The disjointed nationwide discussion about the December 1st presidential election has drawn plenty of observers now turned experts and the regime old guards—trying to get their arms around our momentum by — loudly weighing in, aspiring to trim our hopes with unparalleled cynicism and pessimism. We keep drying our tears because each time we make tremendous progress, these personalities will throw a thorn in the laurels misaligning everything and amending our hopes. That kind of obfuscation—intentional or not and from either side of the aisle—inhibits our focus on the regime, let alone help us. Although sometimes we are constrained by statements uttered with actual malice becoming a sore spot in our memories, this an unprecedented moment in Gambian history for us to be deterred from our cause, perhaps even more than usual, we have an obligation to weigh necessity against the wishes of the dictatorship whose regime has already severely impaired Gambia. The country as a whole already suffers from a massive backlog of needs but the deplorable daily injustices against our citizens, looms above all others.
The regime hamstrung itself long time ago when they intentionally walked away from the needs of Gambian people. Now they are working on preventing added tensions for a chance to pull themselves out of the gutter by busy shielding their leaders irredeemable deplorable, hoping to mask their records of intolerance, misogyny and pervading feeling of exclusion that does not augur well for our country. Conversely, no amount of boilerplate passionate speeches from the regime can change the political equation because the country is ready for change. These are the only things Yaya Jammeh and his regime are amazingly good at, instead of apologizing to Gambians for failing us. Yaya Jammeh has swept in a cultural revolution to eviscerate traces of our past. Our venerable streets are being renamed after the regime elites who fanned the divisions in our society today. The macro aggression of the NIA has also reached unprecedented levels to sway people away from their displeasures and incorporate things that don’t resonate with our DNA as Gambians. All these should remind Gambians of the fierce urgency of now— in making this regime history.
It’s easy to forget also, the disastrous turn the dictatorship has completely razed our society too. It’s increasingly unfashionable to celebrate our once established traditional core values of empathy, neighborliness, truthfulness and trustworthiness that guided our aspirations or even translate them into concrete mechanisms in our daily lives. Those were the things that tied us together as one Gambian family but it appears everything is being swapped with the regimes ideological political configurations. Neither are our multicultural prospects made better by regime elites who fanned division, in effect, if not consciously, continuing to confused Gambians with Yaya Jammeh’s ideological political configurations. Those who secured the highest reaches in the national firmament are mostly cavalier about what their job responsibilities entails, but do not hesitate to take advantage of the situation — in stirring up enmity within their institutions.
Beyond the particulars, there’s plenty of work ahead to bridge the sore spot of political polarization apparent from the troubling rhetoric we hear from both sides of the political aisle. The Gambian people discontent about the murderous regime has become so widespread. We already have a guiding light of coalition to follow hoping it will lead us to victory in rejecting fortress dictatorship. Thus, the regimes primary aim is to prevent all parties from coalescing for them to maintain political monopoly. It’s difficult to see Gambia change for a better having a leader such as Yaya Jammeh who is as careless with his words and with his actions.
By Habib ( A Concerned Gambia)
