Abdoulaye Saine
20 December 2008
opinion
Sometimes it feels like a bad stage show, with the main act being a magician who promises all sorts of logic-defying tricks in order to cast a spell over his audience. The hope is that those watching him will not notice the smoke and mirrors he uses to deceive them. This would be funny but for this fact: almost 15 years after Yahya Jammeh toppled former President Sir Dawda Jawara, he is still the country's magicianÂin-chief'. Since taking to the stage he has had to resort to a bag of tricks - first grand-sounding policy initiatives and then breathtakingly irresponsible pronouncements on areas well outside his expertise - to distract his audience from his failures. This is one 'Big Man of Africa' who is dressed in all the tired finery of a ageing performer.
The euphoria that greeted the day that Jammeh assumed the throne has given way to political repression and harrowing poverty. Back in 1994 the 'soldiers with a difference' promised to curb corruption and restore democracy and the rule of law, along with "'transparency, probity and accountability" in government. Where have we heard that before? Having to fend off a counter-coup in the first days of the new administration, as well as facing international concern over the new government, Jammeh was forced to cut his four-year transition programme to civilian rule to two years.
Jammeh, thereafter, resigned his commission but proceeded to engineer his victory in the 1996 presidential election. He did this by holding a referendum over a doctored constitution that tilted the political landscape in his favour.
In 2001 he won a hotly disputed second (§ five-year term, and in 2006 scored a crushing defeat against a splintered five-party coalition. Jammeh's electoral victories were aided by a hand-picked electoral commission and a process that was marred by violence, intimidation and gross irregularities.
This may be a bit easier for ordinary Gambians to stomach if the country actually had something to show for it. Yet travelÂadvice given by the United Kingdom and Scandinavian governments contracted post-coup economic activity considerÂably. This was exacerbated by endemic corruption and fiscal-policy mismanageÂment. Consequently, the regime's much touted Vision 2020 - which promised to transform The Gambia into a 'foodÂsecure' and developed economy - could not, in the end, deliver and, with a fractured and largely ineffectual opposiÂtion, it took intense International Monetary Fund and World Bank pressure to force Jammeh to address corruption.
What Jammeh offered to appease the mighty international banks was the soÂcalled Operation no Compromise. This was a lacklustre attempt to salvage a decaying economy and the already tainted image of Jammeh himself. He appointed the Paul Commission to investigate graft in the country - but named the body after the presiding judge who is alleged to have engaged in some shady land transÂactions. This fact has severely discredited the commission. Perhaps not surprisingly, neither Jammeh nor his vice-president, Isatou Njie-Saidy, have appeared before the commission to account for their enormous wealth. Indeed Jammeh is not subtle about being one of the wealthiest leaders in West Africa having vowed that:
"My great-great grandchildren will never know what poverty is."
Overall, corruption and Jammeh's tendency to divert scarce national resources to bolster the military and to construct 'feelÂgood' infrastructure projects as well as the decline in tourism constitute the main reasons for the national economy's downward spiral. This has resulted in 72 per cent of Gambians living in abject poverty. The president, however, answers his critics by pointing to numerous schools, hospitals, clinics and roads constructed since he came to power. He has also refurbished the national airport and government-owned radio station, in addition to building the country's first university and only television station. His critics, however, maintain that quality of services have deteriorated sharply and with it the country's infrastructure.
In nearly 2006 Jammeh shocked the international community and angered HIV/Aids activists when he claimed he had discovered a cure for the condition and for asthma, among other ailments. This drew worldwide ridicule. It is clear that Jammeh's medical claims are intended to deflect attention from a failed health system. Many Gambians die routinely from easily preventable ailments, while he and his family seek medical care abroad.
His economic claims are equally overblown but just as implausible. He has frequently promised to transform The Gambia into an information-technology giant - dubbing it Africa's Silicon Valley. But in spite of this there has been very little promotion of science and technology in schools. He has also promised every village in the country adequate electricity and water. None of this has come to pass.
Also, his pronouncement that the Gambia is home to commercially viable oil deposits has not been independently confirmed. To make matters worse, Jammeh has sold off several state-owned enterprises to foreign investors and has taken stakes in these himself.
Predictably, a symptom of these policy failures is gross violation against foreign and local journalists whose job it is to see beyond the trickery. In 2000 the Gambian journalist, Omar Barrow, was killed while administering first aid to 14 students who were fatally shot. Then there was a coldÂblooded murder of another Gambian journalist, Deyda Hydra, in 2004. This was an unambiguous message to journalists and ordinary citizens alike - the president is in absolute control.
Consequently, many Gambians believe that he will never be defeated through the ballot box and that it will take yet another bloody coup to remove him from office. In 2006 he foiled an alleged coup in which several senior army officers were tried, imprisoned or killed. Daba Marena, who headed the notorious National Intelligence Agency - the repressive arm of the regime - was killed allegedly along with four security officers en route to prison.
Jammeh's paranoia leads him to believe that counter-coups are regularly being planned against him. As a result he has used this as a pretext to carry out purges against perceived or potential enemies in the army. Yet Jammeh's best hope of averting this is to use the mandate from his 2006 victory to widen political participation, undertake genuine reconciliation, root out corruption and grow the economy. The blood bath following the alleged foiled coup makes this prospect unlikely.
Abdoulaye Saine is a professor at Miami University in the United States. His latest book is The Paradox of Third Wave Democratization in Africa: The Gambia under AFPRC-APRC Rule: 1994-2008
Culled from BBC Focus on Africa
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Daily Trust. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
