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Stranger in Banjul: Part Two- Town Crier Writes
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Stranger in Banjul: Part Two- Town Crier Writes
In part one, with the directive and permission of my friend "Parrot", I started narrating his encounters of while visiting home (Gambia) after being away for years from Banjul. "Parrot" like I said in Part I was my childhood friend. I stopped at when he arrived home from the airport. We will take it from there.
The next day he woke up late, ate his breakfast and his sister told him that
he could use her car if he wanted to go out. However he had decided that he
was going to use the common man's means of transportation just to see things
first hand. First he took a taxi to Kololi to say hi to one of his
Aunties.He paid D50.00 for a distance of about 4-5km. At Kololi he could see
that the much talked about Kombo Coastal road was still Ok to some extent
and that many new buildings/houses, hotels and businesses have come up.
"Really people are building" he later told me. "Of course people are
building, but do you know who the owners of those buildings are?" I asked
him. "You will be surprised to find out who the real owners are and compare
their earnings/jobs to the structures or businesses they are operating.
Welcome to The Gambia of Yahya Jammeh where we salute/clap for him like a
fool in broad daylight but under the radar, everyone is working for their
own interest using front people like he himself is doing. In a country as
hard as Gambia, everyone invents ways of survival. Oga thinks he is smart
but he is a real fool whose bad deeds will soon catch up with him, if they
have not already." From Kololi he stopped the yellow taxis and boarded one
to the traffic lights. It cost him D5.00. He dropped and took another one to
the Daily Observer and again it cost him another D5.00. He stood at the shop
opposite Observer just to have a glimpse of what was going on in there.
Frankly he has only been hearing about this Newspaper but had no idea where
it was and how it looked like since it was not around when he left the
country. According to him, he saw many people going in and out. He also saw
others loitering on veranda of the first floor with some smoking cigarettes,
talking loud and really whiling away their time as if it was leisure time at
home. He wondered who these people some of whom donned on suits and dark
glasses were. "Parrot, this is Gambia. Our offices are well infested with so
call informants who can hardly spell their names. They intimidate, harass
and threaten people. So you have to be careful what you say in public places
and who you say it to. We are dealing with an intolerant and totalitarian
regime". I warned him. He looked to his left where Bakau Primary School is
situated and wondered how the poorly paid teachers can make ends meet. If it
cost an unqualified teacher man living in Kololi say D20 a day to make it to
school and back, how much will it cost him in a month. (20x5)x4=D400. This
is a person who earns about D585. What can the balance do for him and his
family? He wondered how people here are surviving from such a low pay when
Oga is swimming in money. This reminded him of one Jamaican singer who
titled said in one his songs "Cry Blood, woman and Children cry blood". Some
Gambian civil servants have gone beyond this. They are crying stones he
thought to himself.
After about 30 minute he moved on to stroll around Bakau. Much has not
change here and he wondered why. On passing by the camp, he decides to see a
relative of his who lives in the Fajara Barracks. He entered through the
entrance opposite the small shell petrol station and noticed a man at the
sentry with his fully automatic machine gun pointing straight to the
entrance. He also noticed a female soldier seated on what looked like a
soldier bed. He approached her and greeted and asked for the relative. He
was directed without being asked for any form of identification. What is the
point of having such a big barracks without checking who comes in and goes?
He asked me. "Parrot Yahya has fired all the brains in the army, and all we
have now are high ranking officers who even don't know what the mandate of a
soldier is. All I do is get up in the morning and show up at my office to
earn a living, I do not care much since Yahya has spoiled our country. He
has sown tribalism in this country so let his people do the job. We are not
going to do it for them and they earn the credit" I told Parrot. His other
concern was if the unfortunate happen, it is the civilians who live opposite
the pointed gun who will suffer the blunt of the bullets from that machine
gun. "Gorr, a real enemy who knows what he is doing as well as the geography
of the place he is attacking will avoid direct fire from these guns. So each
time Oga opens his mouth and talk about security, I always laugh internally.
Does he know what he is talking about? If our barracks are not secured, how
can the Gambia itself be secured. This man is a complete lunatic and take
him for what he is. Never try to make sense of whatever he says as you will
never make it". I advised my good friend. From the barracks, he decided to
call it a day. Stay tuned the part III.
TOWN CRIER |
Posted on Friday, January 25, 2008 (Archive on Thursday, January 31, 2008)
Posted by PNMBAI Contributed by PNMBAI
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