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Rantings of an Angry Despot - Part Two

By Baba Jallow

SOME of you so-called journalists and critics think that you can open your mouths in my own personal country and try to criticize me. You think that you can come here and try to talk about so-called human right or so-called rule of law. What do you mean human right? What do you mean rule of law? Have you ever seen any so-called law trying to rule? You must be crazy if you think so and I will not let that happen in my country.

You think that you can open your big mouths and say Jumus does not respect human right or rule of so-called law. If you think so then you must be very stupid and you have your mouths in the wrong places. Because I am going to warn you - anybody that tries to talk about human right or try to bring disorder or tell people to question my power and authority - I tell you that I will kill you till you are dead. You say you are so-called human right. Well, if you are human right you should stuff your human right in your dirty pocket and keep your mouth shut. Because I will not tolerate anyone coming here and trying to be human right or so-called law of rule.

The other day I showed my compassion and forgave some criminals who were already found guilty of crime. Those criminals tried to tell me what to say or what not to say in my own personal country. For that reason they were found guilty of treason and sedition and sent to prison. And because some people fell on their knees and begged me, and because I was a man of compassion, I forgave them and they were free to go home. Then what did some of you big mouths do? You opened your big mouths and you said Jumus is afraid that's why he released those people. If I was afraid how could I not deal with them because they were already in prison? How can I be afraid of a small bunch of criminals?

You think that you have a right to open your big mouths and say anything about me because you think I am afraid of those stupid so-called human right organizations or whatever they call themselves. If they think they are human right why don't they come here and face me and try to tell me that nonsense? If they think they are human right who made them human right? They just get up one day and they say they are human right human right my foot. What human right? Haa? If they are human right they should stay in their own countries and make their stupid noises there. I do not need any so-called human right in my country. In fact, from now on - and I mean from this very moment - I will personally kill anyone found listening to those so-called human right organizations or even thinking of them. From now on all those so-called human right organizations are banned in this country. I forbid any of them to look at my country, talk about my country, or even think about my country, not to say write about my country. If they think they are human right they should go to their own countries and talk about their nonsense human right. And I want to warn all people in my country. Anyone caught even thinking about human right will be killed immediately. If you don't like it you can all go to hell. And all of you so called human right activists or activities or whatever you call yourself can go to hell.

Sometimes I listen to the radio and I hear some of you so-called journalists or human right activists trying to tell me what I can or cannot do in my own personal country. You go to the West and hide behind the radio or so-called computer and think that you can cause disorder in my own personal country. You think that you can hide out there in the bush and try to tell my own personal people what they should think or what they should feel. If you think you are brave why not come here and face me and try to tell me your nonsense. Ballayy Ballayy Ballayy, if you do that you will know who I am. I will make sure that all of you are dead within one second. Even within one quarter of a second. So if you think you are brave come and face Jumus. You will then know who Jumus is. Ballayy Ballayy Ballayy.

Rantings of an Angry Despot - Part One

By Baba Jallow

When I make my wanted persons list people say I make my wanted list. They go out there and open their big mouths and say Jumus is this Jumus is that. When I say yes they say no. When I say left they say right. When I wear my special juju they say oh he's wearing his special juju this, his special juju that. And when I put them on my wanted persons list they say he has put us on his wanted list. Well, they can all go to hell but they will be on my wanted persons list and if they don't like it let them come and face me here. I do what I like! Say? I say what I like in my personal country!!

I must tell you all that I am sick and tired of all the nonsense that so-called journalists and intellectuals spit out of their big mouths. They say they are criticizing Jumus because Jumus appointed missionary judges. Or they say they are criticizing Jumus because Jumus sent some stupid idiots to prison. Or they are criticizing Jumus because Jumus says he will deal with criminals in this country. Or they will criticize Jumus because Jumus has a zoo and a private plane, or Jumus owns a bakery and a butchery. Or Jumus can cure AIDS, cancer and hypertension. Or Jumus can cure this or Jumus can cure that. Or Jumus has done this and Jumus has done that. Well I will tell them that I do not give a damn what they say or what their masters in the so-called western democracy say. If you decide to say that Jumus is wrong, or Jumus should not say this, or Jumus should not say that, you must be prepared to go on my wanted persons list, to go to jail, or go six feet deep. In fact, you will go six thousand feet deep. And let your so-called western democracy do anything about it. What? Haa? Who is it?

