Some voices — many of them loud only because they can now speak without fear — are peddling the absurd notion that President Adama Barrow’s leadership is no different from Yahya Jammeh’s 22-year reign of terror. This is not just wrong; it is shameless, insulting, and a betrayal of truth.
Let’s be clear: under Yahya Jammeh, The Gambia was a prison without walls. Fear was the currency of governance. Journalists were abducted, tortured, and sometimes killed. Political opponents vanished into thin air. The courts bent to the will of one man. The press was muzzled, the people silenced. Speaking your mind could cost you your freedom — or your life.
Today, under President Barrow, Gambians live in a country where no one fears expressing an opinion — not in the market, not on the radio, not on Facebook. The judiciary operates independently. Journalists publish freely. The flow of information is open and uncensored. The police are not instruments of political vengeance.
Ironically, many of those now shouting the loudest in criticism — including some in the diaspora who were silent as church mice during Jammeh’s brutality — are only able to do so because this government tolerates and protects their right to speak. They could never have dared utter a fraction of their current criticisms under Jammeh without paying a heavy personal price.
The difference between the two eras is not subtle. It is night and day. Jammeh ruled with a fist of iron and the shadow of fear; Barrow presides over a climate of freedom, tolerance, and openness.
Under Jammeh: fear ruled, voices were silenced, journalists jailed, opponents disappeared. Speaking your mind could cost your life.
Under Barrow: freedom of speech, independent courts, free press, open criticism — even from those who hid in silence during Jammeh’s brutality.
If you think they’re the same, try saying today’s criticisms back in 2005 under Jammeh… and imagine how long you’d stay free.
Freedom is here. Respect it. Defend it.
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