Our
situation in The Gambia is getting more and more heated as parties to the
political impasse are apparently moving poles apart.
Since
the results of the December 1 presidential elections in The Gambia were
rejected by the outgoing president, parties directly involving in the matter
have remained adamant in their positions, as an amicable solution to the
impasse is sought.
Whilst
the camp of the president-elect has been calling on the outgoing president and
his government to prepare the ground, during this transitional period, to hand
over to them, the sitting president’s position has remained the same: “I am not
stepping down.”
At
a meeting at State House with the “African Bar Association” of some lawyers from
Nigeria on Tuesday 20 December 2016, the sitting president said: “I have made
it very clear that I will not accept the result.”
Whilst
this has been the position of the sitting president, the President-elect has
also maintained that, come 19 January 2017, he would be inaugurated to start
work with his administration.
This
has also been the position of heads of state of the Economic Community of West
African States (ECOWAS), and even the African Union and the United Nations,
supported by many other bodies and institutions in the country and abroad.
“The
Authority [Ecowas heads of state] shall take all necessary actions to enforce
the results of 1st December 2016 election,” West African leaders said in a
communiqué issued at the end of the 50th ordinary session of the heads of state
of ECOWAS held on Saturday 17 December 2016.
“President-elect
Adama Barrow must be sworn in on 19 January 2017,” they said.
This
situation has sparked serious anxiety, and made the fate of the nation hangs in
the balance.
We
can only hope and pray that some good angels communicate with the sitting
president to see reason, and express his love for the Gambian people by
accepting the final results and handing over the reins of power to
President-elect Adama Barrow.
Otherwise,
the fate of our nation hangs in the balance, and we are really uncertain of
where we are heading.
Would
the sitting president hands over power by 19 January 2017? What will Adama
Barrow do if power is not given to him by 19 January?
And
what actions will be taken by the ECOWAS and the international community
against the siting president and his government, if he fails to hand over power
to the democratically-elected president of the Gambian people?
As
it is, we can only see more questions than answers. And we, therefore, ask:
What are we heading for?
Is
it for an amicable solution or for something else?
“Determine
the thing that can and shall be done, and then we shall find the way.”
