The Gambia After Yahya Jammeh-Home Work to be Done Now!(Satire).   

By Essa Bokarr Sey.

By the way, this cannot be a taboo topic. It can’t be because there is enough reason to treat the topic with utmost urgency. During the past weeks I have been browsing through certain documents which really has given me the latter feeling. That is, we must as a people start preparing the stage before the bells ring. Indeed the bells will start ringing when we do not expect them!

There is nothing ‘mysterious’ here. There is nothing I know as a secret or as a privilege from any special sources. That is far from the real picture. Everything is in plain simple terms. Everything is scientific and factual. One method being used is what some call ASSOCIATION OF VARIABLES. That method has already been used and the findings tested thus indicating there will be an outcome to be generated by scientific predictions. Remember science means nothing more than OBSERVATION AND DERIVATION OF FACTS! Therefore this is topical to say the least. It is not a strange topic as well because scientifically we all know that time has already measured or prepared a formula based on the existence of the regime in question. Likewise while we are currently associating the prevailing precipitants the ongoing process leaves so much to be desired, as far as escaping the predicted challenges is concerned. Am I talking to myself here or talking to you the reader? I believe I am talking to the reader! I already understand what is biting me while thinking about what next after Yahya Jammeh? What I do not know is if all variables are being associated in the proper way? There is where I will ask you to lend me both your ears and your “eyes”!

I am brooding and listening to your inner voices therefore, I am not all that worried or concerned. When I write I write for an audience that I respect so much. I know this audience is communicating with me at the same time. Our duty is like looking after a garden. We must weed and water the tender plants every now and again before harvesting. Farms cannot flourish where monkeys, termites and other natural creature bent on destroying the crops are not checked. The Gambia is our nation! This abstract string of communication means so much to this cat. A cat that is writing with zeal and keen interest towards a futuristic Cambi-Bolongo. Indeed Yahya Jammeh himself should stand still in total solitude as soon as he hears or reads what Essa Bokarr Amadou Hamad has written again in respect of  his person. I know bluffs are blowing chaff in Banjul therefore making many believe he does not read the internet! Or he does not listen to what we or I say! That is the worst lie ever, coming from some mouths.  Oh! He does! He reads or listens to everything, like wise I also observe and follow through all his speeches and actions. You know why I do so? Because I have been Yahya’s  friend from 1985 to 2003. I have worked with him and have heard him speak, sniff and sneeze! You know why I am interested? Because this friend is heading a country I adore, a country where I was born and raised. A country that prepared me to be able to compete inside and outside. A country where Bokarr Amadou Hamad was buried-my father and best friend. I will never have another friend like Bokarr Amadou Hamad  in life again. You know why I care? Because The Gambia is a nation, it is not a granary or a barn where few sheaths of rice are kept only to feed fat rats or agile mice.  You why I care? Because The Gambia is a member state of the United Nations like any other country with all the values attached to a sovereign state. You know why I care? Because my country is not a birth day cake meant to be tasted by the taste buds of selfish gladiators!

Today when I heard or read  where Yahya was saying, if anyone does not want to deliver let him go otherwise he will be kicked out, I was so happy. That statement means so much to me and those working on the dossier to set the records straight after Yahya leaves! After a very long  time my good old friend has said something I like. Why do I like what he said? Because he accused those who stay within his circle of being people who love the money, not him or the services they are expected to render. Anyway my happiness near Yahya will be twisted by his own twisting jabbering.

I would challenge him on the latter because there are no clear cut methods that can help us separate serving him from serving the nation! Who knows what serving Yahya mean as a president means? Is it about being his maid, server or being a servant of the country? Yahya says he owns everything by relying so much on the pronounce "I". His pronounce does not separate him from the nation. If he is being told let me tell him that today once again!  However, on the other hand I would also challenge those who stay near him only to earn a salary without considering the impact their mishaps are causing us the citizens. Yes! I tend to believe that those who serve under Yahya with the soul intension of laying their hands on the dollars he has hoarded are not better than Yahya anyway! He also said this again. That is, if anyone who refuses to work thinks he or she is harming  him Yahya then  the person is making a big mistake! Well my good old friend this at least gives me the feeling of waiting to hear what you say next before hammering you with any more criticism or challenging verbs! So you finally have understood that standing against your desires is not the same as serving The Gambia? You also have finally understood that sending those people you called “enemies of the state” to mile two is not the best solution after all things are considered? I am beginning to relax myself and heave a sigh of relief while waiting to hear you say  this and only this! Which is: 

“I Yahya Jammeh am tired of running the show, I want to leave because The Gambia is not my farm” I swear my good friend that would have been the summit of your  “patriotism”. Unfortunately for me I am dreaming as far as the latter is concerned. Because for Yahya Jammeh his July 22dnd coup d’etat turned him into a creditor and The Gambia is the debtor!

He strongly believes having taken over power from Jawara in 1994 means we as a nation owe him something!

This is serious! Yahya do you know why I cannot imagine you leaving power in an honourable way? Because I heard you say the following some years back.

