THE IMPROBABLE NATION:
During the negotiations for independence, the Gambia's viability as an independent nation was very much in doubt due largely to its small size and meager resources. Jammeh's speech last month on February 18, 2010 marking the 45th anniversary of the Gambia's Independence from Britain invokes new doubts about the country's viability as an independent nation. This time the doubts are due to leadership, not resources.
Jammeh's castigation of Britain during his Independence Day speech, flanked by Senegalese president Abdoulaye Wade and Guinean military leader Saikuba Konate, indicates that the Gambia has not really moved away from colonialism.
Forty five years on, if all we can show for independence is to castigate Britain, then I do not know what independence we are talking about. Forty five years on, if we cannot provide basic freedoms, liberty, and prosperity for our people, then I do not know what independence we are celebrating.
The British political science writer, Patrick Dunleavy argued that when a new regime comes to power, it could blame all its problems on its predecessor regime but that becomes less and less effective the longer the new regime stays in power. Therefore it is futile to use British colonialism as a standard to measure the Gambia's progress. The Gambia's progress must be measured against modern, free and democratic nations.
FIRST REPUBLIC AND THE PPP REGIME:
Dr. Jeghan Senghore argued that at independence Africans had mistaken champions for leaders. Sir Dawda and the PPP's rule from independence in 1965 to 1994 was marred by ineffectiveness, lack of economic and social progress, and self-perpetuation; although widely considered for stability and adherence to human rights. Sir Dawda and the PPP's rule did not give Gambians what they expected at independence. Gambians who returned home from abroad with idealism and patriotism were disappointed. Consequently, this generation of Gambians (Africans)-highly educated and ready to serve- became, as in the words of the Nigerian Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka, a wasted generation.
During thirty years of PPP rule, the Gambia had no television, no good roads, no university, had only a handful of high schools mainly in Banjul and Serekunda, and depended solely on peanut production for export.
The PPP turned out to be a parasitic government with all the trappings of a monarchy. Elections organized and conducted by the Ministry of Local Government and Lands were inherently not free and fair. The PPP with unlimited access to government money and infrastructure, including the government owned Radio Gambia tilted the election results in its absolute favor. In the end, elections under PPP rule were only plebiscitary; and that Jawara and the PPP turned out to be what an Egyptian friend of mine described as "another Britain".
The last five or so years of PPP rule was so tumultous that many including some scholars of international reputaions began to question Sir Dawda's legitimacy.
The financial and corruption scandals that rocked the Gambia Cooperative Union under Momodou Dibba, and the Gambia Agricultural Development Bank under Ousainou Njie (Sir Dawda's brother in-law) among others, and the PPP regime's unwillingness to investigate and punish those involved angered many Gambians. Consequently, Professor C.E. Welch's argument that "if you cut down on transparency, then you cut down on legitimacy" was quite applicable in the Gambia under Jawara and the PPP.
Sir Dawda, perhaps aware of the national anger over these scandals, and mounting economic hardship for large numbers of Gambians announced his intention not to run for office ,at a meeting in Mansakonko, in 1992 only to reverse that decision later.
The purpose of independence; self-reliance, liberty, prosperity, and dignity were largely stifled under Sir Dawda and the PPP. Professor Harris, in early 1994 urged Gambians to wage a second struggle for independence.
THE MILITARY, THE SECOND REPUBLIC AND THE APRC REGIME:
On July 22, 1994; disgruntled junior officers of the Gambia national Army (GNA) led by Lt. Yahya Jammeh toppled the thirty-year regime of Sir Dawda Jawara in a coup that was widely considered bloodless. The coup was welcomed by most Gambians as a start over for true independence, development, and transparency.
Many educated and progressive Gambians abroad offered to return and help move the country forward. Instead of providing liberties and prosperity, the APRC regime and its offshoot, the AFPRC military council, for 15 years, took away all the freedoms and dignity the Gambian people have ever dreamed about. Fifteen years on, the Gambians remain in bondage without a genuine recourse to the electoral process. Under the APRC regime, where electoral officers are removed and detained shortly before elections, elections in the Gambia are truly a sham.
Jammeh, a military-turned-civilian who often clamors for a one-party state destroyed all the democratic institutions and competing powers in both the civil society and the military. Through daily firings, arrests, detentions, disappearances and assassinations, Jammeh has effectively subjugated all the elements of a democratic nation.-the media, the national Assembly, the Judiciary, religious organizations (especially the Supreme islamic Council), civil servants, the Independent Electoral Council (IEC), and the University of the Gambia. The military, the police force, and the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) which together constitute Jammeh's major constituency were not spared either. Jammeh systematically disrupts any emerging real or perceived power bases, alliances and factions within the security forces and the civil service by rigorously applying his "electric broom" sending many to prison without trial.
Jammeh continues to rely on the monarchical features of the pre-independence era constitution and widely utilize patronage, inducement and intimidation to secure votes and loyalty.
If Sir Dawda was a "consensus oriented" leader, then Jammeh is a "task oriented" leader. Jammeh often espouse his track record of infrstructural development as the basic argument for his legitimacy, even if Gambians continue to live in shackles and mounting poverty of over 60%.
But what is even more troubling about Jammeh's rule is that despite his cold-blooded murderous tendency, he is also a merciless exploiter of the nation. Jammeh's lucrative business empire has colonized every aspect of the Gambian economy from agriculture to construction and financial services.; and has effectively turned Gambians into plantation workers who toil day in and day out on his numerous farms across the country without pay.
CONCLUSION:
Independence, characterized by freedom, liberty, prosperity and dignity; still remains an illusion in the Gambia. Therefore, Gambians need to come together and wage "...a second struggle for independence".
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