*Yes we can*

*By Baba Galleh Jallow*

Happy birthday to our new and beautiful Gambia! Exactly one year ago,
Gambians decided that we are sick and tired of Jammeh’s dictatorship and
his unhealthy politics of insults, tribal bigotry and rampant squandering
of pour national resources. The majority of Gambians rallied around the
Coalition candidate and sent the despot packing, once and for all. A lot of
water has flowed under the proverbial bridge ever since, some of it very
good; some not so good. Nevertheless, it has been a great year for
Gambians, especially for those of us who were forced into exile for so
long. Some of us have had the chance to visit home again, in my case after
17 long years in exile. And we can’t wait to get back home again, finally
to continue contributing more directly to the progress of our dear little
country.

Ever since the advent of the New Gambia, some of us have chosen to be
resolutely optimistic about the direction of our country. We believe that
in spite of the challenges we have faced and continue to face, Gambia is on
the move in the right direction. This is mainly because we are talking to
each other; everyone is freely expressing their opinions and exchanging
ideas, both on the ground, in the diaspora, and on social media.
Acrimonious as some of these exchanges are, there is always the possibility
of getting it right when people freely talk to each other. We have
suggested that the free flow of ideas and information and ideas in the body
politic is comparable to the free flow of blood in the human body. Just as
free blood flow enhances the health of the human body, so does the free
flow of ideas and information enhance the health of the body politic. Hence
our abiding optimism that we can do this, and we will do it if we keep
talking to each other, listening to each other however hard that may be,
and taking action based on measured and intelligent deliberations rather
than knee jerk reactions to fear or unpleasant or unjustified criticism.
And as we mark one year of the defeat of dictatorship in our country, we
remain supremely optimistic that we can take our country to the next level
of peace, progress and prosperity because we are endowed with the natural
intelligence to do what is right even in the face of momentous challenges.

Over the past several months we have observed certain commendable actions
on the part of our new political leadership. It was a relief to see that
when President Barrow returned from his pilgrimage to Mecca, he immediately
declined to be called Alhaji. That was a positive and very wise action on
the part of Mr. Barrow, for it allayed fears that he would soon accumulate
a list of meaningless titles like our former president and many other
African leaders have done since independence. Often, titles are freely
conferred upon African presidents and could lead to moral corruption and
eventual ethical bankruptcy. There are always people who will not hesitate
to pronounce lofty titles for leaders as a means of gaining some benefits
or because they feel they have to do so to keep their jobs. We therefore
heaved a sigh of relief when Mr. Barrow explicitly said he did not want to
be called Alhaji. Of course, that in no way nullifies the fact that he is
an Alhajj, one who has made the pilgrimage to Mecca.

Equally encouraging was news that the president asked some young people who
wanted to call themselves the Barrow Youth Movement or something like that
not to do so. Again, this was a significant development in our resurgent
democratic culture. In a continent with a long history of similar youth
movements of dubious origin and intentions, it was great that Mr. Barrow
stepped in to explicitly say no. Encouraged or left unchecked, overzealous
youth movements quickly morph into jingoistic and fanatical militia who do
not hesitate to resort to violence in the name of defending their leader.
The despotic regime of Yahya Jammeh saw the mushrooming of groups like the
July 22nd Movement, the Green Boys, the Black Black Boys, and eventually
the Jungulars who committed all manner of crimes against Gambians in the
name of defending their patron. They beat up innocent people and set fire
to houses and businesses, even shot and wounded or killed people in the
name of defending their patron.  And in the case of the mindless despot
that was Yahya Jammeh, those acts of vandalism and criminality were
encouraged and given the blessing of state support. We commend President
Barrow for taking that step to discourage the youths naming their movement
after him and urge both him and all party leaders to actively discourage
overzealous party supporters from engaging in a politics of needless
hostility.

