Sycophancy has eaten up the Gambia’s social fabric to the extent that most people believe the menace requires urgent national solution. But for Gambians to deal with the problem, they have to understand the traits of sycophants first. The nine points below provide clear understanding of what sychophants do.
- Sycophants never find it difficult to penetrate whoever and whatever system they want to penetrate.
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And that is the trait of Yahya Jammeh’s associates. They have done it with Yahya and they are at it again.
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They have started distancing themselves from Yahya whom they were boot-licking for decades by coming up with ludicrous press releases and visiting Barrow.
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I think all the uncalled for visits to Barrow should in fact stop knowing the mentalities of Gambians, unless is by our communities and elders who did everything possible to bring about change.
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All the others are doing the visits because they expect individual favours in return at some point.
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It is simply a performance, competence and qualification based business culture we should build in the country rather than affiliation and nepotism based culture.
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We must learn from experiences and lessons. They have done it with Jawara and Yahya. So we must put a stop to it now otherwise we will never prosper.
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People will be put in positions they know they do not have the required qualifications, traits/qualities, experiences and competence to carry out the functions.
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A prominent Professor once told me that there is an inverse relationship between pomposity and performance. I can see they are again making noises.
- just as Yahya, these are the people who were awarded all sorts of degrees and given all sorts of titles. As Yahya, I can see that she calls herself Dr….
Morro
Ends
For me visits have security aspects.
Visits can continue to take place but with constraints. It is crucial that the people are also sensitised about the dangers lurking around and threat level as well as security around the president-elect be raised. We know that the police and military have discredited themselves and have become a militia force and won’t provide the required personal security.
As to people looking for opportunities, I think it is too soon to differentiate now. Let them go and make courtesy calls. At the end Mr. Barrow know and understands the sacrifices made to secure this win. Those who died fighting tyranny and the future generations must have his attention!
Kinteh, you are right that visits can continue. However, I am of the view that it must be controlled. What “Morro” pointed out above is absolutely right. Sycophants will stop at nothing. In fact no one knows what is the hidden agenda of some of those visiting Barrow. There could be spies among them and some may in fact have ill intentions. So it simply must be controlled. I share Morro’s opinions.
After all, those distancing themselves from Yahya with the so-called petitions and letters, when did they come to know that Yahya should step down? After how many lives, atrocities, forced disappearances, you name it………..
So to cut things short “Morro” is absolutely right that uncontrolled visits must stop. It is the same people who were visiting and supporting Yahya and now change is inevitable they are turning to Barrow to seek favours.
I must state that there are genuine community representatives who must be allowed. They have been ardent supporters of the opposition. They campaigned and did everything they could for the oppositions. It however has to be done carefully and with security in mind.
Thank you “Morro” for pointing this out. I have my personal experiences of these dangerous sycophants. They can do anything to get what they want. I am in exile thanks to such people; who will not work and do not want to see someone who wants to do the work. They live on lies and hypocrisy.
I believe that the idea of visit or paying courtesy call on the president -elect at this moment must be discouraged. The visiting the president-elect to show support and pledge allegiance has both security and corrupt political implications which can be detrimental to true democracy we have fought for all these years . I can understand that it has been a cultural practice to pay a visit to our leaders as symbol of showing respect and support but such cultural-political practices is what led to tyrannical regime or political oppression/corruption.This is because leaders tends to feel self entitlement and importance as a result of this frequent visit and pledge of allegiance or support. Instead of the leadership going to people to thank them for giving them opportunities and trust to lead the country, people are going to the leadership to pledge their support and allegiance. We must do away with such practices. It is bad for democracy and it set precedence for self of entitlement and corruption which our population easily make leaders to fall for . The coalition Leadership must be mindful of this practice which has led both Jammeh and Jawara to have sycophants who are only interested in their personal interest. No citizen should make any pledge of allegiance to any leader rather we must all pledge our allegiance to our country and constitution. I know the president-elect and his team are very season and experience people who have long political experience to deal with sycophancy but we must continue to educate our fellow citizens that it is the responsibility of our leadership to pledge their allegiance and total commitment to the wellbeing of citizenry who vote for them to represent their common interest. It is very crucial that Gambian people see Leadership in new strategic way rather than old ways of doing things . Our leaders are just servants of the people. In many advance democracies,we have seen leaders embarked on “thank you tour ” after election victory. This is how real democracy should work . Leaders are suppose to be humble about the leadership responsibility they are entrusted with . Leadership should continue to consult citizenry and express their willingness and commitment to the general welfare as well as talks about issues which people care about . I hope when the dust settle down, our new coalition leadership and president-elect embarks on similar tour across the country to show their appreciation, commitment and consult citizenry on issues of national importance. The coalition activists and supporters in diaspora must also discourage our people in the villages and towns to embark on such public visit as a form of showing allegiance or support to our leadership. We Africans are good at corrupting our leaders because of the way we perceive and treat our leaders. We must strategically change our attitudes in politics and government. Those who are in opposition like APRC must remain to be opposition so that they can constructively criticize the new administration for the betterment of our democracy and the country . Our new leadership must be aware of corrupt religious and political Leadership who have consistently supported the regime of terror for the past 22 years. Political sycophancy must be discouraged and dicarded if we really want to have true democracy.
