Gambian president rejects bloc's call to step down

By Saikou Kalleh

BANJUL, Gambia

President Yahya Jammeh has condemned the West Africa economic bloc, ECOWAS, for urging him to step down following his election defeat.

Gambia was plunged into a crisis on Dec. 9 after Jammeh rejected the results, a week after conceding defeat to a little known property developer, Adama Barrow.

The term of the long-standing ruler is set to expire on Jan. 19.

Speaking at a meeting with members of the African Bar Association that was televised on Tuesday night, Jammeh said the position taken by the regional body had violated its own principle of “non-interference in the affairs of a sovereign state”.

Leaders of the ECOWAS had called on Jammeh to step down during its meeting in Nigeria on Dec. 17. They also vowed “to take all necessary action to enforce the [election] results”, without spelling out what those measures might be

“They told me to send a representative only for the representative to be told that… Jammeh must hand over and that on the 19 of January all ECOWAS heads of states will be in [the Gambian capital] Banjul to see the inauguration of the president elect,” he said.

“This is violating one rule that says noninterference in the internal matter of countries…,” he added.

He spoke about the court case where he has challenged the election result.

“Knowing that we have a strong case, they said we should not go to the court and irrespective of the court decision if you proceed— they know that I am going to proceed— they will enforce the December election results.

“Let them enforce it today and see. What are they waiting for? I will not be intimidated by any power in this world.”

Jammeh, who continues to cling to power, has ruled Gambia with an iron fist for 22 years. Gambians got only “a week of democracy” between the president first declaring he accepts the election result and when he claimed there have been irregularities in the process.

On Dec. 2, Jammeh surprised everyone when he extended a helping hand to his successor on national television. With smiles and jokes, a style uncharacteristic of Gambia’s tough-talking military ruler, he had telephoned Barrow to express his readiness to offer any advice that might be needed.

However, a week later on Friday, Jammeh announced in a nationally-televised address that he was rejecting the outcome of the election in its “totality”, citing irregularities in the process, creating a new political crisis in the country.

Jammeh said he initially accepted the results because he thought it was the “verdict of the Gambian people” before he discovered that “unacceptable irregularities” had taken place, including the alleged disenfranchisement of voters in some cases.

He called for a fresh election that would be supervised by a “completely independent electoral commission and make sure that every Gambian votes.”

He said the ECOWAS delegation had met him and the opposition, and then came back to him to say that the result reflected the will of the Gambian people.

“I said: ‘how the hell do you mean by this is the will of the Gambian people when 360,000 voters have not voted, 40 percent of the registered voters didn’t vote, for the first time’,” he said.

“I made it very clear that I will not accept it and that is where I stand up to today… All I want is to go back to the Gambian people and this is where I stand today, tomorrow and a day after tomorrow for a billion years,” he added.

According to the current “contentious” results of the country’s electoral authorities, Jammeh got 208,487 votes, while Adama Barrow received 227,708 votes and Mamma Kandeh 89,768 votes.

The total voter registration was 886,578 votes which means that 360,615 (or about 41 percent voters) did not vote, a point that Jammeh raised concern about though it was the same percentage of people who did not vote in the 2006 elections as well.