When I risked my life to free this country from the corrupt regime of the former so-called president, where were all of you big mouths who now say Jumus is this and Jumus is that? Ha? When I got out of my bed in the middle of the night and carried my heavy gun and risked my life to save this country from corrupt politicians, all of you were lying in bed with your wives and having good dreams. And now you come here and say Jumus this and Jumus that. Let me ask you this: If you carry your gun and go into the forest and you kill a deer, who will say that the deer you killed is not yours? Or if you go into the forest and climb up a big tree and pick some fruit, who will say that the fruit is not yours? Do they not know that if you go hunting or you climb a tall tree a wild animal could attack you or you could fall down and break your neck? Why then should any stupid fool come out and say Jumus should not do this or Jumus should not say that? Or Jumus should be democracy or Jumus is not fair or Jumus this Jumus that and Jumus the other thing? Haa?

I want you all to listen to me very carefully because I am sick and tired of all this nonsense talk about so-called democracy or so-called human right rule of law or some such nonsense. If you go to the so-called west and you wear so-called western clothes and you want to come here and talk to me about so-called democracy, I will put you on my wanted persons list. You don't know what so-called democracy is and you say you want to tell me some nonsense about so-called rule of so-called law and so-called human right? Haa? If you think you are wise or you are brave, come face me and try to tell me all that so-called nonsense. All of you big mouths hiding in the so-called west and trying to criticize me do not even know what your so-called democracy, law of rule or human right means. Human right human right my foot! You say human right human right but you don't know what human right is. And you say you want to criticize me because I am not human right. Haa?

You commit crimes in my personal country and you run like cowards and you go and beg the so-called west for asylum. And then you open your big mouths and say Jumus should not say this, Jumus should not say that. You don't even know that the so-called west came to Africa and stole our ancestors and our gold and silver and they made us their slaves. And when we fought and drove them out, now they want to come back to Africa and colonize us again. And they use you so-called journalists and so-called intellectuals and so-called human right to criticize me and try to make me afraid so that they can come back and colonize this country. I tell you that if they want to do that they will do it over my dead body. If they are brave and they think they can challenge me in my own personal country or tell me what to do, let them come and face me right here. They will then know who Jumus is. They will then know that Jumus is not afraid of anything in this world or the next. Or even in outer space. As for some of you traitors, you are all guilty of treason and sedition and defamation according Section 67, sub section 2 of my own personal criminal code. And I will put you on my wanted list. And if I catch you - if I catch you - Ballayy Ballayy Ballayy, you will know who Gankal Jumus is!

When I employ my own personal judges to enforce my own personal law and pay my own personal judges in my own personal country with my own personal money, you open your big mouths and say Gankal Jumus should not employ a missionary judge, or judge so and so is a missionary judge. Or judge so and so is a missionary judge because he is not from our country. How dare you say our country? Haa? You all have no shame because this is not your country. I tell you, I tell you! If you think this is your country and you call yourself a man, come and face Jumus. You will then know that one day follows another, that counting starts from one, two, three. You will know that I am not someone you can joke with. Ballayy Ballayy Ballayy, I swear if I catch you - if I catch you - you will know that fire is hot and that water is not sand!! It's a mad day!! That's all I have to say.

Baba Galleh Jallow is a former editor of the Daily Observer and Founder Editor of the now-banned The Independent newspaper in Banjul, Gambia. His books include Mandela's Other Children, Angry Laughter, and The Anatomy of Powercracy and Other Essays.

