If Yahya Jammeh feared any particular group, it was Gambians based in the diaspora. I know the diaspora is not a monolithic group, so let me tell you about those I am speaking of. When I say diaspora, I’m not speaking about those in the diaspora who only joined the so-called struggle because they fell out with the tyrant. I’m also not talking about those who were only criticising Jammeh’s brutality simply because they wanted to replace Jammeh’s men and women. I am not talking about those who condemned Jammeh and what they came to accept from the coalition government and Adama Barrow. I am not talking about those who criticised Jammeh only to turn around and worship him because they were desperate for a job. I am not talking about spineless and wishy-washy politicians with multiple tongues who say one thing today and say something completely different tomorrow just because they are in bed with the APRC/NPP. I am also not talking about those who continued to mind their business while their people suffered at the hands of Jammeh and his maladministration. I’m talking about those who genuinely desired a better Gambia, not just for themselves but for every single Gambian! I’m talking about those who put their money where their mouths were. I’m talking about those of us whose consciences would not allow us to continue living our lives while our people suffer at the hands of Jammeh and his APRC maladministration. Those are the diasporans I am talking about. Jammeh feared no one more than those Gambians based outside of The Gambia.
That’s why Jammeh did everything to sideline Diaspora Gambians. That is why he had his hapless NIA monitor certain platforms based outside the Gambia. That is why his spineless NIA agents spied on people like Ebrima Chongan and reported what meetings he attended. That is why they spied on people like Pa Samba Jow, Soffie Ceesay, Jabou Joh, Saul Saidykhan, Sohna Sallah, Sigga Jagne, Joe Sambou, and many others. Jammeh was afraid of these diaspora Gambians because he knew they loved Gambia and wanted what was best for Gambia! His agents were not only spying on these people, but his so-called ministers of justice and rubber stamped parliamentarians ensured that these people, along with thousands of other Gambians, had no say in who ran the colonial space!
Oftentimes, you will hear me say that the dictator left the Gambia but the dictatorship remains. Let me repeat: the dictator ran away and is on a world-record eight-year vacation in Equatorial Guinea, but his men, his maladministration, and the dictatorship he created largely remain intact. When some of us insist on accountability, and not this so-called transitional justice system that focuses on security officers while embracing civilian lynchpins of the dictatorship, it is to uproot the dictatorship completely! What we see with the disenfranchisement of Gambians is a result of not holding people to account for their actions during the tyranny of Jammeh.
Jammeh was afraid of the diaspora and he held many of us in disdain. That is why his stepchildren, led by the miseducated Almameh Gibba, voted the way they did. It was the last kick of a comatose APRC. Jammeh’s fear of the diaspora is what you see seeping into Adama Barrow and his men and women because Jammeh’s people are Adama Barrow’s people. The group around Barrow will do anything to remain in power and they see the diaspora as an impediment to their desires. Of course, everyone who is eating today would find all kinds of ridiculous justifications to defend the APRC/NPP even if they are singing a completely different song from the one, they sang yesterday! But here is where they miscalculated, their undemocratic tactics of disenfranchising other Gambians would galvanize those diasporans who care about Gambia, and just as they did to Jammeh, they’d become Adama Barrow’s nightmare too! But importantly, I ask how fair is any election in which a huge portion of Gambians are denied, through underhanded tactics, to participate in choosing who they want to be their leader? You call that free and fair elections?
