THE BIRTH OF A REPUBLIC

Anniversary With Flags Flying Half Mast

On 24 April 1970, The Gambia became a Sovereign Republic. 30 years have
elapsed since the Republic came into being. 30 years ago a new Gambian
people should have come into being; a Gambian people who understood what
national liberation means.

Under colonialism, the Gambian people were deprived of being the architects
of their own destiny. The British monarchs and their envoys dictated how the
country was governed. They taxed the people and lived extravagantly at their
expense. They did not build schools to promote our intellectual growth. They
did not promote investment to enhance our technological and industrial
development. They reduced the vast majority of our people into poor farmers
using crude tools to produce groundnuts. No effort was done to promote food
security and economic self reliance.

When Gambia became a Republic, those who took over the country should have
been informed of the change of status of the citizenry; that they were no
longer subjects of a sovereign power; that they were in fact the embodiment
of the collective sovereignty of the country.

The people needed to be fully empowered to know that they owned the country
and had power and voice to decide how it was managed. They needed to know
that that power and voice were being translated into votes; that elections
simply meant the selection of public trustees who are entrusted with the
powers and voices of the vast majority. They should have realised that the
national leaders had descended from the level of monarchs to the level of
caretakers of the public interest.

This lesson, however, did not sink during the First Republic. Needless to
say those in power have not done anything to enable national leaders to be
seen a caretakers. They maintain the same monarchical status as the
governors of yesterday.

Before the demise of the controllers of the state in the First Republic the
purchase of groundnuts had dropped to 24,000 in 1992/93; the trade deficit
was 1831 million dalasi in 1992/93. Less than 15,000 persons were employed
by the public sector and approximately 22,000 by the private sector, Most
Gambians live from hand to mouth. Youths had no employment possibilities. 12
out of 19 public enterprises had been sold. The public debt rose to 3000
million dalasi by the coup period after thousands of millions had been paid
before the coup period. No future was created for the people.

Now that the present regime had taken over, the debts have been increasing.
Before 1994 to date, the debt had increased by 1800 million dalasis. 132,000
children are noted to be in primary school in 1996/97. In 12 years all will
be out of school. The government offered  nothing more than 16,000 jobs. The
private sector employs relatively the same number of jobs. The trade deficit
is 2600 million. The farmers had difficulty selling their nuts. Society does
not offer any future to the people.

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

One would have thought that the year 2000 would have found Gambia in a
different state. 30 years is the beginning of adulthood by any standard. In
actual fact the future can be said to have become the present. The future
generation should have found their country more accommodating. They should
have been freer to exercise their rights and grow up in liberty, dignity and
prosperity unfettered by any form of restriction.

The future is here, but the new Gambia is not yet. As we commemorate the 30
anniversary of the Republic, let us make a common commitment to build a new
Gambia where flags will not fly half mast because of the exercise of a right
to demonstrate. Let us hope that a new Gambia is emerging out of our common
desire to see ourselves and country in a new way. We must renew our
commitment to be the architects of our own destiny; a destiny of liberty,
dignity and prosperity. That is the meaning if 24 April - Republican Day.

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