Functioning democracies have strong legislatures, an independent judiciary and executive branch operating in a structured arrangement enabling each to serve as a check on the other. Consequently the people are able to foster and enjoy a free society that is predicated on giving each and every citizen an unhindered opportunity to succeed in his or her own right. Ideas can only flourish and consensus can only emerge when all especially those who seek to be leaders can be heard and the people at large are able to make judgments based on the information and interaction they have on their perspective leaders. Contrast these simple but profound attributes of a democracy to what we currently have in Gambia whose President calls himself an elected head of state when all evidence points to a man who rigged, tortured and murdered his way into an office he could never legitimately earn. Does anyone seriously believe that this regime is doing all it can to mold Gambia into a vibrant democracy where the long suffering population would at last have the good fortune of being led by people who cares about their plight and has the ability to inclination to try to resolve. Listening to this President and his senior staff is enough to make one's stomach churn. They scurrilously avoid acknowledging the myriad of problems that the nation faces choosing instead to trump bogus 'achievements' apparently convinced that the people can be talked out of their own perilous predicaments. Faltering schools, a crumbling health care system, and a failing economy all present and clearly manifested are never thrust into the national body politic. Instead the ministers and other cronies spend all their time posturing to try to stay in the good graces of their president whom they no is only interested in unflinching display of symbolism and personal loyalty to him. As a result they spend most of their time either hectoring perceived dissidents within the government about the need to tow their line or foolishly attempting to lecture the rest of the population reeling under grinding poverty that they ought to be grateful for all the good that this administration has brought them. They do all this with such a degree of churlishness and Chutzpah that one can only conclude that these people who ordinarily may be nice people have taken leave of their conscience. Take Tombong Saidy for example. He knows all about a free society and the indespensable role of a fair and vibrant press in furthering democracy because he has lived in and worked one. It is not unreasonable for anyone to assume that having had the good fortune of being in charge of the nations broadcast outlets he would all he can to establish once and for all a strong independent media tradition anchored on the fairness doctrine. He can by making ethics and fairness the two cardinal rules in reporting so that issues of national import are presented with both proponents and opponents points of view. Sadly Mr Saidy has morphed into the equivalent of a propaganda commissar who is running a government information mill only interested in propunding official lines. Consequently young reporters who may otherwise have been molded into effective public servants are seriously compromised because they resemble megaphones that just amplify packaged information as opposed the usual professional streaks of being probative and skeptical. The news on GRTS ,list members, comes across as shallow and unprefessional because of the incessant preoccupation with being politically correct. Would Mr Saidy have survived for as long as he does if he insisted on running a professional media outlet? Probably not . But he would have attempted to do the right thing and that is all an honest citizen could do for both himself and his nation. Our legislature to the extent that it can be called one is a mockery of a deliberative body. Packed with the President's cronies, the orientation mirrors that of the government . Business conducted in the house is done only as a matter of routine with no likelihood of influencing whatever hodge-podge of a legislation the government sends over. The few valliant opposition that may want to do good have no capacity because of their numbers or the arcane rules that say any piece legislation has to have majority support before it can even be initiated for debate. The presidents cronies in the house are not serious legislators who ultimately want to do good. Like the President they are driven by want for self perpetuation and if that means dragging the nation into the abyss then the good people of Gambia would just have to prepare for the trip to ruin. Our judiciary is also constantly being undermined. Judges are illegally fired and the President has routinely violated the flawed constitution he puports to support. Worng doing by the government would never be adjudicated in a nation whose head is complicit in a series of aggregious crimes. You want to have important national questions such as accountibility for monies contracted in the name of the nation that have simply dissappeared into overseas accounts, you are out luck in Yayah Jammehs Gambia. He has utterly corrupted the system. karamba ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------