These are sad days in The Gambia. Clearly, the passing of the Indemnity Act
Amendment bill into law means that whoever ordered the shooting of our
children would never be brought to justice by this government. The new law
also means that the security forces are empowered to shoot and kill anyone
engaged in what, by the government's estimation, is considered an illegal
activity. This of course, could mean any form of anti-government
demonstration or protest. Apart from giving the security forces a licence to
kill and making sure that those who ordered the April 10 killings will not
be touched, this tragic miscarriage of justice tells us another thing: that
the abhorrent 'paper tiger' parliaments of the Jawara era are still in
vogue.

Paper tiger parliaments mean that whatever bill comes from the ruling party
is passed without condition, by the majority ruling party members; and
whatever bill comes from the other parties is rejected out of hand by the
majority party members. It does not matter whether the bill from the
government party is thrash, vicious, obnoxious, unjust or outright illegal
in the context of our national institutions. It is a classic demonstration
of the shameful ethos of an Animal Farm scenario, 'Napoleon Is Always
Right'. It does not matter also, whether the bill represents the best option
for the preservation of national integrity or the achievement of
transparency, such as the crude oil bill seeking to get to the bottom of the
crude oil scandal in which President Jammeh remains implicated. It is the
case of the other side is always wrong.

Alas! What a shame! What a so-called revolution! We had thought that the
Jammeh era would heal at least some of the more festering wounds eating away
the soul of this nation during the dreary days of the Jawara era, such as
the nauseating specter of paper tiger parliaments. But alas, the day. These
wounds continue to fester and even grow worse and gangrenous. The Gambian
clock seems to be ticking backwards rather than forwards and everyday, we
are faced with the most blatant insults against our collective intelligence
and conscience. Indeed, those of us who hoped that the Jammeh era was going
to be an era of 'transparency, accountability and probity' as parroted by
the president have suffered a rude awakening. Time and time again, this
government demonstrates that all it cares about is its own survival as a
government.

Our gallant revolutionary president of 1994 has now developed a very sweet
tooth for power and God save anyone - student or otherwise - who dares to
preach caution or commonsense, or who dares to stand up for their rights.
Those who would venture to raise an arm to demand justice would see the real
meaning of the infamous Indemnity Act Amendment law. But, as we always say,
mortal beings can escape mortal justice, but there is no escape from the
Final Judgment. So, dear 'paper tiger' honourable members of our most
honourable national assembly, swallow your pride, shut your eyes to the
reality, pretend that injustice is justice and lies are the truth, and dance
gaily to the tunes of your political boss. Also, prepare for the Day from
which there is no escape, when you would have to render account of your
actions.


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