Yaya Jammeh Awoke This Sense Of Patriotism

Seems the current narrative is set to endure for a while; “tribalism this, tribalism that, that’s tribalist, you’re a tribalist, blah blah blah... We won’t delve into what tribalism really means for it matters little to those who choose to stick to it to further their agenda. But it seems also that we are averse to learning from history or pondering on the deeper meaning of issues. There is an old Mandinka adage from the elders of the days of yore that goes thus; “Regardless of how long a monkey’s tail is, if you pinch it, it hurts the monkey.”

But like most things, we sing the lines repeatedly and fail to ponder on the deeper meanings of this wise saying. Either that or we deliberately confine them to times before ours and thereby failing to see their relevance or application to any current situation, a foolish error!

Why is that relevant to this write-up, because whatever is happening around that issue today has only one culprit to blame; Yaya Jammeh. But despite his machinations for political survival, what Yaya has succeeded in doing, albeit unwittingly, is to awaken within the Mandinka a sense of pride and patriotism, even those who have hitherto been blind to ethnic differences or nonchalant about it. Now before you go on to sensationalize “Mandinka patriotism” and how it negates patriotism to country, take a look in the mirror and do some deep reflecting. Assuming that being one negates the other is shallow thinking and biased. The two aren’t mutually exclusive, here’s why.

As suggested, take a cue from yourself by relating the situation to something we all share in common; for the most part – Islam. With the constant negative publicity and portrayal of Islam and Muslims as evil on the 24 hour Western news media, how does that make you feel? What questions do you ask yourself of your faith? What research did you do to gain more insight and prove that the terrorists are in fact psychotic sociopaths who, through their actions can lay no claim to what you profess to believe in? Now forget the fact that you are only a passive/seasonal Muslim, probably non-practicing even, that is irrelevant. Truth is you became concerned, frightened, and curious even. Chances are, these feelings awoke in you a sense of responsibility, so much so that you tried to be that moderate Muslim who is trying to say to his close circle of friends and neighbors that you are the face of Islam; caring, loving, moderate and not a sociopath like the terrorists. You didn’t denounce Islam because of it, but you embraced it a little more in spite of it by researching those lines and examples of good Muslims to use to defend your faith.

In this case, you are the proverbial monkey (non-practicing, passive, unconcerned Muslim; completely or mostly detached from the faith you profess, at least seemingly). The detachment from your faith denotes the tail of the proverbial monkey; despite the detachment, you felt a pinch when it seemed under attack and willfully misrepresented. So with that said, don’t fall into the same trap as the racist Islamophobes who claim you are either Muslim loyal to Islam or American/British/French loyal to the country but can’t be both as the two are incompatible. You know that is false.

The irony in this analogy is that Islam is a choice. You chose to be Muslim for whatever reason and can denounce it anytime. But your ethnic identity is an accident of nature, like it or not it is who you are. So consider how much more an attack on that aspect of your identity will hurt.

Vitriol and hateful words spewing from the mouth of tribal bigots like Yaya Jammeh engenders a sense of curiosity albeit motivated by anger. So those who feel targeted because of some connection or claim kinship to the Mandinka dig their heels in and refused to be misrepresented in that fashion. They look back to history to see if such ignorant claims have any basis in history, and… bingo! The digging reveals much to be proud of. Most of that history has been suppressed to a large extent or confined to certain quarters.  Because of the sensitivities of some aspects of history in certain quarters, those aspects have been suppressed, partly that and partly because the elders teach you to be humble. “Kaa-wa mang nying!- Pride and boastfulness are not the domain of a mere servant of The Creator. That may not be an exclusive Mandinka view but they sure hammer it to permanence into your psyche resulting in lifelong humility even when one is entitled to brag.

As an example to highlight these historical sensitivities; Sir Dawda and his government banned Berkeley Rice’s ‘Enter Gambia…’ partly in recognition of these sensitivities and their potential for sowing discord and hampering national unity, so much for a tribalist. (Don’t believe me; read P.S. Njie’s interview with the author).

Even in the religious domain, highly spiritual and versed scholars who’d be venerated and sanctified in certain communities are just ordinary men in their communities respected as elders and scholars. Encounter them outside of their communities and you’d have no regard for them or accord them any status. Just to cite two examples, the late Jasong Touray and Bun Jeng encountered such scenarios in their lifetime. Their humility could be attributed to their faith but we know of people in similar stations (or less spiritual/knowledgeable) who grace life differently.

