Editorial

It is a fact that The Gambia belongs to Gambians both at home and abroad. No matter where we find ourselves as Gambians, this is our country and we should be proud of it. Every person has the right to leave his/her country of origin and reside in another country legally. There is nothing wrong with that, as every human being is entitled to freedom of movement.

It is however unfortunate that some unscrupulous Gambians, who illegally leave this country to join a society in which they are never accepted, are hell bent on slandering the decent government and people of this country just to achieve their individual selfish interests.

The exposure of another asylum scam by state intelligence operatives shows how entrenched this practice is among some Gambians; especially government’s political opponents, who use their status to lobby for permanent stay in the West by creating information that is not only misleading but untrue. More or less, such bogus asylum claims are bent on discrediting the government under the leadership of President Jammeh, especially in the eyes of international development partners, who unfortunately, believe such attestations.

It is a glaring fact that such activities have indeed succeeded in creating more government foes while at the same time seriously hurting the country’s economic development process as more investors and development partners tend to believe that the attestations made by those unpatriotic Gambians in search of political asylum by all means necessary clearly represent the status quo on the ground. The time therefore has come for every sober minded Gambian both at home and abroad to stand up in defence of the truth.

The current leadership has advanced greatly in maximizing the growth potentials of this country. The series of development projects that have opened up windows of opportunities for Gambians are numerous. Besides all these, the leadership has initiated a series of self-help projects that if utilised can lead to earning a reasonable livelihood.

It is therefore important to note that it is a moral obligation upon each and every Gambia to partake in the ongoing national development process. More importantly, the youths have to realise that it is on their shoulders that the future of the country hangs. Venturing into agricultural production, the output of which will help generate income for an honest livelihood, learning a trade, or petty business among other things will indeed produce a prosperous future.

Venturing intoillegal migration simply means you are denying your self a sense of belonging. This is because you reject where you belong to and force yourself into a society in which you will never be accepted. You will simply be treated as an uninvited refugee at a rich man's gate and hence survive at the expense of your dignity, personality and worth.  What then is the benefit of tarnishing the image of your own country? The enabling environment is already in place for a progressive future, let us amalgamate our efforts to complement those of the government to accomplish our development aspirations.