By Lamin Comma
It is obvious to many that the Gambia is at a crossroads and many of my colleague political commentators and politicians have attested to this fact. What is not sufficiently addressed and not unanimously consented to the many dangers that fraught this crossroad in Gambian history. Who is responsible for the chaos, coalition intransigence and resulting public disputes that never once serve the public INTEREST? We all know the saying “those who do not have the capacity to learn from history, are bound to repeat its pitfalls. This is quite frankly looking more likely to be our fate if well-meaning citizens from all sides of the political divide cannot come together to counter this looming political threat that can have security and socio-economic implications for ‘New Gambia’.
The coalition needs visionary, unambiguous and decisive leadership that is not just independent (not favoring any single one of the coalition parties) and devoid of political bias… but is seen to be independent and democratic. What we have seen and the last outburst against Hon. Halifa Sallah being a prime example is a Presidency that is discombobulated and a confused. This is very much symptomatic of an unprepared, untested and an accidental leader that is not really in control. What we have is a reactionary leadership, an underling that is at the mercy of a usurper political god-father.
For months, I have been lamenting on the divisiveness and attempted usurpation of our new political reality. A reality that came about as a result of years and in some cases decades of sacrifice by many Gambians and some non-Gambians. Despite the difference in the level of sacrifice from one victim of Jammeh’s brutal rule to the other, each one of us is directly responsible for the regime’s ultimate and spectacular demise. That fact seems to be lost to those who have hidden political agendas and only interested in dominating our new political reality and budding democracy for self-aggrandizing. We all must be aware that a corrupt and divisive democracy could easily be worse than a brutal dictatorship.
The reality in the New Gambia is very disheartening. I refuse to be told to be quiet; I refuse to be told I still need to give the new coalition government more time to do the most basic things according to law and due process in a democracy like disclose ministers assets and do it publicly, conduct proper tendering of huge government projects or properly disclose the source of funding for gifts of vehicles to Law Makers etc. because that is not what we fought and sacrificed for. Such action can be an egregious conflict of interest due to their oversight role and the arm of government that ratifies loan, grant and other multilateral agreements. We cannot let unsavory and questionable characters derail our match toward a first rated democracy shepherded by a responsive and responsible visionary government that delivers and is answerable to its people.
This is not the time to renege on political agreements in an effort to prolong political power, reward ourselves or our friends with government contracts and cozy portfolios or go on a childish rambling when confronted with uncomfortable facts by people who we are answerable to. We will not be bamboozled or distracted with frivolous political gymnastics when we demand answers to the many ailments of our politics, economy and security. 9 months is not long enough a time to impeach a president for lack of substantive developmental accomplishments, but is more than enough time for Gambians to start asking the questions like; when will this government commission a development project that it conceived and developed ( not remnants from the Jammeh era)? Why is Ghana’s new government moving multiple times faster in implementing its development blueprint than our own government with all the goodwill and financial backing of the world? Finally, when will the real President please show up?!
