Gambia: A Responsible Government Should Prioritise Listening to the Voices of its People

For over two weeks now, the leader of Gambia’s main opposition party - Lawyer Ousainou Darboe together with a significant number of his party militants have been put behind bars for simply carrying out a peaceful protest. The protest which took place on Saturday 16th April 2016 was in retaliation to an earlier protest orchestrated by the party’s youth wing in which the youth mobiliser - Solo Sendeng was apparently tortured to death.  

It is now confirmed that a total of 20 members of the United Democratic Party (UDP) are charged with multiple court counts including unlawful assembly, riot, incitement of violence, riotously interfering with vehicles, holding a procession without a permit and conspiracy to commit felony. All the accused pleaded not guilty to the charges and the case was then adjourned to a future date.

Crowds outside the High Court in Banjul. Source: jollofnews

Ever since the UDP protesters were arrested, they have criss-crossed between the state central prison and the courts in Banjul on numerous occasions. To say that the atmosphere is tense during the court hearings is an understatement! Relatives, party militants and sympathisers congregated in and outside the court area while heavily armed security guards visibly present to disrupt any potential unrest. We ask if this is at all necessary, and the answer is, surely not! The continued incarceration of the UDP leader and his party militants will only inflate the already tense atmosphere in the country.

As a government, you are representatives of the people - lest we forget! So if people voice their concerns, you ought to listen to them and not try to repress them in anyway or by any means. Needless to reiterate the repercussions of a public uprisings. As seen time and again in so many regions of the world, power belongs to the people! And whenever people want their power back, there is no stopping that. It might take a lot of atrocities and material damages, but ultimately the people will emerge victorious.

This is the situation in the Gambia right now. So many people are fed up with the status quo and have been for so long. But the striking thing is, disgruntled people are beginning to openly voice their concerns, something they haven’t had the audacity to do for the last 20 odd years or so. The writing is therefore on the wall for the authorities to see. The people have spoken and you ought to listen. Failure to do so will only create a political turmoil in the country. Free Lawyer Darboe and co ASAP in order to avert any imminent uprising.