The National President of the ruling National People’s Party (NPP), Dembo Bojang, commonly called Dembo ‘By Force’ has made comments flagged as hate speech by Malagen media monitoring desk.

The veteran politician was speaking at the NPP-led alliance rally in Bakau on Monday, November 29^th as President Adama Barrow continues his election campaign tour for his re-election. In his speech, he called on other tribes to gang up to prevent the opposition United Democratic Party (UDP) from winning in the December 4^th presidential election. 

Mr. Bojang who is the religious adviser to the president said all ethnic groups other than Mandinkas are at risk of being sent out of The Gambia should Barrow lose the December 4^th presidential election to UDP. He said only people belonging to the Mandinka ethnicity are considered by Barrow’s main opponent, the United Democratic Party (UDP).

Both Dembo Bojang and incumbent Barrow are Mandinkas and were members of the UDP serving as the National President and assistant treasurer, respectively, before the 2016 presidential election. The duo fell out with the UDP in 2019. Barrow would go on to sack Darboe as Vice President. Barrow went on to form NPP of which Dembo Bojang his National President.

What exactly did Dembo Bojang say?  

Speaking in his native Mandinka language at a rally held at his home town, Bakau, Dembo Bojang said: 

“If it were not for Barrow’s leadership, and this country was in the hands of a different person, people of other ethnicities would suffer enormously. I will give you an example. In The Gambia here, when a Fula man speaks Fula language and he is skin-lighted, that person is not a citizen of this country. If you are a Serahule and you speak Serahule language, then you are not a citizen of this country, you come from elsewhere. If you are a Jola and speak the Jola language they say you are not a citizen of this country, you go to Casamance. If you are a Serer and speak the Serere language they say you are not from this country. If you are a Karoninka and you speak Karoninka language they would tell you to go to Karon. If you are a Mandinka and you speak the Mandinka language, they say this is the Gambian citizen.”

“So, Fulas you are in trouble. Jolas you are in trouble. Serer you are in trouble. Karoninka you are in big trouble. If President Adama Barrow loses this election, we will see ourselves in big trouble. Fulas you will pack your belongings and leave this country. Jolas, they will pack you up and send you out of the country. Any ethnicity that is not Mandinka, you will all pack up your belongings and leave if we lose Adama Barrow. Listen to me carefully and accept my words.”

In flagging Jammeh’s comments, the following considerations have been made: 

The status and influence of Dembo Bojang. He is adviser to the president. This means he has the ears of the president and an influence of a minister. Besides, he is the national president of the ruling NPP. Before that, he was national president of the UDP. He once served as National Assembly Member under the First Republic. 

The publicity generated by the comments: The comments were made at a political meeting attended by many people in Bakau. The meeting was live-streamed on social media platforms, including YouTube where one of the channels that featured the rally generated more than 1000 views within 24 hours. Since then, the Comment section of the video post has also been cut and shared across multiple social media platforms, such as Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp. His comments are covered by the mainstream media. 

 Untimeliness: The comments came at a critical time as the country. Several research works have shown that the people are divided along ethnic lines and perception of ethnic politics is on the rise. After, this is election time. 

This is hate speech: The comments by Dembo Bojang constitute hate speech, having fulfilled the elements contained in international legal frameworks. It is an attack on not just a political party, but an ethnic group. It advocates for discrimination of not just the political party, but also the ethnic. Finally, it has the potential to incite violence, hatred, hostility and discrimination among different ethnic groups in the country.

Conclusion

Fear mongering has become commonplace within the NPP. Throughout this media monitoring exercise, NPP leaders are found to be more culpable of using hate/dangerous/offensive comments than any other political party. This is particularly disappointing and dangerous. As the ruling party, NPP is expected to be a standard bearer with respect to compliance with codes of ethics for election campaign and peaceful campaign messaging. 

The comments clearly violate the letter and spirit of the Janjangbureh Peace Accords and the IEC Electoral Code of Conduct which the NPP and all other parties have signed to ensure their words during the election period do not pose threat to national peace, stability and unity. The president and his team should ensure they properly guard their language.