An Open letter to Gambians & Friends; Part Four
 
I don’t think any one of us needs to be reminded about our sad state of affairs. Daily, nightly, we see things happening. Our telephones are ringing constantly non-stop and our e-mails are flooded with complaints of all sorts, i.e. injustices meted out to innocent people. We are letting hours flying by either by taking to silence or developing a culture of being in doubt. Not to mention those with “I-don’t-care” hearts, as long as they are not affected. The problem is a pandemic one. There is a resolution to the problem somewhere. Gambians and friends must be ready to do away differences of all sorts, and once that happens, it will facilitate a healthy table-talk. I am sure the many callers get energized daily, as long as the people are behind the veils either pretending things are ok, or making the show rolling by without any actions. I hope all those heading associations in the Diaspora and at home have been following this dialogue. Like the prophet of Islam Muhammad (SAW) used to request after his sermons, that those who heard the words should pass the message to others. In doing this, you can’t be on bed; rather the intended audience must get the message and act on it.  It is meant to be an eye-opener, and help people see the way out of this troubling situation. Probably the best ideas are with someone somewhere.  Individually, we care about our personal lives, relatives and friends. Collectively, we are lacking behind. If true redemption is to come, people must be ready to break such pseudo barriers.  We must believe in ourselves. We must believe that we can change the current path because it is not right. Such attitude of diffidence has helped to mystify tyrants and dictators everywhere.  Personally, I have chosen my way –a clear way to demystify dictators because they are humans who by poor instinct thinks they are great but they are not. It is just a matter of taking the veil out to see their  inside.  
 
As can be adopted from Mr. Burama Jammeh, Michigan, USA (Courtesy of UGAMA Consortium, 2006), thus:
 

“The Unity initiative is born out of assumptions that there are problems back home that would require collective effort(s) of Gambians to solve such problems. These assumptions stem from

i.                     the ongoing debate on various national issues especially in the online newspapers

ii.                   the political squabble between political parties and government and amongst themselves

iii.                  the human right abuses

iv.                 the restrictions on participatory democracy argued by the constitution

v.                   the disregard to the rule of law and due processes

vi.                 lack of checks and balances of government (the executive, legislature and judiciary)

vii.                corruption and inappropriate use of public resources 

viii.              participation in politics is a guaranteed civic right

 

The above is only the motivation for the call to a meeting. The meeting (conference) will serve as a forum for sharing to agree/disagree on issues of importance to Gambia and as well establish our role in addressing such issues. This effort may only stop at an announcement of concern (statement), it may produce a Civil Society Organization/Movement to work with others on the identified issues, and it may not agree on to anything and/or any other ways fit best by that gathering of Gambians.”
 

 

WHERE DO WE GO FROM THERE?

You got the answer probably. So the covet lecture my brothers and sisters, let us get the ball rolling. We can move this ball, and steer the ship of the state the direction we wants it to go. The worst thing is to sit down and do nothing or develop such attitude of “I-don’t-care” as long as my immediate family member is not affected.

I wish you all well and a safe arrival to the intended destination. Hopefully, we will get there soon.

Kind regards, and thanks,

yj



--
yj

There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is His messenger.
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