My fellow Gambians:
The time has now come for the Gambian people to take the destiny of their
country into their own hands. We have to seize this moment and start ACTING
and DOING. We Gambians are good at talking around the issues; we are good at
complaining a lot. But we now have a responsibility to do everything in our
power to rid ourselves and our beloved nation of the pestilence that is
Yahya Jammeh and his APRC.
My fellow Gambians, the situation at home is becoming so grave and desperate
that it is our bounden and sacred duty to turn things around: to expose
Jammeh as the cheat, the thief, the liar, the corrupter of the young, the
maniac, the murderer, and to ensure that he stays in power not one more
minute than we can help.
Indeed, there is ample evidence that The Gambia, under Jammeh, has been
destroyed to the point that many people would even contend that it is
already too late to repair the massive damage done to our country by this
awful "leader". Whatever one looks at in The Gambia today: whichever sector
of life one examines, what one sees is mismanagement, ineffectiveness and
destruction.
Therefore, it is very clear that we have reached a point where we HAVE to
put words into action. All of us need to come together and take part in the
process of ridding ourselves and our country of the menace that is Jammeh
and the APRC. In order to rescue our country from its hijackers, we should
not be leaving this job to the Opposition parties alone.
EVERY Gambian needs to be fully informed, to be concerned and to be ready to
play a full part in the process of restoring dignity, honesty and integrity
to our nation. The time for ignorance, for burying one’s head in the sand,
for the "Jack, I’m all right" attitudes should be over for we can no longer
hide from the truth of what has happened to The Gambia.
And take note that when trouble erupts in the Gambia – and this is
inevitable if Jammeh holds onto the reins of power – it will affect
everyone: no-one will escape from the consequences, and not one family will
remain unaffected by it.
Since Gambians are justifiably proud of their heritage, and more importantly
given the fact that even if one is comfortably situated in the West, the
reality is that it is impossible to turn one’s back on one’s country of
origin. Whatever happens to and in The Gambia, will surely impact on every
Gambian wherever he or she may be.
My fellow Gambians, it has long been said that when tyranny grips a country,
it does not differentiate: we can now see that the repression, the poverty,
the desperate state of our country, is indeed touching most Gambians,
regardless of tribe, family, religious affiliation.
Apart from the fat cats surrounding Jammeh, every Gambian is suffering as a
direct consequence of the dire "leadership" our country has suffered for the
past six years. All Gambians therefore, need to be directly and actively
involved in saving the nation.
Here I must say that I am encouraged by the fact that of late I have been
receiving telephone calls from many Gambians who are working with
International Institutions who are offering strong moral support, but are
now also seeing the need for us all to be working together to save our
country from the chaos other countries have seen.
They are talking to me about the need for stability and sustainable
development in The Gambia, and of the ways in which these things may best be
achieved. Their focus is HOME, as it is the focus of most of us. All of us
MUST play a part in ensuring that we have a stable, peaceful and prosperous
country to which we may return at the earliest opportunity.
But the truth of the matter is that The Gambia will never prosper or know a
day of real peace, as long as Jammeh is there: this is why it is imperative
that we get rid of him with all possible speed. The task will not be easy,
and a few individuals will not do it.
Rather, it will require a concerted effort from all of us working
collectively together: teamwork and team spirit will need to be the
prerequisites of action. If only Gambians will start to ignore those small
differences which separate them, and unite under a banner of removing Jammeh
from office, then the future of our nation could be a bright one.
We owe it to ourselves, to each other, to our country, and to posterity, to
unite for the sake of The Gambia. Of course, being human, we are bound to
have our differences and disagreements, but we need to be putting these on
one side for the sake of a better future. The word COMPROMISE is the key to
our task today.
The example of Senegal, whose Opposition parties represented a huge span of
interests, comes again to mind. By joining together with a common mission, a
shared vision, the Senegalese managed to overturn an established Government
without one drop of blood being shed. The spirit of compromise is still
strongly in evidence in Senegal even now, and the successes of collective
effort are still being celebrated there.
I am therefore calling upon The Gambian people, wherever they may be, to get
interested in the politics and economics of their country; let them listen
to the rubbish being spoken by Yahya and dismiss it as what it is; let them
be critical and openly so; let them learn to be discriminating and
reflective.
