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In many ways, refer to the past to bid on editorial protests, use the past as context to explain a news event, and show how people act in their daily lives, sometimes in a very dramatic way. ; journalism becomes a vehicle or agent of political memory without the intention of commemorating. This article below was published eight years ago.
My archival reflections on personal, social, and political themes that are as important today as at the time of Yahya Jammeh's reign
First Published 2010
"Neither the dictatorship nor democracy, paradise nor hell"
Behind the great white walls of the grandiose house belonging to the youngest president, ostriches, buffaloes, camels and all kinds of cattle wander on manicured lawns, part of a vast private complex comprising a crocodile swamp and a lake
In a poverty-stricken shell of a town in The outside, where the poorest scavenge garbage, is a portrait of Shiekh Yahya Jammeh, in long robes, holding a copy of the Holy Quran along with a sword and prayer beads. The image of a sultan, he is omnipresent – His Excellency Sheikh Professor Dr. Colonel Alhagie Yahya AJJ Jammeh). He solemnly looks at the facades of public buildings, proudly radiates ubiquitous billboards, and is woven into the fabric of countless green shirts worn from the Banjul coast to the confines of the island. wooded interior. It is called locally Jilinka or Babilimansa .
He could be only 44 years old – but he is taller than life in The Gambia, the West African nation that he
Jammeh will soon join the list of the most senior statesmen old, not counting the monarchs of Great Britain and Thailand, after the Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, who served for 49 years in power
. he came to power, Yahya Jammeh became the youngest head of state. At the age of 29, he overthrew the 30-year government of the Progressive People's Party (PPP) government of Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara, ending one of the oldest multiparty democracies in the world. 39; Africa. The Gambia has been considered (along with Botswana and Mauritius) as an "exception" on an African continent where authoritarianism and military regimes have been the norm. Apart from the aborted coup d'état of 1981, The Gambia enjoyed relative peace and stability since its independence from Britain in 1965.
Before the reign of Jammeh, Gambia was known as the "smiling coast". a real generosity on behalf of his people. It has become the headquarters of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights and the headquarters of the African Center for Democracy and Human Rights Studies. It was the bastion of democracy in a continent besieged by military seizures and despotic regimes.
Unfortunately, all this changed in July 1994, after the coup d'etat led by Jammeh. Most Gambians really fear the 44 year old autocrat, and there is little opposition to him – many accept his government because he kept his country remarkably peaceful, although it did not. he ruled with sustained brutality characteristic of many other dictators. 19659006] "Allah has brought it to us, and only Allah can call it," said Momodu Lamin. "For us, there is only Yahya, He is irreplaceable."
Momodu Lamin lives in the president's native Kanilai, a small village emerging from the lush jungle at the end of a freshly paved road with high-powered street lights, rare luxuries in most of the undeveloped areas of The Gambia.
The Gambia is not the only country to have faced oppressive leadership. In its struggle to stabilize itself after becoming independent of colonial rule in the 1960s, Africa suffered its share of "Great Men", many of whom use fear, favoritism and rigged elections for s & 39. to cling to power. There are still some, mainly in Africa, such as Moammar Gaddafi from Libya and Robert Mugabe from Zimbawe, as well as Teodore Obiang from Equatorial Guinea and José Eduardo dos Santos from Angola
The "Great Men" of the continents, Jammeh has displayed many dictatorial tendencies. His government imprisoned journalists who dared to criticize him personally and who intimidated most of the rest in self-censorship. Gambia's prisons are filled with political prisoners, and the regime's rivals disappear or find themselves mysteriously dead in the night.
Jammeh "attacks his opponents by putting them in his lap, offering them senior positions, giving them a pie," said a professor of political science at the University of The Gambia who asked to remain anonymous. "He is like a boa constrictor, he stifles his prey until it is weak, then swallows it."
A typical example of this phenomenon is that of Lamin Waa Juwara, Jammeh's main opponent in the last elections. He now serves Jammeh as governor in Lower River Division. He is a member of Jammeh's party and Gambian journalists say that he does not talk much anymore.
"It's belly politics," said the professor. "If you do not go, you do not eat."
The Gambia faces many other challenges under the current rule. The country ranks 168th among Sub-Saharan African countries according to the UN Human Development Index, which measures literacy, education and other indicators of national well-being. It places Gambia among the lowest of the socio-economic development index.
The most virulent critics of today's regime come from an Internet forum called Gambia-L, as well as from several newspapers, including the Gambia Post Journal of Liberty, [19659022] Gambia Journal Senegambia and Gainako – most critics of Gambia-L and
The Gambia is "neither dictatorship nor democracy, neither paradise nor hell, "said Alhagie Jaye, an activist currently living in New York. "We are something in between."
Jammeh was turned into a civilian after two years of military rule, and polls since then have been tainted with allegations of election fraud and corruption. In addition, Parliament, dominated by its supporters, has removed the limits of the presidential term of the Constitution.
The Gambia is considered one of the smallest nations in sub-Saharan Africa, and Jammeh has built an extensive patronage system, generously distributing money. part by the salaries and benefits that come with cabinet positions. Unlike other countries in West Africa, The Gambia has always managed to pay its officials and provided its officials with all the dreams of young Gambians – driving a Mercedes Benz or SUV SUV or the American Hummer, being a bureaucrat in a suit, walks air-conditioned rooms isolated from the heat and poverty found just outside.
Ebrima Cham, a pro-Jammeh politician, acknowledged that "The Gambia has its problems, there are poor roads, not enough schools, too much unemployment, but we have to arrange things according to our own time, in our own way – peacefully – and not through war. "
" At least I can sleep without fearing life, "he said." In this part of Africa, he there is something to be said for that. "
Jammeh is considered by some Gambians as" the devil they know. "While many would like to see change, they are also afraid that things might have a" There could be a catastrophic struggle for power – everyone fears that, "said journalist Yorro Jallow of the banned independent newspaper, who was detained for several days in 2003 after publishing an editorial titled" Who Owns Account Another editorial that provoked the same reporter was titled "Jammeh Pressed Over Missing Oil ", an article on the discovery of a secret source of crude oil sent to Nigeria's Gambia on concessional terms where the product was not reflected in the national budget.
At the main dump in Bakoteh, near Banjul, garbage collectors attacked a pile of rubbish. A man in a ripped black caftan snatched a bowl of curly yogurt from the garbage and swallowed it. A 34-year-old father found a pendulum that he hoped to sell to help his daughter go to elementary school.
Jammeh, on the other hand, ambaded a fortune that makes him one of the richest men in Africa – no one really knows how much it is worth, but there have been some indications of his vast wealth. The media said he owned many real estate in Morocco and that he owned many businesses in The Gambia. He has also been accused of opening several Swiss bank accounts, according to his former spokesman, Ebou Jallow.
The fact that Jammeh is likely to stay in power in the foreseeable future seems to be accepted by a population that considers him the ultimate village leader. "The Gambian culture dictates that you respect your elders," said Jaye. "You can not say" no "to someone who is your leader."
Jammeh is our leader, "so most people simply suffer in silence." Gambia "No problem," he said. "The problem is that Gambians no longer dream, and when you are not dreaming, your country is in trouble. "
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