Alhagie Demba was the alkalo of Sukutakunda. He was also a staunch
supporter of the ruling government. He had always perceived Buba to be a
member of the opposition, and had seized every opportunity in any village
gathering to derail, trivialized and politicized his community development
efforts in the village.

Buba was a young high school graduate, who had recently moved to the
village from Banjul. He was an avid reader and a visionary, and somehow felt that as an educated person he had a moral responsibilty to commmunity
organizing. He therefore started to organize the people. Buba believed that
responsibilty should start from the home, then to the community and finally
to the nation. At every level people should have a sense of responsibilty to
their family, to their community and to their nation.

As an educated person, Buba had an inate disposition to do something
about the quality of life of the people; he, therefore, challenged himself
to change the conditions in the village, and make the life of the people
better. He organized the youths to form a youth organization; he helped the women form a village community garden project, and he also began the process of initiating a Village  Council. Thus Buba was involved in every aspect of the village community; he was the youth leader as well as secretary to the women's community garden project, and also the initiator of the Village Council.

The hostility between Alhagie Demba and Buba deepened when Buba started to initiate the Village Council. The Village Council was composed of all the respected elders in the village, and the youth body was also represented. To Alhagie Demba this was an affront. The Village Council would have the sole authority to render decisions on all communal issues affecting the village. This arrangement to Buba was more democractic, than having a pupet alkalo who propagates the government's political agenda in the village. Rather than giving authority to one person who may not even have the interest of the people at heart; the people should be empowered through a representative Village Council.

Buba sought the participation of Morro Ceesay, the minister of Local
Government to establish the Village Council and give it a vested authority.
The minister had initially accepted to be the guest speaker at the
inauguration, and someone was coming from Radio Gambia to cover the event. However, three days before the event the minister cancelled his attendance. Alhagie Demba was in a jubilant mood as he crisscrossed the village, urging the village elders not to attend the inauguration should Buba choose to go ahead with the scheduled meeting. He had earlier gone to the minister's residence with a small delegation, and had convinced the minister not to endorse the idea of a Village Council because Buba was a strong supporter of the opposition.

"This young man is against the government," Alhagie Demba told the
minster. "We have done everything to get him to support the party but he
refused. Look what he did to us when he was part of the delegation that
attended the Prsident's political rally in Bakau. We took him to the rally
to represent the youths in the village, as the youth leader and say the good
things that the government could do for the village. And also affirm our
total support and allegiance to his Excellency, but he dissappeared on us
before it was his time to speak. You were at the meeting; the President was at the meeting as well as all the other cabinet ministers. We were deeply embarrased on that day."

"I will talk to the chairperson of the President's Ward Committee in
your constituency. We will take it from there," the minister assured Alhagie
Demba.

Alhagie Demba's face contorted with a big grin when he left the
minister's residence that evening. With the other members of the President's Ward committee in the village, they carved a vicious scheme and set Buba up into openly supporting the government. They decided to nominate him as the secretary of the President's Ward committee in the village in their forthcoming political rally.

The President of the Republic, established the Ward Committees in all
the wards in the Bakau coonstituency, aimed at capturing that constituency
seat, which the govrnment had lost in all previous elections. The President
personally had commissioned his obsequious Minister of Agriculture, to head
a delegation that organized political meetings in all the wards and set up
committees.

When the Minister of Agriculture came to Sukutakunda to hold a
political meeting, Buba had no idea that such an event was taking place in
the village. He had not been informed of the meeting; neither was he told
that he was a prospective candidate for nomination as secretary of the Ward Committee in the village.  He knew of the meeting on that very day, when he heard the drumming and a noisy din coming from the direction of the village arena. He was on his way to watch a soccer match organized by the sports committee of the village youth organization.

Buba decided to go and see what was going on at the village arena,
before he proceeded to the football field. When he arrived at the arena, the
Minister of Agriculture was addressing the tumultuous crowd.

"Our government has brought peace, stability and prosperity to our
nation. We did this by the grace of God and our indefatigable President. The
President has always committed himself to unite our diverse people, in our
common efforts to bring peace and prosperity to our country. We know there is a radical political organization that is polluting the minds of our young people. They have nothing to offer, and their rhetoric is as empty as a dry well overgrown with weeds. As for the opposition, they have nothing to offer either. All they have is to rattle insults and condemnation. All the young people should rally behind his Excellency, and the youth programs of the party. Long Live his Excellency! Long Live the party! Long Live the nation."

The Minister was shouting at the top of his voice above the clamor and
drumming that greeted every reference to the President. Buba was seething with scorn and indignation. He couldn't stand the hypocrisy any longer, and left the gathering where he stood out of sight, as surreptitiously as he came.

After Buba left the meeting place, the nomination for the position of
secretary to the Village Ward Committee began. The chairperson of
the Village Ward Committee nominated him. There was a vote by acclamation. Amost instantaneously hands fluttered in the sky like clothes peg out to dry in the windy and sultry sun.

By Rene Badjan