My fellow Gambians,
One thing I found out about the Gambia L is that, it is a busy site where
being absent for a few days requires toiling hard, very I mean, to keep
up.  I mean the contributors are very dedicated and the topics are
interesting and pertaining to issues that should interest all concerned
Gambians.

Upon reading some of the postings, it seems to me that some folks are
constantly castigating the Gambian people, especially the electorate for
being unprincipled.  I cannot disagree more with this assumption because it
is a fallacious judgement that has no merit(s).  The Gambian people, by and
large, are very generous, decent, and sociable regardless of their tribal,
religious or political affiliations.  So to assume that all of a sudden
Gambians are unprincipled because of the outcome of the elections is an
injustice and a grotesque representation of Gambian values.

I have to agree with you that we have very pressing issues, viz., social,
economic, domestic, and political issues which need to be highlighted,
addressed, and corrected.  But for that to happen we have to be willing to
compromise, to face each other sincerely and discussed the blemishes of our
society.  Whilst it is convenient to play the "Blaming Game" with the
compass by pointing it at this and that direction as the source of our
woes, we are wasting useful time by avoiding dialogue and encouraging
disunity.  We can argue within ourselves as much as we want or rotate the
presidency amongst ourselves and our friends till the end of time, we will
not better our nation if we don't honestly set aside the artificial
political differences and constructively engage each other.

It is a shame that we are so obsessed with gov't, power, and politics so
much that we are all willing to tear apart our nation into bits and
pieces.  It is very disheartening that our people, especially men, are
always abusing their own people physically, emotionally, and
psychologically over foolish politics.  I am beginning to wonder if all
this hoopla is about caring for the nation and the people than whose camp
controls the resourses - the government.  If the energy and resources that
were spent on the campaign and elections by all the political parties and
their supporters was redirected to our social and economic problems, I have
no doubt that we would have fared better.  Apparently there is a problem, a
contagious fever the symptoms of which are (excuse my language)
unreasonableness, pretentiousness, arrogance, and selfishness has infected
a lot of us.

Perhaps the men should step aside if they cannot have a meaningful
dialogue  because of pride and give chance to the womenfolk. My challenge
to the Gambian people is to be courageous and face reality.  The reality is
that we are a poor under developed country very much at the mercy of
others.  Do we have the guts to meet our problems face on or do we steer
away from the challenges that our society faces under the pretext of
politics?  Do the African children (Gambians) have the wisdom to be the
pride of the world in the coming decades because of our actions today, or
will our posterity - my children and yours - inherit a
languish/unprogressive society because of our fatuous acts?

My friends, I hate to get back to that blaming game again, but I beg that
you excuse me once again to say this: "WE ARE ALL RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE
PLIGHT, FAILURE, AND BACKWARDNESS OF OUR NATION."  Whilst some are more
responsible than others for our backwardness, we are all to some extent to
be blamed for our society's failure.  Therefore, to get up and on, we
should stop the finger pointing and come up with solutions that will make
our posterity proud of us.  The developments that have happened in other
societies did not happen by chance, the citizens of those societies made
the right moves and sacrifices for their offspring to live a better life;
you and I need to follow suit by putting on our progressive vestures as
well.  Our society's wheel of progress can only be lubricated with
dialogue.  The Gambian problem is our problem, and no other people will
come to rescue us, so we better have a dialogue now and in the future
before it is too late.  I don't want to blame or be blamed in the future,
how about you?

Cheers
Mariatou

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