We are a nation of corrupted minds who wrestle daily within ourselves to shape an identity that’s neither a reflection of who we are or our beliefs. What we seek most is glory.
I can’t help but notice that the conversation has changed from ” the struggle” to ” the project” overnight. This may be surprising to some but not to me because iv mostly engaged in the self- study that seeks to understand the psychic of the average Gambian.
All of a sudden, we now believe that what is achievable in Senegal must be achieved by Gambia but refusing to recognise the factual realities and differences between Gambians and Senegalese.
What we see today in our Gambia is public vilification of those that did not support Sonko yet within the thickness of our skulls we also preach Democracy. However, in advancing our democratic ideology, we forget to recognise that in propagating democratic ideas, we must respect the rights of others to not agree with us and enjoy their rights to make choices differently from what we choose.
We can call out individuals, who decided to take the place of almighty God and make pronouncements such as “Sonko will never be president”, “Pastef can never win an election in Senegal” etc. These are individuals who assumed the role of God but forgetting that as long as God lives, he reigns supreme and we must remind them that destiny is what one desires and aspires.
Years of engaging in geopolitical traversing cannot make you define the destiny path of a suppressed society.
The Gambia must carve its own path and fight for the total emancipation of Gambia focusing not on SELF but a greater and wider public good.
In The Gambia, if you start a business today, twenty others will follow. Innovation is zero and what we mostly good at is copying and stealing of ideas. Our policies as a country are mostly reactionary rather than innovative.
We our mostly dictators within ourselves and what is not our own idea and thinking is not good enough and we mostly walk away in anger or actively ensure that everything fails so we can sit afar and say with utmost pride: I knew it! I said it! I knew it will fail! This is what I saw!
Sonko had a plan and a strategy. Before he went to prison, he had already identified an individual who, in any eventualities, can get the job done. He looked ahead and make alternative arrangements because the task was not about SELF but FOR COUNTRY. In short there was a succession plan actively in place eben before there was a disaster.
How many times didn’t we fail as a people and a nation because we felt betrayed and abandoned simply because we wouldn’t have it our way? It must be out way or nothing at all.
The Gambia of today is not the same as that of the struggle of yesterday and neither can it be the project of today using the tactics and inspiration of a different circumstance.
We must be honest within ourselves first to fight the dicator in us then would we be able to map out our own revolution that is premised on honesty, sincerity, country, love for humankind and an understanding that the objective is not about who the pilot is but what the pilot can do to ensure we get to our eventual destination.
By Melville Roberts