Now that a new government has been put in place to serve the ultimate
interest of the people of Gambia for the next five years. I am appealing to
our intelligent and conscientious technocrats in government to co-opt and
maintain a keen unwavering sense of responsibility, moral and professional
obligation to those they owe social, moral, fiduciary and legal
responsibilities – the Gambian people. That is what is known to be
patriotism. Not declarations of unflinching dedication to the perpetuation
of an establishment whose leader will not hesitate to use abuse and refuse
you. That is to say a wordless, and consequentially a thoughtless and will-
less patriotism, a revolting nonsense! An unworthy deception! For that kind
of patriotism assumes that while you are in a state of not being able to
will, to think for yourself, you bound yourself and possibly all your
descendents – by virtue of having let yourselves be abused and refused
without raising a finger – into perpetual slavery.
It will be indecent for you to remain isolated in your newfound liberty or
absolute right, paying no attention to the moral freedom and dignity of
others except in those cases wherein such attention is dictated by your
weakness and self-centeredness – in other words, by your own imprudence and
personal interest. Avoid the temptations in making egoism the supreme law
or the only extant right in our society. The good must not be determined by
success in the perverse interpretation of patriotism or largesse. Justice
must not be the simple political enthronement of Jammehs’ horrible, cruel,
and infamous wishes. Good cannot be determined by only the greatest
satisfaction given to Jammehs’ ego, which can only be accomplished upon the
real sacrifice of your moral conscience.
The distinction between a patriot and a saboteur cannot and should not be
determined by the extent of degrading moral and social abuse you can take
from Jammeh and his significant others. As a morally conscientious
professional technocrat and civil servant, society will judge you better if
you avoid having to bind yourselves with insatiable lust for pleasure,
recognition and quick loot, or avoid to assume the duty of subordinating
your moral obligations and conscience and your individual rights and
obligations to the common weal. Your ultimate duty to the society must not
be overlooked. You should be mindful of helping, intentionally or not, any
single individual to become the most negation, the most callously
calculated and complete negation of humanity. One who will not hesitate to
rend apart the social solidarity, cluster some of the most vulnerable - the
seemingly intelligent – in order to destroy, humiliate and enslave the rest
in his own way for his own selfish reasons.
The kind of leader that takes under his protection, for his protection,
only his toadies; one who recognizes and gives respect and humanity only
within the confines of his own boundary of special friends, is far from
what we need in a nation that is grappling with an abysmal state of poverty
and economic, fiscal management. A leadership with no sense of duty to
those it is obliged to serve is not what we need.
Abdoulie A. Jallow
(BambaLaye)
============================================================================
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
- M.L.King Jr.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
