Alagi Yorro Jallow
Everyone is gifted in speaking from both sides of the mouth. To succeed, it is a talent you must learn if it did not come as a gift from nature. The more notorious or demagoguery one appears, the more volume to wiggle your tongue either way on issues. We flip flop on issues depending on the size of the pay check or self-interest.
President Adama Barrow like addressing issues peripheral to our daily existence. And we cheer him with glee. Today, Gambian youth are crying against unemployment and subjugation by politicians in our own country for survival. Gambians should be equally asking why we must be paying million in dollars every month for external debt servicing in next decades, on top of the expensive loans for constructions and rolling stock of Bretton woods and Chinese loans.
How is it that the construction of sixty mosques in the country seems not to have tickled president Barrow’s conscience within the last few weeks or so. Where is our national pride? Where is this animal called “Patriotism”?
The Gambia is in urgent need of inspiration. If our rallying call is the “hustler” mentality, we are going to mislead a whole generation. The Gambia is in urgent need of genuine, honest and accountable leadership. This country needs hope and healing. Unfortunately, I do not see that in this man. I see a man in a hurry to make his point. I see an agitated man more visible than a president of the republic of the Gambia. I see a self-preservationist. I see political machinations. I see no servant leadership in this President.
The Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital (EFSTH) has run outin the areas of essential drugs and medicines, health technologies, and human resources for health, also ran out of Herceptin, an essential drug provided to cancer patients in government hospitals for free. Why are we not engaged on the issues that are of concern to Gambians? What is this trans-formative nonsense about “change” and “development” if the sick cannot access healthcare and live in dignity? Who are we building these “mosques” for?
Why are we busy pontificating about imaginary political debts (rather than discussing our ballooning foreign debt) and justifying our empty rhetoric using the Holy Quran? This toxic mix of faux religion and politics will drive the country to the trenches. And the religious clerics seems to be the most recent endorser of this tightly knit club called “donations” from unexplained sources. Our mosques are a story for another day. If we do these mosque projects for another few years, we might be stating at an IMF bailout. If you think I am hallucinating, read Greece.
Religion have largely failed being positive examples in the country over the last decades. For many, especially in the third world, religion is nothing more but a coping mechanism to deal with the challenges of day to day life.
In public we present images of piety. Away from the confines of religion, we are very different people. And because of this duplicity, both Christianity and Islam are fast becoming nothing but a “fashionable” lifestyle. From the manner and content of “gospel” music and Islamic hymns, deceptive, manipulative preachers making a living from fake miracles in worship places and the clerics consorting with corrupt politicians.
The moral authority of Churches and Mosques is quickly eroding. Not only in the Gambia. Even in places like the US many people are questioning conservative politics that is corrupting Evangelicalism in support of Donald Trump. This brand of politicized Christianity, just like politicized Islam, does not have the intend spiritual impact towards human behavior. Instead, it creates religious bigots and politicians. ISIS is politicized Islam. Pastor John Hagee, the man who advocates for the killing of Palestinian women and children by Israel is nothing more than a bible quoting politician. And when we are unable to impact behavior through the wholesomeness of spiritual teachings and our own lives as examples, we resort to building appearances belong to the realm of politics. We have failed to plant conviction in the hearts of men and women, so we use religious coercion.
This trait is alive and well in our politicians as well as many “know nothings” roaming the streets. Supporters of the Barrow Youth Foundation for Development has always been duplicitous. They will openly condemn corruption in government, yet at the same time support its looting leadership. The same duplicity can be found in their social media postings constantly tweeting “Progressiveness”, yet they are part of the “system” that the fiery tweets from “idle, unemployed, disturbed youths” seek to tame.
There are still some supercharged fellows typing Barrow Youth Movement for Development. But again, our ballot induced psychosis and tribal mass hysteria could make him second term President. Voting without conscious thought, then complain later. What will be different then? I am still waiting for that son or daughter of the Gambia, irrespective of where they come from, who will convince me that they deserve my vote. I say this with the full knowledge that I only have one vote. Rest assured that I will not waste it on charlatans. The guy who collectively bewitched us died with together with the antidote.