It was also a pleasure to note that in his address to the recent UDP
gathering in Crawley, Mr. Ousainou Darboe took the time to address the
growing problem of intolerance and hostility displayed by some UDP
supporters. Mr. Darboe made it clear that the UDP and its supporters “must
not allow extreme negative militancy and overzealousness” and “unmeasured
language” to tarnish their image. Mr. Darboe further said that his party
leadership expects that “those who truly respect and belong to the UDP be
mindful of how they communicate especially through social media” and to
“ensure that all our communications no matter what platform we may use is
driven and guarded by caution, sensitivity and modest language which is
factual, relevant and tactfully put across.” With these words, Mr. Darb0e
injected a healthy dose of political civility into the ears and minds of
his party members and supporters. It is very likely that we will see a
definite decline in the use of hostile language on the part of those UDP
supporters who hitherto engaged in the practice. His words represent a very
encouraging sign of the growth of a culture of civility in Gambian
politics. The leaders of our other political parties are challenged to make
similar statements to their members and supporters because the politics of
hostility does not come only from UDP supporters. Such communication should
not be a one-off event but an unfolding process of healthy exchanges
between our political leadership, the members and supporters of their
individual parties and the general Gambian public. After all, all
well-meaning Gambians want the best for The Gambia and we can get the best
for The Gambia if we encourage a culture of healthy civility and mutual
respect for each other’s persons and political opinions and orientations.
We should always observe the golden rule not to do or say unto others what
we would not want said or done unto us.

Another encouraging feature of our new political dispensation is the
accessibility of government officials – from the president to ministers,
civils servants and our national public media. There have been many
meetings and contacts between the president and some of his ministers with
Gambian communities both at home and abroad, regardless of party
affiliations. A few instances that come to mind are Mr. Barrow’s meeting
with Gambians in New York during the UN General Assembly meeting, more
recently his meeting with Gambians in Dubai, and Mr. Darboe’s meeting with
Gambians in Maryland. The Minister of Justice Ba Tambadou has had some
press briefings and recently participated in a panel discussion on
transitional justice. Information Minister Demba Jawo has also had some
significant interactions with the Gambian public. Both President Barrow and
some of his ministers maintain active social media platforms where they
keep in touch with the Gambian public. These examples of close contacts
between the people and their political leaders and public servants
represent a healthy closing of the power distance between people and
government that exist in many African countries. It is a very healthy
practice that we should nurture and encourage as we move into the second
year of the New Gambia.

Also very encouraging is the growing culture of friendship and traditional
joking relations between Gambians of different ethnicities and from
different regions on social media. Facebook has seen a healthy rise in
joking relations between Kiangkas and Baddibunkas for example, spearheaded
by users like our good Kiangka brother Eden Sharp (not his real name),  Bass
Drammeh, Jai Marong, Njundu Drammeh, Masaneh Bajinka, Jamal Drammeh, and
many others. Baddibunkas like myself have staunchly argued that Kiang is no
match for Baddibu. There are also similar pleasant exchanges with the
Nuiminkas and Jarrankas. These exchanges are an age old tradition that
helps to nurture friendly relations and camaraderie between Gambians from
different regions of the country. There has also been some fun-poking
between people having different surnames along the same lines. A few weeks
ago, Bamba Serign Mass started an interesting conversation on Facebook
about different surnames that are in fact the same among Gambian
communities. The post was hugely popular, generating as at the time of
writing, 148 likes and reactions, 254 comments, and 32 shares on Facebook.  It
appears from Bamba’s list and the responses his post generated that most
Gambians in fact share the same surname, even though they are written or
pronounced differently. We must deliberately promote these rich cultural
traditions because they help cement our ties across all kinds of other
differences we may have, including ethnic, religious and political
differences that have the potential of dividing us. They have the potential
to dampen the ugly politics of ethnicity and general hostility that Jammeh
introduced into Gambian politics and that often turn ugly in Gambian social
media circles.

Particularly encouraging are signs that the Gambian judiciary is now
exercising its long lost freedom from the executive branch of government.
Judicial independence and the rule of law were literally taboo subjects
under the ousted Jammeh dictatorship. But that has changed. A recent case
in point is the Supreme Court’s ruling that the Public Order Act challenged
by Mr. Ousainou Darboe and 19 other victims of the act under Jammeh is in
fact constitutional. Justice Minister Ba Tambadou’s statement that while
the government disagrees with the Supreme Court it nevertheless respects
their ruling is an encouraging sign of the return of the rule of law in
Gambian politics. The Public Order Act might not be unconstitutional, but
it is certainly a bad law that needs to be expunged from our constitution
alongside other Jammeh era bad laws that restrict the rights and freedoms
of Gambian citizens. Hopefully all these bad laws will be removed from our
constitution sooner rather than later, certainly during the proposed
constitutional review process.

