Monrovia – Yahya Jammeh’s days are numbered. His body language, facial expression and stuttering of words in a pranked phone call with Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the current chair of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Sunday spoke volume that the once-feared and embattled outgoing president of The Gambia has lost the confidence and respect of his mandate.
Jammeh who seized power in a bloodless coup d’etat on July 22, 1994 that ended the reign of Sir Dawda Jawara, lost to the unheralded Adama Barrow in last year’s elections and initially conceded before going on a desperate spree, charging irregularities and vowing not to relinquish power.
Last Sunday, Mr. Jammeh took his efforts to new low when he set up the Liberian president into a prank phone call during which he pleaded with her to help convince the ECOWAS Heads of State authority to call upon the member states to allow the hired supreme court judges to travel to Banjul, and decide on his pending election petition.
It was only after both leaders had dropped their respective phones that the rest of the world came to know that Mr. Jammeh had choreographed the entire conversation for national television and distribution on the worldwide web.
During the conversation, the Liberian President could be heard telling Jammeh – “You wanted to talk me again.” Mr. Jammeh replied in the affirmative.
Looking dazed, confused and worried about his fate and future, Mr. Jammeh suggested to the Liberian President that the “so called inauguration date” for President elect Adama Barrow, scheduled for January,19th, was not set in stone.
Mr. Jammeh narrated:
“With regards to our last meeting, when you came here, I want to request your assistance as Chairperson of the ECOWAS authority of heads of state to help us resolve this impasse peacefully through the courts.
I hereby requests you for ECOWAS to facilitate the release of the Judges so that they can come and help us resolve constitutionally, through the constitution of The Gambia.”
As I said the only peaceful resolution of this impasse is through the courts. Everything that we are doing is based on the constitution of The Gambia and an application has also been filed at the Supreme Court of The Gambia for an injunction to abstain Adama Barrow from being sworn in as well as restrain the Chief and any other party from swearing in Adama Barrow in office until this application is decided. Either way, the status quo must remain.
Until such time when the Supreme Court has made a decision on this, the status quo cannot change, that under the constitution of The Gambia, the so-called date of 19th January is not set in stone as we have an injunction in the courts.
All parties should await the outcome of the Supreme Court which will be the only legal entity to trash out this case once and for all. I want to assure you that whatever we want to do will be based on the constitution of The Gambia and as we discussed, all must pass through the constitution of The Gambia which is the supreme authority.
So I am once again renewing my request for you as the chair to request the ECOWAS to facilitate the coming of the judges so that they can hear this case as soon as possible. I count on you.
In reply, the ECOWAS Chairperson told Mr. Jammeh:
“OK, Mr. President as I told you when we talked before that I am going to work on this right away, I’m going to consult with all the various teams and tell them what you have said.
“Like I told you before it would be a good idea if you just put out a statement, like we agreed before.
“Just a short statement coming from you, it will be very important to the mediation team, coming from you, making a request to the ECOWAS body that you only want peace
That you are going to follow the constitution, that there is an infraction that they should please try and get those judges for you and the court decision must be the way to go, a small statement like that will make everybody comfortable then we can work on getting Nigeria and others to get the justices to come.”
Sirleaf prevailed on Mr. Jammeh to seek a peaceful ending to the ongoing impasse after which Mr. Jammeh pledged that he would. “You have my word,” he said.
The phone call has been greeted with angst by the Liberian presidency.
Press Secretary Jerolinmek Piah on Monday slammed Mr. Jammeh’s unorthodox scheme as an irresponsible act of a desperate leader.
The Press Secretary of the Liberian presidency lamented that it is irresponsible on the part of Jammeh to broadcast a private phone conversation he had with Liberian president and ECOWAS chairperson.
“His action is very wanting for someone who sits and run another country as president, that you would be having a very private conversation with another leader of an African country who by extension is the chairperson of the ECOWAS and chose to record the conversation and subsequently chose to distribute it to the internet.
Fortunately, and based on experience president Sirleaf was very plain and said nothing wrong or unorthodox.”
Added Mr. Piah: “It was a private conversation he had with the president and fortunately if you listen keenly to the conversation, nothing wrong, nothing unorthodox and nothing out of place was said. He had some concerns, he raised those concerns.
The President does not take decisions on the level of ECOWAS on her own, so she’s indicating to him that it is important for him to document the issues that he was raising so that it could be shared by other members of the ECOWAS authority.
It is strange and may kind of irresponsible if I may say without out trying to mince my words. No African president would do such a thing.”
Jammeh has been under fire to respect the outcome of the elections and the African Union has said strongly that it will cease to recognize him as The Gambia’s legitimate president after last-ditch attempts to persuade the longtime leader to step down failed.
Several media outlets in The Gambia are meanwhile reporting that embattled President’s ruling APRC, is looking to convene an extraordinary session today in Banjul.
The press is also reporting that Jammeh is planning to use his rubber stamp Parliament to legislate a bill that would extend his mandate and also to declare a state emergency in The Gambia.
The Parliament building is also going to be heavily guarded by Jammeh’s security agents.