Betrayal, Backstabbing and Greed: Who destroyed the Coalition?

December 1st 2016, miracle rained on our land, as hard as many of us fought to end the dictatorship, none of us truly believed Jammeh’s end was going to be this easy. Who thought Jammeh’s dictatorship final fall was going to be led by a soft-spoken, half-educated, former security guard Adama Barrow who can hardly read a passage in an elementary school textbook without sweating his head-off. This in itself is a miracle and I guess it is god’s way of humiliating Dictator Jammeh, whatever it was, we are relieved he is gone.

The Coalition is in a state of distress, it wasn’t supposed to end like this. The scars of the last administration still fresh in our minds. We went through one of the most inhumane period in the history of our country in Jammeh’s 20 years rule. The monster who promised to rule the country for a billion years and insults whoever dear put sense into his cranium. He reduced our people into beggars, hypocrites and sycophants. Even though our freedom has been restored to some degree, up to this day, his name bring nightmares and send shivers down the spine of so many of his victims. Yes, I have forgiven him, I don’t want to hold onto any bitterness but I shall never forget the tears he brought to so many of our people and neither should you.

Scandal in the Gambia. Lawyer Darboe, Money & Gambian Youths!

But there is another miracle which haven’t given much thought and it is the theme of this article. The miracle of October 30th 2016, the day our opposition parties came together to form a successful coalition for the first time. If Dec 1st was the day we got liberated then Oct 30th was the day that made it possible. The rest of this article going forward is going to be very thought-provoking and might be offensive to those who are immune to divergent views. So do yourself a favor (…??)

Do you believe in destiny? Do you believe that sometimes god speaks to us through signs? Do you? If you do, then maybe my reasoning will resonate with you.

In the past election cycles, our opposition parties struggled to unite to the benefit of Dictator Jammeh, despite overwhelming request from the Gambian people. Even after it became clear that they could NOT take on Dictator Jammeh as individual parties, there differences were big enough to quash the possibility of a coalition. Who was to blame is up for debate but one thing is clear, UDP always insisted on leading on the basis of being the biggest opposition party.

One party state is Inevitable in The Gambia, but...

With Lawyer Darboe’s “my way or the highway attitude” the talk of a coalition was a nonstarter. It was clear UDP was going to contest or boycott the elections but they were not going into a 50-50 chance convention to pick a candidate. Lawyer Darboe’s ego is too big to let that happen.

But last year was no ordinary year, it was the year when the good people of our country lean to god for a final plead to save us from the nightmare of Jammeh. That was the final beating, we couldn't take it anymore and the good lord answered.

Sometimes god solves your problem by getting rid of your obstacles. Could that be what happened when Lawyer Darboe was send to jail by Jammeh? I can’t say for sure but one thing is clear everything started falling into place the moment the Lawyer was incarcerated. Political parties/leaders that could never see eye to eye, all of a sudden were like brothers and sisters. The fruit of this unity lead to the impossible, finally we are free off the devil.

Adama Barrow pull-off what his political master could not accomplished and the best thing is he did it with grace, discipline and humility. When he went into that convention, he was at the mercy of the delegates but he promised to respect the results even though he was competing with Lilliputian political parties. This my friends, is one reason I'll always respect president Barrow. His decision to respect his political opponents led to his presidency.

But here we go again. The opposition parties are at loggerheads AGAIN and the once unified Coalition is cantankerous but guess who is OUT-OF-JAIL???