By Mathew K Jallow
The outcry was swift. The reaction was scathing. And the condemnations; relentless and laced with pejorative verbiage. A nation perpetually mired in severe social and economic disaffection, was once again challenged by an arrogant showcase of imperial unilateralism. Notwithstanding the influences of our colonial culture, the ancestors who found an unpopulated landscape and created a panorama of small, isolated village settlements, occupy positions of divine reverence in our culture. From Sutukoba to Barra; and from Kartong to Koina, the founding of every settlement has its own story; stories often depicted in riveting tales of bloody tribal conflicts, or just the pure motivation of adventurism and a sense of optimism. The founding of every village exemplifies the courage to begin anew; often far from one’s place of birth. But two weeks ago, however, the reverence with which our founding ancestors are held, came crashing down when, a history set in stone, was cannibalized in an unprecedented disregard for the cultural norms that define us. It sparked an angry public repudiation that set the blogosphere ablaze in utter disbelief and outrage. Yahya Jammeh’s orchestrated renaming of Sayerr Jobe Avenue in Sere Kunda, is a shocking denigration of the nobility of the founder of Gambia’s largest metropolis, the revered, Sayerr Jobe. But what is more bigoted and disrespectful than renaming of Sayerr Jobe Avenue, is the naming of Gambia’s inarguably busiest thoroughfare after an ignoramus of absolutely no standing, whatsoever, in Gambian society.
We may or may never know the true motivations behind this shocking act of ancestral betrayal, but one thing is certain, it is a purely political move with no bearing, whatsoever, on the cultural norms of naming of key landmarks after accomplished citizens, many of whose contributions are encapsulated in history, legend and mythology. As we focus on the historical Sayerr Jobe, we are reminded of other great ancestors who started a nucleus that became Gambia; Gainako Jallow, Mansajang Baldeh, Babou Jobe and Ngai Baldeh to name a few. The identification of village settlements after their founders is almost exclusively a Fula and Wollof tradition, but it does not diminish the reverence to which Mandinka, Serere, Jola and Serahule founding settlers are held on a pedestal above the rest. The efforts to hijack the glory of the city of Sere Kunda founder, the venerable Sayerr Jobe, highlights a politicized culture steeped in tribal bigotry and colored in social, political and economic bias. The Sayerr Jobe Avenue renaming saga also underscores Yahya Jammeh’s painstaking efforts to completely change the Gambia’s character in order to reflect it as a minority Jola hegemony; an asinine political maneuvering that will prove impossible to enforce, due in part, to the scrutiny of the regime’s tribal bigotry as a core policy objective, and the clamor for political change. The blueprint for Yahya Jammeh’s political agenda is reflected in every aspect of Gambian life, as if the deliberate exclusion of other tribes from Gambia’s social, political and economic activity is a means to delegitimize their citizenship and questions their Gambian heritage.
Yahya Jammeh’s unforced persecution of Gambia’s majority tribes juxtaposed on his sickening pursuit of a social construct that erects barriers to opportunity for the Gambian majority, is encountering the silent resistance of Gambians determined to dismantle the divisive walls of biased preferential treatment that has long been Yahya Jammeh’s political objective. The renaming of Sayerr Jobe Avenue in Sere Kunda after a Gambian nonentity, as hard as it is to fathom, and even harder yet to accept, demonstrates the absence of consultations in the decision-making process and the undermining of the municipal authority, By changing the Sayerr Jobe Avenue name to that of one of his political lackeys, Yahya Jammeh’s irreverend act of dissension from the norm is a manifestation of contempt for the descendants of the Sayerr Jobe, but also for disrespect for the residents of Sere Jobe Kunda untouched by the trivialities of tribal bigotry. The unauthorized renaming of Sayerr Jobe Avenue defies the will of Sere Kunda residents and caused tempers to flare, but Yahya Jammeh’s weight can never subsume the political clout of Sayerr Jobe, even in death. But the renaming of Sayerr Jobe Avenue also strikes me as an infantile attempt to irritate Sere Kunda residents, in particular, the politically powerful descendants of Sayerr Jobe, regardless of Yahya Jammeh’s consciousness of the fleetingness of the Avenue name change. For residents of Sere Kunda and the Gambia, Sayerr Jobe Avenue will always remain Sayerr Jobe Avenue. In the words of Edward Kennedy, ”the cause endures, the hope still lives on, and the name of “Sayerr Jobe Avenue” shall never die