By Alagie Saidy-Barrow
Many of you took umbrage (rightfully so) with Demba Sabally’s threats of arrest against Mr Essa Faal and Mrs Rohey Lowe. I usually find it very difficult to listen to people who have little substance and this Demba fellow happens to fal l in that category. I read a transcribed version of his threats and forced myself to listen to him. Initially, I was taken aback that someone who is eating from the hands of the Gambian people could be this unrefined and ignorant but then I realised how low the bar is for ministership since Jammeh and his AFPRC seized power. If other State Ministers (Ismaila Ceesay) have no qualms about appearing on national radio and telling lies about people, I guess we should therefore not be shocked at the crudity of this Demba fellow. Demba, like all the Barrow ministers threatening Gambians, simply wants to pervert the State’s monopoly on violence to intimidate, harass, and control the people. By controlling the people through the perversion of the State’s monopoly on violence, they can remain in their powerful government positions. Few things matter to the average person immured within this colonial space than a government job.
In the days of Jammeh, those who gained the most favours from him were those who could report plots against him. In the days of Adama Barrow, it is all about who can express the most bravado and anger! Note the tone of Adama’s mandarins and minions when they are talking about the protesters. Note the anger with which they speak when they speak about the opposition or those of us who criticise the Barrow Government. The anger and bravado are running themes. Note when Ismaila Ceesay said, “We will see if their fathers own this country.” Now we have this Demba character “putting others in handcuffs.” Remember when that other Ceesay fellow wanted to meet at Buffer Zone for a fight? You get my “friend” Hamat Bah telling us “what they will not tolerate in this country.” Examples abound. But beneath the veneer of bravado, you will come across something far more powerful that many around Barrow are dealing with: FEAR! Yes, fear!
You see, anger is far easier to express than fear. And when anger is fueled by fear, you get what you see in the Demba Saballys of the Barrow circle: Irrationality. That neither Mr Faal nor Mrs Lowe have done anything to warrant arrest does not matter in Demba Sabally’s calculation. That, he, a minister presiding over a corrupt ministry, should not be threatening anyone with arrest, does not factor in his calculation. In Demba’s mind, the people who went out to protest were “children” because, in his calculation, no sane young man or woman own their mind enough to go and express displeasure at the corruption in the Barrow Government. So it has to be “children” who are in the control of “others” (read opposition). The prospect of unhappy young men and women is too worrisome for Demba to contemplate because it could spell the end of his ride on the gravy train. And so he is afraid of that proposition. Like many of Barrow’s ministers, they are afraid of that possibility. The possibility of having to go and fend for themselves and not rely on enriching themselves on the backs of the people is terrifying. For many in government, that is a scary prospect. And hence the fear-fueled anger we see in them! At times, I just feel sorry for these people because their lives revolve around the anxiety of losing favour with Barrow. Imagine such a life!
May we fear doing wrong more than we fear getting caught. May your pride never allow you to tether your livelihood to political benefactors. In pursuing power, may you never lose your conscience!
