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Date: | Sun, 19 Oct 2003 18:44:26 -0400 |
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No figure generates as much controversy and sensation in the Gambia
as Lamin Waa Juwara, alias “Mbarodi”. Waa in time is an illusive
character whose political ambitions has ever been mistaken for public
courage. There is a Waa, the con artist since his days as the heavy
handed “commandang of Janjangbury” who preys on the young girls at
Armitage High School, and has now transmogrified his prurient desire for
power as a solace to the wishes of a dead beat “Diaspora”. There is a
Waa, the icon wanna-be who symbolizes the opposition and dominates the
anti-establishment political narrative. And there is also the vulgar
Waa the iconoclast- an irksome maverick to both the opposition, the
incumbency, and the entire social order in the Gambia. All these three
characters are systematically compartmentalized in Waa in order to slave
for his ultimate heart-aching desire: H. E. Alhajie Lamin Waa Juwara,
president of the Rep. of Mandink...the Grand Nephew of Dr.Fafa (
remember him?)
The Gambia is cursed, hexed and jinxed by the dearth of leadership. The
human ego is a sucker, and it adhors a power vacuum (which by the way is
quite rampant within the opposition establishment). One interesting
issue that constantly baffles me is how much choice does the Gambian
people have in choosing their “opposition leaders”? If one spans the
entire opposition spectrum from the inept UDP to the marginal NRP, the
answer is none. However, Waa has this talismanic effect such that his
saber rattling never fails to resonate with the desparate Diaspora whose
voice is unheard, unheeded and ignored by the voters that matter come
the general elections in 2006.
Sedition is a serious crime sanctionable by the Gambian Penal Codes; it
is not a human right guarranteed by the Constitution- a distinction
which seems to escape the current talk about Waa’s arrest. These days
Yaya Jammeh’s government has all rights to respond seriously to any
rhetorics that disturbs the public peace, law and order... if it only
connects the dots between the Senegalese intervention in 1981, and
domestic public unrest in the Gambia. It is a very volatile security
situation because this time around our “neighbors” want more than a
confederation... they want to pull the strings from Dakar with a puppet
at No. 1 Marina Parade.
Ebou
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