I WAS born in Accra, Ghana. I undertook both primary and secondary education in Ghana - Achimota School, where I did my O levels in 1984 and Accra Academy for sixth form. I was a very active sportsman, winning the prestigious sportsman of the year Award in 1984 in Achimota School. I captained the school hockey, volleyball and athletics teams that year. During my sixth form, I captained the hockey and volleyball teams and was an active member of the Accra Academy athletics squad.
I left Ghana in 1989 for Poland where I studied at Warsaw University for five year studies. I completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Master of Arts degree in International Relations in 1995.
I met my wife Nana, who was studying medicine in Poland in 1990 and we got married in September of 1992. In September 1995, we returned to Ghana after completing studies. My arrival in Ghana was quite challenging as I had difficulty gaining employment within the civil service. I got an opportunity in 1996 to manage a construction company and I took it. The company constructed both roads and buildings and we were successful in achieving the aims of the company in terms of profitability. Unfortunately I did not have job satisfaction as this was not my line of study and I desperately wanted to influence policy at different levels of my community.
In 1997, I gained employment with the Africa Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies in The Gambia, initially as an Assistant Publications Officer and later in 1999, as the Programme Officer for Training. During this period, I was an advisory member of Amnesty International, The Gambia, a member of the Consultative Committee on Educational Reform set up by the Gambian Government.
Time spent in The Gambia changed my life. I was exposed to critical issues taking place on the continent like the numerous wars and conflicts and their negative effects. I followed the Rwanda genocide, the wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone and the shocking effect it had on my African brothers and sisters.
I left The Gambia in 2000 for the United Kingdom, where I commenced a course in chartered accountancy. I however had to put the course on hold to move with my family to Ireland after my wife gained registration with the Irish Medical Council.
For a couple of years, the Irish legislation prevented spouses of doctors from working in the country and I spent a lot of time fighting it at different levels. I took the opportunity in 2004 to set up a charity in Ghana working in sustainable livelihoods. This brought great satisfaction to me as I was able to help young people and women gain employment in the agricultural sector. This project functioned on a 55 acre land on the outskirts of Ho, the capital of the Volta region of Ghana. Crops like maize, chilli peppers, sweet peppers, okra and tomatoes were produced, as well as tilapia and catfish.
Unfortunately, my absence from Dublin was negatively affecting my family so I decided to scale down the project, which allowed me to spend more time with my family in Ireland. During this period, the Africa Centre vacancy came up and I applied for it and was successful.

By Simon Kolawole

Mr. President, I don't know how you would take this, but there is no nicer way of putting it - Nigeria is going down. I have watched, helplessly, in the last few months as things appear to be spinning out of control on all fronts. What are you up to? At times, I wonder if you're deliberately quiet or you are just too overwhelmed with the circumstances in which you have found yourself. The simplest of things appear to be too difficult for your administration to handle. Or maybe you just do not see any problems yet, right?

I would start with electricity. I know quite well that you have promised 6,000 megawatts by December 2009, which is very impressive, even if belated. At least, we have something to hold you to. At 6,000mw, we should enjoy some power supply. That alone should reduce diesel and petrol consumption, lower the cost of production, improve economic productivity and bring some businesses back to life. However, I am already hearing well-made excuses on why we may no longer meet the target because of gas shortage as a result of militant activities - which I will come back to later.

Where I live, we've not had electricity for three weeks - and nothing is wrong with our "transformer" as you would expect. I'm tempted to ask PHCN to come and remove their cables in front of my house, if not I will start hanging my laundry on those hopeless cables. I thought my situation was worse until I shared my story with some of my colleagues who said I was lucky! They actually envied me. One of them said he has not had power supply in six weeks. I quietly thanked my stars. At least my situation is better. At the back of my mind, I do not really care about the megawatts of darkness around me. I assume I am living in a village without electricity; so I expect to call my generator to duty every night. That is a fair deal.

What I cannot understand, Mr. President, is that we're experiencing severe power shortage in a rainy season. Conventional wisdom is that power supply improves during the rainy season because our dams are working at full strength; the hydro plants thus generate more electricity. Since we're always complaining about gas shortage (the complaint didn't start with militant activities), the rainy season brings - or used to bring - relief. In fact, I used to joke that it is when we don't desperately need power supply that we get it most: when the rains fall, the weather is friendly and everyone is entitled to natural AC. The conventional wisdom has now been turned on its head. Or are we going to say militants have bombed the water too - in addition to the gas pipelines? Something is terribly wrong.

