(Banjul) On the 1st December 2016 Gambia held an
election.
President Yahya Jammeh who took power in a military coup in
1994 and who has since won 4 elections, lost and initially he said he would step down. However just 9 days after losing the election, he made a televised speech
where he stated:
"I announce to you, Gambians, my total rejection of the election results and thereby annulling the elections in its entirety," "We will go back to the polls because I want to make sure that every Gambian has voted under an independent electoral commission that is independent, neutral and free from foreign influence."
Well once upon a time African leaders got away with being dictators for life. All
they did was blame the white man, colonialism and sat back to reap the billions in foreign
aid which Western countries handed over in which to silence anybody who played
the race card.
Well, it appears that those days may be coming to an end, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has said to Jammeh, that he
has to step down and in order to make him comply they have massed troops from
Nigeria, Senegal, Ghana and others on the border and set a deadline for 18/2359/01/2017. Thankfully Gambia’s army chief has said he would not order his men to fight other African
troops if they enter Gambian territory, So it seems that this whole debarkle may be
settled peacefully, but only time will tell if Jammeh will go without bloodshed.
