By Lamin Sayang, The Netherlands
We have a political system where chiefs are appointed and not elected by those they preside over. Governors imposed on regions by
political appointment. We clearly feel and sight complete disassociation between the nation and the state. Brothers and sisters, did we ever consider these as foul plays of the state? We as a nation cannot succeed in achieving a just political system where justice guides all actions without being fully ready to do what is neccessary for our emancipation. We cannot keep blaming on others because the oppressor never gave freeedom without being fight fot the
oppressed.
The failure of representation in the current political system of The Gambia originated from the 1997 Constitution of the Second Republic. The unprecedented empowerment of the president to the demise of common power and seperation of control is clearly manifested and painted in the political structures of our motherland. Is these The Gambia our
homeland? Brothers and sisters, can this be in harmony with what is fair and right? The constitution empowers the president as head of executive to appoint and imposed governors on regions and chiefs on districts. The system is nothing but a clear painting of illed representation. But where does the capacities
come from? Who gave the president such rights and why?
We are in serious times and we must find solution to our problems by sighting what clearly went wrong, why, where and how. This is not the times to speak political languague or act the faces of diplomat where we will be running away from the roots of issues giving scenes of romantic politics to the people.
We as a nation must walk a mile instead of half a mile when a mile is the price to our freedom. In doing so, we embrace our values, culture
and all the possitive angles that binds us together as a nation and that will excel national unity from wanders to shine. We must stand collectively as people of the nation and address our things in the needs of our people.
Some months ago in Burkina Faso there was a revolt carried out by ordinary people, most of
whom are Young, born in the time of Thomas Sankara. In the Gambia our beloved country the Young men and women seem to have turned their back on the processes of national development. Is this because the state creates no room for them to engage or because they just want to disassociate themselves from the process of national development and take the back way to Italy. Yes we have thousands of brothers and sisters working in banks, some are in the zone of technology, well trained lawyers and many other Works of life brewed by the university and college of The Gambia. Yes today we have university and even building another one, yes today many Gambians are on facebook, viber and so on, but is that defining our development as a nation collectively? And will it be fair and linguistically right when say our Young men and women are rising? We cannot deny the fact that this year alone we lost over 100 vibrant ambitious Young Gambians in their struggle to Europe via the back way, may their souls rest in peace.
Why are they so willing to go to a country where they have been officially denied,
rejected a visa, why forcing themselves and compromising their human dignity plus the ultimate, the lives they risk? May be it’s not just because Europe is a dream land of paradise for them but because The sweet smiling coast of The Gambia is turned to a gloomy coast and has been a hell fire and a land of no oppotunity for this generation so therefore compelled them to leave the nation. Is this also killing their spirit to be engage in processess than concerns national development too?
For the past 21 years, the President of the government of The Gambia continues to boast
about his achievements in high education and orientational programmes for the Young men and women in the country yet there are less possibilities for college students to be employed. We have more primary and secondary schools today before 1995, but we’ve never seen such a growing percentage of
unemployment amongst ordinary school-leavers before 1995. We have a national civic education that seems to be crippled by political intimidation, our television broadcastting system is one system and it’s where even news and many programmes are polically dominated than national, a television where the president’s appearance is more than the television coverage of the death of JF Kennedy which is once reported to be the longest in the history of television broadcast. Our radio stations are more today than before 1994 but has there ever been such a totalitarian censorship of the media and distortion of information before 1994?
We see the leader of our nation with hundreds of Young boys and girls running miles after miles after his presidential convoys giving their ultimate political support and energy they could invest at GTTI, or carpentry workshops or in
classrooms as most of these Young people are not in any self developingbusiness that will make them economically independent and give them their human dignity. We wacht them in self destroying alliance, supporting a man who keep promising them nothing but streetlights and good roads etc but who decelarates and arrest their individual human development by wasting their time and exposesing them to parties and false promises political ralies full of lies and stories. Some even work for him on his farms in Kaninlai where he compensate them for bennachin and cow meat, he enslaves and expose in the cheap public green uniforms, calling them the green boys.
We cannot sleep over and see the future leaders of this nation to go down in dust and smoke. We love them, we need them, we are brothers and sisters no matter our political differences, we will go towards one anothers as brothers and
sisters of one nation and will therefore address one another in this commonspirits of brotherhood, because the good news is meant for all ears and nothing shall devide us apart. We cannot forget the song of the great Lalo Kebba Drammeh, a great musician who sung “mo saba teriya kah nyo jangfa leh keh” meaning three party friendship leads to betrayal.
BROTHERS AND SISTERS we are ONE!!! Eating bennachin, dancing and watching magical night shows in Kaninlai, will not make our youths understands the problems of our central bank neither will it reinforce their strength towards others national issues or connect them to the World outside but rather exposes us to laziness and sink us in distraction. Maybe it is a result of the killing of students in april 2001by national army of the Gambia that left the fighting students dumb, founded and risen their intimidation. Maybe it’s because nature of politics and the political atmosphere in the country that feeds fear in the minds of the Young ones as our almighty president keeps repeating his threatening military tones so often live on television, using phrases like “Operation no compromise”, “I will bury you six feet deep” or I will sent you to my hotel (central prison), maybe this disassociates our youth and make them see freedom fighting or questioning mandates of the authorities as equals to signing your own assasination or swemming in the conners of mile two central prison of The Gambia.
I asked the youth of The Gambia in this humble conclusion. Is the Gambia our homeland or a new Ruben Island for every protesting Gambian?
Ends