Gambia: Security Sector Reform Now! A year on since the record catch of more than two tons of cocaine

Today is one year since the record catch of more than two tons of cocaine was made in the small Gambian village of Bonto on 3rd June 2010 and there are still widespread speculations among people here that part of the catch may be recycled to the market. If anything, the name of the Gambian president came up several times in a host of cocaine-related cases currently being heard in Gambian courts. In fact just weeks before June 3^rd one prosecution witness, Silaba Samateh, while being cross-examined by defense lawyer, Borry Touray, was asked if    he had not told another witnessed that President Jammeh had tons of cocaine inside the country and that he was trafficking some of it for the Gambian leader. This at a time when the executive director of the National Drug Enforcement Agency, NDEA,  his deputy and several other top officials were, and are still being tried for selling cocaine exhibits meant for destruction in their custody. So the speculations surrounding the June 3^rd were not that far fetched and off the mark after all. And it was not only that.

Nine accused nationals of foreign countries are being tried in court for possession and distribution of the catch but most people have lost interest in the case. This lack of interest is not only because all the accused persons are foreigners, and without any close relatives around, but because most Gambians believe the authorities are not telling them all they know about the case. Many Gambians believe leading members of the government were involved in that particular case. How could a group of foreigners, without any local support structure, risk bringing in over a billion US dollar worth of any illegal substance and stockpiling it in a village just about 45 kilometers outside Banjul? It certainly does not sound sensible that such a group of South Americans, speaking little English and none of the local languages, would get themselves in the business of importing, stockpiling and distributing such huge quantity of cocaine without any support base among the locals, especially those in powerful and influential government positions. Even in neighboring Guinea Bissau where both the linguistic and cultural settings would have been better managed by the South Americans, they needed local support base within the security forces, powerful government circles and influential politicians. The west African sub-region has now being identified as an important hub, transit point and stockpiling warehouse for South American cocaine destined for Europe, but no where have the South American operated without local partners.

As early as 2004 signs of West Africa as new route for the international cocaine trade had been emerging. According to the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime, UNODC, annual cocaine seizures in Africa as a whole averaged about 0.6 metric tons between 1998 and 2003. This represented only a minute portion of the global seizures of cocaine.

However, since 2004, African seizures have been above 2.5 metric tons, almost five times more than before. In July 2005, the Spanish navy seized over 3 metric tons of cocaine in a Ghanaian ship, representing almost 40% more than the total West African cocaine seizures of the previous year. According to the same UNODC sources in 2006, two seizures in Western Africa, one made in Ghana (1.9 mt) and one Guinea-Bissau (0.6 mt), accounted for 90% of all seizures reported on the continent. Out of the 5.7 tons of cocaine seized in 2007, 99% were reported from Western African countries: 2.4 mt were seized in Senegal in June, almost 1.5 mt were seized in Mauritania between May and August, 0.6 mt in Guinea-Bissau in April, 0.5 mt in Cape Verde in March, 0.4 mt in Benin in August and 0.2 mt in Guinea. Despite the doubling and redoubling of quantities of the narcotic drug seized in the sub-region, many experts suspected this was just the tip of the iceberg. Lack of seizure reports from countries like The Gambia did not necessarily mean the absence of trafficking in these countries, but more likely the deficiency of law enforcement capacities, or worst, complicity of influential government officials.

The growing use of Western Africa as a large cocaine stockpiling location was further confirmed by seizures made by European and Latin American countries of cocaine shipments bound to Africa.

In June 2007, a cocaine trafficking network was dismantled at Brussels airport. The network had been active for about two years, trafficking cocaine from Gambia and Sierra Leone. That same June 2007, Venezuelan authorities seized two and a half tons of cocaine on a private plane that was about to take off for Sierra Leone.

