MY LOVE AND DEFENCE OF THE JOLA CIVILIZATION

By Prince Bubacarr Aminata Sankanu, Cologne, Germany

 Angry new year 2012 to you all. Yes angry so that you can, for once, honour your god-damned resolutions. My resolutions? Well, I will not talk to women who are addicted to fake hair, skin bleaching, unnecessary plastic surgery, fast food, vanity, burka and co. The period of pardon is over.

Henceforth any smart lady who wants me to date her, talk to her informally, grant her formal princely audience or give her role in my film/theatre projects must first remove her wigs, weaves, fake skin colour, exaggerated religious dress and all the other superficial nonsense. Fake hair, in all its variations, is banned from all my public and private events. Don't invite me to your event if the majority of the female attendees would appear with fake hair or religious veil. I will not come even if you send me a private jet. Our traditional African “tikko” and “musor” are not inferior to the imported “ibadu” nikab veils. Wear them with pride whenever you feel like covering your heads. They are ageless.

Ladies, I don't care whether you have irresistible curves or not, just be authentic and modest or I will not have time out of my busy schedules for you. Don't tell me you don't have time to work on your natural hair and beauty. The amount of productive time you waste on gossiping and watching garbage on TV can be invested in developing your natural beauty, sensuality and femininity. The main goal of fashion and styling is to bring out your hidden natural beauty and authenticity. Not distort them or copy others, you bloody hens! You want a new charge sheet, eh? Thank your stars that I am not the Minister of Women and Jelijeli Affairs. For I will arrest all of you, domestic and visiting Diaspora ladies, for Female Styling Stupidity (FSS): a very serious crime in my princely court. Mbakokooo!

That said, Gambians being the notorious bad losers it is not surprising that they are dabbling into tribal hate preaching again. They descended on Halifa Sallah when he refused to be bullied by the pro UDP fanatics with claims that he is ayatollah, pygmy and tribalist who does not want, among others, “Mandinka to become President.” Bullshit. If you call Halifa Sallah Taliban of textbook politics I will support you but calling him tribalist is preposterous and wicked. I can vouch before God and Man that Halifa is not a tribalist. He is a proud Gambian nationalist, Pan Africanist and genuine social democrat. I am the first to assign Halifa the role of National Voice of Reason. What others referred to as national conscience or the Mandela, Tutu and Soyinka of The Gambia. If at all Halifa operated tribal, I would not have assigned him this important social function.

I find the Gambian attitude of “tribalizing” people's actions too irresponsible and petty. Whatever President Jammeh is doing to entrench his personality cult has nothing to do with the “Jolanization” of The Gambia. All the ethnic groups are responsible for the state of The Gambia. Behind every Jola minister or cabinet level official, you have at least ten Mandinka, Fula and Wolof officials from permanent secretaries to government drivers. Those who are therefore gossiping about so-called Jolanization are angry folks blinded by their narcissistic hatred of my Brother President Jammeh. Criticizing Jammeh 24/7 is part of the prerogatives of all entities concerned about Gambian/African affairs but subjecting his Jola ethnic nation to collective punishment is irresponsible and malicious.

The Fulas are the longest occupants of the Office of The Vice President in Jammeh's Gambia from Captain Sana Sabally to Madame Aja Isatou Njie Saidy. Dr. Njogu Bah, another Fula, is also proving to be a survivor in Jammeh's system. Professor Muhammadou M.O. Kah of the University of The Gambia is so far keeping the upper hand in the fight with his Mandinka challenger Dr. Gumbo Touray. Fula man Omar Khan was commissioner in Basse when I was a primary school kid in the 1980s. I vividly remember how this old playboy used to come late to our village to chase one of our beautiful female teachers Ms. Sofie. Her full names are withheld. His words “ana Sofie”, Wolof for “where is Sofie?”, are still fresh in my omni-absorbing brain. We are in year 2012 and dinosaur Omar Khan is still in Basse finishing anyone who questions his style of governorship. No one is saying that the Fulas possibly used Juju to “muta” Yahya Jammeh's “kugho” just to escape his proverbial broom and take over the country from him through other smart forms. By virtue of her position, my pussy cat faced grandma Isatou Njie Saidy is in the position of knowing who killed Deyda Hydara and the April 2000 school kids, the whereabouts of Chief Ebrima Manneh and the fate of any human being within the Jurisdiction of The Gambia. No one is using her Fula background to “Fulanize” her “crimes” against Gambians.