@Max “The visiting the president-elect to show support and pledge allegiance has both security and corrupt political implications which can be detrimental to true democracy we have fought for all these years .” You are absolutely right! Allegiance should be to the country not to individuals. Barrow was elected to do a job and it is what he will do for the country which is important. Otherwise we will come back to what our so called military officers are doing… allegiance to Yahya instead of to the state and its people. Any behaviours that can open doors for corruption and nepotism should be discouraged. Moreover these visits pose security threats in this critical moment. Remember that Yahya is after him whether he says it or not…. and there is an impending fight, to flush Yahya and his gangs out!
Great attention must be drawn to the issue of existing sycophancy in the Gambian society and not meaning to be ”cynical” in any away. From the same duct of imports, people should have his attention especially the future generations. There is no way in doing so without them(the leaders) reaching the people or vice versa.
As far as bringing such a horrible ill of our society(sycophancy) under curb is concerned, reasoned opinions will serve their purposes if only the new coalition government with the leadership of president-elect Adama Barrow will not make a U-turn, back to the culture of snubbing or getting shied by public opinion, and criticisms. In the old type of the Gambia, scrutiny and probing of public personel can be seen in different wards as jealousy toward or tarnishing images, a concept that indicates the ordinary Gambian’s lack of awareness in his/her public affairs, which is literally their domestic affairs in the end.The new coalition government have demonstrated and done very well in my view, so far so good, with regards to those statesmen and women’s focus, steadfastness, handling and engagement of opposing opinions, views and criticisms of the ordinary public in general. I would like to say; let them keep it up that way, all the way, and all of them!
However proud of them, I humbly urge them still to exercise tolerance with the likes of Bourne and the same feather, who would think or suggest that Mr. Barrow and members of his government should have declared all their wealths and assets before to be handed over power, or should do it as soon as they start work in office.
I concur with the concerns being raised about security of the president elect, in particular and members of his team, as well as the dangers of sycophancy, which is often masqueraded as culture and tradition, to the incoming administration, and the vulnerability of many people to this cancer of our society.
I only hope that adequate security measures will be taken by the alliance team for their individual and collective security and extra care to avoid falling victim to sycophants.
However, I do think courtesy calls, either to congratulate the president elect and his team, or to pledge support for him and to show recognition of his legitimate mandate, should be welcome.
I think the most important issue facing us right now is what strategy to adopt to ensure that Mr Barrow assumes office in January peacefully or forcefully and which ever eventually happens, the people would have been central…Therefore, the more people that recognise Mr Barrow as the legitimate president and show it openly, the better for the alliance.
Lastly, we must not forget that the alliance was an elections strategy that brought several parties with differences on a wide range of issues together to maximise their strength. Naturally, some in the alliance may want to do away with certain practices completely, whilst others may want to keep them. We must not expect too much at once.
The transition government of Mr Barrow will aim to achieve specific governance (political and economic) reforms so that free and fair elections can be held. Gambians will have the opportunity to listen to each candidate/party and vote for their choices.
We would then know who wants to encourage the politics of sycophancy and who wants to do away with it, and I hope we will be able to freely express our views on issues in the public media/space, without any fear. We would know who has the answers to our political, economic and social questions etc.
But first, let’s get this squatter out by all means necessary. We have that legitimacy, mandate and authority, derived from the consent of the people on December 1st.
Bax said ” let’s get this squatter out by all means necessary “. I am glad that you have come to real talk and realistic solutions to our country’s predicament in past 22 years . Now it is clear to you and everyone that jammeh is not ready to leave peacefully. For years we have been singing this song of ” all means necessary ” but most of us were classified as warmongers . My friend , in jammeh’s mind he own that our country and he is the only person who is qualified to lead the nation. He will let someone of his choice to lead rather than people’s choice . The only language jammeh understand is his own language.
This is an interesting topic being discussed. I think what many have said are right in their own ways. The issue therefore is prioritisation. At this critical juncture we must prioritise Barrow’s security. Not every Tom, Dick and Harry should be allowed visits. It will pose very serious security threats. It is not about allowing or not allowing visits. After all, majority of those visiting are those who were staunch supporters of Yahya Jammeh; the likes of our so called religious leaders. As someone stated above, when did they come to know that Yahya Jammeh should step down? After how many killings, disappearances, serious human rights violations, rampant corruption, forced labour, you name it? Only after declaring the country an Islamic State?
The peasants who brought about the Coalition’s win are busy on their lives trying to feed their families and waiting for the next call to come to the streets to get Yahya out if we come to that. We have not seen the likes of Ba Kawsu Fofana visiting Barrow. And Ba Kawsu contributed immensely to the struggle. Sycophancy is a disease in our society which must be rooted out if we want to progress. Otherwise we will always be going backwards relatively.
This is my first time contributing so am sorry if I have offended anyone but we must now confront the ills of our society head on.