Only the Daily Observer will - with the aid of desperate APRC spin meisters -
proclaim Banjul as APRC territory. Given what APRC did to innocent Gambian
students in April last year, only a desperate fabricator will venture against
evidence into saying that Banjul is APRC territory and not an Alliance one.
As a "waa Banjul", and knowing full well the city's problems and how Jammeh
manipulated these in his early days as a military ruler; and how his empty
promises have evaporated into nothingness as Banjulians continue to be
deprived and repressed; i can say and, indeed, confirm that Banjul is for
President Darbo and the Alliance.  Consider the person who proclaimed that
Banjul is for Jammeh - Mayor Samba Faal. Had Banjul been an APRC stronghold,
why then has the party hold out on the slated but much delayed mayoral
elections, that Samba Faal is said to be front runner for the APRC ticket?
The proof of the pudding, as they say, is in the eating. APRC delayed the
local government elections because it knew precisely that it was heading for
an electoral routing that will all but leave it in tatters - morally and
electorally.

Under this APRC regime, Banjulians - especially, the youths - continue to be
at the receiving end of their maladministration, corruption and repressive
acts. Through Jammeh's politics of envy, the youths of Banjul have become the
targets of all sorts of victimisation - be it in the APRC's attempts to leave
the country for overseas or their general freedoms to be, as Jammeh sent his
paramilitary outfits on the rampage against the youths. The long-term
unemployment of the Gambia, which is as a result of Jammeh' slash-and-burn
economic policies, has not spared the youths of Banjul. Without any source of
legitimate income to survive on, Banjulians have largely resorted to
travelling abroad to ameliorate both their personal and family circumstances.
But Jammeh - ever the envious and hypocritical politician - is discouraging
and constraining this trend. Ironically not through helping the youths get
good jobs; rather, through making travelling abroad more difficult, and in
instances ridiculously accusing the Opposition of master-minding the mass
exodus of youths to foreign countries in search of better. Nowhere has
Jammeh's policy towards "waa Banjul" become more sinister than when he starts
pitting Banjulians against the some regions of the country, which to a large
extent is responsible for much of the hostilities that continues to exist
between the security forces and Banjul youths. This unfortunate trend is now
becoming part of the urban scene.

When Jammeh unveiled Arse 22, as Prince O'Brien rightly calls it, he
ignorantly claimed that it will come to symbolise Banjul's new status as a
great city. Yet, Arse 22 continues to stand as a monolithic nonsense white
elephant project in the entrance of Banjul. The nonsense and worthless
structure has come to represent APRC's maladministration, repression and
lawlessness. Arse 22 has contributed nothing to Banjul's socio-economic
renewal; rather, Banjulians look at the worthless and nonsense white elephant
structure and sigh with frustration as per how the monies squandered into the
white elephant project could have been best utilised for socio-economic
regeneration of the city's dilapidated economic life. Today, Arse 22 has come
to symbolise Jammeh's waste, graft and mismanagement of our dear country, the
Gambia, as poor Banjulians and the rest of the country continue to be
deprived and repressed.

Clearly there is an alternative to Jammeh's corruption, maladministration and
repression. Banjulians have a great choice in voting for President Darbo and
Alliance, who continue to show that they have what it takes to help the poor
regardless of social origin, religious creed, ethicity or any other
irrelevant characteristic. Banjulians should, therefore, now seize the
opportunity and give Darbo a chance to help turn things around for the
better. A vote for Darbo is a vote for liberal decency, tolerance and
progress.

Hamjatta Kanteh

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