When
President Yahya Jammeh of The Gambia conceded defeat after the December
1, Presidential elections in that West African country of 1.9 million
people, the gesture was widely hailed and described as an indication of
great hope for democracy in Africa and particularly for The Gambia,
which Jammeh had ruled with an iron fist for 22 years.
That election was also perhaps the most
important political development in The Gambia in 52 years – the first
change of government through democratic elections. The winner of the
presidential election, Adama Barrow, was the product of a coalition of
opposition parties who provided the platform for the people’s yearning
for change.
Adama Barrow (the British press should
please stop referring to him condescendingly as a former Argos’ security
guard!), became the symbol of the people’s hopes, and of freedom from
Jammeh’s tyrannical rule that was benchmarked by its brutality, love of
witchcraft, and human rights abuses. Jammeh’s concession made it seem as
if all his past sins would be forgiven.
But on December 9, he made a volte-face going on state television to
say he could no longer accept the results of the election and that he
had decided to annul the results. It is alleged that Jammeh may have
resorted to this because of an alleged missing 365, 000 votes and the
adjustment of the final results by the Independent Electoral Commission,
IEC, which showed that Adama Barrow had won with less than 20, 000
votes, hence Jammeh cited “unacceptable errors” which had come to light.
This, if of any consequence at all, seems contrived.
If Jammeh as candidate in the election
has any grouse, the appropriate place to seek redress is in court, and
the Gambian Constitution provides for a 10-day window within which to
file a petition. That 10-day period of grace expires today. By annulling
the election single-handedly without recourse to the courts (the
promise to do so by his party, the APRC, is an after-thought), Jammeh is
guilty of an assault on the sovereignty of the Gambian people.
His conduct is objectionable and should
be considered an act of high treason. Jammeh suffers from the delusion
that his love of power and personal ambition is more important than the
stability and progress of his country. The people’s will as confidently
expressed on December 1 is supreme. Jammeh should be made to realize
that he is just another citizen and that The Gambia is not his personal
estate.
The African Union, ECOWAS and the UN
Security Council as well as the international community in general have
condemned the infamy that Jammeh is seeking to foist on his people. But
the AU and ECOWAS should take the lead in coming to the rescue of The
Gambian people.
The long-term objective, in case Yahya
Jammeh does not relent, is to invoke the Constitutive Acts and
Principles of both bodies on democratic transition and thus
“criminalize” any further attempt by Jammeh to violate the democratic
process.
We appreciate the fact that ECOWAS
leaders: chairperson Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia, and the
Presidents of Nigeria (Muhammadu Buhari), Sierra Leone (Ernest Bai
Koroma), Ghana (John Dramani Mahama) and Guinea (Alpha Conde) are in
fact meeting with President Jammeh today in Banjul. They will also meet
with opposition coalition leaders. The primary task of that team should
be to bring all parties concerned to the negotiating table, insist on
the supremacy of the people’s will and advise Yahya Jammeh to obey the
rule of law.
It is possible that he would refuse to listen. Before now, this
Gambian anti-hero has shown a capacity to defy the international
community. He once turned himself into a herbal doctor and claimed he
had found a cure for HIV/AIDS. In 2013, he pulled his country out of the
Commonwealth. He is also opposed to the International Criminal Court
(ICC). Ironically, the current chief prosecutor of the ICC is a Gambian,
Fatou Bensouda.
Yahya Jammeh is also an incurable
megalomaniac, given his love of titles: H.E. Sheikh Prof. Dr. Alhaji
President Yahya AJJ Jammeh Babili Mansa. On many occasions, he wanted to
be chairman of the ECOWAS, but his colleague-presidents always turned
him down in favour of much junior presidents who met him in office. For a
while he shunned many international engagements, sending his vice
president instead. To be fair to him though, he is not as stupid as he
is made to appear internationally and he has probably realized that the
game is up. But could Yahya Jammeh be playing a game, to negotiate, to
gain amnesty?
His relapse out of that moment of
lucidity that saw him conceding defeat on December 2 may well have been
caused not by his claim of “unacceptable errors”, but fear. The Gambian
situation may end up providing special lessons in how triumphant
opposition parties should manage victory in order not to provoke a
succession crisis. Dictators in general are afraid of what will happen
to them when they are no longer in power and hence, many of them hang on
to office until they die or they are disgraced out. While the antidote
to this is good governance, it is also pragmatic to situate certain
responses within the context of post-election realities.
