Bamba,
reading your statement, analyse I can feel how it comes from your heart. You
bite to the bone, first of all because you cry out your dedication to the
country you love and most to its people, who you try to wake up from it´s
blunder. I like it. A man who gives his heart blood for a passionate cry
-"come on countrymen before it´s too late". Be aware what is happening with
you, us as an individual, as a citizen and a human being.
Just a short comment and regards from
Asbjørn Nordam
on 03/06/02 6:39, Bamba at [log in to unmask] wrote:
> What is Gambia as a country for? Why do people seek power? These questions
> invoke the idea of a vision, a plan for action. What does Gambia mean to
> its people, poor or rich, powerful or powerless alike? Do we have a common
> sense of belonging and responsibility? Almost always, you can understand
> the contempt of those who feel and probably rightly so, that many Gambians
> in high office see their country and government in terms of a natural
> farmland with the common misconception of "ku neka chi geta gi naan chi mew
> mi" meaning "those who control the herd shall drink the milk." To them,
> dreams of power or control do not essentially go further than having a spot
> at the dining table and benefiting from the 'gratitude of public
> functions.' Their efforts, or lack there of, in the name of national
> development seems more like a battle of the bellies where the eaters are
> always questioned but no one questions the act of eating. The givers and
> takers are questioned, but not the benevolence or the patronage. For those
> fighting for and seeking divine intervention to get to high positions,
> Gambia is more like a farmland tended by Allah and harvested by a few lucky
> folks. It should strike us odd that the president, sectaries of state,
> permanent secretaries or directors fly their pregnant wives to America to
> have their babies in order to gain American citizenship or to feel the so
> called prestige or illusive superiority. Does such a person feel that
> Gambia is a country with a bright future? Do they feel for the Gambia? Do
> they have a vision for the country? If the president, who is supposed to be
> the glittering example of patriotism, prefers foreign citizenship for his
> baby, should it surprise anyone that that same president sees Gambia as a
> farm that needs clearing out when it is time to harvest? None of these
> people give any Gambian a reason to think of true patriotism, not loyalty
> to Jammeh, as a virtue. What benefits will it yield to fight a real war
> over such depleted illusions, worthless illusions sucked dry by the lavish
> greed of those in control? Those who embezzle and stash the loot in banks
> abroad, lest their investments at home will provide jobs for the
> unfortunate, those for whom misery has become a faithful companion.
> How can we Gambians think of getting together pretending to one another and
> to the rest of the world that we mean business for the Gambia? The foremost
> ambition seems to be to plunder the limited resources and squander as much
> as possible, everyone at their own level. Thanks to such appetite, the
> government machinery has become so infested with the cancer of corruption
> that the virtues of honesty, diligence and accountability are chuckled at.
> The culture of corruption has permeated the basic social fabric. This is a
> harsh reality in today's Gambia. Most of those who can are doing it at
> their own level, from the top to bottom, the only difference being that
> those at the helm have more to grab, they are looting and making off with a
> lot more. Obviously, they all have an interest in maintaining the status
> quo: from the "gelegele" driver and the police officer at the check-point,
> to the customs inspector and the businessman at the port, the civil servant
> chasing files from office to office, right up to the desk of the president.
> Because each of them have become so attached to the system and thus a
> vested interest in it, it has become very difficult for them to contemplate
> the undoing of the system without contemplating their own demise. The
> addictive lack of vision as a nation takes away any feeling of patriotism
> with which the idea of a nation should normally be inspired with a shared
> vision. The tendency is for Gambians to devalue each other as they glorify
> themselves, everyone believing that they are the best thing to have
> happened to the country while working so hard to destroy their compatriots.
> Such selfish tendencies hardly allow for the time to think of Gambia in
> real terms as a collective treasure to be valued and protected by all.
> A constitution or a social contract of some sort is definitely essential
> for promoting social stability and for protecting individual rights and
> freedoms, but a good constitution is hardly enough to put things the way
> they are supposed to be. A chronic lack of vision as a people is more of a
> problem than the lack of a good constitution. For consistent attitudes of
> disregard of public good remains a dreadful neutralizing force for any
> chance of a common sense of purpose and direction. What I believe is that
> we can have the best blue-print such as the Vision 2020 document, but when
> there is blatant disregard, with impunity, of the laws then the
> constitution and all visions become worthless. Our biggest problem is not
> the lack of laws, nor a problem of good laws. The truth is, the Gambian
> social fabric is yet to be permeated with a sense of mission and purpose
> for the Gambia as a nation.
> There is little public control of power in Gambia due to the lack of public
> participation. The masses are passive spectators in decision-making at any
> level, perhaps because we have always relied on politicians and technocrats
> rather than on our ability to organize ourselves into social forces with a
> contribution to make. Political and social affairs are not organized and
> conducted in a way that should allow effective access to decision-making
> for all. Yet, only by returning power to the people in this way, could
> Gambians hope to stop 'living within a lie', and start 'living within the
> truth.' (Havel, Living).
> In this write up, I have attempted to convey my opinion of Gambia as a
> country that is controlled by selfish, greedy individuals who see the
> nation as a farmland to be harvested when the time comes. It is obvious
> that the APRC, instead of capitalizing upon what Gambians have in common,
> has opted for the 'devilish or satanically manipulative' approach that is
> in line with the Machiavellians, which Maya Angelou paraphrases
> thus: 'Divide the masses that you may conquer them; separate them and you
> can rule them.' (M. Angelou, Even the Stars Look Lonesome). By attaching
> the seemingly elite to the illusion that having a place at the dining table
> is just a matter of time for them, Jammeh has succeeded in dividing
> Gambians into haves, have-nots and the hopefuls. At no time could the gap
> between the poor and the rich be so expanded in the history of the country
> as it is today.
> How long these conditions are likely to continue is hard to say. But as
> the 'national cake' diminishes with the worsening economic crisis,
> corruption, mass misery and nepotism, it becomes more delusive for the bulk
> of Jammeh toadies to claim the same or any benefits from their connections
> with the 'big dogs' in power. We have a lot of work to do folks.
>
> Abdoulie A. Jallow
> (BambaLaye)
> "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that metter."
> -M.L. King Jr.
>
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