Jabou,
I agree entirely with most what you have said about the problems facing
Africa, of which The Gambia is no exception. However where I disagree with
many of you, and please no offense intended here, is your assumption that
some of us living in the country are so ignorant and so gullible that we do
not have a clue of what we want in life. This assumption cannot be farther
from the truth. We are fully aware of our problems and we are doing all we
can to solve them. Many on this list seem to have the erroneous believe that
I do not value human rights or I condone its abuse. Again, nothing can be
farther from the truth. I will come back to this later. Fact of the matter
is that we have a whole set of problems each with its own challenges and
requiring different priorities. What some of you believe to be our priority
is not!!
When we talk about thievery, I strongly believe that, unless you are
habitual thief, your motivation for stealing may be because a need that you
have no hope of satisfying. Nobody wants to be a thief or be related to a
thief. On that same vein, if you look at corruption, there are many
motivating factors, but central, is to satisfy a need/want. Again, nobody
wants to be known to be corrupt or be related to someone who is well-known
for being corrupt. In my opinion, most people who engage in the above vices,
do so out of neccessity or for future security. People who steal more than
they need and possibly can ever spend in three life times, do so because
they do not have the confidence that with doing so they can still live
decent lives.
Coming back to why we, in frica, are still backward, you wrote:
"... and much of the general populace spends much of their time too busy
undermining each other to think about organizing anything that will benefit
all of us. Instead, we consider any attempts by those of us who care as
really a passport for that person to gain something, and we better stop them
before that happens. It is an amazing phenomenon that we have to address,
but perhaps because our experience has been of leadership that cares only
for themselves has left it's mark".
You see Jabou, the above phenomenom is not only unique to those in
leadership possitions. It is prevalent throughout The Gambia, and is most
probably the case in other countries. I am sure you are familier with "Suma
lekutt chi cherreh gi dafsie souf" (If I cannot eat the couscous, I might as
well throw sand in it). This, I would again narrow down to need, greed or
jealousy. Whereas things like greed and jealousy may be inherent in the
individual, and we might not be able to do much about them, we may be able
to do something one's needs if we have the means or care enough.
For some of us living in the country, we have needs that range from the
basic to sophisticated. Needs ranging from the life-threatening to the
trivial. However, amongst these needs, are the needs to survive and also
have hope that we will continue to survive, at least for the near future.
The faith some of us have in this government is based on their commitment to
help Gambians have hope for the future by providing those tools that would
be neccessary if we are to survive in this hostile world. This, they are
doing by one providing us with access to information, education, health
care, communications as well as the provision of much needed infrastructure
to make our hell more bearable. This is what some of you refuse to accept as
reasonable expections from a down-trodden lot. I am sure none of you have to
wade through muddy waters to go to work nor do you have trek on foot for
miles to attend school or visit a health facility. None of you would spend
weeks or even months just trying to secure place for a kid in a school.
Therefore, when you tell us not to value them because these do not amount to
anything, I say you better go and have your head examined.
When some of you want to tie us down to only the issues of human rights,
when we are fighting to feed ourselves, then again we say to you we care
less! While we jettison some of our baggage so that we can escape from the
helplessness, ignorance and hopelessness and some of you believe that we are
stupid for throwing, by the wayside, some of our baggage to enable us move
faster, again, we say bugger off!
What is most important to some of us at the moment is the creation of those
essntials that would create jobs for the young to enable them look forward
to a brighter future. In other words, we want to give them hope. The Gambia
is said to be a peaceful country, not because God loves us more than others,
but because we still have hope.
When some of you people want to pre-occupy yourselves with the allegations
of Jammeh's corruption because he rides in a fancy state car and dishes out
money, money which even those who despise you cannot honestly tell you from
where, then I say good luck to you. I have said here before and I am saying
it again, I do not care how or from where Jammeh gets his money as long as
it is not our taxpayer's monies. Lest some of you start asking me where I
think he may be getting his money from, let me repeat again what I have said
here before and that is our constitution does not bar any president from
accepting any gifts nor does it require a president to disclose assets that
he claims not to have and which nobody else can prove he has.
Finally, you wrote:
"I always say that the best thing that happened to China was that they
closed up their doors and were thus able to not only preserve their
culture, but also to work and develop industries without being dependent on
anyone".
Well Jabou, if that is not dictatorship, then I do not know what is. In
other words it is OK for the Chinese to be dictatorial from time to time,
but taboo for Gambians not to be.
Basically, Jabou, this is my perspective of how I see things from my end.
Have a good day, Gassa.
There is a time in the life of every problem when it is big enough to see,
yet small enough to solve. -Mike- Levitt-
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