By Demba Baldeh
At first it was unthinkable that a political party with over 30 years of political history; one that led the smallest improbable nation in West Africa to political independence in 1965 could be wiped out of the political map within a very short period of time. It was also shocking that not only did that government lead the tiny West African nation of the Gambia into political independence but was also able to put the country on the world map with respectable standard of human and people’s rights; freedom of expression, rule of law and to some degree democratic and economic foundation.
That government by the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) led by Sir Dawda Jawara was virtually wiped of the country’s political scene by none other than an ill-trained, ill-informed disgruntled junior military junta who took advantage of the weak political leadership and decides overnight to test overthrowing the political establishment in the Gambia without much preparation or intelligence work. It turned out to be amazingly easy for these few military officers to run over the country’s security apparatus including the State House with little or no resistance whatsoever either from the political establishment or the Security wings. So within twenty –four hours there was a successful bloodless military takeover in July 1994 that would later rely on the very political establishment it seeks to overthrow to legitimize itself domestically and internationally.
The military junta at first struggled to formed a government but it was emboldened and helped by the fleeing of the PPP leadership to neighboring Senegal without a strong call for the population to mount political resistance and or at the very least call on the security apparatus in the country to resist the illegal overthrow of a legitimately democratically elected government. The military led by an unknown, untested lieutenant literally known as lonely and arrogant – Lieutenant Yahya Jammeh, a 29 year old army officer was to assumed leadership of the country. He was quickly able to convince a wary and politically demoralized population with simple words such as “soldiers with a difference” Accountability, transparency and probity”. The country quickly fell for the new blood, with existing political party leaders taking vacation and or sitting on the sideline wanting to give peace a chance. It all turned out to be a fairy tale with the worst political accident ever to be witnessed by this impoverished nation. What was a bloodless coup turned out to be the biggest bloodshed the country has ever encountered.
Fast forward with mounting evidence of a failed leadership of the military which mainly counted on politicians and technocrats who served in the first republic to continue to push its agenda, each and every remaining credible citizen was used and dumped, some sent to jail and many others forced into exile. There was also growing evidence that the lesser popular political parties which existed or came into being after the military takeover could not muster the courage to come together to form a credible force against what continued to be a weak military leadership which uses harassment and intimidation to enshrine its political footing.
It is on the backdrop of this background that the remaining credible leadership of the first republic saw the need to regroup to galvanize the old PPP party. They faced increasing pressure from some activists to put their records against the Jammeh regime which has literally fallen flat on everything they condemned the old regime on. It became more crystal clear that the people would rather have their mellow PPP regime back than living under a brutal dictator who is out to wipe out the country’s history and replace it with one man’s false Prophet Hood.
The PPP leadership led my former Vice President Hon Bakary Bunja Darboe who himself served the junta in their early days and former Agriculture minister Hon Amadou O. Jallow alias O.J; one of the few former government ministers who refused to bow down to Jammeh’s political hegemony and as a result, suffered many arrests and tortures; embarked on a tour of the United States to sensitize the public that the former government has been vindicated by Jammeh’s twenty years of failed governing policies.
Successful meetings were held in some cities with the biggest concentration of Gambian population such as New York, Atlanta, Maryland and subsequently Seattle Washington. The meetings were widely covered by the online media both print and radio. They became the subject of discussion on social media with some people sounding the alarm of what a PPP come back could mean for existing political parties and or the democratic revival of the country.
The meeting in Seattle drew a respectable crowd compared to other cities and some political gatherings the city has hosted in previous events. The only crowd that may have surpassed the PPP gathering may have been the launching of NADD in 2005. At the Seattle meeting, accompanied by the human rights award winning Imam, Alhagie Imam Baba Muctarr Leigh the two leaders wasted no time in taking on Jammeh head on and challenging the crowd to rise up and support the resurrection of the PPP. The two leaders made a strong case that they were reaching out to people to revive the PPP because they strongly believe that the PPP have the moral duty to not only speak up but to ensure that democracy and rule of law is restored in the Gambia. Honorable O.J Jallow summed up their mission as ” to revive and strengthened that great party, that party that brought justice, freedom and Democracy in the Gambia, a place where you can go anywhere, any place and explore your potentials without threat of being arrested and or disappearance” To be continued