Thursday, March 27, 2014

Eight reasons why Jammeh will never chair ECOWAS



Speculation is rife, once again, about the possibility of Yaya Jammeh being elected Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States, commonly referred to by its acronym, ECOWAS - a name attributed to Gambia's own Hon. I.M.Garba-Jahumpa as the originator of the coinage during his tenure as Finance and Trade Minister in 1975.

The fact notwithstanding that a Gambian politician coined the name, here are some of the reasons why Yaya Jammeh will never be elected Chairman of the regional body :

1.  His name : His Excellency Sheikh Professor Alhagie Doctor Yahya A .J .J .Jammeh.  No serious person will take a name like that seriously.

2. ECOWAS relies heavily on cooperation partners in the West and we know how Jammeh feels about the neocolonialists Britain, France and imperial America.  He'd prefer collaborating with Hezbollah.

3. Jammeh has never been invited for a State visit to any of the key capitals that is essential to the success of ECOWAS.  He's never been invited by the two previous Prime Ministers of Britain, and the likelihood that PM Cameron will break with tradition is zilch.

4.  If Britain is a no go area, his chances of extracting a State invite from the Elysee Palace is equally unlikely.

5.  President Obama will be last of the important capitals to invite Jammeh.  The American President doesn't think Jammeh is a serious person to be invited as guest of the State, to discuss what? gay and lesbian rights? What about same sex marriage?  Jammeh would rather have the heads of gays and lesbians heads chopped off instead.

6.  The buffoonery associated with the image of Yaya Jammeh is the last of the distractions that ECOWAS needs to be taken seriously.  Jammeh is capable of burning all the bridges built, and good works by ECOWAS since 1975 in a single term.  A Head of State once cited this as one of the reasons he will oppose to Jammeh's candidature as long as he was President.  He's no longer the Head of State but his successor is equally allergic to Jammeh.

7.  Without these capitals, and the United Nations, which is also within the sphere of influence of the the West, ECOWAS will be starved of resource, both financial, intellectual and otherwise to proceed successfully with its ambitious program in the areas of economics, finance, trade, security and general governance matters.

8.  As if all of the above are not enough barriers to Jammeh's Chairmanship of ECOWAS, try Presidents Alassane Dramane Ouatarra and Goodluck Jonathan of Cote d'Ivoire and Nigeria respectively, both of whom are no fans of Jammeh.

This speculation should therefore be put to rest as long as the above roadblocks hold, and there is not one single reason to think otherwise.