Clinton, Jammeh and Renzi: 2016 is the Year of the Defeat

There have been all sorts of shocking news this year. Apart from 2016 steadily trying to kill EVERYONE off the surface of the planet, it has been a crazy year for politics too.

Yahya Jammeh and Adama Barrow:

This one warmed the cockles of my heart! Gambia has seen a New Dawn, a new Gambia! Jammeh’s arrogance leading up to the elections – the kind of arrogance that comes from never being told NO – was heartbreaking to see. To find out that a nation has only ever had two leaders since Independence is tragic. The man was gunning for a fifth term and was already warning the citizens to not dispute it. “If Allah wills it, I will be president for a billion years”?? Thank Allah that Allah wanted more; wanted better for the people of that great nation then!

In a win that shocked even those campaigning for him, property developer Adama Barrow will now (hopefully) fight the causes that Gambia needs for progress. He will do his work and re-campaign for a second term. And if he is unsuccessful, he will step down graciously.

This is the Africa we want; the continent we crave. Kudos to Jammeh for conceding graciously. Onwards, Gambia! Onwards!

Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton:

The less said about this, the better. What is even worse – and I did not think anything could be worse – is that Trump is the least of my problems with the incoming government. So far, we have:

• Vice President Mike Pence is the very worst type of human: the one who will hang, draw and quarter you, drink your blood, and then say Jesus told him to do it.
• Stephen Bannon is the White House chief strategist. This man has affiliations with White Supremacy, is a known misogynist, and once intimated the kind of power he has and likes to Satan. Bannon was rejected for a judgeship because of alleged racism as attorney general. He is a raging Islamophobe who has taken money from Moscow as national security adviser.
• Ah….General Mattis. The new defence secretary. On the plus side, he doesn’t believe in torture. On the other hand, he once said: “You go into Afghanistan, you got guys that slap women around for five years because they didn’t wear a veil, So it’s a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them.” Because murder is that much more fun when you are imposing your own warped sense of values on others.
• THEY. WANT. TO. MAKE. MUSLIMS. SIGN. A. REGISTER.

The Italian Referendum and the Renzi Resignation

I’m not even gonna lie, I did not even know that Italy was in her feelings and holding a referendum. But once again, the 60-40 defeat where the Italian people said NO to establishment politics made it clear that the world, she is a-changin’.

Matteo Renzi attempted to change Italy’s cumbersome political system. He wanted to strengthen central government and weaken the Senate, the upper house of parliament. many, however, felt the reforms would give the prime minister too much power. And the public agreed.

Add that to the increasing migrant problem with tens of thousands of migrants arriving in Italy from Africa. Italy, like the rest of the world, is at a crossroads, and sometimes fear leads to bad decisions.

Personally, I’m over 2016. The year just needs to come and be going abeg.