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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