Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Impeach Yaya Jammeh

Yaya Jammeh 
When Yaya Jammeh took the oath of office, he swore to protect all Gambians regardless of political or tribal affiliation.  He has violated that pledge on June 6th 2016 when he went on a incitement of violence tirade against the Mandinka ethnic group whom he vowed " to kill one by one and put them where even a fly cannot find them."  He referred to Mandinkas as his "enemies and foreigners" in their own land.

Jammeh should therefore be impeached by the National Assembly for violating the Constitution and shirking his responsibilities as Head of State.  He is guilty of incitement of violence by threatening to eliminate the Mandinkas.

He has been condemned by the Special Adviser to the United Nations Secretary General on the Prevention of Genocide to his Tallinding speech was characterized as an "irresponsible and extremely dangerous" statement coming from a head of state.  The U.N. condemnation continued to say that "such public statements...by a national leader...can contribute to dividing populations, feed suspicion and serve to incite violence against communities, based solely on their identity."

Yaya Jammeh poses a threat not only to the safety and security of Gambia and Gambians but he is a threat to the regional and sub-regional peace and security.  

Jammeh has failed Gambia and Gambians by overseeing a declining economy in his 22-year dictatorship while eroding our civil liberties and freedoms in the process.  His human right record competes that of North Korea with more Gambians fleeing the country's shores because of the repressive nature of a dictatorship that is among the worst in the world.

Because Jammeh has failed in every aspect of governance with nothing to offer to Gambians who are poorer today than when he seized power illegally 22 years ago, he's left with no option but to divert people's attention away from their Jammeh-induced misery by issuing threats to a section of the population with the hope that the other ethic groups will turn against Mandinkas.  What Jammeh fail to realize is that true Gambians will not turn against each other.

The responsibility is now up to the National Assembly to commence the process of impeaching Yaya Jammeh for incitement of violence of one ethic group against another which could lead to genocide.