Lately, President Jammeh has perfected his skill in gauging Gambians’ reaction to his unscrupulous acts. As a result, before he executes any of his chilling plans, he parades himself on GRTS to allude to his intended plan. A couple of days later he will proceed to carry out his plan knowing what reaction he will get from his countrymen and women as well as the International community. This he clearly manifested in the killing of Dayda Hydara, the execution of the Mile II 9 death row inmates, the unlawful arrest and subsequent torture of both Imams Baba Leigh and Ba Kawsu Fofana. In all cases, he underscored his heinous intention on GRTS before actualising his plan. In a similar circumstance, he recently declared on the national television that for the Gambian dissidents in the diaspora, it is just a matter of time before he will lay his blood-soaked hands on them. He even went further to brag that he will not disclose his plans but he is confident that he will get each one of us. Many watching him at the time perhaps thought he was just making another of his verbose threats but I for one knew there was more to it than meet the eye. Shortly after his speech, I was informed by impeccable source within the ambits of statehouse that Mahawa Cham and Saul Ndow were abducted by his agents in Senegal and handed over to him in Kanilai. What happened next to these two gentlemen is everyone’s guess.
A further most wanted guest in the person of Ndurr Cham was added to his list of detainees. What is really worrying is the silence with which the abduction of these prominent Gambian dissidents in Senegal has been given by the media houses. Their plight, it seems, has not been accorded similar importance and coverage as that of Imam Baba Leigh for instance. Apart from a couple of stories highlighting their shocking arrest, no further attention has been given them. Suffice it to say that while their case subsides in the backstage of the newsrooms of the media houses, Jammeh continues to subject them to all forms of inhumane treatments. Jammeh hates exposure. The more his excesses are exposed the more he recoils into his shell. We need to exert more pressure on him either to charge or release these people.
He is reported to have said that he will use Ndurr Cham as a lesson for all other soldiers and that by the time he finishes with him, no soldier will ever attempt to overthrow his government. Why is Jammeh keeping mute on the capture and detention of the people particularly Ndurr Cham for whom he almost picked a bone with Abdoulaye Wade? There is only one answer to this question: he will to dish them with his own justice. Otherwise, if he makes their capture public, he is not only drawing the international community’s attention to himself, but also telling the Senegalese that I have infiltrated your system and country. That of course will have serious ramifications between the two countries given their already icy relationship. Saul Ndow according to sources has been killed by Jammeh because he according to Jammeh’s intelligent briefing, he was planning to overthrow his government from abroad and if their plan had been successful, Saul Ndow would have been the President. That is precisely why he immediately executed Saul Ndow and let Mahawa Cham rot in detention.
Sulayman Jeng, UK