Gambians need to involve themselves in the debate, and be ready to take
action and join the struggle to liberate the country from Jammeh’s dishonest
and corrupt grasp. We all need to recognise genuine and honest politicians
and separate them from the renegades and insincere ones. We all need to be
recognising the lies, which are being put about by Jammeh and his ilk, and
we need to be seeing through the spin, which his spokespeople are putting on
events and conditions at home.
Gambians are becoming politically more active, and we need to build on this
and persuade the mass of people to take action seriously. None of us should
be afraid of Jammeh and his minions: we have to fight the man with every
peaceful weapon at our disposal.
In this regard, I urge Gambians to write to the newspapers at home and
express their honest and open views: to contribute considered, serious and
well-thought out pieces to discussion groups such as Gambia-L; to raise
concerns with the International press and other media; to write to our
representatives (MPs) if they are not "delivering the goods"; to put all
public servants under the microscope and to demand honesty and
incorruptibility. Our ultimate goal is the defeat, through the electoral
process, of tyrant Jammeh and his awful party.
I am under no misconception that the achievement of this goal is going to be
easy. The battle to defeat Jammeh will be long and hard, and it has to
start NOW. People need to get registered as voters now and hold their
voters cards in the highest regard; they need to use their votes on election
day itself and not waste these precious votes; they need leaders who can
command their respect and act as informed and genuine advisers and teachers.
Power ultimately lies in the hands of the people, but the people must have
leaders who can organise them so that PEOPLE POWER will prevail.
The leaders who will help us through the electoral process and who can
re-assure the people of their collective strength and power must be
responsible, enlightened, honest, critical, committed: they must be people
of vision and foresight who are hardworking and trustworthy. Above all,
these must be leaders who will need to put the people’s interests as
paramount in their thinking, planning and actions.
In my view, the Opposition parties in The Gambia have a sacred duty, in the
name of posterity, to organise themselves first and foremost, and then to
galvanise and coordinate the people.
Surely, with good guidance, The Gambian people will know without doubt, that
power does ultimately rest in their hands. And also, our Opposition parties
need to be setting up information bureaus throughout the length and breadth
of the land; even with the problems of finance and human resources, it is
vital to have well-situated political information bureaus where people may
go freely for impartial advice, information, discussion.
Meanwhile, our opposition parties need to start organising rallies and
meetings across the country and they need to be shouting FOUL when and if
these rallies are attacked or restricted in any way. They also need to be
talking to the people through the press, on the radio, in advertisements, at
meetings.
They need to be putting forward their arguments in a cogent and effective
way, which ordinary people can understand: their messages need to simple and
clear, direct and unequivocal.
They need to be educating the people, in layman’s terms, about the people’s
constitutional rights and powers, and about the importance of the electoral
process in achieving one’s ends.
These are huge tasks for our Opposition parties to be undertaking, but I
urge them to take these responsibilities as God-given and to ensure that the
right messages reach the people.
The Gambian people have been pushed against the wall: they crave a change
for the better, and they need help to accomplish this through peaceful
means. They have an urgent need for people and leaders who understand the
issues, who can explain them honestly and dispassionately so that everyone
is fully informed and able to make sound decisions.
To this end, Gambian intellectuals, scholars, educators both at home and
abroad, have to be involved in this process of informing and enlightening.
It is a complex and dynamic area, and it requires all our efforts to get the
messages across. We have to be working together to help our people
understand complex political, social and economic issues in the context of
The Gambia, the sub-region, the continent and the world.
People are genuinely wanting change: they have had enough of Jammeh and his
band of crooks: they really do want to teach Jammeh a lesson that he will
never forget, and hold him to account for all the terrible things which he
has brought on our country. However, many people still do not truly or fully
understand why our country is in such a dire state, even now.
Just today, I attended a Naming Ceremony in Birmingham and met Gambians
there who were blaming foreigners in The Gambia for all the social, economic
and political ills, which are today’s reality. We all know that this sort of
xenophobic reaction is unreasonable, and untrue, and I had to take some time
to explain the realities of the Gambian situation. There is one man who
should be held accountable for the mess in which our nation finds itself
today – and that is Yahya Jammeh.