Intensified American war against the cocaine trafficking had forced the South American cartels to shift market to Europe where markets were growing even more lucrative but increased law enforcement successes in the Caribbean and in Europe compelled the cartels to look for alternative routes for the trafficking of the drugs to the European market. Traditionally, South American traffickers smuggled cocaine via Central America and the Caribbean to the United States and across the Atlantic to Europe. But with declining markets and tighter law-enforcement in North America and higher demand and wholesale prices in Western Europe, traffickers sought ways to step up supply to Europeans and found in West Africa a new and safer channel to this fast-growing market. By 2005, Guinea-Bissau had become a hub, and cocaine seizures in the region grew more than twenty times since 2005. Spain is the main entry point of cocaine into Europe and traffickers exploit Spain’s historic and linguistic ties with Latin America, as well as its long coastline. In 2005, Spain’s seizures of 48 metric tons of cocaine accounted for 45 per cent of all cocaine seizures made in Europe, and rose by almost half from 2004 to 2005 after Spanish enforcement agencies intensified their control along the northern coast. According to official Spanish sources up to 70% of Spanish cocaine seizures is made at sea.

Holland is another traditional entry point for cocaine into Europe but by 2005 the authorities there tightened control, enforcing a 100% controls policy on flights from specific Latin American countries. Many believe it is all this that prompted some traffickers to find alternative channels through Africa. The continent’s geographical location made it an attractive staging post from South America to the growing cocaine market in Europe. Drug enforcement authorities believe that most cocaine shipment destined to Europe is transited through Venezuela and Brazil, the South American sub-region closest to West Africa. Incidentally West African countries provide the most permissive working environment for

Drug traffickers due to widespread corruption and poor law enforcement structures. Many countries here have weak states and unstable regimes faced with difficulties of controlling their territories, maintaining law and order and administering justice. The archipelagoes of Guinea Bissau and the Cape Verde Islands alone have hundreds of uninhabited islands where even the semblance of law and order are unknown, providing idyllic setting for all sorts of smugglers. Without such geographic physical features that can provide cover for the narcotic business that both the Cape Verde Islands and Guinea Bissau have, The Gambia’s competitiveness in offering sanctuary for such criminal activities, appeared to lie in the complicity of its authorities, a monolithic support, unmarred by the violent rivalries of the fractious and volatile authorities in Bissau. Many South American drug cartels preferred a safe haven in a country under one-man rule to the contending multiple contending centers of power that obtains in Bissau. With president Jammeh’s totalitarian grip over almost everything, the cartels wish for a predictable local partnership looked more assured in The Gambia than in Bissau where there was fractious tumult within the government system or, say Dakar, where there still are pockets of incorruptible sections in government administration.  

Rumors of President Yahya Jammeh’s involvement in the cocaine business began circulating when Guinea Bissau navy chief, Rear-Admiral Bubo Na Tchuto, fled from alleged coup-plot related house arrest in Bissau to take refuge under the Gambian leader’s protection in Kerr Serigne, just outside Banjul. Since then the rumors of Jammeh’s involvement in the cocaine trade have increased not diminished. Tchuto’s name is among top Bissau-Guineans under US sanctions for alleged involvement in the narcotic business.

Now, a year since the June 3^rd cocaine seizure perhaps it is time we bother less about President Jammeh culpability and more on what we should about saving the country from becoming a narco-state by calling for security service sector reform. With the former Inspector General of police in court facing over sixty count charges, among them about twelve of them cocaine-related, a man who shortly before earned the explicit endorsement of President Jammeh; the whole top echelon of the NDEA on the dock for cocaine trafficking, among other things and dozens of other drug cases involvement men in the security services, that sector sure does need urgent reform. In the words of Yahya Jammeh himself, Gambians have lived under a police chief who was possibly an armed robber. We therefore cry, SECURITY SECTOR REFORM NOW!

Courtesy of TheGambiaJournal.com

Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara: A Statesman for the Ages (#Gambia)

                                     By Mathew K. Jallow

As Sir Dawda K Jawara, Gambia's first and former president due in Atlanta, Georgia, for his book signing, Mathew K Jallow revisits his archives for a fitting dedication to the man of the hour

The term "Founding Father" conjures up mental images of the American Revolution, and applying it to Sir Dawda K. Jawara, has always felt like a stretch for me. Yet, the realism and enigma of Sir Dawda is articulated in the pioneering spirit with which he so ably led The Gambia into the mush-rooming age of political independence. Sir Dawda Jawara was molded in a cast which almost defied definition. The embodiment of a conglomeration of three cultures wrapped into one person, Sir Dawda, out of social expediency developed a redeeming neutral identity that combined his Wollof cultural upbringing in a detribalized Fula family, and set him on a journey towards adolescent identity crisis.

