Typical of bad leaders the world over , President Jammeh in what can only be
described as unbridled chutzpah looked at the beleaguered people of Gambia
and told them how great things were. He went on lecturing the people about
the dangers of  western style democracy if it was not massaged to incoporate
his notions of the kind of society we live in. Ensuring that he was
thoroughly insulated from the grinding poverty and all the deprevations that
entail it is not difficult to see how an uncaring leader can use a stage
managed event to pull a cruel joke on his people by attempting to convince
them that he is leading them to progress. Afterall he does not have to endure
debilitating pain because the hospital is out of medicine, or go hungry
because the food cost cannot be met . Neither does he have to put up with a
child staying home for days for lack of ever increasing school fees. Leaders
who are worth their mettle constantly agonise about these kinds of pressing
needs of their people and spend countless sleepless nights trying to find
ways of ameliorating them. In the end they succeed not because they have won
some idiotic philosophical debate about weather freedom and democracy need to
have some special Gambian characteristics as opposed to the western brand.
There is no way that President Jammeh is oblivious to the magnitude of the
problems facing the people because they are so glaring even to someone as far
removed as he is. He does not have what it takes to solve our national
problems regardless of the passage of time because to him  the notion of
being president superceeds the vital necessity of successfully leading the
country. Sadly everything about us as a people suggest  that he can count on
a healthy tolerance  for bad leadership a little longer . Having found the
not-so-secret Gambian receipe to perpetual leadership of coopting some,
terrifying some  and ignoring the rest who don't think it is ever in their
power make a difference  and voila !  ...you are in business. How else could
Yahya Jammeh be head of anything ? But here he is as the captian of ship
albeit one that is tottering and don't count on him doing the right thing by
doing what noble captians do when they manifest demonstrable incompitence
i.e. to relinquish command and fade into the annals of history. As long as he
can maintain a semblance  of stability by tightly controlling the reigns of
gov't , the rest of the people can look forward to the ever harsher realities
of meeting the rigours of life in a nation on the road  to ruin.
 List members let us resolve to do something if there is going to remain  a
country to save. I know from a distance it all looks intractible and
difficult to deal with  but i can assure you that every little bit of effort
counts ranging from establishing contact with politicians who  are trying
against tremendous odds to effect change there on the ground. They have no
resources or any capicity to generate  funds often hubbling them a great
deal. Good ideas that cannot be effectively communicated to a public that
values retail politics are not worth much. We must all do what we can to
ensure that those politicians that offer ideas we agree with have a fighting
chance. It may mean taking time and calling them and just touching base with
them. Once the relationship is establshed , there will exist a conduit to
enable you the person out here to not only be a resource contributor but an
actual participant in the democratic process. If we don't help these nascent
opposition parties to have standing legs with contributions that may seem
token to us , they will continue to wither in the vines ultimately losing
their relevance to the very people they aspire to help. We can't just wish
for change . Change is predicated on constant effort on the part of those who
seek it. We can on the other hand chose to be expedient and divorce ourselves
from the fates of our neighbors and family hoping that the realities of life
back home remain internet or telephone descriptions and somewhat thankful
that the great oceans and continents make them far flung even as they are
heart wrenching.

karamba

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