even be a topic of discussion. That the first complaint Barrow’s Cabinet lodged against the 2020 Draft revolved around what interests Barrow should tell you that the constitution is about power and control for those sitting at the table today.
Those saying Barrow has his way to be President for life, what makes you think that you’d have had the power to stop him from being President for life if you had accepted his 2024 Draft? Didn’t they take away all meaningful forms of holding Barrow and his mandarins accountable? They want unchecked power, and what they will gain in wealth, power, and control would easily nullify any ability you would have had to change the laws. We seem to have forgotten our history so soon. In this colonial space, Power is far more important than the law. Don’t let anyone fool you. Get power and you can easily control the law. Power can take from you what the law gave you. We see this in international affairs (Palestine), and we see it in our colonial space. Ask those still waiting for the government to compensate them because their rights were abused. It shouldn’t have to be that way, but that is our sad reality.
We are stuck with Jammeh’s Constitution, and that only favours Barrow, some people claim. That may be so, but who do you think Barrow’s 2024 Draft favoured? Just because they dangled a few provisions in it that appeal to many does not mean they could not have manipulated the laws just as Jammeh did. Again, history should be a lesson. How do you think Jammeh was able to butcher his 1997 Constitution more than fifty times to tailor it into the dictatorial document it is today? Ask yourself if you trust Barrow or his parliamentarians. While doing so, keep in mind that Barrow told us he bribed some of them to torpedo the 2020 Draft. Money spoke, the law remains silent. Again, power is what controls the law. The law only controls power to the extent that it does not injure the powerful!
