Opinion – On Barrow And Jammeh “Joining Hands”

If indeed the rumors of Barrow formally aligning himself with Yahya Jammeh are true, I’d be sad but not too alarmed. I would be sad because that single action will not only culminate and seal the long traveled road of betraying Yahya Jammeh’s victims, it will also lead to Barrow betraying himself and those around him. If Barrow thinks he can coexist with Yaya Jammeh in this same Gambia while their political fortunes forge a symbiotic relationship anchored on betraying innocent victims, he’d be kidding himself and those around him.

Have no illusions about it, Yahya Jammeh wants nothing more than returning back to The Gambia and being president again! And knowing his vindictive ways, he would love to teach his enemies, and those who betrayed him, a bitter lesson. And guess where some of the “enemies” and “traitors” have since found a comfortable home? If you guessed in the Barrow administration, tojallal sa poppa tayngne. I know of too many people who betrayed Yahya and are knee deep in the cesspool that constitutes what we call a government today. If you’re paying attention, Yahya’s former glory hunters, foremost among them being Jam Sarr, who also moonlights as a tribal warmonger these days, despise everyone who was once riding with Yahya only to abandon him when their boat started taking water. Do you think Yahya himself is happy with his former enablers who promoted him and supported all his abuse, now badmouthing him and calling his reign a dictatorship?

According to Jam Sarr (I know it’s risky to quote a certified liar but I’ll take his word on this and luma si gobbeh garr koh), it was those ambassadors who orchestrated Yaya’s forced exile. If Saul Badjie should have a need to prove his loyalty to Tony while they’re both in Equatorial Guinea, let Barrow think Yahya has forgiven the people he surrounds himself with! If they think Yahya is forgiving, let them try and see: Jammeh wo Jilanka! His enablers know him very well! There’s a reason Omar Faye refused to come back to Gambia when Yahya recalled him! He may be spineless but he’s not a fool. Some of Barrow’s best buddies betrayed Jammeh and will be taking a huge risk advising Barrow to align himself with their enemy. The spineless may be spineless but there’s a reason they are able to support and prop a dictatorship only to wiggle their way into the aftermath of the same dictatorship they built. They are not stupid!

And regardless of what we may believe, Yahya does have people all over The Gambia, Casamance and Bissau who still see him as a saint! And some of these people would do anything they can to see him back in The Gambia realizing his dreams of power. To Barrow and some of his supporters, they may think their selfish interests intersect with Yahya’s dreams at the junction of betrayal, but they’ll soon find out that every turn is actually a dead end for them! Yahya’s minions will not buy the empty promise of his return unless it’s guaranteed somehow! And the return of Jammeh will be more trouble for Barrow than he seems to realize. Anyone that sells that idea as a prelude to reconciliation is

But let’s forget the internal sociopolitical dynamics for now. Yes, for now, forget that Jam Sarr and his ilk like spineless Bala Jahumpa, are stoking ethnic fires trying to inject tribe in Barrow’s inefficiency. Do you think given everything Senegal has to lose, they’ll entertain Yahya Jammeh in their backyard knowing his meddling ways in the Casamance? The Senegalese government may love Barrow but they certainly love themselves even more. And as of today, Barrow and his team are not drunk enough on power to be belligerent towards Senegal’s national security. They know where their security bread is buttered from. Macky Sall knows that Yahya in his backyard is nothing but trouble for Senegal’s security. And Bandam Macky has Bandam Barrow in a very brotherly and tight choke-hold. Yahya in The Gambia poses a security threat to both Senegal and The Gambia.

Lastly, we can claim to be independent all we want, but the fact is that we have conditioned ourselves to believe that if we don’t get assistance from the West, we will not survive! Talk about a people who have lost all faith in themselves. You’d think that our religious faith would have been enough to sustain us where faith in ourselves have long since abandoned us. But I guess we only believe in God but we don’t necessarily trust Him to take care of us. So we must rely on others in order to survive. And since we have chosen to survive on handouts, those who feed us also have a say in how we conduct our affairs. Outside of China’s soft power engagements which ignores abuses against regular citizens, other countries feeding us will not look too kindly on Barrow betraying the very victims whose cries contributed to his lion-killer abilities.

In the end, I highly doubt my Bandam is as gullible as some of us make him out to be. I would think that he knows better than grabbing it all just to lose it all! That’s exactly what he would be doing if he thinks Yaya and his evil gang can save him! If he does, he cannot say he never knew. Njahhen tan….