Culled from Allafrica. How long do we, as a nation, intend to just suffer peacefully? How long are we going to be suffocated by our pride, only to resort to poverty begging in "Suturah" (in secrecy)? How long do we intend to be in denial that we connot feed our families and we are starving to death? How long do we intend to continue with our pretence that things are ok or normal? Yes, this is lunacy. A whole nation comatosed. Our people are dying, yet in the face of their killers, they put on a smile and tell the killers that they are the best thing that happen to them since PPP, only to cry until blood runs down their cheeks when the killers turn their backs. The worst thing that ever happen to us is this idea of "Roos" and "Sutura". We would rather die in secrecy than cry fowl, because it is very important that our neighbors not know our plight. Please read on. Our State of Nationhood; Our Lunacy (Part One) The Independent (Banjul) EDITORIAL February 28, 2003 Posted to the web February 28, 2003 Banjul The definition of "lunacy", someone once said, was doing the same thing over and over again and expecting to get a difference result. And that seems to be the situation in which Gambia, and Gambians have found themselves in lunacy. Not the literal meaning of words but what it indicates. There is also something very sinister with the way our "leaders" function, and the way we the citizenry allow them to function by pretending in their presence that all is either well and good, or that it is not their fault, as leaders, that the dire mal normalcy that plagues our economy, our political landscape, our security: food, shelter, basic human rights, as well as our future is not only strangulating but deeply disturbing; unsettling in the sense that with all the talk about having a vision, and all the articulation of "change" non of these have been realized, and will not be realized now or in the very near future if we do not dare to look first at our leaders in the face and tell them that they are poor performers, and in turn look at ourselves in the mirror and admit that we are ultimately responsible for the cupidity that is killing our economic stability, and ruining our social fabric. It was dishearting; to say the least that Gambia's 38th birthday was relegated to insignificance, and autocratic pretence, or was it hopelessness? And treated like another day. This is lunacy because the year 2003 has seen that worse economic crisis in The Gambia, more incompetence by those representing us in government than ever before. It is lunacy because instead of Independence Day being used as a day for a reflection, and rededication to a national cause, of which there of very little, it was, instead used as a day of rhetoric, backed by the arrogance of a leadership that is tired but has refused to admit its fatigue. This is lunacy. It is lunacy because Gambians it seems, have lost their moral fibre to be responsible citizens in contributing their lot by refusing to ask the pertinent questions that need asking, and demanding the answers that are expected from those that were elected, paid for by Gambians and projected to perform in their task as custodians of the nation. This is lunacy. It is lunacy because for the first time in our history a majority leader has "dished" out loans to National Assembly members of his own party (D100, 000) with the excuse of alleviating their poverty. Those so-called "honourable" members have taken the charity, admitted to taking it to a point of even praising their leader's generosity - without asking whether it is ethical to do so or more importantly where that money came from, and how it would be repaid, and ultimately by whom. That is lunacy. It is lunacy because the same members have been known to pass bill, laws of this sacred land without even reading them, let alone understanding their far-reaching implications to not only those they represent but the future of many Gambians yet unborn. This is lunacy. It is lunacy because Gambians have just witnessed a price hike on bread from D2.50 to D3.00 (16 percent) increase - meaning that for the average three loaves must be on the table for breakfast (D9 for what used to be D6). In the week that will be D63 and in a month it would be a whopping D22. 00 and that is just bread. And the public has remained largely mute on these outrageous increases, having instead accepted the debacle and resorted to the vices that are attributed to poverty begging. _________________________________________________________________ Tired of spam? 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