You know, I want to think that even those who do not support my Bandam will admit that he is truly a political animal as he once called himself. Ok, I admit I don’t know what political animal means but what I’m trying to put across is that even those who do not support him should have some respect for his political acumen. Barrow may have been politically unripe in the beginning but he is certainly growing into a political virtuoso as the years go by. Surrounding himself with the enablers of the evil dictator, Barrow has adopted Jammeh’s ways without embracing all his evil tendencies!
I don’t know if Barrow copied what I call political cooptation from Yaya Jammeh’s proverbial book he forgot to take with him on vacation to Equatorial Guinea but my Bandam is certainly making good use of it. Cooptation is defined as the act of taking over something for a different purpose. And so when my Bandam takes over political opponents and repurposes them to consolidate power, we can call that political cooptation, Gambian style.
My Bandam’s abiding maxim seems to be: Less repression, more Cooptation! And it’s working. Cooptation is a lot easier when people are fickle-minded, or when people believe that politics is a dirty game and so they take pride in being dirty. Cooptation is a lot easier when double-tongued individuals are a dime a dozen among a population. In this colonial space, we don’t even exhibit an iota of shame for saying something yesterday and saying the opposite today simply because our fortunes have changed. Political Cooptation is also much easier when people’s greed for material possessions is not commensurate to their ability to make money outside of being in government or being a political lackey for some political godfather.
Politically co-opting the Gambian requires knowing two facts we hate to admit: One is that colonialism predisposed many Gambians to an addiction to palass or government jobs! Two, this addiction has caused too many of us to be fickle-minded and unprincipled. Yaya Jammeh knew of this addiction to palass and he knew how fickle too many of us are. That was why he was able to use and abuse so many of us. You give a Gambian a palass and you practically own them! They’ll say and do anything to remain in that palass. And if the palass is ministerdom, where consciences go to die, you will have a minister with zero principle who will even try to convince people that it was Allah who chose you to be president. And When the praise-singers no longer serve a viable purpose, you get rid of them and co-opt new ones or recycle old ones! You will always have a pool of readymade and unprincipled Gambians to co-opt. If they are your political critics, even better.
To drive home my point, let me quote two tongues that were both speaking about President Adama Barrow: The first tongue said:
Now let us hear what the second tongue said:
Thank you @BarrowPresident for appointing me State Minister of Information. I promise to serve you & the Gambia & to deliver to the best of my ability. This is great privilege & honour. I look forward to working with you & Cabinet Colleagues to deliver your transformative agenda.
In case you’re wondering, both tongues belong to Dr Ismaila Ceesay. Barrow conquered Ceesay just as he conquered other opposition party leaders and members. The political hustle is real! And sadly, all the hustlers will claim they are doing it for The Gambia!!! Even Adama Barrow will claim he is co-opting these folks for the development of The Gambia. But there’s a reason Dr Ismaila Ceesay promises to serve Adama Barrow first before he serves Gambia! Can’t help but feel sorry for the people of this country! And for all those who were coopted, as Mutabarukas character deadpanned: When u not in power your honour,
It is easy to say dis and that.
But when you have power
Is a different sanky
You have to sing.
The challenge with political Cooptation in this colonial space is that it never ends well! When the foundation of any relationship is built on deceit, it is only a matter of time before deceit slowly corrodes the foundations and disrobe the relationship! Now I know who my true friends are was what Yaya Jammeh said as he fled into vacation. Those he politically coopted had already pledged allegiance elsewhere. Let’s watch this space.
Mmajiki Saidy-Barrow
TheHeraldWhistleBlower 