Yahya Jammeh Blames the British Colonialists while using the very Colonialists’ “Indirect Rule System” to survive on his seat of power.

Paramount Chiefs, Forced Labor and the Mile Two Prisons!

By Ambassador Essa Bokarr Sey

It is indeed interesting and rather weird to see a person like Yahya Jammeh the President of The Gambia blindly accusing the British government of supporting The Gambian opposition. Worst of all calling them colonialists!

What an irony! That is if one is to say the least. The same Yahya Jammeh is constantly in the streets of Taipei with a pouch begging for coins and left over from the economy of FORMOSA’s tax payers! Where is the difference here? Let him show us the difference between what he does and what any other opponent does to gather funds? I know the difference and I will tell him today! Here we go! His case is worse. He uses state power to make money for a ruling party. He uses state power and the logistics it provides for him to campaign right round The Gambia while calling it meets the people tour, using the constitution as his reference guide. A constitution he blatantly flouts every second or any time he breathes in some oxygen! He uses state power then pounces on projects from donor countries or agencies calling those his development projects. He uses state power to silence the opposition or any voice of dissent. He uses state power to help siphon funds into foreign accounts abroad. Yahya Jammeh! like Jimmy Cliff the Jamaican singer once sang : “Have you heard the news!?” The news is that the US government will follow, track, trace and freeze any monies that corrupt leaders like yourself have been siphoning into this country and other parts of the world(especially in the West) from Africa. Yahya did you attend the AU meeting in Uganda? Whether you did or did not just try and read what the US diplomat Carson and team relayed there for corrupt Africa leaders like you. Do not curse them behind closed like you always do please. Listen to what they said with an open mind! If it angers you or other leaders like you, it makes the poor and down trodden Africans so happy!

Yahya how about the paramount chiefs you have revived, posing yourself as a traditional African King? Mr. Jammeh these two words do not match- KINGDOM and PRESIDENCY. You cannot merge the two. If you are a King means you are not democratic and if you democratic means you cannot be a King! You are so confused as to what a revolution really means that, you end up messing up all matters on the state’s platform of activities. How can you surge towards or a monarchy while calling yourself a democrat? You missed the whole concept in respect of the roles of those traditional chiefs in countries like Nigeria, Ghana and Ivory Coast. In those countries they are more symbolic than being part of the main stream of administration. Theirs  is a more or less a way of at maintaining the "taste" of the fanfare that goes with former rulers or even attracting tourists etc epuis c'est tout! The latter should not be used for maintaining any elected leader in power. That is what you do! That is why you and the Colonialists drink from the same jar! Your own traditional chiefs are fully involved in promoting the APRC agenda. Whereas in places like Ghana those whose roots are related to the tool of the Asante dynasty do have the right to support the president or party of their choice! The same goes in Nigeria and Ivory Coast. The "Igwehs" of Nigeria are found in both te ruling party and the opposition! Those families did not get their mandate from the elected leaders they got it from their ancestral lineage. They are simply maintained to revisit the old days with form and the “taste” that is derived from history. It also helps sell the image of a country to people who love the fanfare that goes with the past while revisiting everything traditional per se. It is also meant to help attract tourists while promoting dialogue amongst the local population because we have people who still see those past rulers as symbols of Africa’s greatness. True or false they are not and cannot be part of the administering body in today’s political landscape at all. The fanfare and “taste” of traditional dances or other cultural exhibitions is the hub here and nothing more.

In fact Yahya Jammeh if we were to go by the real meaning of the transcending family trees of those former Kings, you would not have been qualified to identify anyone from  any of those families. Let alone you think about urging people  to take up such responsibilities within the Gambia today. You being at the state house today is a clear indication that the era of former traditional rulers is over! You have no way of calling yourself a descendant of any of those rulers. In that case why abuse the fruits that our freedom fighters left for us here during this  post colonial era, in the first place? You are ungrateful because it helped someone like you have the chance of joining the army in 1983. At the end you came in and hammered those sweet fruits with the mallet of “jamfaa”? or you betrayed the  course in a very callous way!

You cannot point fingers at the Colonialists at all Yahya Jammeh, they are far better than you are. So think about who you are in that case? Like Nkrumah said…. “There are no pros can cons in colonialism” everything about it was negative for continent's existence ! In your case you have prolonged the line of cons or negative patterns! You are worse than those colonialists. At least one can say they were invaders so it was easy to use that tag against them.  In your case you are a worm within the stem. You are within while destroying within. You are a son of the family and an enemy of the family at the same time!

When it comes to the former role of these kinds of chiefs, the colonialist(The British) used them to promote an “Indirect rule system”. That is the part where chiefs like the ones you have created are still representing what the colonialists left. And that is what you are trying to shun by making so much noise but at the same time using it to stay in power. Do you really watch your actions or listen to yourself my brother? You are repeating what the colonialists used in the past, to maintain their rule in The Gambia. Read your history books again and then compare and contrast, there you will know how unlettered you are in what you are trying to defend or teach. You have no idea with regards to what you are talking about. This is the same way you revived the roles of commissioners. In fact is that not why you changed the names of commissioners to governors before? Only to bring the same titles back again!!! The commissioner title was left behind by the British colonialists you are insulting today. You also live in the old British colonial rulers' palace, calling it the State House. Why not change it to The Peoples’ or The Citizens’ House then Yahya? How about the way you appoint village heads? How about  the way you meddle with the roles of the local government officials? All these are approaches you stole from the British Colonialists. By the way Yahya, Britain today, is not Britain yesterday. The Britain of today has powerful Indian-British, Arab-British, African-British, Jamaican-British, Chinese-British, who are part of the machine that is running state matters in England and Scotland as we speak. Those people cannot think about colonizing The Gambia or any other country in Africa or elsewhere for that matter. Do you really know your lessons on current affairs Mr. President?

Yahya read, listen before talking or just KEEP QUIET. You have already disgraced The Gambia enough. Yahya Jammeh the very MILE TWO prisons you are using today, by making sure so that all voices of dissent are silenced, was left there by the British colonialist you are castigating today, Mr. Jammeh. Have you forgotten that?  Or do you operate with your short term memory? If the walls of the prison could have been able to talk, they might have told you that they are witnessing worst torture sessions during your time when compared to what obtained during colonial rule. And you are a “Pan African” in your mind? Are you okay Mr. Jammeh?

How about the forced labor within your surrounding? That is what colonial commissioners like Lorriman used to do Yahya Jammeh. Ask people from Jokadu Darsilami they will tell you who Loriman was! You are so unqualified to attack the former British Colonialists President Yahya Jammeh! You are using the same methods they were using to maintain themselves on our land. Look at your surrounding or ask your decrees and threats! There and then you will find the answers!

By the way I was told this night that you are working towards organizing a weekend party in Kanilai.

Enjoy your nocturnal dances!

Leave us all and stop sending us dark clouds of acrid smoke with your muddy historical lessons please!

 DON'T MESS WITH WISDOM MR PRESIDENT!