In an unprecedented move the Vice President of the Gambia Isatou Njie-Saidy has on National Television dismissed President Jammeh’s unilateral declaration of the Republic of the Gambia as an Islamic State. The Vice President who was speaking during a handing over ceremony of D700,000 critics said amounts to bribery to the House of Parliament by the President said ” The Declaration of Gambia as an Islamic state means nothing” adding that Muslims and Christians in this small West African State will continue to coexisted as one.
The Vice President’s surprised statement validates critic’s long standing argument that the Gambian president is an unstable leader and would say or do anything without thinking about the consequences of his actions. It also validates the Vice president’s long perception that the President doesn’t listen to anyone which she was over heard saying to an ECOWAS Official during an ECOWAS summit in Ghana last year. The president appears to have mobilized his cabinet once again to do a damage control on another blunder he has created.
The VP’s statement came after a fierce revolve from the Christian community across the country and abroad condemning the President’s unilateral pronouncement of the Gambia as an Islamic State in violation of the constitution which guarantees Gambia as a secular state separating the state and religion. Yahya Jammeh however has consistently blurred the lines between the Presidency, his private life and the state. Meanwhile, the President appears to hand the opposition and his critics another red meat for them to talk about.
Close observers of Gambian political discourse said the Vice President’s statement is actually a confirmation of what she thinks about the president in her mind. She couldn’t have made a statement more damning than the President’s declaration of the Gambia as an Islamic State. Another observer opined that the Vice President’s frustration with Jammeh’s iratic behavior is what is coming out of her mouth slowly. She was also reported to have been frustrated with the border closure between Gambia and Senegal. It remains to be seen what comes out of Jammeh’s Islamic state declaration but critics fear that if he wins the December elections, he would be more embolden and would take even more drastic measures in pushing Gambia further into isolation.
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I think Jammeh is seeing his end ,he is in a state of confusion today saying this tomorrow saying that .