Never in the history of human kind has someone who loves him/herself or his own family and whose mental faculty is in place works so hard against his or her own short and long term interest. Never has someone in a position of privilege and who is sane has so much resentment against his own people, the world and the best interest of his own family. The Gambian President Yahya Jammeh one must argue with concrete evidence that he is either mentally ill or is on a suicide mission and wants to stay in power until his death do him apart.
Historically, dictators have had the tendency to be brutal by creating an environment of fear, uncertainty but build a safety net where if something were to happen to them they would have an escape route. The smart ones never shut down every avenue, relationship or opportunity to live beyond their reign. But Yahya Jammeh for the last decade has consistently worked against everything that could be at his own best interest. It is one thing to be power drunken, but completely another to manifest so much hate and resentment against everything that has life that flies by or near the dictator. Yahya Jammeh’s insane obsession with his own inferior ability and perceived unmatched power shows something deeper than the eyes can see. He is mentally; emotionally, spiritually and Psychologically imbalance and desperately needs help.
Others may argue that nothing is wrong with Jammeh, that he is in fact manifesting the usual signs of dictators drowning in their own emotional obsession with power and greed. But let’s look at recent actions and speeches of Yahya Jammeh as it relates to his own well-being and ability to stay in power. Any sane leader ruling the Gambia with full history and consciousness of Gambia – Senegal relationship will not be so reckless and so blatantly do everything that will pitch Senegal against Gambia. If he knew the size of Gambia, its security apparatus and strategic economic viability and dependability on Senegal and the sub-region, he would be smart to forge a diplomatic relationship with Senegal no matter the political circumstances. But Jammeh’s tirade and resentment of Senegal and its leaders for nurturing democracy, tolerance and for harboring Gambian dissidents is slowly eating his flesh out of his soul. He can no longer open his eyes or think about Senegal and sit still.
Another episode of possible lapse of medication or emotional breakdown is Jammeh’s unbelievable hatred and tribal tirade against Gambians; the largest ethnic mandinka group and political opponents. His recent hate speech against Mandinkas was simply a continuation of earlier threat Jammeh made against his political opponents and Gambians in general. He threatened at a political rally to bury his political opponents “nine feet deep where even a fly cannot find them”. He threatened to jail and kill peaceful protesters who dare oppose his perceived peace and development in Gambia. He even went to the extend of calling for the UN, the EU and other international partners to “go to hell” all out of dangerous anger and fear in the ‘brave’ man’s guts. He is so paranoid and fragile that without putting on a brave face by screaming and insulting people there is no other way he could maintain a slight sign of support and respect from his followers. Jammeh therefore has no choice but to beat his chest in front of the poorest of the poor and show the morally demoralized securities around him that they will survive together.
But the reason Jammeh is clearly manifesting mental illness and his journey to committing not only political suicide and physical suicide is his open admission of killing citizens. Although this is not new, but with the advent of 24 hour news circle and the world so integrated and in tuned with all that is going on around the world, Jammeh’s admission of killing Solo Sandeng in an interview and his 22 minutes of vulgar language against Mandinkas at a rally in Talinding simply revealed the man’s mental state of mind. Anybody who listened to that audio on Gainako’s sound cloud with the president of a nation threatening to incite ethnic war and wipe out an entire ethic group would agree that something deeply troubling beyond hunger for power is wrong with Jammeh. He has become a threat to himself and to anybody in that tiny country including his own securities. Mental illness is a serious disease and it is even more dangerous when someone in command of State machinery and lethal weapons suffers from the disease. Gambians and the world must recognize that Jammeh has reached a dangerous level of resistance to clinch on to power. At this level of anger and obsession, Jammeh cannot and will not imagine being out of power alive. He is therefore on a suicide mission and is becoming more threatening to the safety of Gambians and by default to the long term peace and security of the nation. The sooner the Gambian people and the world realize Jammeh’s mental imbalance the sooner they can rescue the nation from becoming another failed state.