With Aisha Jallow
That is a question a member of APRC, Momodou Camara, is asking. I can see him in my mind, scratching his head while he is thinking deep thoughts. He really can’t see any problem with that coalition, so we need to make things clear for him.
Mr Camara says that APRC is not a bad party. He also admits that the former president Yahya Jammeh made some mistakes, but we can’t blame the APRC for that. Oh, please don’t be sad, Mr Camara, just because you feel that we are unfair. You see; it doesn’t matter how you and your mates try to justify APRC and minimize what Jammeh has done – your party stinks. It stinks of cowardice, cruelty, lack of empathy and a complete denial. It also stinks of the blood spilled by Jammeh’s victims.
If the streets could speak, they would tell you about the junglers driving their vehicles to fetch a new victim. If the dry wells and the hidden beaches could speak, they would tell the world where the murdered people have been buried in secret. If the walls of Jammeh’s ”5 star hotel” could speak, they would tell you about the torture they have seen, the tears that have been shed, the prayers to a God that seemed to be very far away. Mr Camara, you say that you know that Jammeh has made so many mistakes during his time. I call it a mistake if you happen to erase a document that you just had completed on your laptop. Another example of a mistake could be that you had forgotten where you had parked your bike. These are mistakes that don’t harm anyone but yourself. They don’t make anyone cry, scream of pain, wet their pants of fear or get a heart attack after having been tortured.
It doesn’t matter if you try to defend APRC until the day you die, it still stinks. It doesn’t matter if there are some nice people who are members of this party, I’m sure that there are some nice people in the KKK (Ku Klux Klan) in the US too. According to president Donald Trump he defended members of KKK after a white supremacists rally in Charlottsville, USA.
First, he pinned blame on “many sides.” Two days later, with all the sincerity of a bad boy forced to apologize for tormenting his sister, he read prepared remarks acknowledging that white supremacy is wrong. The next day, he reversed his reversal, saying of the white supremacists and those who came to oppose them, that there were “very fine people on both sides.”
As long as there is anyone left who remembers the atrocities caused by Yahya Jammeh the blame will also be spilled upon APRC. The sooner you understand that, the better. You believe that it is UDP that is causing the debate considering an eventual coalition between NPP and APRC. Well sir, UDP is only one actor in this play, but there are so many others who will NEVER forgive Yahya Jammeh for what he has done. He is the founding father of the party, as you rightfully say, but all that he has done spills on you.
You will never be able to wash off your sins until you dissolve APRC and ask the Gambian people for forgiveness. There is an expression that I find both amusing and at the same time very accurate:
”May God be with you, because I don’t have the time.” In this case it means that whatever Yahya Jammeh , his junglers and APRC are guilty of, you will be judged by God for that. Get on your knees, pray, cry and repent. May God forgive you and deal with you the best he can because we don’t have time for any more of your stupidity.
A clip from an interview with Mr Camara in this newspaper on July 20:
”He ( Mr Camara) continued: “Why are they now making so much noise about NPP having talks with APRC? All the political parties are consulting APRC for a possible coalition but nothing is said about that until when it was suggested that the APRC is having talks with NPP. The UDP is not comfortable with that and they do not want us to have a coalition with NPP because they know we are the deciding factor.”
It seems strange that Mr Camara is so confident that APRC is the deciding factor. Is that the truth, or is it only in the minds of the spokesmen for the party? I really hope Mr Camara and his mates are delusional, but from what I have learnt that there are APRC people everywhere on high posts it makes me afraid. This is really a sign of bad leadership. President Barrow is clueless! He came to power without any education, without political experience on a high level and with an empty wallet. The first two points are still on the same level, but his wallet is more than full. A person with a lot of political experience at a high level doesn’t get fooled easily. That person knows where the traps are.
One of my first articles was about President Barrow’s bodylanguage. I spoke about his posture and the way he looked in to the camera. He sat like a sack of potatoes and looked in to the camera as a baby looking for his lost mother. I must admit that Barrow looks a bit more confident nowadays, but the posture is the same. Time has passed, more than 4 years has gone since Barrow was inaugurated, but his inner posture is the same. Being a president requires a lot of a person and it is a great responsibility. A president is supposed to be a leader, but a leader is nothing without good leadership skills.
A weak leader is only a puppet dressed in nice clothes. This puppet gets placed here and there to be a symbol for something that could have been great. Look at it as an actor who is standing on a stage. On the sides of the stage, and in the background are curtains. There is a lot going on behind these curtains that the audience is not supposed to see. People are moving around, some are standing still listening and waiting for their entrance. Props are hidden so they can be used in another scene. If the main character would get ill, or even die, there is someone else who knows all the lines and can take over that part in the play.
Look at the political drama in the Gambia as a play. For now President Barrow is the main character, but he is not supposed to take part in that play forever. He stands on the ”stage” , playing his role, but the problem in this play is that he is not a good ”actor ”. In fact , he is a lousy actor, and others are just waiting to get his role. What we need to consider is: who will we choose ? Are we searching for a new puppet? Someone who is easily led so the ones who are hiding behind the ”curtains” can go on with their actions? I’m sure that there are a lot of people who believe they are the right ones for the role, but for what reason? For the Gambia, and the Gambians – or for themselves and what they can gain from it?
