Diaspora Engagement –The Broken System

Now that the circus has wrapped up and the clowns have parted with
hugs, stares and winks, one has to wonder why Yaya Jammeh himself
didn’t grace this “all important historical gathering?” However, we
need not wonder much for Yaya knows very well that he is presiding
over a broken system. Seventeen years of malice, demagoguery,
undiluted mediocrity and often times, pure madness has left its
indelible mark on the machinery of governance in Gambia.
Unfortunately, Yaya Jammeh and his toadies have succeeded in turning
Gambia’s government machinery into a tool for malice and a
battleground for marabouts and spiritualists in defense of
mediocrities – where incompetence is rewarded for “loyalty” – rather
than a fertile ground for ideas and workable policies.

Consequently, we have in Gambia today a broken system of governance
that will take many, many years to fix, thanks to the “able leadership
of His Excellency Sheikh Professor Alhagi Doctor Yaya AJJ Jammeh.” The
twenty-third vice president of the United States Adlai E. Stevenson
may have been talking about Gambia when he said that “public
confidence in the integrity of the Government is indispensible to
faith in democracy and, when we lose faith in the system, we have lost
faith in everything we fight and spend for.”  Gambians lost faith in
the system well before 1994 but had to be “blessed” with Yaya Jammeh
marching in with his toadies in the name of probity, accountability
and whatever else to destroy, humiliate, and desecrate the sanctity of
governance. After seventeen years of failure marred in brutality and
the imminent collapse of his “Vision 2020,” Yaya Jammeh has now turned
to those he condemned to hell; he has now turned to those he exiled
abroad willingly or otherwise.

Whereas a few has attempted to answer his calls for a circus, the
overwhelming majority of Gambians abroad will continue to do what they
can in necessity under the circumstances while ignoring his
shenanigans of a Diaspora Engagement. Thousands of Gambian
professionals around the world are willing and able to make a
difference and join hand-in-hand to build a better Gambia, only if the
environment is conducive and ‘safe’ enough for them to venture in.
Yaya Jammeh must recognize that faith has to be restored in his
government if he wants to harness the abundance of opportunities to be
provided by Gambians abroad.

Gambians in the Diaspora can be the greatest source of skills and
knowledge transfers where there is a condoning environment to do so.
With proper coordination and organization, Gambian embassies can serve
as recruiting grounds for highly skilled professionals to volunteer
three to six months of their time in helping to build capacities
within government ministries and departments. However, under the
current environment of governance, some of these volunteers could end
up at mile two on charges of “economic crimes” and die of some
mysterious disease therein. What will Yaya and his toadies do to
convince Gambians that they will not end up being yet another victim?

Diaspora Gambians over the years, amidst huge financial and social
sacrifices, have returned home to establish businesses or take up
employment with the government and private companies only to either
face the hostilities of the realities of life under the Jammeh regime
or become some of his most ardent bootlickers at the detriment of
meaningful social contribution. Some of them went as far as
establishing non-profit organization to help alleviate the
socio-economic challenges facing Gambians at home. However, they are
either driven out of the country or dragged into prisons for the most
absurd reasons. These incidents, of which there are many examples,
make it obvious to the rest of Diaspora Gambians that it is not worth
the risk to sacrifice all they have accumulated in dignity and
prosperity with education and life skills only to lose it all, and
sometimes their lives in the hands of an irrational, incompetent,
insecure maniacs within the broken system. What are the guarantees
that Yaya and his toadies will ensure there will be a continuous
safeguard of the individual’s rights of both person and property?

Meanwhile, some of the most pertinent issues that need to be addressed
in order to convince Diaspora Gambians to engage in more business in
Gambia lay right there on Yaya’s doorsteps. Will Yaya and Kanilai
Farms let Gambians in the Diaspora establish Bakeries to compete with
him in the pastry business if they are willing to do that? Will Yaya
let a Gambian in the Diaspora build an abattoir and establish
butcheries around the country to compete with his business if they
want to? Will Yaya let a Gambian in the Diaspora command a fleet of
buses and establish a transportation company to compete with his
green-fleet? Will Yaya offer to sell an acre of his land in Siffoe
Farms or Farato Farms and elsewhere to a Gambian in the Diaspora to
engage in Agri-Business? These are some of the questions that need to
be raised in order to effectively assess the environment in which
these clowns are calling for engagement.

Moreover, if Yaya wants contributions in ideas, policies and
strategies from Diaspora Gambians, he must learn to listen and accept
that not everyone will be licking his boots. He must climb down from
the mantle he has been raised to in the last seventeen years. Yaya
must be ready to hear and accept the bitter truth about the broken
system he is presiding over and be ready to address it. He must
encourage and nurture his ambassadors and other representatives to
create the independence and professional dexterity to gather and give
him the facts with the bitter truth. Yaya must understand that he is
no more Gambian than any of us outside the country. He must understand
that he does not love Gambia more than any of us outside the country.
Should we expect Yaya Jammeh to deviate from the brutality, arrogance
and incompetence that littered his seventeen years in power?

The larger role of government is to provide the public goods that
society needs and to maintain economic order, stability and growth.
These functions can hardly be done in the absence of citizen
participation and citizen participation can only be enhanced where the
citizens’ rights are respected. Is Yaya Jammeh’s government providing
the public goods that society needs? Is Yaya Jammeh’s government
maintaining the economic stability and growth as required? Adlai E.
Stevenson said it aptly: “A hypocrite is the kind of politician who
could cut down a redwood tree, then mount the stump and make a speech
for conservation.”

The argument is simple. Yaya should give Diaspora Gambians the
security of their wellbeing, safety, stability and protection of their
rights to freely engage and he will see what he has never dreamt of in
your “Vision 2020.”


Abdoulie Jallow (BambaLaye)


-- 
-Laye
==============================
"With fair speech thou might have thy will,
With it thou might thy self spoil."
--The R.M


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