Long live the president

With the help of a knowledgable medical student, I've circumvented the normal MRC blocking software and given this site a bit of a tidy-up. It should also enable you to make comments more easily, so hope any of you reading this can write something or even suggest any future ideas for topics...

I'm going to write a little about something this week that most Gambians are extrmemely reticent to discuss - the politics of their country. I'm going to try to be somewhat circumspect in what I say, so let me start first of all by saying "Long live President Jammeh!" Here is a photo of the big guy himself ...



President Jammeh (or His Excellency, Colonel(retired), Doctor El Hajj Yahya Jammeh to give him his full title) has been the top guy in the Gambia for 11 years, coming to power in a bloodless coup on 22 July 1994. This is a recent photo on a poster outside the Presidential Palace, he doesn't do photos in miliary uniform now.













He had this arch built at the main entrance to the capital to commemorate the coup that brought him to power : the July 22 Arch. Somewhat inconveniently, only the president's motorcade is allowed to go through the arch, everyone else has to make a detour.



Since coming to power, Jammeh has moved from being a military leader to being an elected leader after holding elections in 1996 and again in 2001. The names here are revealing : the group of army officers staging the coup were called the Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Committee (APRC), whilst Jammeh's party in the elections were called the Association for Progressive Reform Council (also abreviates to APRC!) , so you can see how far he has distanced himself from his military background ... Viva el presidente !


This is my favourite statue of President Jammeh (in front of the July 22 arch). He is shown with his gun over his shoulder, holding a baby in one arm and giving a Churchill-style v-for-victory. It is all gold plated.



Um. It is kind of difficult to write much more without sounding controversial. Have a look at the BBC country profile, it gives a bit of an idea. I think I better pick less sensitive topics in future - I've spent most of the time writing this post deleting things that I've written for being too "risky"...