Africa-Press – Gambia. Sidia Jatta, a veteran politician and leading figure in the People’s Democratic Organisation for Independence and Socialism (PDOIS), said over the weekend that former President Yahya Jammeh should be “the one afraid of coming back” to The Gambia—not the country’s citizens.
In an interview with Gambia Talents TV, Mr. Jatta said that while Jammeh retains the constitutional right to return home, the former leader’s departure and the circumstances surrounding it make any return far from straightforward.
“Yahya Jammeh is Gambian; he has been the president of this country for 22 years. He has the right to come back home,” Mr. Jatta said. “But he knows that something has happened and something will happen when he comes.”
Mr. Jammeh, who has lived in exile in Equatorial Guinea since being forced into departure after losing the 2016 presidential election, has recently renewed public claims about his intention to return. His supporters argue he is entitled to reenter the country without conditions, while his critics cite alleged human rights abuses under his rule and say accountability should precede any homecoming.
Mr. Jatta suggested that if Jammeh wishes to return, he may have to do so under specific legal or political terms. “He can come and surrender himself,” he said. “But he cannot just come back and sit in his home. That cannot happen.”
Responding to renewed rhetoric from Jammeh—including statements hinting at a planned return within a particular month—Mr. Jatta said such declarations were neither new nor meaningful.
“He has said these things before,” he said. “The fact that he mentioned a month makes no difference.”
The veteran politician likened Jammeh’s recent statements to the familiar political posturing of other figures in Gambian politics. “He is mobilizing his party. He is showing that he is alive, and his party is alive. It is politics,” Mr. Jatta said.
Jatta argued that the ongoing public exchanges surrounding Jammeh’s possible return add little value to national discourse. “These are discussions that have no benefit to The Gambia,” he said. “Gambians are not learning anything from them.”
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