The national youth mobiliser of the APRC and nominated member of the National Assembly told The Standard last evening: “The US government has no moral authority to preach to the government and the people of The Gambia about democracy and the rule of law. For a country that has witnessed the transfer of power to a person who lost the popular vote (Al Gore) to one whose claim to power was his ancestry (George Bush), their message to the world should be something other than democracy. With the world still trying to make sense of the nonsense that is Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib, America is better off keeping quiet than falsely criticising any country for detaining criminals and murderers beyond 72 hours. After all, America has detained and continues to detain innocent people for more than a decade after 9/11.
“A country that is using drones to kill innocent people in places like Pakistan and Afghanistan should be ashamed of preaching about the rule of law. America continues its extra-judicial killings by drones. What is even shocking is that the US ambassador would stoop so low as to pitch America’s killings by drones against the senseless killings of so-called Islamic terrorists saying that the number of people their drones are killing is less than those killed by suicide bombers. Indeed Ambassador Arietti and the government he represents have demonstrated to the whole world their moral bankruptcy by setting the actions of reckless terrorists as the standard against which to measure the actions of the so-called leader of the free world.”
The firebrand youth leader further questioned the US’ commitment to support the government of The Gambia, noting they have not proven to be friends in the moment of challenge for the country.
“The ambassador has also confirmed that the US has done nothing to support the Gambian people in our development efforts. He could not mention a single project that has impacted the lives of ordinary Gambians. We still recall that during the drought of 2011 when the production of food items fell in The Gambia, the US government and its embassy did not contribute a single butut towards the relief efforts even though it was within the powers of their embassy here to do so.
“The Gambian people know their true friends and no one can fool them. America is spending billions of dollars in aid to military governments and monarchies around the world. If they cannot support our democratically elected government that is improving the livelihood of our citizens, then let them keep quiet or send us ambassadors that are humble enough to respect Gambians and their government. For Ambassador Arietti to speak of gay rights in this country is the greatest insult to the cultural and religious sensitivities of our people. As Gambians, we are human beings, not animals. We are also God-fearing people as Muslims and Christians and we will never compromise on homosexuality as it is fundamentally against our norms and values.”
By Sainey Darboe
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