Even though President Jammeh ventured into agriculture, the Fulas are still controlling the animal husbandry or cattle breeding sector. The main losers in Jammeh's Gambia are our  cash and subsistence crop farmers, the creative class and local “Made In The Gambia” manufacturers. The farmers have no strong lobby and the Government has failed to diversity our agriculture industry to serve them well. The research findings of the National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) on high yield alternative cash and subsistence crops are gathering dust as the Government has no innovative programme of industrializing the NARI's results. The annual national budgetary allocation to agriculture and innovation is not enough to stimulate food self-sufficiency and transformational agro-industry. The “back to the land” and “grow what you eat” slogans will remain empty without serious tangible incentives for our productive population.

Our local manufactures, inventors and innovative entrepreneurs are not getting the incentives needed to stand the unfair competition from cheap imports and excessive consumer patronage of foreign products and services. The excise duty and other tax burden coupled with the lack of medium to long term loans make sustainable investment in capital goods and human resources difficult. Our commercial banks are more interested in funding short-term import businesses of consumer goods than supporting the establishment of innovative factories. When did you last hear about the commissioning of a new eco-friendly factory in a special green economy zone of The Gambia? When did you last hear that a Gambian scientist, engineer, inventor or creative arts talent got adequate greenfield capital to commercialize his or her ideas? A Gambian Steve Jobs, Robert Redford, Steven Spielberg, Leonardo Da Vinci, Henry Ford, Aliko Dangote or Samsung electronics brand is no where to be seen. The unstable power supply affects the durability of plants and machineries as factory and production unit owners have to spend too much money on maintenance, spare parts and alternative power generation. It is a mentality problem. Our people like driving nice cars on bad and congested roads but do not want to invest in good roads to reduce maintenance costs. Making their own cars is the last thing they will dream of.

Gambians in the construction industry are not complaining and the two biggest construction magnates Amadou Samba and Mustapha Nije are Wolofs, not Jolas. The visible economic rise of the Fanafana Wolof subgroup is one of the success stories of non-Jola social elevation in Jammeh's Gambia. If they maintain their entrepreneurial zeal, the Fanafanas will by the end of this decade match my Sarahulleh kindreds in wealth creation without dependence on government jobs and contracts. Long live the Fanafanas. I am proud of you. Any sweet Fanafana bride for my global Casanova harem?

The stakeholders of the tourism industry are also not crying as the human rights situation is not keeping holiday makers away from The Gambia. The legal practitioners have been reaping bonanza from the high rate of absurd litigations in our terribly slow courts. The civil service is expanding and my lovely Mandinkas are still dominating their treasured “Mansakunda dokuwo” jobs. I should find a cure to the addiction of my Mandinka cousins to the “palaso” and “makamo” drug. Send me tips.

It is the Mandinka-led Council of Chiefs that is propagating the backward idea of turning The Gambia into an absolute monarchy. No one is blaming the Seyfolu for trying to make Gambians slaves of the dictatorial Mansa mentality and the “Allako, Mansako” submission culture. But you hear sound bites about Jola kingdom when the warning signal is that the  chiefs just want a Mandinka kingdom with a king who could be Jola by chance. If The Gambia becomes a monarchy, the Mandinkas will bear the historic responsibility and collective guilt. I just hope they will reject it should it come to a referendum or other backdoor tactics. The Mandinka-led Supreme Islamic Council is the one politicizing Islam but no one is accusing the Mandinkas of wrong doing. All you hear is “Jola mafia this, Jola mafia that” and so on. I challenge the liberal Mandinka elites at home and abroad to give up their “fumanya” and show their chiefs and Islamic leaders their limits. Their religious classes are a hopeless case: see how they are ridiculing each other just to be closer to Jammeh.

The Wolof-led Banjul Elders are coaxing Jammeh but no one is saying the Banjul mafia are parasitizing on President Jammeh. So far the rise of the Jolas has not led to the marginalization of the Mandinkas, Wolofs and Fulas in any way that could make them think of emigrating from the Gambia en mass. Are the Jolas forcing you into an exodus of your ethnic groups back to say, Cayor, Tilibo or the Futas?

HISTORIC CRIMES AGAINST THE JOLAS AND OTHER ETHNIC MINORITIES

Those lousy Fulas, Wolofs and Mandinkas fanning the flames of anti-Jola tribal tensions should keep their dirty mouths shut as they do not have the authority to attack the Jolas, Serers, Balantas and other minorities. The successive Wolof-dominated Senegalese governments cheated the Jolas over Casamance and stole their rights to self -determination. The Mandinka and Fula jihadists of Sene-Gambia terrorized the Jolas and other minorities in brutal holy wars that fit the definition for crimes against humanity. Be grateful that the Jolas are not asking for reparations for the historic crimes against them.