But even as we celebrate these and other healthy developments in our
beautiful little country over the past year, we must also acknowledge some
of the unhealthy developments that have taken place during this same
period. For example, we feel that the occupy Westfield episode could have
been better handled by the Barrow administration. By trying to discourage a
peaceful demonstration, the authorities turned it into a bigger issue than
it should have been. The right course of action was to simply issue a
police permit and to provide the necessary security personnel to make sure
that the protest proceeded and ended peacefully. But by trying to
discourage and ultimately prevent it from happening, the authorities almost
turned a simple civic event into a major national crisis. Of course many
people did not buy the excuse by the police that the occupy Westfield group
was denied a permit due to national security concerns. National security
concerns, real or imagined, represent a hated bogey in African politics
that is frequently exploited by paranoid regimes and individuals within
those regimes to deny people their democratic rights and therefore inject
an unhealthy dose of political acrimony into the body politic. Let people
demonstrate peacefully if they want to and just make sure to provide enough
security to ensure that no one breaks the law or causes public disorder.

In the interest of a better, healthier Gambia, we would also like to see
the Barrow administration break from the strange tradition of firing
government ministers and public officials without explanation. That is a
very typical Jammeh era practice that should not be encouraged in the new
Gambia. If a minister or some other high profile public official is removed
from office, it is only fair that the Gambian public is given a sense of
why they are removed from office. Transparency and accountability are lofty
concepts but very tough virtues to practice. But however tough it is,
Gambians should not be left speculating, gossiping and wondering why
government officials are sacked from their jobs. It is not enough to be
told that the president has the authority to hire or fire. Yes he has that
authority. He also has the authority and obligation, by virtue of his
position as the nation’s leader, to give Gambians a good sense of why
government ministers and other high profile public officials are sacked. In
the event that the government does not give an acceptable explanation, we
expect that our private media should make it a point of duty to follow the
story, investigate it, and share their findings with the general public.

More recently we have heard sad stories of Gambians being denied access to
our beaches for most of the days in the interest of keeping tourists safe.
This ugly legacy of the Jammeh regime is a very unhealthy practice that
needs to be corrected as a matter of urgency. We certainly support the
presence of police on our beaches for purposes of making sure that tourists
are protected from unwanted harassment and other forms of inconvenience.
However, preventing Gambians from walking or playing on our own beaches is
not acceptable. It does not tell well on our image as a kind, friendly and
enlightened people. Why not engage in an ongoing public sensitization
program in addition to having a healthy but detached and restrained police
presence to make sure that everyone is safe on our beaches? The money we
get from tourism is certainly important. But nothing is more important to
Gambia than our own people. We therefore call upon the Barrow
administration and especially Tourism Minister Hamat Bah to facilitate
consultations and reflections on how best to manage this tricky situation
in a way that will allow Gambians to continue enjoying their freedom of
movement in their own country while protecting tourists who need to be
protected from undue harassment and other inconveniences. We also call upon
our journalists on the ground to conduct a survey of the tourists in the
hotels on this issue to find out how they feel about the matter of Gambians
being denied access to the beaches.

No one can deny that compared to the old Gambia, it has been a great first
year for the new Gambia. We have seen some beautiful developments, most
especially the freedom of expression and of association that was denied
Gambians for 22 long years. The president and members of his government
have taken some steps that are very healthy for our democracy and some
steps that are not so healthy for our democracy. There have been and there
remain some serious socio-cultural challenges too, like the practice by
some of us to unduly castigate members of other political parties, people
belonging to different ethnic groups, or people expressing opinions opposed
to ours. As we enter the second year of the new Gambia, our challenge is to
continue working hard, thinking hard and remaining optimistic that we can
improve on our achievements and overcome the challenges we face through a
deliberate appeal to reason, commonsense and a love for truth, fair play
and justice. We know that yes, it will not be an easy task; but we also
know that yes, we are more than equal to the task of taking our country to
the next level. Yes we can.

God bless The Gambia, the Smiling Coast of West Africa.


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