No matter how AFPRC/APRC sycophants (old and new) want to slice it, the
bottom-line is that Gambians are POORER today than they were before the
illegal usurpation of power by a bunch of thugs in 1994. People can talk all
they want about road network(S) that do NOT exist or about well-equipped
hospitals and schools, that do NOT exist. Famara Jatta’s figures do NOT lie.
No APRC sycophant visiting/living Banjul came here to refute newspaper
reports that children in Serrekunda do NOT have adequate rudimentary
furniture in their classes. We are talking here about desks and chairs. If
that kind of predicament was justification enough to remove PPP, then I ask
us what we are doing with APRC. But, you have people wanting to convince us
that people still ‘genuinely support’ APRC despite these problems (that they
could not stand when PPP was in power). Utter rubbish.
APRC/AFPRC sycophants prefer to set low expectations for the regime and blow
out of proportion the minutest achievements. Classic exhibition of the Acute
Low Expectation Syndrome (ALES). For example, they start with the premise
that Gambians in this day and age should be living in huts. If few Gambians
build a small brick house, that is a big achievement in their eyes and it
shows that the government is doing well. They start with the premise that
ordinary (defenseless) Gambian citizens should be abducted and illegally
incarcerate by the NIA. If we have some slightly critical Gambians that are
not arrested, then that again is a major achievement for the government.
They start with the expectation that elections should be stolen in broad
daylight in the country. If the government instead tries to steal the
elections in a subtle manner (by say registering illegal voters), then that
again is a plus for the illegal government. You hear the AFPRC/APRC
‘rationalizer’ saying that Gambians should be thankful that the government
did not employ more blatant tactics to steal the elections.
Alternatively, the APRC sycophant would want to take us backwards and point
to the dismal PPP record and argue that in certain areas the AFPRC/APRC did
better than PPP. When they engage in this ploy, they ALWAYS exaggerate the
dismal state the PPP left the country. They pretend that Gambia was in the
abyss and was ‘rescued’ by AFPRC/APRC. When they make this argument, they
hope people will be motivated by a desire to look forward and a hatred for
PPP, and ignore the AFPRC/APRC exaggeration. Well, some of us would NOT
ignore them. We will endeavor to put the record straight.
Gambians NOT suffering from ALES should NOT buy into the low expectations
APRC sycophants want to feed us. Our people do NOT deserve to live in huts.
We should NOT be impressed by or satisfied with building them a small brick
house. In this area we should fight for ACTUAL government policies that make
it easier for Gambians to build their own homes. No matter what the APRC
sycophants want people to believe, the only Gambians (worth mentioning)
LIVING in Gambia that are building houses are top officials in government
(using per diems) or top ‘Para-statal’ officials giving themselves millions
of dalasis in building advances while depriving junior officials of the same
perks. How people can attribute these buildings to something the illegal
government is doing right, is frankly beyond my comprehension. Only people
that want to EXAGGERATE the AFPRC/APRC record will cite PRIVATE building
projects as an AFPRC/APRC achievement.
Should be EXPECT defenseless Gambians to be abducted and incarcerated
willy-nilly by an illegal outfit like the NIA? Absolutely NOT. Now, if some
defenseless Gambians are not arrested (because they have done NOTHING wrong
in the first place) should we ignore the plight of the Dumo Sahos of this
world and pretend that the NIA does not exist? That is preposterous. The
bottom-line is that Gambians know that ANYTIME, ANYONE can be picked up by
the NIA thugs over some spurious charges and there is not a darn thing the
justice system is going to do about it. No AFPRC/APRC sycophant can deny
that Dumo is in jail as we speak/write. No sycophant can also dispute the
message Dumo’s illegal incarceration sends to the average Gambian. When we
talk about the fear in people, this is what we are talking about. Obviously
if you go and ask someone (that is not even sure whether you are pro-APRC)
whether he or she is living in fear in the country, that person will tell
you what you want to hear. A critical mind would check the surrounding
situation (the abductions, the incarcerations, the extra-judicial killings,
the impotence of the judiciary etc.) and tell whether Gambians live in a
STATE of fear or not. The EXPECTAITION here should be for an independent
judiciary that can protect the rights of citizens against the excesses of
government. We clearly do NOT have that in Gambia. NIA STILL torture people
and NOTHING comes out of it. Dumo et al are STILL in jail and the judiciary
is doing NOTHING about it. Right there, the illegal government has flunked.
No citizenry should tolerate this type of government.
Today you read newspapers, you see reports about sky-rocketing prices of
basic commodities (like rice, sugar, candles, cooking oil etc.) our people
need to survive. Couple this rising prices with the dwindling buying power
of people because they do NOT have jobs or their groundnuts have NOT been
bought. Now, only APRC/AFPRC sycophants will ignore this blatant predicament
and instead focus on ‘roads’, school buildings and hospital buildings and
argue that Gambians ‘love’ Yaya because of those buildings. This is the most
absurd argument I hear from APRC/AFPRC sycophants. In their quest to ‘dig’
for positive things to say about the illegal government, they jettison
logic. How can a farmer in Saloum that does NOT have adequate food to eat be
impressed by a road in Brufut that he has NEVER seen (let alone used) and
‘love’ Yaya because of that road while ignoring his (the farmer’s) empty
stomach? This is just ridiculous. But, then again what do we expect from
people that would say or do anything to gain the favor of their boss
(sycophants)? Why AFPRC/APRC sycophants cannot see this ‘dis-connect’, is
beyond me. They always have a tough time explaining WHY people ‘love’ Yaya.
WHY is Yaya popular? That is the million dollar question for them. Anybody
can get up and say that the man that had to steal to win 53% of the vote is
popular in the country. The question is: How can a man that sanctions the
murder of innocent children, steals from government coffers, rendered
Gambians poorer, still be ‘genuinely popular’ among Gambians?
They will then start pointing us to roads (matter of fact, one road
conveniently described as a ‘network of road’) that have NOT positively
impacted people’s lives or start talking about other irrelevant things. Yaya
and his cohorts will NEVER be able to solve our problems. They do NOT have
the wherewithal to do so. They do NOT even have the ability to give their
sycophants enough to hang their coats. Bottom-line is, Gambians are POORER
than they were seven years ago. No running away from that.
KB
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