Sir Dawda's character and personality are the products of the refined sophistication of the Aku culture into which he married, the omnipresent Mandinka heritage which loomed large in his background and the Wollofnied Fula upbringing that shaped his early years. And growing up in Bathurst, now Banjul, where his discriminating sense of tribal identity was diffused by homogenizing cultural forces more powerful than the confounding sense of tribe, Sir Dawda, became a product of the environmental circumstances that profoundly pervaded his early life. With the pull of different cultures and the draw of conflicting identities, Sir Dawda learnt to rise above the narrow limitations of tribal identity to escape to a neutral safe-haven and away from the demons of his inner conflict. Even when political demands necessitated a response to the self-interests that consumed the antagonistic tribal forces in his government, he seemed to quietly retreat into the familiar neutral. And more than a decade and half after his fall from political grace, Sir Dawda's story is still being written by the inadvertent paradoxes of history; as the contrast with Yahya Jammeh's murderous regime becomes the true testament of the genius of Sir Dawda's leadership.

There is no a doubt that the verdict of history will cast President Jawara in good light; notwithstanding the economic failures that supposedly led to his political downfall. Throughout his public life, Sir Dawda had remained neutral to a fault, for when faced with competing and antagonistic tribal forces, he show-cased a balanced, if not a non-intrusive quality that often bordered on senile detachment from the natty gritty of the nation's daily political life. Sir Dawda was never given to drama, and even when the nation's capital resources were plundered and depleted right before his eyes, he seemed almost unable to provoke accountability and discipline in response to the exigencies of the moment. And despite his abundant gift of wisdom, Sir Dawda Jawara easily fell victim to his popularity, but more important than that, he never learnt to hold the feet of his subordinates to the fire. And it was this lackadaisical approach to governance that became his undoing. For, even as he drew sharp criticism for the country's descent into the unfathomable depths of corruption and tribal infighting, he seemed to bury his head into the sand. Yet despite his failures as our leader, Gambians today would rather choose to relive the worst of the Jawara era, than remain prisoners in a state of suspended animation that challenges our national conscience and degrades our humanity. The last fifteen years of Yahya Jammeh's brutal dramatics are radically different from the tempered era of Sir Dawda; an era characterized by a dichotomous irony of insidious tribal conflict and manifest political harmony.

As President, Sir Dawda was without a doubt a man of vision both by nature and circumstance, yet he lacked the strength and the force of will to rein in the run-away corruption, looting and the pervasive plunder of our nation's resources. Today, that corruption remains embedded in the body politics of our country, to elevate the level of corruption to a dangerous crisis situation. In spite of this, Sir Dawda has remained the picture perfect embodiment of nobility and grace, a rare breed of politician who exudes a celestial serenity; a man who seems fixated on his unique qualities as a compassion statesman; and a man whose superior morals precludes the need for greed and material wealth. In that regard alone, Sir Dawda has become the true definition of honor.

During his thirty-year long presidency, Sir Dawda provided opportunity for Gambians, yet somehow, the cloud of ethical degradation that hung over his successive governments, failed to alert his good judgment for reason that still leaves many Gambians perplexed and left in wonderment. As president, Sir Dawda Jawara was unlike most African leaders and politicians of his generation; leaders who took advantage of their positions to enrich themselves with the wealth of their people. If there was one negative about the era of Sir Dawda on which there is universal agreement among Gambians, it was that he overstayed as president; even when the signs for his departure were written on the wall for all to see. But, since we cannot undo the past, we must at least find solace in the remarkable achievements of Sir Dawda's long, peaceful reign.

Today, only a few other African countries have had the success of ingraining the values of democracy and the rule of law in their citizens as The Gambia under Sir Dawda. For ours is not merely the romanticized notion of democracy, judging by the plethora of angry voices shouting freedom, not only from behind the ominous dark shadows of the confining walls of our prisons, but also from to the unforgiving distances that separate Gambians from their beloved homeland. Gambians on all continents are forming a critical mass in their opposition to Jammeh's murderous and dictatorial regime, and this is possible only because Sir Dawda gave us a taste of what it was like to live as free people. And today, the narcissism, brutality and greed of Yahya Jammeh stand in sharp contrast to the humility and frugality of Sir Dawda; a man whose humane predisposition is the product of highly cultured personality.

