TIME TO TAKE STOCK OF OUR RESPONSIBILITIES


Here’s an attempt to appeal to our conscientious brothers and sisters in
government to be steadfast in maintaining a keen and an unwavering sense of
responsibility. The moral, fiduciary, legal and professional obligations
owed to the people of Gambia as members of the public service system. That
is what is known to be patriotism. Not the declarations of and the actions
showing unflinching support for the perpetuation of an establishment whose
leader will not hesitate to use abuse and refuse you as he wishes. That is
a manifestation of a thoughtless and will-less form of patriotism, a
repulsive nonsense! That is an unworthy deception! For that kind of
patriotism shows that while you are in a state of not being able to will,
to think for yourself, you bind yourself and possibly all your descendents
and their descendents into perpetual bootlicking.

It is quite indecent for anyone to believe that they are insulated from the
repercussions of their actions as custodians of public wealth or become big-
headed in believing that they have the liberty or absolute right over
everyone else. Paying no attention to the moral and legal freedom and the
dignity of others except in situations where it serves their personal
interest to do otherwise.

Here’s to appeal to our brothers and sisters to avoid the temptations and
curb the impulses in making egoism the supreme law or the only extant right
in our society. Being a good citizen must not be interpreted as being
successful in mastering the perverse activities of the so-called patriots.
Let us all strive to make sure that the concept of “justice for all” does
not become synonymous with the simple political enthronement of the
president’s horrible, cruel, and infamous wishes. Good cannot be determined
by only the greatest satisfaction given to his ego. An ego that can only be
satisfied by the absolute sacrifice of the moral conscience in any human
being.

The distinction between a patriotic Gambian and any other Gambian cannot
and should not be determined by the extent of the degrading moral and
social abuse one can take from any leader.

Society and therefore history will judge you better if you avoid having to
bind yourselves with insatiable lust for loot, recognition and temporary
luxury, or avoid to assume the duty of subordinating your moral obligations
and conscience; your individual rights and obligations to that for the
common weal. We must not overlook our ultimate duty to society and those
coming after us.

The economic mess that is Gambia today will have an even greater impact on
the future generation of Gambians. We should all be mindful of helping,
either intentionally or not, any single individual to become the most
negation, the most callously calculated and complete negation of a society
that our forefathers worked so hard to build. We should be mindful of
strengthening the hands of those who will not hesitate to rend apart our
strong social solidarity, to cluster some of the most vulnerable – the
seemingly intelligent among us – in order to destroy, humiliate and enslave
the rest in their own way for their own selfish reasons.

Our current leader is the type that takes under his protection, for his
protection, only his toadies – those who will dance to his tunes, those who
will help him satisfy his lust for perpetual tyranny. He recognizes and
gives respect only within the confines of his own boundary of special
friends. This is far from what we need in a nation that is grappling with
an abysmal state of poverty and economic, fiscal mismanagement. Any
leadership that has no sense of duty to those it is obligated to serve must
not be perpetuated.

Meanwhile, as we run around every corner of the country with our
oversized ‘Khaftans’ presenting ourselves as God-fearing people who have
become overnight "scholars" of the Quran, the Bible and the “Jalangs”, we
ought to acquaint ourselves with the universal and humanitarian moral
teachings of our religions and those of our forefathers. We ought to stop
and think about how much good we can do rather than running run around
looking for good fortune. We must look within ourselves for the right
solutions to our problems.

The question remains what has become of our moral obligations to society in
general? Why is that only the president and his toadies’ interest is what
becomes morally justified? From their point of view, all that is important
and instrumental in conserving, exalting and consolidating their grip on
power is profanely good. As revolting as this might appear from the point
of view of decency and humanity, they seem to think that whatever militates
against their interests is the enemy, even if it were in other respects the
most holy and humanely just thing to do. That is the true moral disposition
of such a breed of Gambians.

Our leadership has to recognize, within their hypocritical behaviors, what
the powerful sentiments of humanity calls. Bantering here and there about
not tolerating this or that for Gambia and her people, and then turning
around and depriving thousands of Gambians their livelihoods with
degenerative policies, shows only that they are nothing but full of puff,
fluff and disgust. They are paying their outward respect to the idea of
humanity; speaking and not even acting in its name, yet they violate our
conscience every day. Society must hold these acts against them.

The rights of the Gambians, those entrenched within the constitution as
well as those derived from fundamental humanity, lack any moral sanction.
In the definitive history of any society, these are the material expression
of the balance resulting from the mutual counteraction of the powers be. So
long as the antagonist exists in our midst, that is the A(F)PRC thugs and
gangsters, peace and harmony cannot be guaranteed. Whenever they feel
sufficiently strong to destroy the social balance to their advantage, they
always step up to do just that. The history of the current leadership bears
enough evidence to prove this point.

Since the self imposition of this leadership into power, the political
landscape in the Gambia has become and still remains the stage for high
mischief and unsurpassed depredation which are held in honor, since they
are ordained by the leadership’s twisted reasoning of what patriotism is.
For there is no terror, cruelty, sacrilege, perjury, infamous transactions,
contempt or plain and simple robbery that has not been committed against
the people of Gambia.

It is time we look within ourselves for the right answers and right
solutions to our problems.



--
BambaLaye

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
-M.L King Jr.

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