In The Gambia, the post-election
situation has been poorly managed. Jammeh and Barrow have met only once
since the election was won and lost. They are practically not on
speaking terms. The opposition, apparently due to lack of knowledge and
tact, has also been busy threatening to deal with Jammeh as soon as he
hands over power. Fatoumata Jallow-Tambajang, who led the victorious
coalition has been busy taunting Jammeh. She is a perfect illustration
of how much damage reckless windbaggery can do to opposition politics.
Madame Fatoumata says Jammeh will be
prosecuted. Gambia will rejoin the International Criminal Court and
Jammeh will be sent to The Hague for trial. Jammeh says he’d like to
retire to his farm in his native Kanilai, Madame says he will not be
allowed to do so, because he has “bunkers and treasure” there and enough
weapons to start an insurrection. He won’t even be allowed to go
abroad. “He can’t leave. If he leaves, he’s going to escape us”, she
says. And she adds: “we don’t trust him. The longer we leave him, the
more possibilities he has to leave the country to escape the country and
even do an insurgency… Senegal is very alert. Nobody trusts him… ”
She further referred to Jammeh’s wife as
a “gold-digger” who should be put on trial and jailed. It is precisely
this kind of reckless post-election rhetoric that threatens peaceful
ruling-party-to-opposition-transition in Africa. Fatoumata
Jallow-Tambalang’s tactlessness has to be managed. She and Samsudeen
Sarr should shut up, at least for now!
Yahya Jammeh’s response has just been as
vengeful. He quickly promoted loyal officers in the military and got
the military hierarchy to recant. He also sent soldiers onto the streets
of Banjul and Serekunda and other parts of the country to subdue an
already frightened populace. He had admitted the result of the
Presidential election as the “will of Allah”, but now he is relying on
his own will to protect and preserve himself. The early exposure of the
mind of the opposition has driven Jammeh back into the trap of tyranny
and unless the situation is well managed, we may have a serious crisis
in The Gambia with a well-resourced dictator turned rebel. What is
playing out in The Gambia right now is a two-way politics of vengeance,
which leaves both the people and the governance process stranded.
Getting the country out of that logjam should be the main remit of the
ECOWAS mission.
The ECOWAS leaders visiting Banjul must
engage The Gambian military hierarchy. Jammeh is in the process of using
them to carry out another coup. His first coup was against Dawda
Jawara, 22 years ago, the current effort is designed as a coup against
the people and the opposition. And even if he does not get away with it,
he is determined to plant enough problems that would make The Gambia
impossible to govern after his exit. Right now, The Gambian military has
lost its mind. Chief of Defence Staff General Ousman Badjie endorsed
the outcome of the 2016 Presidential election and pledged loyalty to the
people and the elected in-coming government, but after the bribery of
military promotions, the same CDS started insisting on another election.
A divided, psychopathic military is a serious problem to any country.
We saw that in Guinea-Bissau and Mali. The ECOWAS team must make it
clear to The Gambian military leaders that there will be no regional
backing for any act of lunacy.
ECOWAS has its own problems. Oftentimes,
ECOWAS leaders succumb to unnecessary compromises. They should not
return from The Gambia with any unholy compromise. Yahya Jammeh lost the
election on December 1. He boasted before then that any election in The
Gambia is “rig-proof” and “fraud-proof”. In four previous elections, he
won with a landslide. Now, all of a sudden, elections conducted under
him are no longer “rig-proof”. He should pack out of the Presidential
Villa and allow The Gambia to move on without him. He is the latest
victim of coalition opposition politics in Africa. His defeat should
send a clear message to the other sit-tight, royalist leaders across the
continent. The long-term solution to the Yahya Jammeh problem should be
the introduction of a Constitutional term limit for The Gambian
Presidency to prevent Jammeh from ruling as he once claimed for “one
billion years!”
Above all, Yahya Jammeh is a spoilsport.
He jumped out of his moment of lucidity just when we were celebrating
the good news from Ghana. John Mahama is Ghana’s first one-term
democratically elected President since 1992, but he has been gallant in
defeat and most gracious. There is no chance he will behave like Jammeh.
He is educated. He has a good head. He is a thinker and a writer. He
certainly has a brighter future ahead of him.
Dr.
Reuben Abati was spokesman and special adviser, media and publicity to
President Goodluck Jonathan (2011 – 2015). He tweets from @abati1990.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the writer.
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