Bongolistically,
Mallam O.
Saikujohn Barrie’s reflection deserves commendation for its moral clarity and courage. In speaking truth about the inevitable fall of tyrants, he addresses a vital reality that the powerful often forget: accountability, though delayed, eventually arrives.
His willingness to name names and confront the abuses of the Jammeh regime demonstrates the kind of bold witness that societies in transition desperately need. This is not easy work, and his voice contributes meaningfully to The Gambia’s ongoing reckoning with its past.
Yet precisely because this conversation matters so deeply, it merits a fuller examination.
While Barrie’s reflection on the inevitable dimming of power offers philosophical consolation, it risks mistaking eventual accountability for actual justice.
The photograph of Sanna Manjang in handcuffs may reinforce an “eternal truth,” but it also represents an eternal tragedy: the countless victims who never lived to see this moment.
The Fatal Flaw of Waiting
Yes, power fades. Yes, tyrants fall. But what of the mothers, fathers, and children who perished while we waited for this cosmic inevitability? Their lives cannot be restored by handcuffs placed on wrists decades too late. Justice that arrives after mass graves have been filled is not justice, to me, it is merely epilogue.
The gentleman’s position essentially counsels patience in the face of atrocity, as though the arc of the moral universe bends toward justice through passive observation alone. This is a luxury afforded only to those not currently under the boot.
Prevention, Not Just Prosecution
Society cannot afford to wait for lions to grow old and toothless. We must build cages before they devour the innocent. This requires:
Robust institutional safeguards that limit concentrations of power before abuse occurs
Independent oversight mechanisms with real enforcement capacity
Protected spaces for dissent that allow early warning of authoritarian drift
International accountability frameworks that intervene before body counts become statistics
The Gambia’s tragedy was not inevitable. With stronger institutions, regional intervention, and refusal to normalize brutality, Sanna Manjang’s alleged crimes might have been stopped at dozens rather than hundreds.
The Mathematics of Delayed Justice
As a mathematical statistician, I fondly introduce mathematics into debates. One individual punished cannot balance the ledger when mass atrocity has been committed. If we wait until the wicked are weakened by time, we trade preventable deaths for the cold comfort of eventual accountability. I doubt is that is not wisdom. To me it is moral abdication dressed in philosophical clothing.
The real lesson is not that power fades, but as my Warima people would say, it is that we must never grant anyone enough power to require us to wait for its fading. Eternal truths are poor consolation to those buried in unmarked graves.
Mallam O.