We did not suddenly find ourselves in this tight corner, Mr. President. Think again. When you came in 2007, the plan on ground was that we would generate 6000mw by December of that year. Contracts had been awarded by the previous government towards meeting the target. I suspect that because your government was new, some people persuaded you that you needed to deal with "new" contractors. For nearly two years, various interest groups in and outside your government fought to take over these projects. You stopped paying the contractors. You and the House of Representatives embarked on a probe. Grammar, grammar, grammar. Nothing came out of the probes - apart from the fact that we keep living in darkness.

At the end of the day, we wasted two years blowing hot air. The economy has been going down, but I have seen nothing to suggest that you are deeply worried or in a hurry to address issues. Now, without exaggerating, I have never witnessed this prolonged spell of power cuts in Nigeria since 1998-99. It has never been this bad, I make bold to say. But this has not happened by accident - it is just a reflection of your attitude, Mr. President, to the condition of this country. With due respect, Alhaji, you're not in touch with reality. Once in a while, you say the right things about the condition of this country, but your speed tells it all: there is no sense of urgency. The power emergency you promised to declare "within 100 days of assuming office" in 2007 is one of the sweetest sound bites from you - but where is the beef? Everyday, since 2007, we hear billion billons being approved for one power project or the other, but ask me what the end product is.

Dear President, are you aware our crude oil export has gone down dramatically? I guess you're aware. From the height of nearly three million barrels per day three years ago, we're now hovering just about a million barrels as militants blow up one oil facility after the other. Did you say it's not your fault? Yes, it's not your fault. You didn't create the problems of the Niger Delta. You didn't create the gangs. You didn't found the militant groups. Only a fool will disagree with that. However, what did you do, on assumption of office, to address this problem? What was your strategy? How well has it worked?

You had a chance, dear President, you had a chance to do something. When you came to power, the militants declared a ceasefire, claiming that they wanted to give you a chance. But, you see, the hawks around you would not let go. They kept telling you not to negotiate with the militants. They urged you on to deal with them. They're criminals! Stupid idiots, all! Go for them! Crush them! That was the first mistake you made - you listened to these war mongers who created the impression that they could crush the militants. Two years on, have they succeeded? Are the militants no longer causing fatal damage to the economy? Are you smiling now?

The mistake you made, Alhaji, was that you did not learn from ex-US President George Bush. After 9/11, he went to war in Afghanistan and Iraq, promising to smoke out terrorists with all his military might. He went to Afghanistan in 2001 - the year of the attack - and dethroned the Taliban. Has terrorism come to an end? He jumped to Iraq and dethroned Saddam Hussein. Has terrorism come to an end? He believed bombs and more bombs would curb terrorism. Ask him again how far this has gone.

In 2007, when the militants halted their attacks in the Niger Delta, it was a big opportunity for you to play the statesman and bring peace to the region. But the hawks would have none of it. Pronto, they went and arrested Henry Okah, one of the leading figures in the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), and detained him and put him on trial. The end result was that militant activities were resumed, oil installations were getting destroyed day by day, innocent people were getting killed and the economy started bleeding. After almost two years, Mr. President, you discontinued the trial of Okah and got him released. When you knew, Alhaji, that the possibility of negotiation was there, why did you wait until the economy had been so badly hurt before choosing that option? Who advised you to arrest Okah in the first place?

To be sure, Mr. President, I do not support militant activities. In truth, I harbour serious suspicion about their intentions. Many of them are saying the right things, but the intention is suspect. I support justice and fairness in the Niger Delta, but I am suspicious of some of the agitators. I also do not like a situation where Nigerian soldiers are killed, not by enemy troops, but by their own compatriots. I also have questions to ask about the role being played by some politicians and government officials who benefit from these destructive activities. But, just like terrorists, militants are real human beings. They constitute real threat. They inflict real damages. And, to cap it all, our security forces do not have the capacity to incapacitate them - as the militants have clearly shown in recent times. You cannot wish them away. They are like the bull in the china shop.