There is no historical evidence that the Jolas launched an orgy of violence against the Wolofs, Mandinkas and Fulas. It was the other way around as the Jolas acted mostly in self defence and in retaliation. Hence the name Jola, Mandinka for the “person who pays back.” You should also thank your stars that the International Criminal Court is not mandated to address historical and religious crimes. I am proud of the Serers for putting a stop to the madness of Maba Diakhou Bah and his gang of Fula Islamic jihadists. The copy-cat jihad terrorists of Africa did not just violate the human rights and religious freedoms of the Jalang worshipping animist natives but also disregarded verses 2:256 of the Holy Quran “...there is no compulsion in religion” and 109:6 “onto you your religion and onto me my religion.” LAKUM DEENIKUM, WALIYA DEENI.

Whatever privilege the Ajamatu/Jolas are enjoying today, I can say they deserve it. Gone are days when you can expect the Jolas to just be your common housemaids, nannies and watchmen. If you are too lazy to keep your households safe and clean, that is your problem. The Jolas will only do domestic work out of free choice and fun. Like all other ethnic nations, they have the right to be presidents, ministers, diplomats, lawyers, journalists, security officers, investors, accountants and anything they like.

AJAMATU JOLA LANGUAGE BETTER THAN ENGLISH, FRENCH OR ARABIC

I find it hypocritical the way people are complaining about the visible usage of Jola language in the Greater Banjul Area. The Ajamatu/Jolas are not going around the country forcing people to use their language. They are speaking as part of the basket of Gambian languages. It is a shame that Africans are willing to speak the languages of their English, French, Chinese, Portuguese, Indian, Arab and Lebanese masters but have complex speaking the languages of their fellow African natives.

I do not see anything wrong in Ajamatu/Jola language being widespread. I would love to have Jola as official language than English, Portuguese, French or Arabic. As a progressive Pan Africanist, the native languages of persons of African descent on the continent and in the Diaspora are as important to me as my native Sarahulleh/Soninke mother tongue. I grew speaking Sarahulleh, Mandinka, Wolof, Fula, Bambana, Lingala and Pidgin English/Aku without a second thought. Diversity was part of my upbringing and therefore cannot see anything wrong in speaking the languages of my African brethren. By virtue of my romance with a Mandinka high school love, I spent fifteen (15) years of my life speaking Mandinka more intensively than Sarahulleh. I never got the feeling of being inferior or “Mandinkanized.” I find the Mandinka language very beautiful and poetic due to its “nko” linguistic/phonetic characteristics. So no matter how much I disagree with the Mandinkas, I will continue to speak Mandinka till the day I die. In fact who said the “nko” Mandinka language belongs to the Mandinkas? They don't have the right to claim ownership of it as it belongs to all the peoples of the Greater Mandeng Family of Languages. I swear by my sweet paternal Fula grandmother that if we organize Mandinka language proficiency tests, many born Mandinkas will fail woefully. They will not score even zero but minus zero and lower. Abalafa warata!

I pray the University of The Gambia, the Department of Non-Formal Education and the National Centre for Arts and Culture will jointly start an interdisciplinary School of African Studies with emphasis on Traditional Knowledge, Customary Law, History, Architecture, Future Studies, Medical Anthropology, Creative Industries, Artisan Trade, Traditional Religions and Native Languages of The Sene-Gambian Basin to boost our social cohesion. When I was in Gambia I started learning Jola and once I go back, I will perfect it and then add Manjago, Serer and other vulnerable languages to my repertoire. If I were The Gambia's Foreign Affairs Minister or any other high profile public official, I would have no problem speaking Jola or any other native Gambian language before the UN, African Union, EU and other international fora. We have the right to develop and globalize our languages for commerce, diplomacy, politics, mass media, education and culture. But no. We Africans are so lazy that we prefer to downgrade ours just to speak the languages of non-Africans who are globalizing theirs day and night without seeking our opinion.

Instead of “Jolanizing” my Brother President Jammeh's bad boy behaviour, people should give up their arrogance and learn from the Jolas. The Jola Civilization has a lot of productive lessons to offer. The classless Jola social system is modern and progressive. It  is compatible with the modern open dynamic information society that has no place for stagnant brick and mortar hierarchy. The Jolas are not campaigning for Jammeh to be king of The Gambia as they know it is against their Jola values. The fact that sections of the Casamance freedom fighters rejected President Jammeh as mediator shows no matter how much Jammeh tries to promote the cause of the Jolas, they will not follow him blindly into perdition. The Jola DNA of social justice is more powerful than short-term personal politics. I fully endorse the idea of a referendum as a rational way of solving the Casamance problem peacefully. It can work but those who are enjoying the status quo will not support this referendum option.

