NOVEMBER- DECEMBER 2021

ANALYSIS
for terms, Jawara was able to perpetuate
himself in office as president for 39 years
until the Yahya Jammeh-led military coup
of 1994.
Twenty-nine-year-old Jammeh, an
army Lieutenant, seized power through
a bloodless coup d’état in 1994 to lead
the Armed Forces Provisional Council
(AFPRC). Having assumed control,
Jammeh, as military dictator (1994-1996),
set out to consolidate his power.
Beginning with a suspension of the
Constitution, he went ahead to round up
and detain some of his superiors in the
military. He also placed Jawara’s ministers
under house arrest, banned political
activities and announced a four-year
transition period to democratic civilian
rule. The four-year transition period
was later reviewed and reduced to two
years in January 1995 by the National
Consultative Committee (NCC). In
April, three months later, a Constitutional
Review Commission was established. The
resultant Constitution, which was drawn
up to accentuate Jammeh’s economic and
political power, allowed for multi-party
elections, a limitless number of five-year
tenures and allowed the president to
appoint judges directly. Then, Jammeh
tactfully retired from the military at the
rank of Colonel, just a month before the
presidential elections of September 1996.
He contested and was declared the winner
by an electoral commission of his own
selection.
As civilian president, Jammeh ruled
The Gambia with an iron fist. His reign
of terror was enacted through a litany of
draconian laws and anti-people policies
that infringed on the people’s rights to
information, expression and interaction.
Typical of a brutal authoritarian
regime, Jammeh’s government sought to
control information coming in and going
out of The Gambia. It reduced state-owned
communication networks – both television
Dawda Jawara: for 40 years power centred on his
dominant figure and his party
and radio – to government (Jammeh’s)
propaganda outlets and moved to suppress
the “independent” press by enacting laws
that undermined their operations.
Some of these laws included the
1994 Newspaper Act (reviewed again
in 2004), which made it mandatory for
owners of media houses to pay expensive
registration fees yearly; the National
Media Communication Act, which
required journalists to divulge confidential
information to the police and judicial
authorities; and the 2004 Criminal Code
(Amendment) Bill, which stipulated prison
terms for defamation and sedition.
Following the enactment of these laws,
there were several attacks on the country’s
independent press and its personnel. As
the years passed, and Jammeh successfully
influenced the outcome of election after
election, his hold over The Gambia grew
even more resolute.
With the aid of armed groups like the
defunct “Green Boys,” some state security
agencies such as the Police Intervention
Unit, the Serious Crimes Unit, and the
National Intelligence Agency (NIA),
Jammeh enacted his diabolic reign of
terror. Individuals and journalists who
criticised his government were picked up
and taken to undisclosed locations, never
to be heard from again.
Before long, it became a practice for
Jammeh’s rivals at the polls to seek refuge
outside the country. He gradually reduced
The Gambia to his personal fiefdom and
started to equate any criticism on his
person as sedition, disturbing the nation’s
peace.
After a botched coup attempt in 2006,
Jammeh became even more resolute in his
oppressive strategies against the Gambian
populace. People were jailed without trial,
there were allegations of extrajudicial
killings and journalists disappeared without
trace.
Famous among his victims were
those of the April 2000 student massacre;
the over 50 West African migrants from
Nigeria, Ghana, Togo, Cote d’Ivoire and
Senegal murdered by the NIA; the 1,000
Gambian citizens arrested and tortured
on allegations of witchcraft; journalists
Deyda Hydara and Ebrima Manneh; and
the victims of Jammeh’s fictitious HIV/
AIDS cure.
These do not include other allegations
of rape, embezzlement, and cases of
summary detentions for indefinite periods.
By and large, Jammeh became a symbol
of all that was wrong with democracy in
Africa.
Hence, when in 2017 members of the
Economic Community of West African
States decided to defend the outcome of
the Gambian elections, that action was
welcomed across Africa as a win for
democracy and a move towards the future
of respectable and responsible leadership
on the continent. To all supporters of
democracy, another ruthless dictator had
been removed, a cause to celebrate, and the
celebrations were heard even beyond the
shores of The Gambia and Africa.
Imagine, therefore, the shock and
disbelief that greeted the news that
Jammeh had formed a coalition with
incumbent President Adama Barrow with
the possibility of a return from exile in
Equatorial Guinea. Is there even a small
chance of this materialising barely four
years after his removal?
Where is the justice for Jammeh’s
victims? What is the message being
communicated to other dictatorial regimes
and ambitions? What does this portend for
the future of democracy in Africa? Should
donor agencies continue to support the
current government?
These and other issues haunt the minds
of serious Africans. One can just imagine
the feeling of horror for Gambians. With
the memories yet fresh and the inquisitions
having not yielded the whole truth,
whatever faith the people have in the
principles of democracy and government
stands a good chance of being lost forever,
which can also produce a multiplier effect
in other African countries.
Whatever the speculations as to the
consequence of Jammeh’s return to The
Gambia might be, it is, without doubt, a
reinforcement of the position of dictators in
Africa. Apart from the fact that a Jammeh
return would undermine all the democratic
efforts and gains already recorded in The
Gambia, there is a chance of a Jammeh
revenge campaign that can spark off deadly
conflicts between pro- and anti-Jammeh
factions. The fragility of ethnic divisions
will escalate into full-blown hostilities.
About this “second coming” of
Jammeh, Africa must have a rethink,
especially for the sake of the long-suffering
Gambian people and for the future of peace
and democracy in Africa. This unholy
alliance between Barrow, who publicly
stated that hypocrisy defines democracy,
and Jammeh, who demonstrated that the
purpose of power is to destroy institutions,
is the foundation of what may end up as
the greatest calamity to befall The Gambia
since 1965.
AB
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