The culture of silence
By Tombong Saidy
Dec 28, 2004, 06:55

I have been contemplating for a while about the dormant and indifferent
attitude of Gambians, especially our elites and intellectuals. There is this
culture of silence in The Gambia, a situation that is difficult to figure
out whether it is good or bad. A situation one of my high school teachers
used to call "silent agony".

This culture of silence and indifference runs across all sectors of the
society, from the family setting to public life. It is one thing to respect
one’s elders and not to talk bad at them, but it is something else to keep
quite and accept the status quo in the midst of injustice, whether within
the family, classroom, and office or wherever it may be.

One case in point is the current economic quagmire of the country. We have
many economists and other professionals, but one does not hear any of them
come out publicly with opinions. However, when one meets them in the bars,
vous and other informal settings, they profer all sorts of solutions to our
economic problems. Why the silence and indifference? The Gambia belongs to
all of us and I believe we owe it to our children to do whatever it takes to
make life bearable for them.

The Gambian intellects are failing us. It does not matter whether you are an
APRC or opposition sympathiser, if we do not change our attitude and
indifference to what is happening around us, Vision 2020 would just be a
dream that will never be realised.

I consider myself an APRC supporter, one of the originals. We supported
Chairman Jammeh and the Council from day one, even though at the time some
of us were not in the country. I believed then and I still believe that the
July 22 coup was the only way change could have been brought into the
country. Thank God that Yahya Jammeh and members of the Council had the guts
to overthrow Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara. President Jammeh has been in power
for ten years now and it is time Gambians take stock of this ten years.
There are a lot of success stories, but there are also some failures, which
we should assess with a view of making things better in the future.
Actually, there are more successes than failures, none the less, the
failures are easily visible and usually blown out of proportion.

There have been recorded successes in the education, health, information and
communication, infrastructure and agriculture sectors. The university, high
schools and the mushrooming of tertiary institutions all over are highly
appreciated. However, there has been less than desirable progress in good
governance, human rights and the energy sector, the black spots in the
record. Nawec has been a cancer in the development of the country for
decades now, from the days of Jawara to Jammeh. Despite all the name
changes, from Gambia Utility Corporation (GUC) to Nawec, the problem remains
the same: constant darkness. Vision 2020 cannot be, and will never be,
achieved if the problem of energy in the country is not solved once and for
all. There cannot be development without a reliable supply of energy. Now
the problem is not only electricity but also water supply, which I believe
is also related to the supply of electricity. It has been a challenge for
the Jawara government and it is even a bigger challenge for President Jammeh
because the energy portfolio is under him.

Recently, we have witnessed a tumultuous economic and political turbulence
characterised by ‘Operation No Compromise’. We have seen what happened to
Baba Jobe and former SoS Yankuba Touray. These two cases along with many
others are not small and ordinary happenings. I am glad that now we have a
university and I hope the political science and other social sciences
students are discussing these issues, but we should discuss them in public
as well. Discussing these matters will enable us to nurture our young
democracy. I do personally believe that both men were more of assets than
liabilities to the APRC government, but this is a matter for a future
article.

I remember Neneh MacDoll hosting several discussion on the depreciation of
the Dalasi on her television programme, In-depth. The amazing thing about
those series of discussions was that only few of the participants were
courageous enough to take the bull by the horn. And if my memory serves me
right, it was only Hatib Janneh who spoke his mind. Some intellectuals would
not venture into speaking their mind even if given the chance. ‘Operation No
Compromise’ has resulted in the banning of the parallel market, arresting of
money changers, raiding the businesses of some prominent Gambian and foreign
businessmen and seizure of some foreign currencies. As much as these moves
might have seemed to have some positive impact of temporarily stabilising
the Dalasi, these were not the solutions to the problem. The main reason why
the Dalasi was depreciating were many, however two main reasons were the
activities at the Central Bank (which has been checked since) and high
government expenditures. As soon as ‘Operation No Compromise’ reached the
Central Bank, the Dalasi stabilised. Issues like theseneed to be debated
loudly and clearly with a view to rectifying the situation and avoiding a
recurrence. Escalating government expenditure and ever-rising national debt
are other facts to be looked into.

There are instances when junior officials would carry out orders or
instructions knowing fully well that they are wrong instructions. In private
they would show beyond any reasonable doubt that what they have been asked
to do is wrong, but for some reasons they would not tell their immediate
bosses. For The Gambia to get where we want it, we have to change our
attitude completely. The Gambia belongs to all of us and it does not matter
which political party one belongs to.

Just recently, when three new Secretary of State, Bai Mass Taal, Sulayman
Mboob and Fatou Faye were being sworn-in, President Jammeh said among other
things, that anyone who knows that he or she cannot deliver should simply
resign. This should not be limited to civil servants alone, but to the
private sector. When one feels that he or she cannot work with President
Jammeh, the person should resign, but most would rather stay and not only
give bad advice with grave consequences, but they would go further into
being sycophants to hide their incompetencies. They would turn into liars
and hypocrites making the lives of the productive few very miserable. Why?

It is completely unfair to the President for those who are close to him to
be silent and give bad advice or concur with him on matters they know beyond
all reasonable doubt are wrong and unjust.

The silence that followed the gruesome murder of Deyda Hydara is deafening
and scary. The murder of Deyda Hydara is extremely wrong anyway one looks at
it. The act is barbaric and "unGambian". What are next, political
assasinations? I just hope this is not the beginning of a culture of
senseless killings and no Gambian should rest until his gruesome murder is
solved. Such incidents could create vigilante groups and individuals and
would serve no good to this country.

If we really want to live the dreams of Vision 2020 and nurture our young
democracy, we should kill this culture of silence and work together in the
interest of The Gambia, FOR THE GAMBIA OUR HOMELAND.

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