Editorial: The Gambian Military Is An Important Political Constituency For Jammeh!

Gambia’s Armed Forces has been widely considered as an important  political constituency for the country’s “little dictator” Yahya Jammeh.  This is the security outfit helping to maintain the status quo—even though it has outlived its professional standing. 

The Gambian army is an extension of the APRC political machinery. Its leadership have been indoctrinated and brainwashed by the tyrant to a point that the issue of loyalty to one’s  country, the nation’s constitution, and her people is a thing of the past. The army has been politicized by the dictator. Mr. Jammeh has transformed the army as his personal political tool to showcase his total grip of the impoverished nation.

The recent mass promotions in the army, without due observance of GAF’S promotion protocols, confirmed the undeniable fact that the army is on the path to total destruction. 

An army without qualified personnel is a threat to national security. Those entrusted with leadership role in the military should earn it by virtue of their academic background, physical fitness and competence. Promotions should not be motivated by an individual political connections, tribe, gender, or nepotism. It should be well earned!

There are far reaching national security implications associated with trying to politicize a given armed forces, as manifested by our Kanilai born monster.  It’s a recipe for instability. We will tell you why, and how Jammeh is using the army for his own selfish gains, as we proceed with this masterpiece editorial.

During peacetime, such a security outfit might not realize the demanding nature of its individual roles as soldiers of the Gambia armed forces—unless they are confronted with a crisis situation.  Then they will come to terms about the usefulness of command and control.  

It doesn’t matter what rank one bags in the military. If you cannot execute your role as a soldier, or a commissioned officer,  then the individual  is essentially a liability to his command structure. The person, or the officer in question  is more of a  risk to his subordinates than commanding the role of a father figure who should be looked up to as a dependable  commander to lead the troop(s) during crisis situation.

We had no military background to lecture you about the role of a professional army, but commonsense dictates that there are set rules and regulations governing professional armies around the world and the Gambia is of no exception. 

For our military to overcome be it short term, or  long term security challenges, its  men and women must be properly trained on leadership roles (command control).  You do not just stop at basic training and start decorating our men and women in uniform with ranks such as: Generals, Major General, Colonels and so forth. The ranks should be complimented with officers training prior to awarding such ranks to the deserving officers.

The professionalism of Gambia’s armed forces has been undermined largely due to President Jammeh’s meddling with the force. Jammeh being the commander-in-chief doesn’t give him the license to politicize the army with the undeserved promotions he extends to his handpicked untrained officers.

There is no proof to confirm that the promoted officers had attended any military academy.  He just promotes them without any leadership training. This is what you call a professional army Gambia?  An army in which school dropouts are manning leadership roles without formal training? An army that discriminates against competent prospective officers?

No wonder that’s why the former United States Ambassador to the Gambia was the least happy with the performance of some of the Jolla Boys sent to study in the US by the erstwhile CDS Lang Tombong Tamba. The whistleblower website Wikileaks reported that the selected Gambian officers performed terribly during their training in the US. In fact, some of the officers could not even speak or write simple English. The Ambassador asked Tamba to correct the situation by sending competent and intelligent soldiers to attend military training in the United States.

That said: what happen to the proposed military academy the Jammeh administration promised two years ago, that  it had in mind to build for our military? 

We know for a fact that the idea was flooded to a visiting Taiwanese Defense official by the Jammeh regime, but there hasn’t been any word since then about the proposed project.  We need sound institutions as a nation that will develop our people’s intellect in all sectors of development. Without knowledge, skills, and discipline Gambia’s developmental goals will never be achieved.

It’s important to note that one of the reasons the country is underdeveloped is largely due to its institutionalized tribal politics, nepotism, growing culture of corruption and the rise of Jammeh’s imposed “Jolla Empire State.” 

There are square pegs in round holes running what’s considered here as a functional government, but in reality the country is witnessing a failed state. We are not only faced with human resources challenges, but leadership as well. The person tasked with running the affairs of the nation have no clue about his role and duties as a Head of state. He runs the Gambia as if it’s his personal property. Jammeh is not answerable to nobody. He thinks that he is above the law! We rest our case.