What made sense in 2017 is beginning to be abused, and put the Gambia’s sovereignty and pride into question. The idea of the ECOMIG forces transitioning to a police force is very stupid, and frankly, even the politics of it is odious. In the early sixties, under the British empire, The Gambia was not seen in a position to function as a viable independent entity, thus tag as the improbable nation. Even though it has been a difficult journey but we held our own and proudly became the Republic of The Gambia
Back in 2017, the ECOMIG forces roaring into the Gambia was well received and seen as the only solution to see the wishes of the Gambian people respected. The majority of the Gambian people lost faith in the security apparatus of the Gambia, and frankly, the forces were also totally out of their element. Transitioning from a twenty-year rule under a dictatorship where command and control were under the tutelage from one person morphing into a fragile democracy trying to find its footing, ECOMIG forces made lots of sense. Four years later, our democracy is evolving and the promise of Gambia can be seen on the horizon, only if we have faith in ourselves.
The Gambia has never been like a Somalia, nowhere close to Iraq’s situation back in the early two thousand, or Afghanistan of today. Now is the time to wean ourselves from external forces, complete the security reform exercise and take the future of our country into our own hands. The future of a peaceful and stable Gambia ultimately is in our hands, and political jettisoning only undermines our trust in our security and police forces that for the past twenty years underwent the same sort of abuse and negligence.
MUSA JENG
FTPBTP