True, Sir Dawda may at some point admit to some of the failings of his successive governments, but he has given us much more than material rewards. He allowed us to retain our inalienable rights and freedoms, and this is more than Gambians could ever ask for. For if truth be told, there is no greater gift Sir Dawda could have given us than the gift of liberty. And now, as age takes its inevitable toll, and Sir Dawda continues his dignified march towards the lonely and melancholic sunset, his legacy will remain etched in our hearts, our souls and all across our land. Sir Dawda has carved out a name in our hearts for himself, as a leader, a humanitarian and a statesman. But no one can tell the story of Sir Dawda K Jawara our first president more than himself, and his book signing in Atlanta, Georgia, next week, will begin that storytelling, and perhaps, just perhaps, for many of us, ignite the nostalgia of a time past under the leadership of a statesman for the ages.

Gambia News: What democracy denies its people the right to vote? (#Gambia)

(Daily News)As Gambians at home register for the 2011 presidential election; Gambians abroad remain disenfranchised, despite fifteen years of empty promises and artificial obstacles by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC). The official quotes below say it all:
 “The Commission has been mandated by the Elections Decree (Section 11) to provide a register of voters in foreign countries. Such a mandate is being looked into,” (IEC Website).
“Presently, Gambians living abroad have the option of returning to the Gambia during registration periods and register within their Constituencies of origin. This will mean that it is only in this type of registration that they can vote during National or Local Elections, until such a time that a register of voters in foreign countries become feasible,” (IEC Website).
At this snail-pace, Diaspora Gambians will never have the right to vote in Gambian national elections, because fifteen years after the 1996 presidential polls, the Commission is “still looking into it.”
This is not a case of bad faith on my part- far from it. It is the realization that the words of The Commission are official spin, empty rhetoric intended to satisfy donors, while denying Diaspora Gambians their rights in order to maintain the status-quo.
The Commission and the Jammeh regime have no intention, nor are they interested, in extending the franchise to Diaspora Gambians. This is so, despite readily available funds from the Commonwealth and other donor countries.
In this day of sophisticated computer software registering less than 300, 000 Gambians resident abroad should not be as daunting as it was even ten years ago. Many countries in Africa, and neighboring Senegal, in particular, have extended the vote to their citizens abroad, recognizing among other things, their collective contribution to national development through remittances and investments in land and businesses.
It is laughable to expect Gambians in their thousands to return home to cast a ballot in their “constituencies of origin.”
What an utter waste of valuable resources that could, otherwise, be spent to benefit Gambians at home. Why make it so difficult for Diaspora Gambians to exercise such a fundamental right?
The answer is simple—they need our monthly remittances, not our vote, out of fear that Jammeh would be flushed out; even though he now enjoys considerable support among pockets of Gambians abroad.
What democracy denies its people the right to vote?
The IEC and Jammeh are not entirely at fault. The Opposition political party aficionados are just as complicit. Their parties remain disorganized, splintered and bututless; and for the most part are themselves paralyzed by fear— never attempting to challenge the constitutionality of this illegal state of affairs.
Rather than compromise, which is the art of politics, they are consumed by distrust, as they wallow in trite recrimination against one another- all hoping against all odds that they too shall become president someday.
This is at best delusional grandstanding even though all it takes to win is to form a united front against Jammeh. This is not rocket science but a simple strategy. Get the rascals out and then duke it out amongst yourselves.
Thus, the 2011 presidential election results are a foregone conclusion! You do not have to be a political scientist or bantaba pundit to figure this one out.
It seems all Gambians know this except the party leaders that plan to run and be humiliated. Jammeh and his APRC party will trounce any and all who dare stand his way. He has the money, arms and threatens to use them, which he will, if cornered.
Did he not arrest and imprison Femi Peters with impunity, without a whimper? Does Jammeh not use state media, while denying Opposition political heads their right to do so? Does he not have the IEC in his pocket and hires and fires at will its members? Does the Constitution not favor him and his kind? Need I go on?
How can Gambians at home and those in the Diaspora salvage the 2011 presidential election? If you cannot vote; vote with your wallet, and threaten to withhold the monthly “fish-money.”  Demand that relatives vote and vote for the candidate that stands the best chance of winning.
That happens to be Ousainou Darboe. Demand that all Opposition parties and aficionados rally behind Darboe, this once and see what happens. Darboe must now take a bold move, take the bull by its horns and make deals with the other party leaders- promise them the moon and get them on his side. Once in office, establish a union government to run the country for a one five-year term, while putting the necessary instruments and environment in place for a free and fair presidential poll.
This may well be the antidote to the political impasse that currently grips the country. With this strategy, Jammeh can have all the money, media, IEC and arms on his side and still be flushed out of office. Will the PPP, NRP, PDOIS leadership rally behind Darboe or would they rather see Jammeh be handed a fourth five-year term? This is the question and the choice is clear to all.

