At last, common sense has prevailed once in the Gambian judiciary system against all odds in the acquittal and discharged of the Caliph General of Darsilameh Sangajor Muhideen Hydara and his co-accused the village Alkalo Buyeh Touray. The arrest and subsequent trial of these two men was a clear manifestation of Yahya Jammeh’s dictatorship at its core. Because, the accused persons were accused of refusing to perform Edul-Fitr on 28 July 2014 as ordered by the president on GRTS. However, the questions one is forced to ask are what powers does the president have to order the entire country to perform the prayer on that particular day or where in the Gambian constitution does it states that the president have such powers and again where in the Sunnah or Quran that states that the president has the powers to order the entire nation to observe the prayer as ordered by Jammeh? Indeed, there is only one answer to these questions which is Yahya Jammeh has no power whatsoever to order the entire nation to observe the prayer on a particular day and in that case, Jammeh abused his position as the head of state to arrest and trial these two men. This goes to show what the people of the Gambia are going through, because this trial is one in many trials that Jammeh abused his position to persecute people that disagree with him. Meanwhile, the trial magistrate needs to be commended for this bold but correct decision to acquit and discharge these people of these bugus and cowardly charges against them.

Of course, the majority of the country wants a coordinated and systematic way in which the whole country should begin and end their Ramadan on the same day, but unfortunately the organisation that is meant to do that Gambia Supreme Islamic Council (GSIC) has lost all credibility because of their involvement in politics and endorsement of Yahya Jammeh’s dictatorship and brutality against Gambians. However, people should not be forced to observe Ramadan at the same time neither to perform prayer at the same time, but rather be persuaded because the Islam Jammeh always quotes has not force anyone to do so but only to encourage and persuade.  GSIC has to go back to basics and leave politics to politicians if they want to earn the respect they deserve else they will remain a puppet under Yahya Jammeh and isolated by the people.