You said: ”For those who think, I am leaving now let them get ready, I will be here for the next FORTY years” Professor Jammeh! those 40 years are part of the variables I associated through the goggles of science while observing and deriving facts. Finally those forty years you openly pronounced helped me and others justify a good case. We therefore are able to start the home work now! The same confidence that urged you to make those pronouncements rained on my head today, therefore making me remind you this! Please cede something for the futuristic picture I am seeing with others because. We are into this my friend with zeal and keen interest and Allah willing we will not lose. Neither am I in it with  the slightest fear for death. There are great signals on the way to show you what I mean.

This picture is about THE GAMBIA AFTER YAHYA JAMMEH. My good old friend!  I have always been saying this over and over. I do not hate you. I am also not that naïve to expect you to like me either. However liking or disliking me is not the challenge we face. What we face is the challenge after you leave. And Yahya let me tell you this today or I would say once again. You will leave by the grace of Allah. You will leave not because you want to or I want to. You will leave because one morning Allah will be ready. Do we know when He will be ready? There are so many sooth-sayers but not all sooth-sayers are welcome by the shooting meteors my good old friend! I maybe speaking in riddles here but the wise know what every speech embeds! I am far from being a dreamer my good old friend.

Country Folks! What next after Yahya Jammeh?

An intellectual blue print will be carved by all minds. This will happen after we have associated all variables. Then we will start walking on the path to be paved! In fact, hasn’t the path already been paved? The answer lies in the hearts and minds of interested parties. Who are the interested parties? For those people who see patriotism as a responsibility but not a hobby. For those people who see The Gambia as a nation but not a political notion. For those people who see The Gambia as a home to be rebuilt but not a dome or a temple where personality cult should be worshipped. For those people who know the essence of knowledge near mediocrity. For those people who will replace might with right and then replace praises with performance. For those people who will adore participatory democracy thus shun the idea of replacing production with popularity. Remember the old English saying: ”No news is good news”. How many times do we receive news from The Gambia of today? Does that mean anything loud is good? How about the fame derived from bad actions? The worst people sometimes could be the most famous!  Who is famous than Adolf Hitler. Was he not popular? He was of course. Now where is his name found? In the dark diaries of history! Now see why  some of us do not care about popularity where production is being sidelined! For those people who will not associate themselves with a system that will be there only to raise a person while lowering the essence of our national flag. For those people who will entrench democracy in our society without leaving stains on the process. For those people who will respect law and the presence of law itself. For those people who will not knock our laws down on the floor only to scrub them afterwards. For those people who will sing the national anthem with the desire to participate and go forth to serve. We have said so much, written so much and done so much for the past fourteen years. Of course climbing means working towards reaching the tip or the apex! What makes one climb? It can either be climbing out of fear or rushing towards a destination where  the climber expects to reach a target for obvious reasons. APRC every Humpty Dumpy must have a great fall! Are you ready to gather the pieces? There are two reasons before the current regime as we speak. They are: Yahya Jammeh’s interests versus national interest. He will cry foul here saying he is a patriot but I will remind him this today. Yahya Patriotism is not about a ton of words, it is about actions! Actions my good friend speak louder than words! Are your "stained" actions not speaking louder than your words? I believe you know the answer. Yahya. Why do you resort to anger and killing or jailing people when they tell you the truth? If you answer this question in an open way, using a calm tone with the manners of a responsible man, basing your facts on convincing clauses from the constitution, I will stop criticizing you from today!

I know you will come back here sending indirect speeches of “gaarouwaalehs” but simply take the bull by it horns for now Yahya and start seeing eye-to-eye with genuine critics. Don’t you think that is better for you and the nation at this point? Whether you like it or not we are Gambians and we have the right to remain so until we die. I mean those of us you call "enemies of the state" or "threat to national security"! Who is the state? You or the state itself? If the state is not you Yahya then genuinely ask that very state how much Essa Bokarr has done for it? You obviously know that you appointed me before to be an Ambassador. You did so not because you liked me over all your existing or former friends!  Because I consider myself former in my book. I don't think you and I can see eye-to-eye anymore Yahya. You have changed to stab a cause we all believed in. You are not the Yahya I knew near Radio Gambia anymore. Do you remember the tall grass where you stood for hours complaining against corruption while I was listening to you talk endlessly? You have forgotten those days now but you will remember them sooner than you may expect it to happen bro. You knew what I was capable of therefore requested for those services. Can you Yahya say this before my face? That is, I have never ever done a darn good thing for the state or at best help you accomplish projects? Can you say the same about others and others? Are you the only one who has always been serving the state on your own? If you say so I will remind you of your radio announcement when you were standing at Kotu power station delivering a speech. Lest you forget why you did not fail your promise in respect of electrifying some parts of The Gambia  in 2001. Look at your archives. Of course that is only one part of the references to be used . Now Yahya this is all part of why I am ready to work on the schedule determining what next? After you Yahya Jammeh leave the state house!

Ask yourself why I am writing this piece today being the 28th day of November 2008!

Have a wonderful harvest season Yahya!