So what took you so long, Mr. President? When did you realise there are non-combat ways of resolving the crisis? Why did you allow the hawks to claw you into a corner before embarking on this tactical retreat? You can see the results. The refineries are down, starved of crude oil supply as pipelines go up in flames and get twisted every now and then; our oil exports contracts now depend largely on "force majeur"; our thermal plants are crying for gas as power generation hits its worst in recent years; today, we hear one project or the other that cannot be done because of militant activities in the Niger Delta. Cleverly, those who promised us 6,000mw by December are now qualifying their optimism with "but for militant activities..." - showing clearly that the government underrated the militants when it was making those promises.

Mr. President, take a look round and you see a country lying almost prostrate. Take a roll call of different unions on strike or threatening to go on strike - health workers, midwives, university teachers, electricity workers, postal workers, radio and TV workers, and so on and so forth. There is something I notice: they seem to have lost faith in your government. They seem to be saying that your government does not just care about their plight. They may be right, they may be wrong - but that is a feeling that many Nigerians have. They have observed you over the last two years and concluded that there is no use expecting anything from you. What a sad story.

Your attitude to Lagos, Your Excellency, is also baffling. The least I expected from you is that you would discontinue your predecessor's anti-Lagos policy. Lagos, whether we like it or not, is the productive base of the Nigerian economy. There is nothing anyone can do about that, not in the foreseeable future. Why federal roads in the state would remain untouched in the two years of your administration is beyond what I can believe. It doesn't make sense. Everyday, Abuja roads are undergoing repair and construction - while Lagos roads are neglected. You behave, sir, as if you're the President of Abuja and not the President of the 36-state federation of Nigeria. If Lagos is the economic base of Nigeria, it makes sense that it should not be neglected.

All I have done, Mr. President, is to tell you what I suspect you know - that Nigeria, under your watch, can be better than this. But I refuse to give up on you. We have no other country but Nigeria. We deserve something better. It is not too late for you to wake up to your responsibilities and treat the Nigerian condition as urgent and critical. Make haste, Your Excellency.
(Source: www.thisdayonline.com)

BO: I visit Nigeria regularly and I follow the political activities in the country. I am sufficiently familiar with the development in Nigeria and would not rule out my future participation in Nigeria.

OO: There has been a huge debate about female circumcision in Nigeria and in Ireland in light of the recent case of Izevbekhai; what are your views on Female Genital Mutilation?
BO: It is very sad that girls and young women could still be subjected to the barbaric practice of female genital mutilation in this day and age. Undoubtedly FGM should be totally eradicated; it is evil, a form of torture, and a criminal act specifically violating women's rights. Nobody should be made to fear for their lives and that of their children's.

OO: Do you have any regrets?
I have no regrets. I am content with how God has planned my life and the little accomplishments. I look forward to more credible progress in my work and career.

OO: What is your most fervent wish for Africa and her peoples?

BO: My wish for Africa and her peoples is for things to change for good. I wish an end to poverty, debt problems, squalor, diseases, brain drain, and poor infrastructural facilities - water, energy, roads, etc., inadequate security, democratic failures, corruption and leadership deficit which is fundamental. African countries with a few exceptions have been in serious crises since independence. African leaders should wake up and be agent of development.

OO: In your view, who is the greatest African ever, or greatest living African?

BO: Nelson Mandela, first post-apartheid president of South Africa. Well respected globally, in fact I consider him to be number one global citizen.

OO: What is your advice to Europe's African immigrants?

BO: No matter what brought us to Europe as immigrants, we must strive to live an upright life. For the new immigrants, it is good to take time to understand the permissible behaviours and norms in the environment we live in.

OO: What has been your most memorable experience of the British society?

BO: When I was sworn in as a Justice of the Peace (Magistrate) in March 2002.

OO: Who or what is your greatest inspiration?
BO: Kofi Annan, the former United Nations (UN) Secretary General and Nobel Peace Prize winner. I admire him for his calm personality and accomplishments in and outside the UN.

OO: Do you think there is racial equality in the UK?

BO: I think it will still take some time for racial equality to be fully accomplished in the UK.

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