Point here is, this by no means is an attempt to tout the Mandinka as the high and mighty people that everyone should bow to, that would be silly; quite the contrary. It is an attempt to explain why the sudden awakening among Gambian Mandinkas of a sense of pride and patriotism. Yaya Jammeh made sure of that.  With his vitriol, open display of hate and condescension towards that segment of the population and even outright threats of extermination and exile was greeted with concern at the very least. So you can see why his defeat and banishment was celebrated more within those communities and revived that sense of pride, it spelt SURVIVAL and RESPECT and a sense of RESILIENCE considering the power and reach of the self-proclaimed enemy, above all it was RELIEF.

What we are witnessing is a pat-on-the-back of sorts; “we stood up to the arrogant tyrant and lived to tell.” That’s all it is and nothing more; a moment of reflection on what could've been, of achievement and celebration displayed in the form of embracing that culture that was under threat of eradication (and no I’m not being melodramatic, Yaya meant every word he said and he is bigoted enough with the wherewithal to carry out his threat). So like anyone in a similar situation, the Mandinka are simply proclaiming WE BELONG and WE ARE HERE TO STAY AND BE PRESENT.

An example in our shared identity yet again - Islam; the early Muslims prayed in silence and secrecy, concealed their faith to avoid persecution, but with the more converts and the eventual conquest of Makkah, the prayer was called to from atop the Ka’aba; triumph!

Do not be fooled by those calling for a denunciation of ‘tribal identities’ in favor of adopting and embracing a “Gambian Identity”. A Gambian identity is all individual identities combined, take one out and you’re short. That approach always leads to the dominance of one culture over the rest; we are an amalgamation of ethnic groupings all of whom deserve recognition and celebration on the national platform. Embrace and celebrate your Bainunka culture, your Balanta, Manjago, Serer, Bambara, Aku, Serahule cultures, and all the other cultures. Fail to do so and you’re depriving us all and taking away from that Gambian identity. Don’t let your individual culture drown in the sea of the larger (in numbers) cultures but don't be threatened by their embrace of their culture either nor should any of us be disrespectful to one another.

Being proud of and celebrating aspects of your identity is not synonymous to hatred for or bigotry towards others. It is in fact highlighting aspects for which others can look at and respect you, and every ‘tribe’ has those aspects and should celebrate as such rather than taking the ill-informed and shallow stance that always cries tribalism at every and any opportunity simply because the other person displayed his pride in his culture.

Let us not advocate for a melting of the contents of the Gambian pot, it’s a blend of ingredients all complementing each other and the result can only be a tastier and more succulent Gambia, culturally speaking.

The Tribal Undertones Aren't So Subtle Anymore

“You can’t have an understanding with a man like that [Jawara]. He never means anything he says. He’s a liar. He’s a rascal – low born and low bred. You see, the PPP are all Mandinka people, and Mandinkas only understand money, meat and groundnuts. They are all lazy. Character and honor is meaningless to them.” This was P.S N’jie going on the record for a foreign journalist; Berkeley Rice to share his thoughts on the short-lived political “understanding” between his UP party and the PPP.

See, we have been here before, somehow in the midst of political disagreements tribe has a role to play and it’s always the Mandinkas that are to blame. Aside from the fact that an aspiring candidate for the presidency could hold such unsavory and bigoted views about a majority of the constituents he’s vying to lead, being so naïve as to lay at the feet of a western journalist that our post independent nation will crack along tribal lines was the perfect answer for his quest of proving that The Gambia was an improbable nation.

You can try to defend P.S N’jie as much as possible, or try to infer a different meaning from the above statement, but utter them he did! Either to gain a favored view from the colonial administration or position himself as the most honorable candidate can only be speculated upon, but his contempt for the Mandinkas was safe to share with a foreign journalist, or so he thought.

It could also be argued that his contemptuous view of the Mandinkas, who are mainly provincial, was reason enough for him to be okay with the status quo and not advocate for the extension of the franchise to the rest of The Gambia beyond what was termed the colony. The British thought of the Africans as lesser beings and so should lord over them as subjects. Limiting the franchise to the colony area was to perpetuate the colonial mindset and offset any resistance by creating the illusion of participatory democracy, where the privileged few like N’jie will not see the institution as being the bad omen that it was. This omen will be undone by the emergence on to the political scene of the Protectorate People’s Party.

An amalgamation of provincial natives who refused to yield to the status quo, advocated for the inclusion of all in the political process. This means extending the franchise to their provincial relatives who had hitherto been neglected and alienated from the political process of their homeland. A condition that was okay with the political elite of the colony area. The sustained and far reaching campaign for universal suffrage introduced Sir Dawda K. Jawara and the PPP to the sidelined Gambians who would embrace him and the party wholeheartedly and remain loyal for decades. This obviously put them at an unmatched advantage over the rest of the players and so their names and personalities won no favors.