Also, we do recognise the contributions (very often behind the scenes
contributions) which many Gambians are making to effect political change in
The Gambia: we commend and thank them for all their efforts, and we know
that they hold The Gambia dear in their hearts. For instance, I do know that
people like Professor Sulayman Nyang, who do not contribute to The Gambia
List, do a lot to support our country in other ways.
However, we have to ensure that the support base for change in the country
becomes wider and stronger, and to achieve this, it is necessary to have
coordinated effort and shared visions for the future. Clarity is vital, and
we need to make sure that our message is clear to understand, and
unambiguous.
Therefore, all Gambians, especially the enlightened ones, have to take a
leading role in interpreting and expounding the issues: people will only be
ready to effect change if the issues are explained carefully and
effectively. The political education and enlightenment of The Gambian people
is a pressing duty for all of us, and we need to be working together as a
unified team to achieve success.
We all know how grave the current situation in The Gambia is, but the
situation is even worse that we originally thought. I spoke to an extremely
highly placed Gambian woman on the telephone today, who was at pains to let
me know that we were all under-estimating the gravity of the situation at
home.
This person told me that the situation has become so drastic, that now no
one can dare stop his/her car for anyone on the road begging for lift, for
fear that the person stopping the car could be your murderer or kidnapper.
The lady emphasised time and again, the extent of the atmosphere of fear and
repression: there is a constant need to look behind your back, and to be
aware of the lawlessness, which is now symptomatic of our country. In fact,
more and more people are being forced to use mobile phones, so that help can
be summoned at a moment’s notice, and in those cases where people cannot
afford a cellular phone, the norm is for a loved one to phone and check that
one has reached one’s destination safely.
Jammeh has his APRC spin doctors hard at work trying to portray a
prosperous, peaceful and law-abiding Gambia – but NO-ONE IS FOOLED ANY
LONGER by the spin. I wrote a few days ago about a leaked Intelligence
Report: my source has again asked me to reiterate that this report is direct
and bold in admitting the gravity of the situation about the lack of law and
order in our nation. We have good reason to be fearful about the
consequences of Jammeh’s years of misrule.
The reign of Yahya Jammeh MUST now come to an end: he has ensured the
destruction of everything good and decent in our country: he has brought
confusion among tribes, among families, among religions. He has even brought
disharmony, discord and misunderstanding between the various countries in
the sub-region, and he continues to foment strife between our neighbours and
us.
Yahya Jammeh is the worst thing that could ever have happened to our nation:
he is an evil, corrupt man who is stained with lies and blood. He has
become an economic burden the likes of which we have never seen before in
The Gambia: even now, he is sitting comfortably in Kanilai while his people
go hungry: he is taking an extended leave, while the rest of The Gambia
struggles to find work.
He even employs international chefs and bodyguards to pander to his every
whim; he steals from the public coffers to afford his rich man’s life style;
he purchases a plane with our money to enable him to travel in style at
every possible opportunity; he buys people’s support and loyalty with bribes
and empty promises; he hoodwinks the people with his "gifts" of tractors,
scholarships and "peace foundations". The man is a thief of the grandest and
vilest order.
And now there is ever-increasing evidence of the man’s deteriorating mental
state: stories of his descent into psychosis are coming out of The Gambia
fast and furiously: his closest aides confess to serious concerns about his
ability to manage his own house, never mind the nation! So we should not
allow this evil man to continue in office one second longer than necessary.
Gambians have to take the bull by the horns, and get rid of the man who
calls himself a president. However, it has been, and continues to be, my
belief that this should be done through the ballot box: that we have to try
the elections to liberate our country from his dreadful clutches.
If the man is voted out of office, and still refuses to leave, then the
people will have a noble cause and violence could possibly be justified in
order to ensure that the will of the people is acted upon. God forbid that
this scenario ever develops, but we need to be on our guards against it
happening.
My fellow Gambians, we have a hard task ahead of us to see the back of
Jammeh, but it is a worthy cause and one to which we should direct all our
efforts.
Ebrima Ceesay,
Birmingham, UK.
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