L'écurie "Boy Niang" sommée de geler ses activités

It’s Ramadan time in the Gambia. People are finding it hard to feed their families. Almost all the basic food commodities are out of reach. Prices have gone up. It’s too exorbitant for the poor man to afford a bag of rice, meat, sugar, onion, and bread. Everyone here in Banjul is dissatisfied with President Jammeh's leadership. Jammeh talks too much, brags a lot about his successes as a leader, and yet the Gambia and her people are dying of hunger.

Just at the beginning of the Ramadan, there was an acute shortage of onion in the country. People struggle to buy onions in our markets. Importers said they have been told not to import onions because Jammeh is the primary importer through his KGI affiliates business empires. Gambians have to wait for Jammeh’s onions to arrive in town to be able to buy onions.

Jammeh’s onions have just docked in our seaport. Jammeh is selling a bag of onion for D750 dalasi—that is an average monthly salary for a security guard here in Banjul. In some places, a bag of onion is being sold for D800 dalasi. The business market has been hijacked by Jammeh and his mafia partners in town. There is no level playing field for competition.

People break their fast in the evening without cold water, good food on the table, and other refreshments. NAWEC, as usual, can hardly provide a good solid eight hours of an uninterrupted electricity supply. The energy firm is busy servicing Kanilai, the State House, and other business entities affiliated with Jammeh, when our people are paying for services they never enjoyed.

Just today, a senior security chief told me that Jammeh’s leadership is a curse to the country and her people. The Security Chief said what is happening is that: there are few people enjoying life, when 95 percent of the country is living under abject poverty. He said almost all the security agencies in this country are facing the economic mess perpetrated by Jammeh and his cronies.

“ There are folks praying for the downfall of President Jammeh. They hate this man to the core. To be honest with you, no one here likes Jammeh. By mouth they can pretend, but what they said behind closed doors is completely different. This will come to light, when this regime ceases to exist,” the Security Chief warns.