In a conversation with a buddy recently, the issue of endorsing a presidential candidate came up, and he suggested that since I “claim” to be independent, I should just endorse one of the presidential candidates. Perhaps it reflects my internalised insignificance, but endorsing a presidential candidate sounded a bit too pretentious to me. After all, an endorsement presupposes that one has enough public influence for anyone to give a “fluck,” and I have never regarded myself that freaking important. Yet, refusing to endorse any presidential candidate also rests on more substantive grounds. I believe the IEC has compromised its institutional credibility through corruption, as suggested by its leaked letter asking Adama Barrow to intervene with auditors; incompetence, reflected in its recurring difficulty with electoral figures; and apparent partiality, evident in its silence while the incumbent exploits state resources for partisan campaigning. A referee cannot remain credible while tolerating one contestant’s abuse of the electoral field. Moreover, I cannot regard an election as fully legitimate while the APRC/NPP government deliberately continues to deny thousands of Gambians living abroad, including me, the right to vote. That is my caveat. As for endorsing a candidate, I have resolved never to associate myself with unrepentant tyranny enablers. If our commitment to accountability is genuine, it must begin not with self-serving, convenient crooked fingers pointed at the Junglers, but with an honest reckoning with ourselves.
It is half-baked justice when you demand accountability from the Junglers while overlooking those who publicly celebrated, promoted, defended, and legitimized Yahya Jammeh as his regime murdered, raped, dispossessed, and terrorized Gambians. Many of these individuals have never acknowledged, much less accepted responsibility for, their public conduct during Jammeh’s rule. Yet across the APRC/NPP, UDP, Unite, and PDOIS alliances, unrepentant enablers of dictatorship continue to be embraced without any serious accounting for the roles they played in entrenching Jammeh’s tyranny. Some of you argue, and I agree, that political parties cannot control everyone who joins them. But parties can control whom they elevate, legitimise, and give prominence at the high table. When your party gives an unrepentant tyranny enabler a seat at the table, its rhetoric of accountability is nothing but political expedience. Accountability should start with us and our associates before we point fingers at the Junglers and Yaya Jammeh. You cannot blame Adama Barrow for embracing Seedy Njie while cuddling your own tyranny enabler.
I have maintained this position since 2017, and I will continue to insist upon it: Yahya Jammeh did not construct or sustain his tyranny alone. Nor were the Junglers, whom we insist on presenting as the definitive symbols of evil, the worst among us. A conception of accountability that prosecutes security officers while insulating political officials, propagandists, and civilian collaborators is not merely selective; it is structurally incapable of delivering true justice. You have already seen Adama Barrow and his APRC/NPP cherry-pick who they think should be forgiven! Transitional justice built on partial accountability can produce only partial justice, usually for the poor and politically expendable, never for the influential and well-connected. And that is exactly what you are seeing today. Keep pointing fingers at Jammeh and his security apparatus while cuddling with his political, legal, and professional enablers, and see if anything changes for the masses. Those of us who were old enough to understand what was happening during Jammeh’s rule must confront both our actions and our inactions. Because I believe accountability must be comprehensive, impartial, and consistent, I cannot associate myself with any political party that treats it as a slogan rather than a principle. That is why I cannot, in good conscience, endorse any candidate. That does not mean I will not offer whatever little support I can to ensure Adama Barrow and his band of political entrepreneurs and tribal merchants are defeated. I have always fought for a better Gambia, and I will keep doing so until I can no longer.
