"Ah Halla Gonga" Baba as always. 
Pa. Saikou
    On Tuesday, January 16, 2018, 10:21:15 AM EST, Baba Jallow <[log in to unmask]> wrote:  
 
 Thank you Sariang. 
On Jan 16, 2018 2:39 PM, "sariang marong" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Hello Brother Baba,A very insightful piece thank you. Best regards,Sariang 


Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone


On Tuesday, January 16, 2018, 4:14 AM, Baba Jallow <[log in to unmask]> wrote:


Talk, Talk, Talk




By Baba Galleh Jallow




We have argued elsewhere that the fall of a dictator doesnot mark the end of the fight against dictatorship. Rather, it marks thebeginning of the fight against the many negative legacies of dictatorship. Ourcapacity to succeed in transforming our country into a better place iscontingent upon our capacity to neutralize the many negative legacies ofdictatorship. These range from social disorder to institutional corruption notonly of the monetary sort, but also of the moral sort. And we can neutralizemany of these negative legacies by honestly, truthfully, and respectfully talkingabout them at the national level. Only then can we take our country and oursociety to the next level. 




The failure of Africa’s independence era leaders totransform our countries into viable nation states was a direct result of theirfailure to neutralize the dictatorial culture of the colonial state. As a childof colonialism, the African nation state was born out of social disorder andinstitutional corruption. Colonial rule was a physical manifestation of socialdisorder and institutional corruption, and an inventor of moral corruption. Thecolonial state existed not for the development of the people it ruled, but forthe power and enrichment of the crown it served. Its reason for being was topursue the twin goals of political imperialism and material exploitation of thecolonized. Its mode of operation was essentially coercive and it had little interestin the lives of the colonized except as an alien and backward species of Homosapiens deserving little respect and firm control. It rattled the mandate ofthe civilizing mission and cast itself in the role of a benevolent dictatorshipfor which the colonized should be grateful. Unfortunately, the essential characterof this malevolent colonial state survived the cheers of independence and continuesto stunt the advancement of societies in Africa 2018. Our independence eraleaders’ failure to recognize and neutralize the dictatorial character of thecolonial state explains why Africa is still called a dark continent and why itis subject to jaundiced imagination as an uncomplimentary part of the humananatomy. In Africa 2018, every day brings new challenges and new crises, andeveryday magnifies old challenges and old crises. Every day too, the Africanstate remains prostrate and seemingly helpless against the relentless onslaughtof national crises that grow bigger by the day but that can be easily managedand neutralized with little cost to the state and abundant dividends for thenation. 




The fall of the colonial state called for a radicaltransformation of African societies. A radical transformation from societiesruled by an exploitative colonial dictatorship to societies intelligentlygoverning themselves. Since good self-governance is a mark of socialintelligence, our independence leaders should have enhanced the intelligence ofour national societies. They should have placed maximum premium on the value ofthe human person and vigorously exploited the intelligence of the human personfor the common good. Rather, they simply stepped into the shoes of the departedcolonial rulers and continued doing business as usual. They failed to directtheir energies at transforming our societies into truly free and empoweredpeoples by promoting everything positive about the institutional framework ofthe nation-state system they just adopted while neutralizing the negativelegacies of the colonial state that just departed. They failed to initiate andpromote a healthy national conversation about the challenges of nationhood. Andmore seriously, they muzzled all aspects of the national conversation that didnot explicitly serve their individual selfish interests. Consequently, Africansocieties remain mired in the crippling contradictions of free bondage to hostilepolitics, poverty, stagnation and even degeneration in many vital aspects ofour national life. Things always seem to be getting worse in Africa because thesocial conditions that made them bad in the first place are themselves alwaysgetting worse.




In Gambia 2018, we have not only some vestiges of colonialdictatorship to deal with, but also the legacies of recent postcolonialdictatorship, what we might term the green crisis. Even where the politicalintolerances of the colonial state and the ousted dictatorship are reasonablyneutralized, there remains a culture of popular intolerance propagated by theousted dictatorship. Many Gambians have a we-versus-them mentality thatcharacterized colonial rule and was magnified under the Jammeh dictatorship.Ultimately, the crisis boils down to our incapacity to imagine and actualize acollective national identity that can overshadow our political and increasingly,our ethnic differences. Of course, no one is calling for people to abandontheir political affiliations or shun their ethnic identities. What we need todo is imagine, actualize and manifest a national identity premised on ourcollective spirituality as human beings, as national relatives and as friendlyneighbors who will not insult or demean each other over political and ethnicdifferences.




Yes we should be proud of our political affiliations and ourethnic identities. And yes, we should be free to promote the interests of thecollectivities to which we belong. We certainly should all be proud to beGambians, as we are. But neither political nor ethnic or national identity hassucceeded in creating the kind of peaceful and progressive society we are meantto be. While we are all proud of our national identity as Gambians, we stillfight over political affiliations and ethnic identities that, paradoxically areinimical to our collective wellbeing as Gambians. Wishing ill, speaking ill andacting ill towards each other is wishing ill, speaking ill and acting illagainst ourselves. These unhealthy habits cripple our collective capacity torise up to the challenges that erupt around us every day. They prevent us fromtaking the practical actions necessary to address and neutralize many commoncrises that plague our society from day to day, year to year. This has been anabiding crisis of African independence; but it doesn’t have to be the crisis ofthe New Gambia. We know what the problems are and we have the capacity totackle them head on if only we take the necessary action.




The tricky part is that crises of the sort that continues tocripple African societies are best addressed by African governments simplybecause they are the best-equipped directors of collective social action. Inthe case of hostile political and ethnic divisions, our government needs toinitiate as a matter of urgency a protracted process of active nationaldialogue. Our government needs to dedicate some resources – institutional,personal, and monetary – with the mandate to carry out a national and sustainedcampaign against political and ethnic hostilities in our society. Issuing anoccasional press release is certainly better than doing nothing. But it is notenough to effectively address and neutralize the politics of hostility in oursociety. And the longer we fail to do something concrete that yields noticeablelevels of political and cultural civility in our society, the larger ournational political and ethnic crises will grow. If we fail to take practicalmeasures to neutralize the simmering political and ethnic tensions in oursociety, we will be repeating the costly mistakes of the past and settingourselves up for disastrous failure. And all we need to do is talk, talk, talk.Deliberately talk to each other in an open, honest, respectful and edifying mannerabout what, above everything else, unites us as Gambians and as human beings. Asustained process of healthy national conversation about these issues on radio,on television, on social media, in the press and at public gatherings acrossthe country is indispensable in our quest for proper national advancement. Andwe can keep talking to each other in this manner into a bright future.

 

 

 
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