Sister Jabou,
That was well said. I have very little time to read mails and even much less
to allow participation in some of the dabates on the L.
However, this last one provoked by Solomon Jawara is a welcome piece from
someone who finally dared to emerge from the shadows to take a tentative but
firm step towards participation - the first condition for a democratic
evolution anywhere. Welcome, Saul.
Well, let me just tell Mr. Jawara at once that the honeymoon has come to an
end. Since mid 1998, others and myself have consistently, occasionally that
is, maintained that when we say how bad President Jammeh is, we must also
say how good he has been for Gambia; that while we must struggle for
universal Human Rights and Freedoms, we need always to consider preserving,
in the process, those values in our culture that ought to be defended and
promoted.
In an attempt to be very precise here, I should like simply to ask Mr.
Jawara to tell us what component(s) of "Western Democracy" he finds so bad
as to be unfit for Gambian consumption?
Mr. Jawara is quite right in that no existing system of democracy is
absolutely flawless. But he seemed to be inferring that since human beings
are not perfect, it is quite okay to be bad?
Good Night,
Modou S Sidibeh, stockholm / Kartong.
----- Original Message -----
From: Jabou Joh <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, January 23, 2000 4:16 PM
Subject: Re: Dr. Saine: Democracy.
Well, l am always shocked when l hear prople give the reasoning that
"Western
Democracy " is somewhat to blame for our woes in Africa. While l agree with
Dr Saine and Mr Jawara here that we have to mould our own systems of
government that is more conducive to us as a complex society, and that
wholely and solely adopting someone else's systems of governing lock stock
and barrel is not the way to go, we can all agree that there are certain
things that are fundamentally a necessary part of any system of government
in order for it to truely serve the best interest of the people, no matter
who they are, and how complex their culture.
These being namely that any nation has to have a society
1.Where they can be free to choose their own leaders without fear or
coercion,
2.Expect that those leaders will serve them well by implementing an
administration that will attend to the needs of the people because that is
what they are charged with.
3. Be free to express themselves without fear of persecution of any sort.
4. Expect a reasonably competent leadership that will demonstrate an
uncompromising measure of trustworthiness, and will utilize the
resources
of the society for the benefit of all as opposed to setting it aside for
their personal, family and dedicated followers' use only to the detriment of
the society.
5. Where the people are free to utilize a system that will allow them to
replace any leader who has demonstrated their inability to do the above
mentioned things, and know that their choices are tabulated and presented
without any sort of tampering.
Now, one can perhaps argue that a system used in another culture may not be
completely suitable for every society, but the above points are clearly a
fundamental part of any system of government where human beings want to
live their lives with a fairly reasonable degree of freedom. These points
are part and parcel of a system of government called democracy. If the word
compels some of us to label it a "Western concept" then perhaps we can use
another word, but the concept is not just something that the West has privy
to.
As Ndey Jobarteh pointed out in her posting, the idea of communal
consultation in matters, and decisions pertaining to the welfare of the
society at large is not a new or importaed concept in Africa.
What we need to look at then, is not so much the fact that importing a
foreign system of government is the result for our woes in Africa, but that
the people we have found leading us ( and l say" found leading us" because
in many cases these people came to power by very questionable means of
either the gun, or manipulation of the ballot box results, or coercion and
intimidation of the voters) have largely failed to safeguard the basic
principles that l have outlined in these five points above.
So therefore, while it is imperative that we mould a system of government
that is more conducive to us as a people, we must also realize that the
abuse of power by our leaders is what is more responsible for our woes than
anyhing else, the diversity and complexity of our society notwithstanding.
Mr Jawara, you wrote:
"I think Africa´s situation of social and economic under development has to
be more than to democracy than a multi party system and periodic elections.
Western style
> democracy could only have full meaning for ordinary Africans if they
simultaniously led to the creation of conditions for the improvment of
their
livelihood. Looking back wards to Jawara´s thirty years of democratic, this
hasn´t gained any effects."
These failures you mention are not the result of the importation of
democracy, but a direct result of our leaders failing us, and mismanaging
and misdirecting our very meager resources in the case of The G ambia as
elsewhere in Africa.The energies of these leaders have not, and continue
not
to be utilized to create conditions for the improvement of the livelihood of
the people.
