By Lamin Saddam Sanyang, The Netherlands
For The Gambia Our Homeland is the national anthem of The Gambia, written by Virginia Julia Howe and composed by Jeremy Frederic Howe (based on the traditional Mandinka song Foday Kaba Dumbuya). It was adopted after an international competition to produce an anthem (and flag) before independence in 1965.
We have since gained our independence from the colonialist, and have our beautiful national anthem.
We were living in peace and harmony. Anywhere in the world you went, you only hear beautiful things about the smiling coast of Africa (The Gambia). But now a days our smiling coast is turned into a gloomy coast. Any time you step your feet on the soil of The Gambia, instead of happy and smiling you become sad. The sadness overcomes the joy.
* For The Gambia our homeland. We strive and work and pray:
- I don’t think that is happening in The Gambia, because it is not a better homeland for us.
Then we have to act and do our daily life freely without looking behind or afraid to be picked up by the plainclothes or being harassed, arrested and jailed.
- We cannot strive normally when your own brothers and sisters watching and listening to what you do or say and the next minute you’ll be picked up by the NIAs.
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Work: You cannot have a proper job without being a supporter of the President and his anarchy. And being a supporter of him and having a good job is not enough, because you cannot do your work according to how it should be but according to how Mr. President wants it to be done.
It doesn’t matter if that is the right or the wrong way. If you become defiant and do your job according to the way it should be, you will be falsely implicated for a crime you have no knowledge of. Mile 2 becomes your host next day.
-Pray: If you are going to pray your mind should be free and clean.
But how can you’re mind be free and if the Imams and Pastors leading the prayers praises the President as their creator deliberately doing propaganda and campaigning for him in our mosques and churches. Forgetting or ignoring the teachings that was brought to them by Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and Prophet Jesus (ASW).
* That all may live in unity:
- As the President dare to appear on his television and other public gatherings and says: MANDINKO TE SIILA NYING SIRANKANG KOTENGKEH [that a Mandinka will not sit on the throne again[.
The President who is telling lies to one tribe against the other in order to gain there trust.
I’m asking you Mr. President, where is the unity our beautiful National Anthem is talking about?
* Freedom and peace each day:
- What is the meaning of our freedom when our journalists continued to be suppressed, unlawfully arrested, tortured and denied the right to disseminate information to the masses? Freedom also becomes meaningless when citizens are not given the space to express themselves or give the right to assemble without state interference.
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There is and will never be peace when brothers and sisters are continuously lying and reporting each other to the security officers.
* Let justice guide our actions towards the common good:
- If justice is all about hiring mercenary judges tasked with jailing citizens who have beef with the President, there is nothing to celebrate. The mercenary foreign judges have had their pockets lined up by the President’s dirty money that is why they cannot and will not see the light of justice.
I’m asking you Mr. President to get out of the way to allow justice to guide our actions towards our common good?
* And join our diverse peoples to prove man’s brotherhood:
- That cannot happen in our country when you divide and rule us.
* We pledge our firm allegiance our promise we renew:
- The promise our beautiful National Anthem is talking about, is not the promise of saying if you make the lethal mistake of stepping your feet on The Gambian soil, you will regret why you were born. It does not also mean being promise to be buried six feet under the ground or have your throats slit for being a gay.
* Keep us, great God of nations to The Gambia ever true:
- That is the only prayer we depend on or else you will kill all the good and true patriotic citizens of our beloved country.
Ends