NADD VII: NADD: THE PARTY of ENLIGHTENMENT By Foday .Samateh.
Hear the arguments. Listen to the speeches. Read the interviews. Follow the
news from
the campaign trail. Weigh the criticisms. Do it all over, again and again.
Each time, each
way, each assessment, the same pattern will emerge that: even in its worst,
NADD is more
right than the rest in their best.
The stark contrast in political thought and philosophy of power between NADD
and their APRC&UDP opponents is a throwback to a momentous period in
European history: The Age of Enlightenment. Sadly, this is where most of Africa is
presently. (But that is a subject matter for a future discourse.) Back to The
Gambia, NADD is the equivalent of the rationalist thinkers who put the
premium on reason and the rights of man over the powers of government. APRC and
UDP, on the other hand, share the “Mansa” notion of
power, a variation of the long discredited monarchical mindset of the
aristocratic era of African fiefdoms.
In the world of APRC and UDP, the political leader is “extraordinary” in
the spiritual sense. In that world, Jawara had a miraculous pair of eyeglasses
that gave him supernatural control over his rule. In that world, God answered
the prayer of Lawyer Darboe’s great grandfather who promised that his
descendant would be president. In that world, the leader remains silent fearing
that everything he says maybe used against him in
the court of politics. In that world, Yayha Jammeh possesses magical powers,
which transform him into a white horse in the middle of the night. He has
the command of a hive of man-killing bees ready to sting all in the middle of
the night. He has the command of a hive of man-killing bees ready to sting
all enemy mortals to their untimely death. In that world, a holy imam of Mecca
gave him a sacred string of prayer beads that forever guarantee his stay in
power. In that world, Yayha Jammeh, like the legendry
William the Conqueror in the ancient past, is an invincible soldier whose
bravery entitles him to his heroic trophy: The Gambia. In that world God will
punish anyone who opposes him. In that world, he operates his own mysterious “
World Bank” and runs his own “Hell.” In the UDP and APRC world, the leader
is the cause and the country his prestige. In that world, the truth is what
the leader says it is. Conformity is its own religion and independent thought,
its apostasy. Consent is absolute and dissent imponderable. Flattery
ascends to cronyism, and criticism descends to excommunication.
In their world
The philosopher fears the fate of Socrates
Abandons the cause of wisdom and hides in asylum of caution.
The pretender who never reads the words of Pope
To know that “Little learning is a dangerous thing”
Plays the erudite in affairs of democracy
Unable to read a syllable of the lines
He goes off script of comedy and improvises a show of tragedy
The audience sighs aghast in protest
And from the back stage a voice shouts:
“It is the Will of God. Everything is the Will of God.I speak the truth. It
is in the Book of God!”
But the subduing voice forgets to tell the unschooled performer
The first verse of the Revealed Word is: READ.
So the pretender goes away the winner, the people the loser
The problem with this worldview is that it is not only anti-intellectual,but
it pushes off human action and responsibility from the plain landscape of
reason and scrutiny into the dust-filled deep dark valley of the
incomprehensible where superstition struggles with divinity. To think clearly is the
constant call of religion.
The pair of glasses of Jawara is not the staff of Moses. We are not so
interested in Lawyer Darboe becoming President by virtues of the fulfillment of
the prayer of his holy great grandfather, DOBO KEMO as much as we are
interested in what he will do for The Gambia if the people elect him President. Yahya
Jammeh can turn himself into a white-horse all he wants, but we do know that
in the religious “Great Chain of
Beings,” the human form sits at the apex and the bestial form lies at the
base.
The western world developed and made scientific breakthroughs only after it
succeeded in telling the politicians that they are as human as the taxpayers.
That they have no special relationship with God, and must never attempt to
assume they have. That their only job is to serve the interest of the people
in worldly affairs, and the people will serve their own interest in the
spiritual affairs. That they are in government not because they possess any more
supernatural means than the people, but because only a few of the people can be
in
charge of the national interest at any given time.
So politicians and their supporters must never use religion for political
purposes. Religion is too important, too sacred, too spiritual and too divine
for the ploy of erring men on secular adventure. The people elect politicians
not because they have a special relationship with God. The politicians’ job
is to run the economy efficiently, provide social services, guarantee national
security, protect the rights of citizens and their freedoms (to be
engineers, scientists, doctors, inventors, investors, philosophers, journalists,
writers, imams,
bishops etc.) without let or hindrance. Beyond that there is no use for
government. And for all things sacred, thank you Mr. Politician, but the imam
will take over.
That is the way of NADD. That is the way of enlightenment and rational
thinker. The contrary is the means of the fraudsters.
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