Nothing in Gambian life lasts as long as grievances. All throughout our
country and even among Diaspora Gambians, individuals, families and
communities have a tendency to nurse wrongs both perceived and real over
extended periods that may span as long as a generation. Nowhere is our
propensity to nurse grievances more acute than in our approach to politics.
It seems our entire political discourse is susceptible and often the
repository of all of the personal issues we have as a people. While Gambians
are legendary for their flare for what is called Masllaha, we have not in my
opinion evolved an effective and durable method of addressing problems that
naturally emanate from people living together. Often times the preferred
method is to paper over difficulties resulting in outcomes that leave one
party feeling slighted and embittered. The disagreeable nature of the
resolution lives in it's wake a festering problem that time only compounds
and with an expanding family or community adding a multiplier effect you end
up with an unbridgeable polarization that clouds every facet of that family
or community. This why is evil can easily permeate and even gain a foot hold
in the Gambian body politick. Evidence of this is manifestly clear in the
muddled political map of our entire country. You could run Adolf Hitler as a
candidate and he will do fairly well not because folks are not perturbed by
genocide, but because his opponent is supported by a faction with whom the
otherside does not ever want to ally with. We just can't seem to transcend
personal inhibitions no matter how unrelated and how distant they are. The
political question before Gambians today is not an especially complicated
one. On the one hand they have a government with a well established record of
viciousness and utter disregard for their well being and a group politicians
offering opposite alternatives. The tragedy is the stark and direct nature of
the choice before the people is not sufficient to undo the rigid polarization
that has posed the greatest hindrance to forging a consensus on the common
good. Look at the opposition politicians themselves. They could not get
together because they are hopelessly consumed with personal inhibitions. All
of them know that the fate of the nation is literally hanging in the balance
because a murderous regime is intent on running a police state. They all
agree that the I.E.C and the whole election process is subverting the laws of
the land. One faction decides they want no part of an election that is
designed to perpetually disenfranchise the Gambian people, the others decide
to go ahead on a quixotic foray into a process they agree is illegal. Why
would PDOIS , a party with an almost messianic devotion to the law and
process effectively endorse a charade that is designed to lose them their
only seat in parliament? The answer is simple. They can't bring themselves to
dealing with the primary advocates of the boycott for reasons that has
nothing to do with the integrity of the electoral system. One would think
PDOIS too is interested in a free and fair contest within the stipulated laws
and rules of procedure. Halifah Sallah was quoted as characterizing the
boycott as a party policy. Translation? PDOIS wants no part of it even as
they vowed to not participate in any thing undertaken by the IEC until legal
questions regarding it's constitution were resolved. To underscore Gambians
difficulty in transcending personal inhibitions, when Yahya Jammeh murdered
the children, attempts were made for the then UDP, NRP and PDOIS to issue a
joint statement condemning the massacre, the whole darn thing collapsed
because they could not agree on how to proceed.
       Unless we endeavor to make a historic and permanent break from this
unhealthy propensity to be consumed by personal inhibitions, we are going to
stagnate and decline as a society. While age old difficulties that has left
families and communities a cauldron of rancor may be difficult to resolve, we
have to find a way to work together in an open, just and amicable way. There
is simply no future in sacrificing the larger Gambian interest on the altar
of personal inhibitions. The common good as to be bigger than all of us
especially at this juncture when we are faced with an evil regime that is
drenched in the blood of our people. Transformational politics is going to
require all opposition parties to work together.
Karamba

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