Wednesday, March 26, 2014

The BULLDOZER : Jammeh's weapon of choice

The bulldozer is associated with progress,with a society on the move, building infrastructure for present and future generations.  It is generally true that wherever you find a Caterpillar, John Deere or heavy equipment dealership or agents, there you will find a massive development projects in progress.

The above was true then until recent developments in that tiny sliver of a country called The Gambia that the image of the bulldozer or earth mover takes on a different meaning.  The Gambian dictator has found a more sinister use of this noble equipment of progress.

Jammeh has been using the equipment to bulldoze retirement homes of Gambian expatriates who've worked their entire lives outside the Gambia, saved their money and use their retirement benefits to build their dream retirement homes, only to see it razed to the ground because Jammeh claim ownership.  He doesn't have to give reason nor proof of ownership.  It is his word against yours.

Houses of Gambians with limited means but have worked abroad in the tomato fields of Spain to save enough to build houses in their homeland only to forfeit it to Yaya Jammeh.

Jammeh has bulldozed the retirement homes of European expatriates and other nationalities because he claims to own the land the houses once stood, and Gambians keep wondering why there are no foreign investors.  No investment is safe in The Gambia because of a single person named Yaya Jammeh whose appetite for corruption has reached legendary proportions.

In his quest to continue to terrorize ordinary Gambians, Jammeh unleashed the bulldozers on women who eke a living in selling tourist souvenir to put food on the table and educate their kids.  These hard-working women were accused of evading income tax, a claim that was proven to be incorrect.  They have been paying rent and license to the state.  Yet they were almost victims of the bulldozers that were at the ready to bring down their stalls.

THE BULLDOZER, the new weapon of choice of Yaya Jammeh, the dictator of that tiny sliver of a country named The Gambia.

What we have in Banjul, is a sick regime that must be removed at the earliest.  Jammeh must be uprooted.