By WANDIFFA DAFFEH

I am Gambian currently living in the United Kingdom. I was a military officer under the dictator, Jammeh. I decided to quit when I realized that he was not there for the interest of the Gambian people, but his own interest.

However, the sad thing is that some selfish Gambians are helping Jammeh to kill our brothers and sisters

However, the sad thing is that some selfish Gambians are helping Jammeh to kill our brothers and sisters, seize our God given rights and rob our national coffers. This is pathetic, and I think it should be the focus of every well-meaning Gambian to participate physically and mentally to rescue our beloved country. We have had enough of this dictator.

The twelve years of Jammeh’s reign has brought us nothing other than pain, suffering and poverty. This guy has robbed this country to the last butut. There is nothing left of our national coffers, and Jammeh does not want to take the blame. No body dare challenge him.

Because of the hardship Jammeh has brought to our country, Gambians have resorted to stealing and lying to earn a living. Store breaking, shoplifting, cattle theft and purse snatching is now rampant in the Gambia. It is now survival of the fittest.

Some time last year I was in the Gambia. During my 11days stay, I saw so many sad things. There was never a day through out my stay that a man or woman did not approach me for help. The saddest incident was when a man came to my house with little girl and asked me to help him with something to eat. The old man and his daughter looked tired, flabby and both were clad on dirty and torn clothes. The old man told me that they have not had food for almost 50hrs. I could not believe my ears. I stared at two for almost 45 seconds, and suddenly tears started dropping from eyes. I imagined how hard it is to fast 14 hours, let alone 50hrs without food. That was really too long a period to stay without food.

Out of curiosity, I asked the man if he had a job. He told me that he had job, but got fired because of political reasons. The man said; “this government has failed all of us. We had hope in Jammeh when he first came to power. We all thought he was here to rescue us. Instead, Yahya Jammeh is here for himself. Besides, he would not accept any blame from the public for having dwindled our coffers. He is ruling this country with an iron fist. We live in a scary situation and it is only God who can safe us from the evils of Jammeh”

I just would like to say that the only way we could remove this dictator is by uniting and have a common goal. The elections are fast approaching. We should use this opportunity to vote Yahya out. Force will never solve our problem. Let’s unite as one and vote the crab out of Jammeh. If we are far and cannot vote, let’s talk to our families and friends back home. Let’s tell them what will happen if they vote Jammeh back.