President Jammeh's ears are hijacked by greedy folks who are afraid of telling him that fundamental rights are part of the Jola Civilization. Promoting human rights, fair business practices, respecting the inviolability of the human body, moderation and the Rule of Law mean promoting the Jola traditions of equity and social justice. If I am to choose between the Mandinka mansa mentality and the Jola equity, I will, as a Taliban of Liberal Compassion, go for the Jola equity. I am tired of telling President Jammeh that his real lethal enemies are among the eye service hypocrites found within his trusted inner circles. They spend more time telling wrong things he wants to hear and lying against each other to win Jammeh's favours and maintain their positions than working in the interests of The Gambia. I find it more gratifying to be sacked for doing the right things than to be kept in a job for doing the wrong things.

DOUBLE STANDARD: WOLOF-SPEAKING SENEGALESE MUSICIANS VERSUS JOLA-SPEAKING CASAMANCE ARTISTES

The hypocrites who are complaining about the visibility of Jola performance arts are just idle gossipers. If President Jammeh invites Wolof-speaking Senegalese musicians, no one complains about the Senegalese invasion but even if a Jola dancer from Casamance is given airtime on GRTS Radio and TV we hear people talk about Jolanization of The Gambia. So you want to tell me Youssou Ndour, Omar Penn, Ouza, Coumba Gawlo Seck  and other northern Senegalese singers have the right to monopolize the Gambian recoded and live music markets because they speak Wolof but the Jolas and other minority artistes should not perform since they have strong links in Casamance, Guinea Bissau or Mali? Pure double standard.

You don't hear anyone talk about the marginalization of Mandinka culture by Jammeh but once the Kanilai festival and “Futampaf” rituals are around, you hear lousy complains. At least the Mandinkas are fortunate that the National Centre for Arts and Culture is promoting the preservation of their “Kankurang” heritage, sacred forests and the Kunta Kinteh fate with the now-established Roots International Homecoming Festival. My Brother Oko Drammeh has personally responded to my call to rediscover the Mandinka culture with his International Kora Festival as a stepping stone. Now we just need more proud folks to transform the various sacred spots of Kaabu into “Folonko” ancestral pilgrimage and cultural tourism attractions.

We are all relevant in Kambi Bolong or Gambia River Basin. We should have no problem celebrating each other's culture. If we are to criticize our politics, let us do it with maturity but the open discrimination of Jolas and other ethnic minorities is a recipe for civil war. Culture is more than just music and dance. It is about everything you do from the moment you get up from the bed in the morning and return at night.

The Jolas are able to survive Islamization, Christianization and the PPP-Jawara era discrimination thanks to their rich culture. If there is a Gambian ethnic group that is capable of surviving the global clash of civilizations, then it is the Jola's. We can learn a lot from them. I love the Jola Civilization and I pray the new Jola elites will not be drugged by power, greed and materialism until they commit cultural suicide by betraying their useful tangible and intangible heritages. Should the Jolas, Manjagos, Serers and other minorities need my inputs in keeping their respective Civilizations alive, I remain at their disposal.

MANDINKAS AS NATURAL WINNERS

It is embarrassing to watch some fools howl about an imaginary anti-Mandinka conspiracy. No one is conspiring against the Mandinkas. I am sure if I should speak with my Brother Jammeh without protocol about his supposed statement that a “Mandinka will not put his ass on the chair of the president”, he will tell me that he was just joking as a bad boy. But since Mandinkas are mad about “palaso” and “makamo” some of them took it serious and have been yapping about supposed anti-Mandinka agenda. Relax my lovely Mandengbadingholu. I know just like my Fula cousins who do not joke about their cattle, “alibukatulung” when it comes to “palaso” but be open-minded and see things positively. Like all other ethnic nationalities, Gambian Mandinkas have the right to occupy any public office in The Gambia. The Mandinka bureaucrats are dominating the Jammeh Administration while their Seyfolu are getting the best of Jammeh's “kurusongho.” The Mandinka religious leaders can always count on Jammeh for “duwarangho.”

