The Gambian President Yahya Jammeh today commence the constitutionally mandated annual “meet the farmers tour” which instructs the President to tour the length and the breath of the nation to meet farmers across the country to assess their rainy season and living conditions. The major highlight of the tour which has been marked with accidents and threats against citizens since Yahya Jammeh came to power is the amount of security he has around him. The whole mark of the tour is to meet farmers and ordinary Gambians living in the provincial part of the country which gives the President a chance to interact with the public and speak to them directly.
President Jammeh on the other hand has used the meet the farmers tour to inspect his own farms, grab more land and on occasions threatened some areas of depriving them of needed development if they fail to support the APRC. In fact, in several instances the President has boycotted certain areas of the country who he alleges were not supporting him. Badibou Kerewan and other major villages in that area has been a subject of the President’s boycott until recently when those areas started voting for him heavily. He has already labelled them as “opposition Mandinka” dominated areas who supports the UDP and the default NCP. In Kiang, the President employed similar tactics and had openly threatened Kiang and Jarra constituents who have traditionally voted for the UDP since Jammeh came to power. Of course those areas remembers very well the privileges they lost when their son the late Baba Jobe fell apart with the President and eventually allegedly was killed while in Jail.
The highlight of this year’s tour is the amount of insecurity surrounding the President. As they say pictures don’t lie, looking at the number of military guards and armors surrounding the President’s motorcade one could see that security is at the height of the President’s agenda. The December 30th 2014 alleged failed coup which came close to toppling the regime was definitely factored in especially with the background knowledge that the initial plans of the coupists were to ambush the President’s motorcade. It is baffling that a President who claims to be so loved and admired by his people can mobilize such security while meeting the poorest of the poor in the country. Common sense dictates that there is certainly less security threat in meeting the poor hungry farmers than any other parts of the country.
It is equally baffling to any close observers and political pundits to see that a President who virtually has designated any place outside of the Gambia as a danger zone for him, would also be so insecure in his own country. It only lends credence to the reality that the President has not level up with his people and the massive arrest; detention, divide and rule and incarceration of sons and daughters of the nation does not sit well with the people. It is believed that Gambia is a small nation and that when you touch one person you are likely to touch many extended families, friends and other associates of individuals. The Gambian President and his government for two decades have strife on divide and conquer and have created so many conflicts in the country.
The President certainly or anybody with their eyes wide open will not fail to see the verse inequality that exist between urban and rural Gambia. “If you want to witness poverty and abandonment of a society from rural to urban areas then visit Gambia” said a commentator. Some of the major problems confronting the country is youth migration not only to Europe through the ‘back way’ but abandoning of the land for urban parts of the country where resources and amenities are heavily concentrated. In fact, majority of the people in the provinces are women and older men who heavily depends on their families living in the urban areas and abroad.
The Gambian leader will not fail to realized that his “back to the land” policy and “Grow what you eat and eat what you grow” were mere sound bites designed to cow people towards his own farms. The only bumper arrest the country has seen in the last decade is the farms of the President. Common sense dictates that making sound bites does not give the people a reason to go back to the land. In fact, a much sound policy would have been not to force the people to abandon “Nawetans” football during the rainy season etc but to incentivize agriculture and give the people a reason to go back to the farm. On the other hand if the President and his government only makes pronouncements and fails to follow through or implement the much needed reforms to encourage citizens to become farmers by providing them the materials and or market to sell their produce, then the results are exactly that; demotivation.
So sadly the President’s meet the farmers tour yet again is all about himself. In fact, even the crowd so far seen around the President are supposedly paid green youths to come and support the President and motivate more people to come out. One does not fail to see fewer adults, women and men jumping around to shake hands with the President of course except some religious zealots who have largely been accomplices for the President’s cash dishing agenda. Those people have morally failed to not only represent their people but the true letter of the religion. So to the ordinary observer, President Jammeh is more worried about his personal security than meeting and getting to know the condition of the people. Eventually as common law testifies; the safety and security of any leader is directly connected to that of his people. Where there is insecurity among the ordinary citizen, then there is bound to be insecurity on the side of the leader thus the reason why heavy weaponry are seen around the President’s entourage. Gainako will continue to monitor the President’s visit throughout the country and will bring out readers the day to updates of the visit.