Jammeh's "solo" naming ceremony..."I am dictator for development"-He has justified COUP D'ETAT!
By Hammadi Maasinah
On July 22nd 2007 Yahya Jammeh renamed himself again,saying he is a.."dictator for development". This never came as a surprise for normal people who really know this octopus in robes being called a president before our eyes. Yahya's grand style of craziness has always been reserved to serve as "bitter comedy". His comedy is "bitter" because he makes people laugh when that laughter is wrapped in real plight. Yahya Jammeh as he was twisting his body left and right started running through his mood swings as well. Mood swings and excessive anger without reason certainly indicates someone is not mentally stable. Anger is natural,however endless unnecessary anger is a concern.
The latter as a result can help us diagnose the conflicting characteristics of an insane man called Yahya Jammeh. 13 years ago,Yahya on July 22nd 1994 at 6PM GMT said he was the leader of.."soldiers with a difference". 13 years after that he renamed himself a "dictator for develpoment". Well Jammeh is indeed what he called himself lately. The question is...? What development...? For the positive or for the negative...? Development is the same word watch dogs use when crisis are looming in a given zone. Sure Yahya is developing social issues that will cause a seriou rift in The Gambia before he leave leading us a bandit in power. If erecting huge structures in anger and rudeness is what Yahya Jammeh calls development then he needs to understand the following.
Insitutions like IMF,The Paris Club,Bretton Woods,World Bank,African Development Bank, so on and so forth measure theirs through what respected minds call....sustainable development. What is the base for sustainable development? Stability is.
Now Yahya Jammeh how stable is The Gambia? Tell us something here! We heard you say Senegal is ready to invade our shores with fierce commando fighters against your regime. A regime led by a "dictator for development"? Well... if this is why they are about to invade you then are you all that confident you are doing something good? Remember Yahya Jammeh..this is the same way Idi Amin used to cry wolf when Mwalimu Julius Nyerere was so unhappy with him as a crazy neighbour. Idi like Yahya are tags of shame trying to erase the dear price of Africa. A dear price that was pasted on its name by a good legacy which was left behind by people like Patrice Lumumba and Nelson Mandela. History repeats itself in different ways. Yahya Jammeh are you ready for history's lesson on repetition? Now why shout? Why send soldiers to Fort Bullen,Siliti,Kudang,Basse,Kartong and other undisclosed locations? Who in Africa will hate a developer? Why are you hated if you are good for Africa and the Subregion? Will anyone hate Mandela by trying to overthrow him by force? Have you done more for African than Mandela? Your illusions can lead you to that stage in your deranged mind anyway.
Another branch of thought for Yahya Jammeh is,does he understand how development is measured? Does he? Can Yahya Jammeh be more dedicated than every person in Africa when he is a shameless thief in robes? Exactly as our opposition gurus said of late,that is,what Yahya is doing or building is not a gift from him.This is tax payers money. Infact his projects are not a priority for a dying populace. Can anyone imagine Yahya Jammeh using money from Kuwait for the construction of a very bad road in North Bank? Naming it after July 22ND?
Hypocritically Yahya Jammeh and his band wagon of shameless followers are saying coups are bad. Tell us something here! Why are coup d'etats bad in The Gambia? Why is the AU silent when a President is openly celebrating a coup before the eyes of growing youths? Why? Serious governments will never attend this fanfare of mad men and women. This is why Dakar did not attend. This is why no serious diplomat attended.
This is why Alpha Oumar Konare has to step in and tell Yahya the truth. Yahya Jammeh has wounded so many hearts.
No way around this. This is just a matter of time. We cannot entertain a President who meddles with the internal political affairs of other nations by sending insults to these capitals,muddies the waters within a volatile international scene just because he is called a President. This President because he has been reprimanded by Washington for being excessively corrupt and abusing human rights,he rushed to befriend Hugo Chavez. Those were the days the latter started his own fight with DC. Yahya Jammeh of Gambia did not stop there,he went ahead to open a new diplomatic mission in Tehran only to further show authorities in Washington that he was angry for having been told the truth. Again the same Yahya Jammeh directly invited Ahmadenijad of Iran to Banjul during the African Union meeting that was "routinely" held there. This is all meant to show his anger. The latest Yahya Jammeh did was to support Sadam Hussein of Iraq on July 22nd 2007 during his 56 minutes speech. He was celebrating a coup d'etat he led 13 years ago. So why is it bad to overthrow Yahya himself then?
Alright do we have to stay arms akimbo with a man like this surviving and breathing within our midst or do we start acting by any means necessary to uproot this evil person? History will judge us if we fail to crush this evil soul without any further delay. There is no doubt in any sane mind that Yahya Jammeh is the menace in West Africa as far as wars and misery are concerned. No other country will remove Yahya from power for us. He did not use those people when he removed Jawara from power in 1994. So why do we want to use external means only to send Yahya Jammeh packing in disgrace? This is beyond the minds of the dedicated lot? May be time has the answer for us!