Gambia is a sad case! My heart bleeds for my people! They have no one to look up to when in dilemma despite running after air conditioned convoys on foot, the unending drumming and dancing under the heat with probably empty stomachs! Fighting anyone who is critical of their beliefs. Some will go to the extent of sitting on top of geleh gelehs just to cheer politicians who are sitting in their air conditioned vehicles with their seatbelts safely fasten and waving at them through the windows.
When shock-stricken nations are taking comfort in hearing from their leaders my people are crying on Facebook trying to find theirs! I feel your pain! I hope next time you’ll put your money where your mouth is? The endless gofundme on social media has led to donor fatigue when we have a whole budget that should be used on citizens instead it is for personal use. I feel your pain because we share the pain but the sad reality is I know this won’t change anytime soon because it’s a mindset. We will continue to jump from the frying pan to the fire each time we select our leaders because we do not measure them on what they can do for us to change the dire situation we are in but we choose them for dominance hence when they take that comfortable seat they dominate and rule us like their element!
Since we have no reassurance from the politicians we once ran after, the ones we placed in air conditioned cars, offices and homes, the ones we feed with the best meats and fishes while we struggle to even find bonga we’re now left with no choice but to embrace and comfort each other. Let’s be each other’s keepers since this COVID-19 is not slowing down anytime soon. Let’s put all our political differences aside and tackle this highly contagious virus! We mustn’t forget that we do not have the help, the leadership and support required to tackle this head on so we (the citizens) must do it ourselves for if we don’t we’ll be the very ones dying on the streets with our poor families! Let’s not be negligent! Let’s pay heed to all the precautionary measures put in place by WHO to protect our little Gambia!
I know it’s hard to achieve much without a leader in place but we MUST do this even without one because we do not have a choice and time is not on our side. I haven’t been sleeping, I’ve been thinking about my people back home knowing that if Covid-19 should get out of hand we will be doomed! We literally do not have anything and any means of controlling it! I have seen the efforts the UK government is doing to control this yet they’re already struggling with logistics, protective gears for NHS staff and lots more talk less of a leaderless country like my poor little Gambia. I am sad! Very sad in fact.
By Yaf, in UK
