Monday, October 5, 2015

In defense of RFKCenter's Jeffery Smith

The dictatorial regime of Yaya Jammeh of The Gambia is at it once more, attacking the messenger instead of the message.

The propaganda machine of the embattled leader, His Excellency Dr. Professor Sheikh Alhagie Yaya Jammeh of The Gambia, the slither of a country embedded in the belly of Senegal - frequently referred to as the North Korea of Africa - has upped the ante by going after Robet F.Kennedy Center's Jeffery Smith who has been in the forefront of exposing the human rights abuses of one of Africa's most brutal, corrupt and incompetent regimes.

Last month, it was this blog's author who was the subject of a libelous piece published in a website run by an international con-artist and a business associate of the dictator who goes by the bogus royal title of His Royal Highness, Prince Ebrahim who runs an equally bogus charity named Future Africa Foundation that falsely claims the patronage of Bishop Desmond Tutu, Former South African President Thabo Mbeki,  Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and former President of Ghana Jerry Rawlings, to name just a few.

The Jammeh regime is at it again.  This week, a letter-writing campaign has been initiated by a local website that appears to be a mouthpiece and an organ of the 2016 presidential reelection campaign of a dictator against Jeffery Smith of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights.

A strong advocate against the human rights record of the idiosyncratic and brutal leadership of the Gambian president, Jeffery Smith has demonstrated a stern and consistent advocacy position against the policies of the Gambian leader which, obviously, has rattled the dictator's cage, leading to the concerted effort in Banjul to personally attack the messenger, as they have done in my case and in so many other critics of the regime of Yaya Jammeh.

Needless to say that the dissident Gambian community in the United States and abroad appreciate the efforts of Jeffery Smith in fighting for the rights of Gambians in and outside of The Gambia, and look forward to further collaborating with the RFKCenter as well as other human and civil rights organizations like Human Rights Watch, Human Rights Campaign, Freedom House and Open Society.