‘Open Your Eyes or Continue to Live in Agony’
Did you ever sit down and wonder what is in there for them? Is it the palatable short lived economic incentives; the toxic privilege of taking his temporary positions, the euphemism of associating with someone perceived to be in power, or is it simply a matter of being caught between the devil you know and the one you don’t? Common sense which apparently is not too common any more dictates that when you continue to support something or someone the person must be doing something that either pleases you or gives you hope for tomorrow. But when almost every decision made by your President send chills in your spinal cord, human decency dictates that you use your mind to re-evaluate your position.
For the twenty years he has been in power, Gambia’s President Yahya Jammeh’s worst victims who have been fired, arrested, jailed and tortured more than any other group of citizens are the very people who hold brief and do everything for him. Time and again, this President appoint citizens to work for him, carry out his missions, and after they create enough enemies and lost all credibility and moral judgment to defend justice, he turns around and not only throw them under the bus but ensures they never again see sunlight or regain their respectable status in society.
President Jammeh’s closest aides; people who are the reason he continues to enjoy the privileges of being President experiences the worst brutal treatment on the face of this planet. One can name countless victims without whose services Jammeh wouldn’t survive a day in being President of the Gambia, have all suffered the worst human treatment one has ever seen. Every Gambian knew the prominent role the late Baba Jobe played for Yahya Jammeh. Everyone can remember the kind of missions LangTombong Tamba former CDS, James Kujabi then NIA Director, Njogu Bah, Babadinding Jorbarteh, Pa Harry Jammeh, Kawsu Sanyang and most recently Momodou Sabally just to name a few all have nurtured and help strengthen Yahya Jammeh in his Presidency. And yet every one of these people and their families paid an unimaginable price for associating with Gambia’s most demonic force the country has ever seen. The fate of all these people is a lifelong chapter for all to learn.
So the million dollar moral question is why do people who continue to see their efforts, support, loyalty and hopes dissipate in thin air only for them to end up in prison on some of the most outrageous economic crimes not learn from their predecessors? Why do citizens continue to clinch on to supporting a system that brings them and their people agony time and again? Are these people so desperate, so blinded and so inept in assessing the situation and answer a simple question that can differentiate between evil and good? What satisfaction does a supporter of the government get from the arrest and jailing of Njogu Bah, Momodou Sabally and others who have done everything to defend the defenseless morally bankrupt regime? What satisfaction do they get from the likes of Imam Baba Leigh’s six months detention without course? How much comfort and pleasure does citizens of the Gambia who supports the Jammeh regime get from the arrest, long detention and alleged tortured of his own agents? How much longer can you stand by and defend the constitutional and human rights violations of citizens victims within your own camp? How long will it take for citizens who claimed to be independent with conscience continue to applaud a brutal system that finds pleasure and comfort in throwing its most loyal aids in Jail and on some occasions torture them to death without remorse?
Certainly as we argued before, the moral responsibility lies in every citizens’ hands to assess the situation, learn from the past, use their minds to make a judgment on who they want to support, work for or associate with. The people who make conscious decisions to associate with the regime have and will pay the price for their reckless decisions. Those who knowingly enjoy the company of those citizens while they are willingly serving a path to their demise must deal with their conscience on whether what is happening to those people is justified or not. The claim that Gambian citizens are powerless in doing something about what is happening to fellow citizens is bogus. At the very least every citizen can decide to either side with justice or injustice, evil or goodwill. Whatever side you choose to associate with one must be assessed base on the reality of the status quo. At the end of the day when your people continue to be victims of the same ruthless circumstances, sanity dictates that you take a moral stand and denounce injustice. The choice is clear either be on the wrong or right side of history. Clinging on supporting a system that does not value you and your associates’ humanity is enough for conscious citizens to take a moral stand!
By D Baldeh Commentary