Jawara's Lost Opportunity The Independent (Banjul) EDITORIAL August 6, 2001 Posted to the web August 6, 2001 Banjul, the Gambia Sir Dawda's impending return has raised blinding dust in our political landscape. The eddy of confusion that his proclamation to return has propelled has drawn confusing and contradictory remarks from secretaries of state Sedat Jobe and Yankuba Touray. Sedat says yes, he's welcome and free to return. Yankuba says the ex-president should face a commission of inquiry for some past deeds. The Gambian people, who in reality should decide who takes control of their political lives, are equally and naturally divided over the merits and demerits of Sir Dawda's return. Some, like Sedat Jobe, say Sir Dawda should indeed come back to The Gambia. Others, like Yankuba Touray, would have none of the ancient 'Jawara diko'. The Gambia, they argue, should and could move forward without Jawara. As we had indicated before, the repeal of Decree 89 is a long overdue step in the right direction. We know that like all unjust laws, the decree had always been a law of the iron grid, imposed not because of its moral and essential qualities, but to satisfy the whims and caprices of a regime that came to power through unconstitutional means and that was confidence-starved. We know also, that the decree was repealed not because the president has suddenly seen the light and grew an angel's heart, but because first, he was forced to; and second, he feels confident that he had bought enough Gambians' favours that he had nothing to fear from an old and spent guard of politicians. Certainly, Sir Dawda Jawara, apart from his nurturing of the democratic spirit in The Gambia, which is by no means a mean achievement, has little else to show for his thirty years in power. We know that he had allowed himself to be mystified and almost worshipped by his cronies. We know that he had nurtured the shameful and harmful mansa mentality that continues to be a bane of our national politics. We know that he refused to put in place the constitutional framework required to make possible smooth, peaceful and periodic change of leadership with the result that the equally power-hungry soldiers found an acceptable excuse to step in. We know that his extremely sweet tooth for power rendered him blind to reality and believe in the fatal illusion that he could be president for life. We know, ultimately that Sir Dawda had a chance, an excellent opportunity to set this country firmly on the path to eternal bliss and he blew it. We certainly are dead opposed and shall remain opposed to the wanton 'powertics' of the Jammeh regime. But at the same time, we do not sympathise with the excesses of the Jawara regime. The fact that he told the BBC that he had no alternative but to accept the invitation to lead the PPP shows that the Pa had learnt little in exile. Why could he not say 'no, look we need to revamp the party. Let's recruit a new young membership. Let's inject new blood into the party. We old guards should be active members and advisers, but should not seek leadership roles or political office again.' But no, Sir Dawda is still hungry for leadership. He still wants to be the great leader who did us more harm than good. He still feels and is made to feel indispensable. He is still out of touch with political realities. We truly wonder why our African politicians never learn. _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask] if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------