There is a deep feeling of visceral regret among many Gambians about missed-opportunities that would have given us clear-cut victories in this 2016 calendar year, enough to give future historians a long pause of unusual puzzlement. There have been lots of sparks and smokes but not enough flames to scorch dictatorship out of our country. From the recent defection of the once powerful interior minister-Osman Sonko, who can put a magnifying glass on the of facts on Yaya Jammeh’s crimes, to unsatisfactory response to the events of April 14/16 that led to imprisonment of UDP executives. The border closure of Senegal that nearly crippled our lackluster economy and the most tragic of all, the political weed dwelling of opposition parties against each other that neither showed any aptitude or desire to be the much-needed uniting force of coalition our country needs today. Our oft disjointed responses to all those opportunities were unsatisfactory at best and neither was remarkably inspiring to give dictatorship a final blow it needed to be seriously dismantled.
Sometimes it is so frustrating to see our issues of our nation, which should be invited philosophical discussions, rather have become entertainment spectacles — where superficial and rhetorical attacks against each other are encouraged. Better still, on issues where you would expect a thunderous outrage, our responses are measured and calculated but far from illuminating meaningful outcomes. What outcomes are to be expected other than deeper societal divides if we continue to behave in such manners? Meanwhile, Senegal sleazed Ousman Sonko out like a washed laundry by — peppering him with barrage of questions for their own interest and showed him the backdoor to Sweden. Well!if some people were wondering about their buzz phrase “Eating our own pepper” couple months ago, there actions — now give credence to the statement. As for us Gambia, we let the opportunity pass by — listening to rubble rousers without asking the haymaker questions — lurked on our unseen index card, which should have been rehashed by now.
Somewhat capriciously, Yaya Jammeh has done his homework about Gambian people endurance and now put the steering wheels of dictatorship on autopilot, cursing on high speed of — huge collateral damage throughout the country. Sometimes it seems as if we lack adult supervision because — our ideas of dealing with each other are so unusual that — other people respond with puzzlement. Kicking the can of opportunities down the road will not cut dictatorship much longer as anticipated but it will sure make others become more restive on the issue we should all be fighting together. There is too much at stake for our country but — we as Gambians have the most to lose by not advocating some common-sense, functional approaches – especially going into the 2016 election cycle. Many Gambian rookies “Jonny just come” who bear the scar tissue of dictatorship and have the knowledge that could help bring order to the struggle or have information that will help us get a strong push to climb the walls of dictatorship, easily washed their hands out of Gambian issues.
it’s hard to believe the calendar year 2016 is coming to a close and all that we experienced as a nation though the hands of on lone Yaya Jammeh, is — consistently making the international spotlight numerous times in the most embarrassing fiascos, but unfortunately he is still standing weak on both feet’s. In addition, he have orchestrated and revived — the most troubling of local issues — which we all thought were traditionally retired over the past decade. Yaya Jammeh’s dysfunctional leadership has been fully unmarked but our tap dancing around reality and trusting other nations to feel our pain of grief haven’t paid out well so far. It is not wise that — we Gambians continue to erect monuments of our failures in ceasing opportunities thrown on our feet. We sometimes bruise ourselves by our own vengeful mood and responding to issues with lingering bitterness instead of finding reasonable ways in upending the status quo. Lets make use of the momentum we have to free ourselves. Everyone should remember by now that — it is the soft gentle rain which grows the flowers of hope — when the sunshine of democracy rises above us, not the loud thunders echoing everywhere and scaring some among us.
By Habib ( A Concerned Gambian)