Fast forward to the second republic; with no political experience or education for that matter, Yahya Jammeh knew from the onset that when the political space opened up, he stood little to no chance against the seasoned politicians from both the ruling and opposition parties of the first republic. With the potential of absolute power and a desire for wealth dangling before him, nothing was about to get in the way of his ambition and so he outlawed the participation of all political players from the first republic except the PDOIS duo in the political process that was due to start in 1996. This move disenfranchised and alienated all party supporters and sympathizers of the PPP, NCP and GPP; history on replay yet again. With their leaders barred from political participation and coupled with dormant structures, the parties were effectively dead leaving behind supporters with no one to turn to.

Lawyer Ousainou Darboe emerged on the political scene to fill a vacuum. His emergence would rally the supporters and sympathizers of these parties around him giving birth to the United Democratic Party. The UDP gave the people another choice besides the military junta. The party emerged from non-existence to pose the greatest threat to Yahya’s schemes. From that day on attempts to kill off the party were set in motion.

The lifting of the ban on the previously banned parties at subsequent elections was a move aimed at exploiting old loyalties in order to fragment the UDP to no avail. Intimidations, assault, jail terms, killings and disappearances all failed to dislodge the party. The people have proven, yet again that loyalty can be bought with care and consideration. When all else failed, claims of tribal motivation for the formation of the UDP emerged and had only been gaining momentum ever since. These accusations of tribal bigotry was for no otherr reason than to put the Mandinkas on the defensive and leave them with only one option; show your lack of tribal bias by denouncing the UDP in favor of another party, preferably the junta.

The narrative has not changed much from over fifty years ago. How a difference in approach and political ideology could warrant implications of tribal affiliations is beyond the comprehension of most.

Lawyer Ousainou Darboe, a man who gave it his all to see the restoration of democracy in The Gambia is suddenly the villain just because his party has a different view of things and wants to approach the next phase of our democracy in a manner not in conformity with what Halifa Sallah prefers?

Gambians, especially those with platforms need to move away from politics of personalities and be issue centered. There is no doubt, both Darboe and Halifa mean well for The Gambia, but because Darboe has a different approach means he deserves vilification, and by extension his tribe? How does one reconcile that? Actions, they say speak louder than words. Calling for ‘no tribalism’ whilst every statement and analysis on air is rife with veiled anti-Mandinka rhetoric is evidence to the contrary.

As much respect as Halifa deserves, unreservedly; he should not be sanctified as being beyond having the wrong approach. In a democratic space, criticism and differences of opinion is not tantamount to disrespect. An alternative view is always worth looking into for its merits and de-merits before being adopted or cast aside. It is safe to say, that Halifa coming out at the time he did and casting the UDP and NRP position in seemingly bad light before all the options are fully explored to a conclusive end,  has effectively poisoned the well putting those two parties on the defensive, that is wrong. And now the surrogates feel the need to attack, vilify, and insult the person of Ousainou Darboe for daring to hold a different view, where is the democracy we call to? And if we are being fair, why does Hamat Bah’s name and tribe not surface in the shouting matches and insults? It’s not as if the NRP is a drag along party of the UDP.

We can list all the sacrifices Halifa and the PDOIS made to help us to this point and it will be a long list. The same is true for Darboe and the UDP, so this is not a contest of who gave up more. But lest we forget, until his release from prison, the UDP had a leadership vacuum when Adama Barrow yielded to popular demand and resigned as party head of the UDP to run as an independent candidate to head the coalition. The UDP yielded away from their party led position, sacrificed a vacuum in the leadership of the party to see us through. The least we can do is to give them a chance to lay out their approach for contesting the National assembly elections and judge their position on its merits. That is what mature political discourse requires.

Let us use caution lest we create a political culture and a nation divided along ethnic lines in a manifestation of self-fulfilling prophecy. The Mandinka loyalty lie with The Gambia, if the only way to proof that is by embracing a non-Mandinka then we are asking for trouble. The veiled tribal bigotry and tribal undertones need to cease.

The Culmination Of Yahya Jammeh's Schemes - A Defeated Tyrant And A Nation United

Seeing the multitude of Gambians that thronged the streets; old and young, men and women, all visibly elated at the return of President Adama Barrow’s from Senegal is further testament to the relief the Gambians felt at seeing Yahya Jammeh’s back.  Just as it obtained during the campaign season leading up the elections of December 1^st 2016; Barrow out and about sees the largest convergence of Gambians for one cause. At first it was HOPE, now it is hope laced with CERTAINTY; certainty that they will finally live in peace and have the peace of mind that two decades of tyranny denied them. The welcoming crowd was arguably the largest ever recorded in recent Gambian political history. Onlookers and reporters alike were amazed at how much Adama Barrow means for The Gambia. The degree of love, hope, and expectations directed at him can only be matched by the love and support shown him by the average man, woman, and child. Watching from afar, one cannot help but be emotional and wish to have been there to be witness to history.

