Around 2016, many Gambians were so desperate for a change that they would have voted for Satan instead of Jammeh. This is what happens when a leader overstays. This in no way touts the lesser-evil factor, although.

Our mistake was the phrase, “Anybody, but Jammeh!” That anybody became Adama adamant Barrow who audaciously credited himself the citizens’ long-fought victory. In our hurry, we never microscoped him enough! We witness him morph into a different organism, not just physically, or venally, but orally.

With his mouth and the mouth of Hamat Bah, Isatou Touray, and the gimmicking Dou Sanno, he went algebraic with a count as simple as three to make it five. Records, including visuals still show him promising a short transition, and then retracting back to his business from an agreed lease of three.

He has shown all assessments to change five to fifteen. And fifteen will shift to 22 or 30 if honest and intelligent Gambians rise not. When great minds speak of “the incumbency factor” in elections, the African exhibit in particular, they also mean:

1.Paying millions to voters to rally behind the president and his cronies. The president’s new-found affluence and easy access to resources is seminal here. This is what was experimented in small Niamina West on November 7th 2020.

1.  2. Using government vehicles to accompany the President on the so-called “Meet the People’s Tour.” Last year, we published how vehicles were seized from government officials and drivers at Denton Bridge, only to be added to Barrow’s campaign trail in this waste of money, work-time, and resources.

1.  3. Using state television to broadcast opinion-molding schemes for the president and his other bewitched souls. And the president can use this state apparatus any time anyhow. Citizens’ Alliance, UDP, APRC, and GDC can’t.

1.  4. Borrowing money from the international community, predatory interest rates irrespective, and using it to pay political opponents to tilt to the president’s sway.

1.  5. Appointing people who can help entrench even a failed leader in office. You can only make political appointments like Dou Sanno, Saihou Mballow, etc., if you are in office.

Our problem with Barrow isn’t manifold. Gambia needs a leader that will jealously guard its sovereignty and territorial, national, and citizens’ interest. To avoid a tall order, we omitted foreign interest in the menu under Barrow. Adding it will be like asking a toddler to solve the quadratic formula.

We’ve not detailed the rising cost of living while we watch the price of bread, sugar, rice, milk, etc remain high for the same poor Gambians whose land is seized only to be allocated to NAMs with D54 million citizens’ money.

So, the next time you see Miss Piggy or Karmit joining Barrow’s camp, please it’s not magic. It’s money—money which should have been spent on good roads, hospitals supplies, schools, better salaries for teachers, nurses, drivers, caretakers, etc.

Any thinking Gambian seeing houses brought down by rains while poor families suffer should raise these same points. Please look at the pathetic condition of our people in muddy streets, dirty markets and public places, malnourished families!

You think those selfish souls with Barrow don’t see this? Of course, they do. Do they feel sorry for our people? Not when millions are offered to buy just their support or silence as the rest of the country perishes. This is selfishness on steroids! Who should we get angry at when Trump calls us “Shit-hole countries”? Trump or our leaders?

Corruption in our Gambia today defies reason. And Barrow expressed that he couldn’t stop it. But he could spend our money on two water cannon trucks to stop Three Years Jotna. He could also shut down the Daily Observer, a major employer since 1992. He could also preside over a gov’t that seizes land from the poor and gives it to the rich NAMs who have been receiving gifts, cash, land, cars, and now 54 million.