What is Gambia as a country for? Why do people seek power? These questions
invoke the idea of a vision, a plan for action. What does Gambia mean to
its people, poor or rich, powerful or powerless alike? Do we have a common
sense of belonging and responsibility? Almost always, you can understand
the contempt of those who feel and probably rightly so, that many Gambians
in high office see their country and government in terms of a natural
farmland with the common misconception of "ku neka chi geta gi naan chi mew
mi" meaning "those who control the herd shall drink the milk." To them,
dreams of power or control do not essentially go further than having a spot
at the dining table and benefiting from the 'gratitude of public
functions.' Their efforts, or lack there of, in the name of national
development seems more like a battle of the bellies where the eaters are
always questioned but no one questions the act of eating. The givers and
takers are questioned, but not the benevolence or the patronage. For those
fighting for and seeking divine intervention to get to high positions,
Gambia is more like a farmland tended by Allah and harvested by a few lucky
folks. It should strike us odd that the president, sectaries of state,
permanent secretaries or directors fly their pregnant wives to America to
have their babies in order to gain American citizenship or to feel the so
called prestige or illusive superiority. Does such a person feel that
Gambia is a country with a bright future? Do they feel for the Gambia? Do
they have a vision for the country? If the president, who is supposed to be
the glittering example of patriotism, prefers foreign citizenship for his
baby, should it surprise anyone that that same president sees Gambia as a
farm that needs clearing out when it is time to harvest? None of these
people give any Gambian a reason to think of true patriotism, not loyalty
to Jammeh, as a virtue. What benefits will it yield to fight a real war
over such depleted illusions, worthless illusions sucked dry by the lavish
greed of those in control? Those who embezzle and stash the loot in banks
abroad, lest their investments at home will provide jobs for the
unfortunate, those for whom misery has become a faithful companion.
How can we Gambians think of getting together pretending to one another and
to the rest of the world that we mean business for the Gambia? The foremost
ambition seems to be to plunder the limited resources and squander as much
as possible, everyone at their own level. Thanks to such appetite, the
government machinery has become so infested with the cancer of corruption
that the virtues of honesty, diligence and accountability are chuckled at.
The culture of corruption has permeated the basic social fabric. This is a
harsh reality in today's Gambia. Most of those who can are doing it at
their own level, from the top to bottom, the only difference being that
those at the helm have more to grab, they are looting and making off with a
lot more. Obviously, they all have an interest in maintaining the status
quo: from the "gelegele" driver and the police officer at the check-point,
to the customs inspector and the businessman at the port, the civil servant
chasing files from office to office, right up to the desk of the president.
Because each of them have become so attached to the system and thus a
vested interest in it, it has become very difficult for them to contemplate
the undoing of the system without contemplating their own demise. The
addictive lack of vision as a nation takes away any feeling of patriotism
with which the idea of a nation should normally be inspired with a shared
vision. The tendency is for Gambians to devalue each other as they glorify
themselves, everyone believing that they are the best thing to have
happened to the country while working so hard to destroy their compatriots.
Such selfish tendencies hardly allow for the time to think of Gambia in
real terms as a collective treasure to be valued and protected by all.
A constitution or a social contract of some sort is definitely essential
for promoting social stability and for protecting individual rights and
freedoms, but a good constitution is hardly enough to put things the way
they are supposed to be. A chronic lack of vision as a people is more of a
problem than the lack of a good constitution. For consistent attitudes of
disregard of public good remains a dreadful neutralizing force for any
chance of a common sense of purpose and direction. What I believe is that
we can have the best blue-print such as the Vision 2020 document, but when
there is blatant disregard, with impunity, of the laws then the
constitution and all visions become worthless. Our biggest problem is not
the lack of laws, nor a problem of good laws. The truth is, the Gambian
social fabric is yet to be permeated with a sense of mission and purpose
for the Gambia as a nation.
There is little public control of power in Gambia due to the lack of public
participation. The masses are passive spectators in decision-making at any
level, perhaps because we have always relied on politicians and technocrats
rather than on our ability to organize ourselves into social forces with a
contribution to make. Political and social affairs are not organized and
conducted in a way that should allow effective access to decision-making
for all. Yet, only by returning power to the people in this way, could
Gambians hope to stop 'living within a lie', and start 'living within the
truth.' (Havel, Living).
In this write up, I have attempted to convey my opinion of Gambia as a
country that is controlled by selfish, greedy individuals who see the
nation as a farmland to be harvested when the time comes. It is obvious
that the APRC, instead of capitalizing upon what Gambians have in common,
has opted for the 'devilish or satanically manipulative' approach that is
in line with the Machiavellians, which Maya Angelou paraphrases
thus: 'Divide the masses that you may conquer them; separate them and you
can rule them.' (M. Angelou, Even the Stars Look Lonesome). By attaching
the seemingly elite to the illusion that having a place at the dining table
is just a matter of time for them, Jammeh has succeeded in dividing
Gambians into haves, have-nots and the hopefuls. At no time could the gap
between the poor and the rich be so expanded in the history of the country
as it is today.
How long these conditions are likely to continue is hard to say. But as
the 'national cake' diminishes with the worsening economic crisis,
corruption, mass misery and nepotism, it becomes more delusive for the bulk
of Jammeh toadies to claim the same or any benefits from their connections
with the 'big dogs' in power. We have a lot of work to do folks.
Abdoulie A. Jallow
(BambaLaye)
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that metter."
-M.L. King Jr.
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