Gambia various
Toyin Falola
Thursday, 19 January 2017
Gambia crisis: Barrow inauguration in Senegal as Jammeh stays put
The man who won The Gambia's disputed election says he will be sworn in as president at the country's embassy in neighbouring Senegal.
The message, posted on Adama Barrow's social media accounts, invited the general public to attend the ceremony.
He lost elections last month, but wants the results annulled citing errors in the electoral process.
West African military forces are ready to enforce a transfer of power in The Gambia, a popular beach destination among European holidaymakers.
Senegalese troops remain stationed at the Gambian border, despite the deadline for Mr Jammeh to stand down passing at midnight.
The threat of military action is supported by Nigeria and other states in the region.
Mr Barrow has been in Senegal since Sunday following an invitation to attend a summit of African leaders who back his victory.
The president-elect tweeted and posted on Facebook that his inauguration would take place at 16:00 GMT at the embassy in the capital, Dakar.
At least 26,000 Gambians, fearful that violence could erupt, have sought refuge in Senegal.
Meanwhile, thousands of UK and Dutch tourists continue to be evacuated from the tiny West African state.
By News Express on 19/01/2017
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Gambia’s army chief Ousman Badjie.
Gambia’s army chief Ousman Badjie said he would not order his men to fight other African troops if they enter Gambian territory.
Chidi Anthony Opara
CAO.
Cornelius Hamelberg
Dear Brother Chidi Anthony Opara,
You often get me engaged in these discussion matters because I feel that we are two of a kind. To begin with we have our special political and cultural perspectives on church functionaries, their mission and their prosperity missionaries both in theory and deviant public/pulpit practice.
Re- Your query , mine in brackets :
“Is the parliament in Gambia still legitimately operating as proclaimed? ( Who proclaimed the parliament now defunct?
Can they constitutionally extend the tenure of the president? ( You mean can they anoint the president of their choice?
Did the Gambian parliament just extend the President's tenure? ( From whom or what does parliament derive their powers?
If the answer to all of the above is yes, then Jammeh's is still President of Gambia.”
In the best of health, son of the soil, Professor Sulayman Nyang is probably the most well-equipped to provide us with reliable expert analyses of what the hell is goin' on and has been goin' on in land of his birth the Gambia, suffice it to say that the electoral commissioner had to run all the way to Senegal - he feared for his life - for announcing an election result that was not pleasing to his commander-in-chief. In Eyadema's Togo the electoral commissioner had to run to the American Embassy after announcing the wrong result, i.e. a result that was not to the president’s liking. The electoral commissioner was exchanged for another electoral commissioner who later on announced what was pleasing to the president's ears, the correct election results, on Togo's national radio and TV…
In Sierra Leone too, not to long ago it is reported that the vice president Sam Samuna ran to the American Embassy in Freetown, to ask for political asylum.
Such things happen in Africa.
I myself ran to the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at Gustav Adolfs torg , where I was granted an hour's audience with the very personable Arne Ekfeldt former Swedish Ambassador to Nigeria – on the morning after I saw Sani Abacha's second in command Oladipo Diya - trembling in chains, on the TV news – Mr. Ekfeldt knew him personally and most of the big guns in Zaria and Katsina - the mission was, how to move heaven and earth to save him….
Everyone knows what happened with Chief M.K.O Abiola
We don't have to be too philosophical, logical or theological (kalam) about this President Jammeh's much quoted “I will rule the Gambia for a billion years if Allah wills”. That statement of his has its own unique implications. To begin with, there's the possibility, sometimes bordering on the certainty, as in every case of an election defeat in a free and fair election or even in a not so free and a not so fair, a 100% rigged election which can be interpreted as a result / fate arrived at through the infallible will of Almighty Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
My understanding of President Jammeh's conditional “if Allah wills” is that in democratic societies where one man one vote is the praxis, “ if Allah wills” can only mean what Allah wills through the ballot box.
But even in the one man one vote system, “what Allah wills” can be open to other quaint interpretations such as this one.
Had president Jammeh been given sufficient time¸ after promulgating – by personal decree - the elevation of Gambia to the status of “The Islamic Republic of Gambia “, in time , the constitution could have been amended to one more holy, maybe carve it in stone, to give him the additional title of Caliph or Iranian style “Supreme Leader”
This is getting kinda long, but you get the general drift…
For you : Malopoets
Cornelius...
Chidi Anthony Opara
Thanks for the "Malopoets". The music was soothing.
CAO.