Mandinkas are by default the largest group of our country and will always emerge as winners. They have nothing to lose. If a Jola, Sarahulleh, Serer, Manjago or Balanta becomes President, the Mandinkas will benefit. They might have some challenges in Fula and Wolof-influenced presidencies due to their relative sizes and the competition for the national cake that would check-mate the Mandinka influence. I believe we can keep the competition within the healthy human parameters. As long as some of us rational thinkers are alive, we will do our best to ensure that the rivalries do not reach breaking point. Tribalism cannot be entrenched in The Gambia and anyone who want to establish destructive tribal politics will have to eliminate me and my fellow liberal elites first.

The Mandinkas have to accept the reality that there are prices to be paid for their natural advantage as the pivotal group of The Gambia. Criticism is one such price. The foundations of the Mandinka nation are strong. My Mandinka cousins have the capacity to absorb and survive the criticisms as part of the prices to pay for leadership. They should therefore learn to live with them. I for one will continue to put “kanimunko” on their  “nyakulolu” whenever they behave foolish while defending them when they are wrongly attacked.

GAMBIAN DOCUMENTS FOR CASAMANCE, GUINEA BISSAU AND OTHER PEOPLE

As usual some irrational folks have been making noise about people from Casamance and other regions getting Gambian documents like voter's card, driver's license, passport, etcetera. I don't see any problem with this as I do not recognize the artificial colonial boundaries dividing us. If we are to overcome the colonial legacies, we should have no problem sharing documents with people from our common cultural brackets.

We see pregnant Gambian women flying everyday into USA and Europe to deliver anchor babies that could enable them get documents of those Western countries. Some Gambians are marrying White men and women, Arabs, Lebanese, Chinese, Indians and others just to get the chance to stay in their countries. I am yet to hear anyone condemn this paper tourism but you will hear people shout about Gambian papers in the hands of people from Casamance. Save me the hypocrisy. What is good for the goose is great for the gander. If you have no problem getting European and American documents for yourself and your blood relatives through lawful or unlawful means, you should have no worries about people from Casamance and Guinea Bissau getting Gambian voters' cards and other documents. We are culturally linked with them more than the Europeans, Asians, Arabs and Americans. People should stop being selfish.

I am proud of the fact that I can get the papers of Senegal, Mali, the two Guineas, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, the two Congos, Mauritania and Angola through heritage as I have blood relatives to help me meet the requirements. For Europe my German and EU Citizenship gives me the right to study, live, work and die in at least 27 EU member states and their overseas territories. These possibilities give the freedom to enjoy the benefits of globalization to fullest of my desire. I wish all the people in the world similar opportunities so they can pursue their dreams across borders. If Gambian documents will help the people of Casamance, Mali, Sierra Leone and the Guineas overcome the colonial barriers and re-integrate, I say welcome as long as you will not destroy our social cohesion and national stability.

Every Gambian between the historic Kaabu/Gaabu provinces of Niumi and Kantora has the possibility of getting the documents of Bissau by heritage since Kansala the capital of Kaabu/Gaabu falls within the jurisdiction of modern day Guinea Bissau. I will call for a stop to the Gambianization of the peoples of Casamance, the two Guineas, Mali and other African countries once the hypocrites surrender their foreign documents and keep their Gambian papers only.

JALANG WORSHIPPING IS NEITHER BACKWARD NOR INFERIOR TO ISLAM, CHRISTIANITY AND OTHER IMPORTED RELIGIONS

I am fed up with the continuous vilification of our African Traditional Religions and Medicine (ATRM) by some brainwashed commentators, evangelists and intolerant Islamists. No mentally sound person can tell me that Africans are not civilized and sophisticated enough to develop, practice, promote, maintain and defend their own religions and spirituality. Don't tell me that Africans are condemned to just follow the Islam of the Arabs, the Christianity of the Caucasians, the Buddhism of the Asians, the Hinduism of the Indians, the Confucianism of the Chinese or the Judaism of the Israelis and should reject their own animist spirituality? Wake up. Alikuning!

It is a big shame on our society. I am the only liberal intellectual from The Gambia openly and continuously defending the rights of the Jalang Worshipers at least in the Sene-Gambian Basin. Correct me if I am wrong. Name the others. The worshippers of the Jalang Deities and other Indigenous Faiths of Africa (IFA) have the same constitutional rights as Muslims, Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists and the rest. They deserve their own non-violent associations, rites, feasts, holidays, contests, pilgrimages, schools, media spaces, groves and worship centres. They are, to say the least, covered by our Customary Law which is a cardinal component of our Constitutional Framework.