Gambia News: Lt. General Tamba Will Not ‘Die Twice’ But Queries Gambian Judiciary after Sentence

Daily News --Lt. Gen. Lang Tombong Tamba, former defence chief said, the Gambia’s judiciary needs to be looked into because he doesn’t deserve a sentence for a crime he did not commit.
Tamba’s query came after the Special Criminal Division of the High Court in Banjul found him and Sarjo Fofana, former navy chief guilty on all four counts of treason related charges, eventhough they had denied the charges.
In a suspense-filled climax of a courtroom saga that has obsessed the nation, the eleven month-long trial yesterday ended with a twenty year jail sentence handed down on both men.
Tamba and Fofana were sacked in October 2009 following which they were put under trial for a coup attempt which occurred in 2006.  
The atmosphere which greeted their conviction and sentence was both chaotic and somber.  The former army Lt general was uptight and teary, yet he unsuccessfully managed to calm down a more teary crowed of relatives and sympathisers.     
“I am prepared to die,” the General cried out, attracting the attention of a blend of uniformed and un-uniformed state security personnel who grabbed their former embattled boss with every strength of theirs, put him into the vehicle and whisked him away.
Denied the allegations
Lt Gen. Tamba, who was the deputy chief of defence staff at the time of the 2006 coup, was widely seen as a key figure in the foiling of the attempted coup in 2006 allegedly led by former defence chief, Col Ndure Cham, now in exile.
His lawyer, Sheriff Tambedou said, Tamba was promoted as Chief of Defence Staff and also decorated by the President with MRG because of efforts he did in foiling the 2006 coup attempt.
 “I did everything to foil the 2006 coup,” Tamba himself said, shaking his head after his conviction. “How can I be part of a coup which I foiled.”
And Sarjo Fofana was the chair of the military court - Court martial - which presided over the case  in connection with the coup.

On the trial
Five state witnesses, including two former military men convicted by a military court in connection with the said coup attempt appeared as state witnesses, but refused to testify.
Major Bah, a military officer who had been sentenced to a 25 year jail term after he was found guilty of the said coup attempt - but later freed on a presidential pardon - had also testified as a state witness.
However, the defense counsel of Tamba and Fofana had argued that the state has no evidence against their clients, noting that none of the witnesses linked their clients to the said treason.
 “The prosecution has proved its case beyond all reasonable doubt and I hereby found the accused person guilty of the charges,” Justice Ikapala, held.
He relied on the testimony of Major Bah and the statement obtained from a treason convict Captain Yaya Darboe by state investigators.
Justice Ikpala agreed on the content of the statement, which he said, states that Tamba and Fofana were involved in the coup attempt.
Lawyers maintained innocence
“Sarjo Fofana did not take any step in the 2006 foiled coup and there is no evidence from the prosecution,” the lawyer for Fofana, Lamin Mboge told court even after the guilty verdict was passed.
He described his client as a finest and a highly responsible gentleman with a wife and children and an extended family who all depend on him.
Lt Gen. Tamba, on the other hand, is a wife to two, a biological father to six and adopted father to fifteen people most of whom are young, according to his lawyer.
He was condemned to death last year alongside seven others, including top security men and business tycoons, also for treason allegations he had denied.
Treason attracts a maximum penalty of death sentence in The Gambia. The presiding judge sentenced Tamba and Fofana as follows: 20 years for conspiracy, 20 years for treason and 10 years for each of the two counts of concealment of treason.
Since the sentences will run concurrently, both men will spend 20 years in jail, unless otherwise.   
However, Tamba is unconvinced that he has done anything wrong and could be heard calling for an overhaul of The Gambia’s justice system, which has come under heavy criticisms over the years.
“Have faith Tamba because one day justice will prevail,” a bloodshot eye old man tried to cheer him up, as if the judge’s decision was unjust.

