Due to the confusion on the part of many on the choice of the subject
heading “of Goats and Politics”, let me pause a little to explain the reason
behind it.

Like I said before, from Youssou Ndure’s most recent album, there is a very
beautiful and inspiring song called baye. In that song Youssou explains the
wisdom of goats mingling with their goat folks and warns of the danger of
them mingling with other species of the animal kingdom. In it he explains
how the offspring of a particular animal befriended a crocodile once and
never returned to its mother by evening time. He sites the example of hyenas
mingling only with hyenas, tigers with tigers, lions with lions and
elephants with elephants. Continuous throughout the song he warns the goats
to be careful of the company they keep. He constantly appealed to the goats
to realise that if they don’t keep company with their fellow goats, they
might find themselves accompanying the “Cherreh” or the “Dahinne”. One of
the vocalists of the group summarises it thus: With goats he can eat his
“Cherreh”, with goats he can eat his “Dahinne” and finally use the hide to
make his drum. He therefore declared that he would always vote for the goat.

The meaning I deduced from the song reminded me of the joke about politics
that I was told a couple of years ago. It then dawned on me that I should
try, in my own little way; to explain why we are in the situation we are in
today and how dangerously we tend to be mingling with the other species of
the animal kingdom. Anybody of sound mind and cares about the country cannot
fail to realise how dangerously high the political climate in The Gambia is
today. Militant supporters on both sides of the political divide seem to be
bracing themselves for the ultimate showdown. Speeches from both sides
indicate a total lack of tolerance, bordering on absolute hatred of each
other. The media coverage is doing very little to calm things down. The
efforts of the likes of Ousman Manjang, Mohamed Sillah and Emanuel Joof to
try to calm things down is a clear manifestation of this impending danger. I
should know ‘cause I do spend some time with each of them from time to time
and each time our discussions focus on the good job they are doing and how
important it is that we avoid any form of conflict in The Gambia. To me, the
goat is synonymous of The Gambian People while any form of conflict will
only make us accompany the “Cherreh” or the “Dahinne”. This is complicated
by the fact that recently Gambians have been exposed violent crimes unknown
to us until very recently. Hardly a week goes by without you hearing of some
violently attacked. While I am not xenophobic, I am very wary of what role
the huge number of refugees we are harbouring, many of whom have witnessed
some form of violence that most Gambians cannot imagine possible. This, I
cannot do unless I explain why The Gambian populace is so polarized, with
some on either side of the political divide, are ready to lay down their
lives for what they consider a just cause. Call me selfish, call me
indifferent but I, Pamodou Gassama, am not willing to die for any of their
causes. I very much believe in Elmer G. Letterman’s quote: “A man’s greatest
strength develops at the point where he overcomes his greatest weakness”. To
me man’s greatest weaknesses are pride and ego. Add to that narrow
mindedness and intolerance, and you have a primed time bomb.

Having posted part 2 of “Of Goats and Politics” that concluded the areas
that I strongly feel that the former regime let us down, The next part will
deal with how the AFPRC/APRC took advantage of them and built a solid
support base.

Have a good day, Gassa.








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