A Gambian Jalang worshipper has the right to become president, minister, director, professor, lecturer, teacher, managing director, chief, alikalo, medical doctor, engineer, media practitioner, nurse, secretary, consultant, industrialist, musician, politician, national assembly member, producer, nurse, architect, lawyer, diplomat and anything he or she wants to be without discrimination. Anyone who cannot accept this secular reality is free to migrate to Saudi Arabia. For even the strict Islamic Republic of Iran is recognizing the useful pre-Islamic heritages of its citizens. For generations, the non-Arab Berbers of North Africa were discriminated and forcefully Islamized. They survived and Morocco now protects their non-Islamic native rights, languages and ways of life through its modernized constitution. If the caricature, discrimination and marginalization of Gambian Jalang and other animist native worshippers continue, I will lobby for their rights to be specifically protected by either an act of parliament or additional specific clauses in our current constitution. Our Gambian Government's portfolio of Religious Affairs, the National Centre for Arts and Culture's Directorate of Cultural Heritage and Ministry of Health's Traditional Medicine programme should activate their preservation of the useful Jalang Worshipping and other Gambian traditional religions within the spirits of fairness, cultural renaissance, tolerance and freedom of worship. It unfair to give intolerant Muslims and Christians the freedom to openly misbehave between Kartong and Nyamanari while followers of native religions are derided, marginalized and reduced to muzzled strangers in their own ancestral lands.

Our African Jalang and other Native Deities have the right to be worshipped, respected, protected, preserved and developed. My Mandinka cousins of Kaabu disobeyed their Jalangs that warned them not to attack the Fulas first. They ignored the Jalangs and got doomed. The Jalangs got angry and sent out a “dankaro” curse. Some hundred and forty four years since the Kansala “turubang” of 1868 the Mandinka elites have not yet seen the need to go back to the Kaabu Folonko sites to seek the forgiveness and blessing of the disrespected Jalangs. You fools. You run to Mecca to seek the forgiveness of the Muslim God. You follow the Wolofs to the Magal Touba and you beg the Fulas for cattle ride to Madina Gounasse. But you abandoned your roots to such an extent that you failed to transform the sacred groves of Berekolong and other Kaabu heritage spots into world class pilgrimage and spiritual cleansing centres. At least we Sarahullehs like going to Mali for first class African spiritual “yanxi” cleansing and regeneration. No matter how long a stick floats on a river it will never turn into a crocodile. Call yourselves African Muslims  and Christians but your souls will always remain African even if you cowardly deny it for fear of fatwa, excommunication or so-called hellfire. The concept of hellfire does not exist in our civilized African Traditional Religions. The main form of punishment from the Deities is a “curse” that can be reversed once you correct your ways.

The renaissance of the Mandinka Civilization will not succeed without the rediscovery and modernization of the Folonko Jalang Cults. If Kansala in Guinea Bissau is far, we have sacred forests and water bodies in The Gambia from Makasutu, Juffureh, Kachikali, Wassu to name a few, for use as pilgrimage zones. Stop wasting your time over the foreign religions. If you are really concerned about submission to the will of Abraham's God, how comes you cannot even manufacture a simple “falisareto” donkey cart to drag your miserable pilgrims to the shrine of Abraham in Mecca? The aircrafts that lift them annually are innovations of non-Muslims who have no time to waste shouting “Allako Mansako” round the clock but are getting all the “barajo” blessings.

You must apologize to the Kaabu Jalangs and other Folonko Deities for disobeying them. They are still angry. I will be organizing a Folonko pilgrimage to the Kansala Sacred Groves in Guinea Bissau. I will extend an open invitation at least one year before the dates to give all Mandinkas and other lovers of native religions the time to prepare and attend. Mandinka elites who fail to attend will be named and shamed as betrayers of the Mandinka Civilization. Don't tell me you want the wrath of the Jalangs for a second time?

Long live the Jalang Cults and the Indigenous Faiths of Africa. If I go back to the Gambia I will attend the appropriate harmless Jalang ritual ceremonies. I will also apply for memberships of the progressive non-violent Jola, Manjago, Serer and Balanta secret societies to serve as role model of a reborn African who is proud of his pre-Islamic heritages. I am already a proud devotee of the Fula “Allah Jabi Jabani” cult from the Boundou area of the Tambacounda region in Senegal. These native secret societies, from the Makondes of Mozambique to the Kamajores of Sierra Leone and others, represent the Soul of Africa. They are the past, present and future of our Negroid Civilization. We must modernize and preserve them. The Europeans, Americans, Arabs, Jews, Asians and others are still maintaining and globalizing their respective secret societies. For instance the Freemasons, the Knights Templar, the Grand Lodge of Cairo of the Ismailis, The Rosicrucians, Skulls and Bones, Illuminati, Opus Dei, the various Muslim sectarian brotherhoods, you find out about the rest. So why not us Africans?