Author: Binta Bah

Gambia: A storm brewed over The Gambia

By Doko Wato Sita

A storm brewed, and came over our little beloved nation in 1994. At first this impending storm was greeted with much dancing and joy in the streets, in villages throughout the length and breadth of the land ,for indeed a great drought had persisted for many years, where lack of transparency, accountability, and proper administration had made everyone yearn for a day like this, and where everyone thought that indeed the day of reckoning had arrived.

When the dust subsided, out emerged five young army men. They called themselves soldiers with a difference. Out of the core grew a man, reminiscent of Stalin, ignorant, ugly, ignoble, vicious, and calculating, bent on distorting the dream, if there was any; bent on eliminating all those who came with him from that impending storm. Where is Yankuba Touray, Sanna Sabally, Edward Singatey, and Sadibou Haidara? So also must we ask ourselves what happened to these who were with Stalin after Lenin’s death? This man, who is now the spitting image of Joseph Stalin, reflects all that is bad about The Gambian; greedy, selfish, jealous, mean, arrogant and materialist to the core. Now he sits and reigns supreme, over all and sundry, where none dear speak against him, not even cough up words of condemnation against him.

A bandit in sheep’s clothing, a buffoon in alligator shoes, with a name so long, that all hyenas and wolves in The Gambia can comfortably fit into. These hyenas and wolves are none other than the notable mafia clans and families who came to lend support to the dictator. Well educated and well exposed Gambians who have read better, and should know better, but taken with materialism, greed and the urge to ape the colonialist become the extended family to the dictator, working tirelessly in the boiler rooms of his government and administration, pouncing on innocent victims, yet heaping all the blame on the President. Let us take the case of Beatrice Allen. It hurts me so much that I weep as I write this letter.

A noble, clean spirited woman as Beatrice Allen, wanting to just pursue the right way, is maligned, humiliated and brought to court on trumped up charges by a corrupt clique of hoodlums. It would seem that for The Gambia, it is the women who are becoming the true defendants of justice, and the ones crying out for justice. Now we have another innocent victim Mr. Touray of Prestine Consulting, who left his comfortable and highly successful career in the United States to return to his homeland to contribute to that nation’s development. Let us face ourselves and tell the truth, Yaya did not put that man in jail, Gambians did, as they have done with many who came back home with intelligence, a new vision, a new product, or a new business, not of their own and not from their own (the mafia clan that is), and who they then see as threatening to their entrenched status. They are then impelled to seize on that returnee’s idea, concept, or assets. They are the mafia families, and from where Yaya draws all his technocrats.

 It is Gambians who put Mr Touray in jail. You see these morons, have no originality, no new ideas, no innovation, and like alligators, they wait for their next feed in terms of what other expatriate Gambian returnee with fresh concepts or ideas comes to establish himself or herself in The Gambia. These people feel that they are the divine ruling class of The Gambia. Unfortunately, Mr. Touray did not belong to the ruling families of The Gambia; he was neither a son, nor nephew of one of the powerful mafia clans, notwithstanding the fact that the sarahuleh community invested in him. That is the truth behind his arrest and broad daylight attempt to seize his rightful property and investment. Beatrice wanted to do things the right way. No corruption, no diverting of funds, and The Gambian does not like that. You don’t stand in his way to grabbing the money, and this is why she landed in trouble, and one man Yaya Jammeh cannot be responsible for it. It is the Gambians who put Beatrice in jail. How many Gambians have already suffered in the same manner, and how many more will these morons go after. I even venture to say that most of these people languishing in mile 2 were put there by Gambians, either out of jealousy, greed, selfishness, and indifference. What is the reluctance in us to call a spade a spade?. Why do we hide behind these long tirades against the dictator whilst leaving out the mafia ruling families? We shall not advance one inch in our war against the Jammeh regime without exposing these rotten, and evil clans dominating both the public and private sector in The Gambia. Who are these Gambians? A bunch of super morons, perpetuating a mafia clique of “ man am na, yow amu lo, yow bokulo, teh warulo am” mentality. I ask you, who is worse? the dictator, or the perpetrators and advantage takers under his rule, who use the system created by the Dictator to harass innocent citizens.

