Adama Barrow: saint or sinner?
ONE of the most famous political statements was made by former US senator Carol Moseley Braun when she said: “There are no permanent friends or permanent enemies, just permanent interests.”
Burkina Faso’s Thomas Sankara was assassinated in a coup d’état organised by his close associate, Blaise Compaoré; the former president of Botswana, Ian Khama, went from endorsing Mokgweetsi Masisi for president to leaving the party and supporting the opposition to his handpicked successor; Julius Malema played a pivotal role in getting Jacob Zuma elected as president of the ANC and, by extension, president of South Africa, in December 2007, but became one of Zuma’s most critical opponents, which ultimately led to his ousting in 2018.
In 2016, two miracles took place: Leicester City Football Club went from battling relegation in the English premier League in 2015 to winning the title in 2016, beating the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and the two Manchester clubs – obvious favourites – to the title. This spirit seemed to have landed in The Gambia seven months later when Yahya Jammeh lost the presidential elections.
The Gambia’s long-time dictator lost the 2016 presidential elections to the opposition leader, Adama Barrow.
Until 2015, few would have heard of Barrow, let alone given him much chance of dislodging Jammeh’s grip on state power. With seven parties rallying behind Barrow, coupled with the Gambians seeking winds of change, he won the elections.
The 2016 elections occurred against a backdrop of Jammeh’s brutal regime, which not only attacked political opponents and carried out executions and unconstitutional arrests, but targeted the media to censor communications to citizens and persecuted members of the LGBTQI community.
In short, it was 22 years of torture, oppression and brutal political repression.
On hearing the news that Jammeh
– who had ruled with an iron fist and once declared to Gambians: “I am better than anyone you will ever have in this country” – had lost the 2016 elections, Gambians took to the streets on foot, and in cars and trucks.
This was a sign of their jubilation that, finally, this was the end of the repressive regime and the beginning of a new dawn, when democracy would prevail.
But on December 9, 2016, in true tyrannical fashion, Jammeh addressed the nation and said: “I hereby announce to you Gambians my total rejection of the election results.”
This was expected, given that he had claimed he would rule for a billion years if God allowed (it is evident that God felt that 22 years was long enough). This led to the infamous presidential inauguration of Barrow at The Gambian Embassy in Dakar, Senegal, on January 19, 2017.
After the Economic Community of West African States, led by Nigeria, convinced the long-time leader to concede defeat, Jammeh fled to Equatorial Guinea. This was seen as the start of a new era in The Gambia, one that people had hoped would usher in positive change: rebuild the country, create a social contract and develop a responsive government underpinned by democracy.
Barrow’s victory and ascension to the presidency brought with it a sense of hope for the West African nation.
Five years later, are we witnessing the return of a dictator? This question is raised against the backdrop of an announcement on September 5 that Barrow’s National People’s Party would merge with Jammeh’s Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC).
While the conditions behind this merger are unclear, it appears that the former dictator may return from exile without being held accountable for any human rights violations – which Barrow had vowed would never go unpunished.
The overarching question, however, is why would Barrow make an aboutturn and join forces with the political home of Jammeh, who presided over gross human rights violations?
This is a vital question, given that the promise of justice and reparations for Jammeh’s victims was a key commitment in Barrow’s election manifesto, aided by a coalition.
President Barrow is trying frantically to balance the forces within The Gambia’s political the landscape before the December 2021 elections – threading carefully, focusing on the optics of the ruling alliance and his political opponents – at the cost of the country and those who had pinned on him their hopes of justice, restoration, reparations and reconciliation on him.
British-american author Simon Sinek once said: “Leadership is not about the next election, it’s about the next generation”. Politics as a discipline teaches us that the primary objective of any state is the welfare of its people. Against this measure, Barrow has failed dismally, as he has turned out to be so similar to the man he replaced.
Initially, he had vowed to serve as president for a transitional three-year period, but when he was pressured by the Three Years Jotna movement to keep his end of the bargain and step down in November, his government banned the movement, labelling it “subversive, violent and illegal”, just as his predecessor would have done.
By forming an alliance with the
APRC, which he vowed was intended to undo its atrocious deeds, Barrow has gone from saint to sinner and proved the Western media’s prevailing view that African leaders have done nothing to improve the welfare of their people – and that they never would.
What is unfolding in The Gambia is a kleptocratic system that puts the needs of politicians before those of citizens; through this alliance, Barrow is looking to “secure the bag” at the expense of those he claimed to represent. It is his past participation in this very patronage system that weakens the moral authority of his tenure as president and, by extension, his bid for re-election. It seems as though Gambians took two steps forward in 2016 and Barrow has taken four steps backwards. Despite the Memorandum of Understanding of the aforementioned alliance, it is my hope that the human rights violations under Jammeh will not go unpunished at the expense of political manoeuvring.
After the December polls, may peace reign, democracy be maintained and justice served.