My little blog has generated a lot of attention. I have been inundated with hundreds of private messages and comments on social media as a result of which I am obliged to make some acknowledgements and comments. First of all I would like to thank the hundreds and hundreds of people who liked my blog and accept it as a positive, genuine and relevant addition to the discourse on the current state of affairs of our beloved country. I thank this group for the show of solidarity and most important of all for their prayers. May God reward them all.
I also received dozens of criticisms and condemnations of my blog as well as my person. This group is determined to separate the wheat from the chaff and they will not settle for anything less. These are the true voices of justice and truth and it is such critical minds that would constitute the building blocks of strong and viable state institutions in the Third Republic of The Gambia. As we all may know, credible institutions of checks and balances are pillars for a peaceful coexistence and development in a country. This group of critics have really reinvigorated my conviction and hope for a bright future in our country and I salute them for their unflinching patriotism and loyalty to The Gambia. Please continue to read, share and make your comments on my blog. This is the beauty of democracy and the freedom of speech.
I have also had a good number of insults, threats and hate messages in my private emails as well as on social media. As a human being, I see other people as a reflection of myself. Therefore, if I hate anyone, it is my own self that I am hating and if I insult anyone’s parents, then it is my own parents that I have insulted. I have got so much love and respect for myself and my parents to ever go down that lane and I pray to God to continue to keep me that way. As for those who are threatening me with violence, it is only God who protects and harms. No one can harm even a fly without the will of God so they have no powers to harm me/cause my death or my family. To God we all belong and to him we will return.
Surprisingly, numerous criminal charges have also been levied against me on Facebook and other online media. One interesting thing about social and online media is that anyone who has access to internet can constitute a court of law, accuse people of anything they like and then serve as the policeman/woman, judge, jury and executioner. But the good thing about these online tribunals is that accused persons have the total freedom of choice whether to respond, remain silent, or even to fabricate their own cases against those who accused them.
Apart from saying that all the criminal charges against me are false, malicious and baseless, I refuse to waste my time on Mark Zuckergerg’s courts. There are only nine months left for our extremely important presidential elections and so I would rather stick to my own personal website/blog to discuss contemporary issues on Gambian politics, peace, security and development.
However, I really hope and pray that we will have a Third Republic next year and that we will be able to set up real and credible courts and institutions at home to freely and fairly adjudicate on our collective differences, concerns and interests. In that way, we will not have to resort to washing our dirty linens online for the whole world to see.
There is however one important charge against me which I would like to confess to. I am accused of being neither a scholar nor an expert/ professional in the field of peace and security and therefore lack the authority to blog on these issues. This is really true. As you can see on this link to my blog: http://www.lamingano.com/my-resume-3/, my resume is an embarrassingly short and scanty one page document. I have got ONLY about 30 education/training certificates; I have served for ONLY 16 years in the military where I held ONLY eight appointments; and I have served in ONLY three peacekeeping missions and heading to my fourth in a few weeks’ time. I do crave your indulgence not to take me to task on this but to pray for me to become a scholar and an expert in this field that I am so passionate about. My long term ambition is to be a peace lecturer at the Gambia University in my retirement age and who knows your child or grandchild may benefit from your prayers.
In spite of my lack of knowledge and experience in peace and security however, I will continue blogging. My blog is founded on the love that I have for my country and the blog is rooted in a 35 year history of pathological abhorrence for violence and a genuine desire for peace, security and development. In my next post, I will summarize this history of travails, tribulations and obsession with security for the followers of my blog. In conclusion, I implore all of us to cooperate and work hard in order to make Gambia smile better!!! Peace to you all.
Lamin Gano