Adama Barrow; the unity candidate indeed has the support of a unified nation behind him. A nation, that up to his ascendance was divided and was growing further apart through the schemes of Yahya Jammeh.

Yahya’s politics has always been divisive on every front imaginable; political ideology, region, faith/religion, and most devastatingly; ethnic. Yahya drove a wedge between some hardliners in his Jola ethnic group especially and the rest of the Gambia, but more so between those blind tribal loyalists and the Mandinka that he openly branded as his enemies and enemies on to the other tribes as well. In fact his politics was everyone against the Mandinka ethnic group; a group that constitute over 40% of the Gambian population. Every opponent of substance that Yahya faced emerged from the Mandinka tribe, beyond that, Yahya dabbled in the oracle and strongly believes in ancient African religions. It is claimed that the oracle prophesized that his successor would be from the Mandinka tribe and understandably so since they are the largest constituency in the country and are active in politics and seeking political office.

The Gambian people never attached so much importance to their ethnic groupings or tribe that they’d shun others. The relationships have always been cordial and mutually respectful. In fact, between the tribes of the Gambia, there exist joking relations, akin to the Dozens where sentiments expressed are taken jokingly to promote social cohesion. Inter-marriage was prevalent and as a result, every single Gambian has some familial relationship to at least one other tribe. But to Yahya, there was too much political capital to let pass, and for a novice like him in politics, anything goes since force will not always work. He has effectively driven a wedge between sections of his native Jola and the Mandinka especially just for personal gains.

But the Gambian people are better than that and they rose above it overwhelmingly, even his kinsmen rejected his stance. Fear of reprisals kept some at his side and unfortunately, he convinced others among his kinsmen that it’s them against everyone else.

Every major security outfit has a Jola as its head or second in command. The army, the Republican Guards, National Intelligence Agency, the Prison Services, and a host of other government departments and parastatals are all headed by his kinsmen. Qualified and competent individuals are sidelined, especially if they are Mandinka. With such divisiveness being strengthened, especially in public where he, as a sitting president verbally attacks and threatens the Mandinka with extermination, the nation rose in unity and repelled such poisonous utterances and alien philosophy. What emerged was a true representation of Gambian diversity, a prove of Gambian brotherhood as attested to in the national anthem; … And Join Our Diverse People To Prove Man’s Brotherhood... Born to a Fula mother, a Mandinka father, with Sarahule ancestry and Wolof upbringing, Adama Barrow is the convergence of The Gambia in one man and he will deliver The Gambia from the oppressive and divisive rule of Yahya Jammeh.

When Adama Barrow emerged on the political scene by stepping into the leadership fold of the United Democratic Party (UDP) after Lawyer Ousainou Darboe and the rest of the executive were jailed, Yahya knew that he faces a challenge that he has never faced in his two decades of tyranny. So close to the election, so unexpected, and with so much angst about recent events; he was at a loss as to how to contain this new threat. Adama Barrow was hardly known outside of the executive circle of the UDP and he was a man Yahya never saw coming. With his emergence, ordinary citizens and politicians alike saw an opportunity to, in a way, return the favor to Lawyer Ousainou Darboe for his years of sacrifice and to declare Solo Sandeng, without any ambiguity; a martyr for The Gambian cause whose death would not be in vain. It would never be business as usual for Yahya and the APRC. And so it was that a revolution was born. Here is a movement that will send a tyrant scampering and frantically looking for life lines to no avail; a movement that in the end sent him into exile to live under another dictatorship in Equatorial Guinea.

Gambians reclaimed their country for good. The sub-region, the continent of Africa, and the world stand with the Gambians to see their mandate upheld. With Adama Barrow and the coalition, A NEW GAMBIA IS BORN.

A democratic Gambia;

A unified Gambia;

A Gambia of sovereign citizens;

A politically aware Gambia, and with its birth, the emergence on the political scene of a generation of young, energetic, determined, fearless, ambitious and informed youth who will not be silenced, EVER AGAIN.

FORWARD EVER, BACKWARD NEVER.

God speed, and may the Divine guide you and your team to a more prosperous and tolerant Gambia.

Welcome home Mr. President.