Do Not Subvert The Will of The People

My fellow Gambians,

It is no longer feasible to stay on the sidelines and remain indifferent to the state of affairs in The Gambia. Every human condition reaches its tipping point at some stage, the time to stem the tide against tyranny and one man rule in The Gambia is now. It behooves us all to add our voice to the call to end dictatorship in our country. A mere phone call to your relatives and loved ones back home, asking them to not be intimidated but rather go out and exercise their democratic right of voting is enough. Even better, ask them to vote for the coalition of opposition parties for it is time to change, two decades is long enough for anyone to rule. Complacency is no longer an option if you truly care for The Gambia.

Mr. President,

The time for tough talking is over. The men and women in the crowds we all saw accompanying your opponents and rendering their support to those who seek to usher in a new state of affairs are Gambians, just like you.

Surely there must be something displeasing to them about how you’ve managed our affairs. Listen to them, hear their cries, empathize with them, then you may be able you address their concerns. But I believe it is rather late for that. The Gambian people gave you 22 (twenty two) years to deliver on any promises you made, that is long enough, needless to say a lot of those promises have not been fulfilled.

Whenever the Gambian people come together to exercise their democratic and constitutional rights, you take to the airwaves with threats and name calling all aimed at intimidating them into submission. Branding your opponents and those who disagree with you as unpatriotic, or agents seeking to destabilize the country won’t cut it anymore. They have the right to want things differently, your way isn’t always right and sticking to it, regardless of what those at the receiving end say, and in the face of such an overwhelming objection to it is simply arrogant. Arrogance is a trait most detested my your “Almighty Allah” whom you are so fond of. He (subhanahu wa ta'ala) detests arrogance so much so that He swore that anyone with an atom’s weight of arrogance in his heart shall not enter His paradise.

You and your surrogates like to cite nonexistent “threats to national security” and making statements like “the peace and stability of The Gambia will not be compromised” at every opportunity, so much so that one would think there is indeed some genuine threat to our peace. Do these people look like people out for violence or to incite? Has any of their leaders ever made any statement deemed threatening to peace? The only threat they pose is to your rule. Their collective resolve is to inform the Gambian electorate of your failures so that through the democratic process the informed Gambian people will take back the power they entrust you with, it is theirs to start with. A person wanting their power back is no threat to peace; it is democracy, like you always say, and rightly so; power belongs to the people.

The peace and stability of the country lies solely in your hands. What you say, what you do, what you condone from your surrogates, what you order your security forces to do all have a potential to destabilize the country. Violence is always a reactionary response, always! Let peace reign, pay the price for peace; RESPECT THE CONSTITUTION AND THE PEOPLE'S RIGHT TO CHOICE! It is that simple.

What the people seek is CHANGE, it is CONSTITUTIONAL, it is, POPULAR, it is the COALITION, it is ADAMA BARROW and a NEW GAMBIA! Do not stand in their way with threats.

The Gambia has always been a unified country despite our differences. You sold yourself short when you used the privileges of your office and a public platform to create divisions by singling out and insulting the Mandinkas. When you declared The Gambia an “Islamic Republic” devoid of constitutional mandate thereby making our Christian and non-Muslim compatriots feel marginalized and fearful. We cannot afford another 5 year term of anti-Mandinka rhetoric and threats of burying people so many feet deep, nor are we prepared for the witch hunt that will follow your new mandate because people decided to speak their mind in this political season. We want a unified country, one were the president; a servant of the people does not make unanimous decisions for his personal satisfaction.

Your people are in despair, oh great 'pan-Africanist' as you claim to be. Listen to them and safe the motherland. But we understand you won’t. If 22 years has taught us anything, it is that you feel you are always right and justified in your actions, no one else's views or opinions count. So here comes people power, a tornado aimed straight for you and waiting to sweep you and the entire system out of The Gambia come the December polls!