We must go beyond the realm of “Masla”, and start calling a spade a spade. I am itching to expose some of the members of this mafia clique. When the President pounces on people’s property, he is encouraged and emboldened by the policies of these mafia families, as they greedily line up behind him, waiting for the pickings and the apportioning of seized assets. If Yaya has his way and takes over Libya’s assets in The Gambia, watch how these vultures stay close behind him, to eagerly devour the pickings. There is reluctance with Gambian journalists to write about these mafia families; they remain sacrosanct, untouchable, as all the blame is then put on one man –Yaya Jammeh. Yaya is just head of the pack, and when regime change comes, these same mafia families will adapt and clinch to a new leadership as bees to honey. They will be the first to throw stones at the departing government, and profess their hypocritical allegiance to the new one. Therefore getting rid of Yaya Jammeh would not necessarily solve our current problems. As the noted African economist George Ayittey explains, the “vampire African states” are “governments which have been hijacked by a phalanx of bandits and crooks who would use the instruments of the state machinery to enrich themselves and their cronies and their tribesmen and exclude everybody else.” (“Hyena States” would be a fitting alternative in the African landscape.) Africa is ruled by thugs in designer suits who buy votes and loyalties with cash handouts.” You mafia clan families. We are sick and tired of you and your antics. Your fighting for leadership in the sports business in The Gambia landed Beatrice in trouble. A friend told of how he shared a flight with one of you, a short one from Dakar. There you were with your daughter. I am sure you were not on any official trip, yet there you were being picked up by that stupid status symbol “ VIP car”. It is this bourgeois attitude on the part of the mafia, privileged clan that is holding back the development of our country. You hide behind the dictator; quick to curse him privately, but ready to look like a follower in public. You have imposed yourself as the new colonialist on your people You mafia clan families, and ex-ministers, I am threatening to expose your names in my next article, as you sit there in The Gambia, munching discreetly and quietly on their mountains of wealth; I ask you where have you thought of reaching out to the masses, or contribute your own quota and money to The Gambia’s development? Haven’t you seen what the Bill Gates, the Ted Turners and countless of your counterparts in the Western world, from where capitalism and democracy came, are doing with their wealth? Government is not the sole driver of economic growth. It is the private sector that drives growth, and the wealthy play an enormous role in it.

Africa’s elite, with their burgeoning wealth never benefits the continent’s growth . As Mathew Jallow,our Gambian journalist, writer and Human Rights Activist noted “ African politicians and government officials have engaged in corrupt practices, and a 2004-2005 World Bank Report showed that $148 billion were embezzled out of Africa by politicians and bureaucrats; a significant amount being aid and loans earmarked for development activities to benefit Africa's vast poor”. now how selfish can you get? What did John F. Kennedy say to us, “ if a society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot protect the few who are rich”. But mark the words of our Rasta singers “ a hungry mouth is an angry man” The uprising we see in North Africa will be different when it comes south. Ours will be characterized mainly by “burning and looting”. That’s right. Go ahead and build your mansions, amass your wealth, and continue to ignore the masses.

 Go to your Fajara clubs, play your tennis as the colonialist did, and have your wives drive their cars with stupid vanity plates; spend your time throwing lavish parties; spend your inordinate time in these dark, and dingy “dakas”, drinking and whiling the night away; go to the mosques, dressed in resplendent khaftans exuding false religiosity and see if that will protect you when the mob comes. Who can protect you when the time comes?, when the dispossessed and long neglected youth from the interior of the country lose patience and invade the capital, I ask you where do you run to? A second storm is on the way, mark my words, and none of you backward Gambians shall be spared. Mother Africa shall exact from you, what you have failed to bestow upon her. Mark my words. 


Source:freedomnewspaper