You also wrote:
"the future for Africa lies in education, empowerment and employment of our
enormous physical and human resources to generate poverty - reducing
economic
growth. This can only be acheived through efficient socio - economic
policies, and not by the stuggle for power, intolerance and distrust,
which
is bringing Africa to ruin."
Again here, the culprit is not that various political parties fighting for
power is what has prevented us from achieving these goals, but rather that
our leaders' priorities has categorically been to concentrate their energies
on consolidating themselves into place for a lifetime and recruiting and
building a support base by any means necessary, and with the assistance of
none other than our state coffers. Consequently, their focus is not on what
the present and projected problems and challenges of their respective
countries are, how to solve them, and how they fit into the greater World
society out there which affects our survival as a people, but on self
preservation at the expense of the people.
What we need are conscientious leaders who understand that their role is
that of competent, trustworthy problem solvers and servants of the people
as
well as guardians of their assets, and that if they cannot perform these
duties, they should respectfully excuse themselves. Instead, what we have
are oftentimes tyrannical, incompetent, corrupt, dishonest people who
come
up with excuse after excuse of blaming our troubles on imported systems as
opposed to the fact that they have clearly demonstrated that they are not
worthy of the trust and responsibility entrusted to them.Period.
Jabou Joh
<< salomon jawara wrote:
>
> Dear Dr. Saine,
>
> According to my observation, there has being an overwhelming criticism of
Yaya Jammeh
> particularly on the Gambia L that i still have difficulty understanding,
knowing that there´s
> no genuine democracy anywhere in this world. Most of the criticism
based
on the
> deficiency of democracy i think is dispensable. I want to share with you
a
question and
> would be obliged in acquiring an answer from you.
> Is the Western style democracy really suitable for Africa?
>
> We need to understand that democracy cannot be packaged and exported like
every other
> commodity. The rule of law and civil / human / citizenship rights which
while being
> meaningful in the context of the history of Europe, are essentially
meaningless when applied
> in rural Africa where the mojority of people live.
>
> I think Africa´s situation of social and economic under development has
to
be more than to
> democracy than a multi party system and periodic elections. Western
style
> democracy could only have full meaning for ordinary Africans if they
simultaniously led to
> the creation of conditions for the improvment of their livelihood.
Looking
back wards to
> Jawara´s thirty years of democratic, this hasn´t gained any effects.
>
> A disproposionate amount of resources and lives have been wasted for
decades in the
> fight for Western style democracy in Africa. The struggle and rule by
democracy like wise
> authoritarian have both produced resurgence in the ethnic and religious
identities.
> Almost all African social scientistss´ notion of democracy are heavily
influenced by those
> developed out of the African historical and cultural perspective, but in
the West.
>
> In creating an African democracy, it should be a product of local
entities
based on their
> history. Our civil society in Africa is more complex than we thought,
comprising of
> groups calling for a western style democracy, antidemocratic forces, and
different ethnic
> groups. But with the help of our social scientists, an effective African
democracy can be
> moulded without the risk for misinterpretation, which can sometimes
course
devastating
> consequences.
>
> The future for Africa lies in education, empowerment and employment of
our
enormous
> physical and human resources to generate poverty - reducing economic
growth. This can
> only be acheived through efficient socio - economic policies, and not by
the stuggle for power,
> intolerance and distrust, which is bringing Africa to ruin.
>
> The Jammeh regime undoubtedly has some defects, but there is no truely
genuine democracy
> on the face of this earth yet. I think Africa has alot to learn from
Asia, and our social scientists
> including interlectuals still has alot to do. The course of African
importation of western ideas,
> ways of doing things and cultures ( European civilising mision to
Africa),
has so much impact
> opon us, that we tend to loosen up in creating and establishing our own.
And this exportation
> is continuing through different refinements, to this day.
> Let us Africans exercise awareness, love and tolerance for each other.
This includes every one,
> from the leaders to the farmers.
>
> I personally have no animosity against Mr. Jammeh, but i think one should
be tolerant towards
> him and try help him rectify some of his mistakes, instead of all the
negativity against him.
> You cannot rectify a wrong with a wrong.
>
> Thanks for sharing !
> Saul S.Jawara.
>
>
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