The African Renaissance will remain a dream without the preservation, modernization, filtering and development of the Traditional Africa Medicine, Spirituality and Science (TAMSS). The fight against harmful traditional practices, quackery, human sacrifices and evil fetish will only be won when the useful values of TAMSS and the Jalang Cults are freed from marginalization, negative image and abuse by greedy people. The code is: filtering. It is suffice to add that our pre-Islamic African Civilizations are largely matrilineal. If the women are really serious about their empowerment, they will wholeheartedly support me in my fight for the development of our useful African Native Cultural Traditions. I practice what I preach. This is why I integrated my mother's sweet name “Aminata” into my names to proudly celebrate the African matrilineal heritage.

Professor Wole Soyinka, the leading liberal National Conscience of Nigeria, is a proud devotee of the Sango Jalang Deity that is part of his native Yoruba religion. Soyinka is the first follower of African Traditional Religions and Medicine (ATRM) to win the Nobel Prize. I am yet to hear that his firm and proud practice of African Voodoo is being used against him. Even conservative Muslim and Christian leaders grant him audience and seek his intellectual insights into matters of relevance. Not to mention the African Development Bank and similar world class institutions that invite him to deliver lectures. I have no problem being the next Wole Soyinka of The Gambia to continuously defend the existential rights of the African Jalangs and Native Belief Systems without hypocrisy and fear.

My January 2011 prayers for the Voodoo Jalangs to embolden the suppressed peoples of the world were answered. The Arab Spring spread beyond Arabia and got local variations like the Occupy Movement, Senegalese M23, UK riots and Russian post-election protests. The long awaited strategic spill-over effect in Black Africa is happening with Nigeria taking the lead. Whatever happens in Nigeria as the world's leading Black Nation will affect the African Continent. For decades Nigerians have been swallowing junk from their organized Abrahamic religious and political leaders. Now the African Voodoo Jalang prayers finally slapped them awake to stand up for their rights. No more “suffering and smiling” as late social critic Fela Anikulapo Kuti sang.

The harmless and modernized versions of the African Traditional Religions and Medicine (ATRM) have always worked for me in personal development situations. So even if I am declared an apostate or heretic by intolerant Muslim hate preachers, I will not betray our ATRM. Only the Gods can judge over me. Changing, modifying and even creating my own religion is part of my human rights. If I should be taking the oaths for public functions, I will proudly swear by the African Jalangs, the Ancestors and the Constitution only. Again verses 2:256 of the Holy Quran “there is no compulsion in religion” and 109:6 “onto you your religion and onto me my religion.” LAKUM DEENIKUM, WALIYA DEENI. Live and let live.

Sorry anti Jammeh people. I won't ask the Jalangs and the Ancestors to come to your aid in sending Jammeh away. You need to persevere more. The Egyptians suffered for 30 years, the Libyans 40, the Yemenis 30, the Tunisians 30, the Nigerian 50 and Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma all her life. So 18 years of Jammeh is not enough suffering. You must sweat a bit more. Hahaha! Make me an offer for a deal that I will not resist if you want me to get you Jalang Voodoo blessings that will shorten your endurance tests.

For year 2012 I have no special wish from the Voodoo Jalangs apart praying for all people to enjoy peace of mind, success in their respective endeavours and protection from the machinations of enemies. May the African Jalang Deities continue to bless and protect us. To tell with the intolerance, dictatorship and supremacy claims of the Muslim-Judeo-Christian hate propagandists. They cannot be complaining about Islamophobia and Christianophobia when they are condoning Voodoophobia with prejudice.

IMMUNITY FROM PROSECUTION OR I AM NOT ENTERING THE GAMBIA

My Brother President Jammeh, angry new year. The voice of the people is said to be the voice of God. The people in and out of The Gambia who told me not to enter The Gambia without precautions finally outnumbered those who told me to come. Even the German Naturalization Office in our city hall of Cologne repeated this week that I should not enter The Gambia without noticeable immunity from prosecution, creative entrepreneurial freedom and guarantee of my safety in the Jurisdiction of The Gambia. My Brother Jammeh it appears that people don't trust that I can live freely and prosper under your authority. Can you prove them wrong?

