After more than 54 years of independence from Great Britain, not so much has changed. The Gambia remains one of the least developed countries in the world. Why?
The answer is simple. Our leaders' failure is a reflection of our individual and collective short-comings as Gambians. It lies in our conduct and our mindset. Or do you think it’s a coincidence that after three successive administrations we haven’t even started the process of transforming this nation for the future?
We often condemn the government of violating our rights, yet, we frequently trample on each other's rights without any consideration for the rule of law.
Recently, in Busumbala, we saw a man in his 50s mistaken for a child trafficker and got beaten to the point of almost losing his life. If this guy was indeed a child trafficker, most of us would see those Busumbala mob as heroes who saved the lives of innocent children, without questioning the misconduct of the mob. That kind of injustice sits well with most of us. It’s imperative to respect and observed the presumption of innocence until proven guilty by a competent court of law.
We often blame our government - both past and present - of corruption, yet, we bribe our way out of every situation. In The Gambia today, corruption kills more people than malaria – it kills people in hospitals when public drugs are been diverted to private pharmacies. It kills people on our roads and put everyone's life at risk when drivers and vehicles are been licensed without a proper test, etc. Quite an irony!
We often moan about nepotism and favouritism in our governance structures, yet, it is customary in our places of work and elsewhere to pull friends and families members off the queue and served them first even if they came last.
We often point fingers at our government's financial mismanagement, yet, must of us won’t hesitate to splurge our life-time savings on some social festivities and in the process stifled ourselves in debt.
If both the government and the people turned those wasteful spending into investments, everyone would be better off economically.
We often denounced every government we ever elected for lacking the vision to propel us to prosperity, yet, we ourselves lack the vision for the umpteenth time to elect a leader who would devise solutions to our long-standing problems.
The Gambia, the change we seek lies within reach if every one of us is willing to stand up against injustice, corruption, nepotism, favouritism and wasteful spending, NOT just when it’s convenient, but when it mattered.
We are the government!
By Buhari Jeng
United Kingdom