Friday, February 15, 2013

Yahya Jammeh: Barking Mad Or A Revolutionary Genius

Thank God it's Friday, and especially so in The Gambia. You see the tin-pot dictator in that West-African nation, Yahya Jammeh, recently decreed that from now on all public-sector workers will only work a four-day week. What a stroke of genius! He might be short of a fuse or two, but we should give this deranged-fellow credit where credit  is due. Furthermore, his revolutionary action does go far in proving the proverbial claim that, indeed, there is a thin line between being a genius and being barking mad.

This is not the first time, by the way, that Alhaji Sheikh Professor Dr. Yahya Jammeh (to use his full title) has shown his revolutionary colours. In 1995 he attempted (in vain) to ban the use of skin-lightening creams in The Gambia, and in 1998 Gambia's first university finally opened under his rule.

We who live in The West can also also use some of his chutzpah. Half of all public-sector employees (here in the West, at least) are really filing clerks and are surplus to needs. To keep present employment levels in our public-sectors, maybe we should follow Yahya Jammeh's lead and make the work-week a four day endeavour.

2 comments :

The Ghetto Intellectual™ said...

Yeah, all of my Gambian friends agree that Jammeh "barking mad." Mostly based on his civil/human rights record. But, I suppose, the moral of the story is that every dog has his day.

James Chikonamombe said...

Yes indeed...a thin line between genius and insanity. Nevertheless, I don't condone his appalling human-rights record.