I have been studying the map of The Gambia to identify ideal locations for our Gambian Film Industry with integrated Creative Arts and Culture (Villages) Clusters. Part of the customary land I already own in the provinces for my campus will be used for the Gambian Film Industry Village. To however promote national development balance and flexibility, I would like us to have at least five strategic locations with pull-effects across the length and breadth of The Gambia. The pull-effects include infrastructure, legislative framework, location access, employment and other basics I will not list here. I believe The Gambia Government will increase its annual budgetary allocations to the Arts and Culture Industry to stimulate the pull-effects and our overall Creative Economy. Mr. President, unlike some of the sycophants and praise singers who just want to collect your monies to create noise and parties with feigned loyalty to you, I mean business as a free creative mind. I am out to help create tangible local employment and wealth without fear, pettiness, politics, religion, tribalism and instant gratification. It is time for work, not party.

My benchmarks and the shortlist of the locations for the creative clusters (villages) are ready. Before finalizing the shortlist, I would like to personally visit the locations together with the concerned officials of the Ministries of Culture and Tourism and Local Governments and Lands as well as the representatives of the local communities. Since land is a very sensitive issue in The Gambia nowadays, your Office of The President can also include a policy level official in the team. One can never tell. Some rumour mongers and greedy folks could spread lies and petitions, online, offline or to your Office, without collecting facts from the right people just to politicize, frustrate and sabotage our noble national intentions. Preparing for these negatives now is better than waiting till after they surface.

My Brother Mr. President without my diplomatic immunity from prosecution and safety guarantee while in your playground, I cannot enter The Gambia. It is not difficult and there are precedents. You indemnified yourself and your fellow AFPRC transition members. The trigger-happy solders of the April 2000 massacre enjoyed immunity. Other people benefitted from the presidential prerogative of mercy for questionable or sensible reasons. The most important job of a President is to protect the lives and properties of citizens under his authority. If the lives of Koro Ceesay, Deyda Hydara, the Ghanaian migrants, Baba Jobe, to name of few, can be wasted like that, do you think I should be foolhardy with my life looking at the quality of resources invested in me and my brain cells since the day I was born?

Like I hinted above, what is good for the goose is great for the gander. If people with dangerous weapons can enjoy de facto immunity in The Gambia, stubborn Gambian creative talents with dangerous ideas like my stubborn self deserve verifiable immunity. At least my dangerous ideas did not cause damage to lives, properties, national interests and security in The Gambia. They passed the reality tests to prove their usefulness. The list is long for this media space but one example is your “thank you” tour of November 2011. I am the first to say that you should thank Gambians for giving you the chance to prosper. Our wise First Mother Aja Asombie Bojang understood the wisdom of my dangerously crazy idea and endorsed it. You listened as a good “bad boy” and Gambian voters responded generously. The opposition people did not heed my crazy advice and this is one of the reasons why the voters have so far refused to let them smell even the verandas of our cool State House.

Now my Brother President Jammeh tell me what you prefer: my dangerously productive ideas or the dangerous conducts of the people killing, torturing, prosecuting, destroying and lying against their fellow Gambians? I am not special as I am neither a Saint nor indispensable. But in every society you need brave figure heads and assets to shift the paradigms and catalyze progress. The Arab Spring got only one Muhammed Bouazizi as inspirational asset. The USA got only one Steve Jobs and one Martin Luther King Junior. The European Renaissance had only one Leonardo Da Vinci and one Cosimo dei Medici. Islam had only one Prophet Muhammed. South Africa got only one Nelson Mandela. India had only one Mahatma Ghandi. The pop music world had only one Micheal Jackson. You can go on and on.

You once said that you have one million Gambians to choose from. One million parasitic human liabilities or one million productive human assets? Do you have one million stubborn Prince Bubacarr Aminata Sankanus to choose from? I don't have one million bad boy President Yahya AJJ Jammehs to fondly call my Brothers and make fun of with high quality humour. We the human beings are all unique and special in our respective ways. My immunity, safety guarantees and proposal approval please. Should my important letter of national interest not be in your Office intact by now then something is wrong with The Gambian postal system. My Brother President Jammeh I am very angry with you for failing to make sure I attend your inauguration for your fourth term in office. To compensate me for this impudence, you should act in one of my films by the year 2016. I will nicely carve you the appropriate role. No excuses. So note it on your to-do list while deciding on the content of my letter.

Once again, angry new year 2012 to everyone. Ladies, end to the fake hair and ibadu nikab dictatorships now!

HSH Prince Bubacarr Aminata Sankanu

Cologne, Germany

Email: princebubacarrasankanu@gmx.de

Skype: princebasankanu

Tel.: 00491774842957(text only)