By Malick Ba

Actually I have been wondering day in, day out how comes we, Gambians are sometimes hell bent on character assassination just to achieve some personal motives? How comes even in the civil service and in the public sector that cancer seems to be tearing apart the entire system? I have tried to find the root cause of the problem, but am afraid I haven’t gotten anywhere close to the answer, that’s why  I have decided to write this piece to draw more attention on the need for us, (Gambians) to stop what we are doing and develop our dear country, one of the smallest states in the World.

During my travels in The Gambia in smaller communities cut off from the Information Superhighway or what we call telephone, Internet etc, I have seen how determined and optimistic those people are about the future of the country, and that how they intend to apply what we might call crude ideas to move the country forward. But what I don’t actually like is the attitude of the Gambian intellectual class, their approach to development, and even to the place they call home is something that needs serious rethinking.

For some people in the Diaspora, The Gambia is the tiny hell hole just like the way the former American President Franklin Roosevelt once described Banjul, when he visited the city in September 1943. No, far from that, The Gambia is not a hell hole or a hopeless country with Yahya Jammeh as President, some people think the situation in the tiny West African nation is so serious that the United Nations should come forward and stop all ‘this madness’ going on in the civil service and at the heart of the country’s leadership.

The point is not what the Gambia has done for us, but instead what have we done for the country to make it greater and one of the most wonderful places for humankind to live just like in the United States, Europe or in Asia. I haven’t found the time to rediscover what each and every Gambian in the Diaspora is doing but the few people I met and spoke to; clearly manifested to me how we think differently and above all how we analyze each and everything that takes place in the country.

Some people would tell you that the Gambia is sliding backwards and that is all caused by one single man, a man who by all indication was suppose to help in the development process, and that man is Yahya Jammeh. Others still insist that President Jammeh alone is single handedly running the country, and that he is the only one who can take this country positively to where it has never been.

While I tend to disagree with both schools of thought, I have a firm conviction that it is only the Gambian people and not a single individual who can move the country forward and this case, I have to call on the Gambians in the Diaspora not to see the country like North Korea, Iran or China where it is still difficult to express your opinion through the Internet. What is important is the voice of the people, and their wishes and aspirations which shall one day cause those on top to change their ways or find themselves out of power.

In this connection, am calling on the Gambians in the Diaspora to critically think about The Gambia, visit the country with a view to finding out what is happening in the country in terms of the big rumors they have been hearing about the country, its leader and the developments taking place in The Gambia. Sometimes, it is unfortunate that when things go wrong, we tend to blame it squarely on the leadership as if he is supposed to be everywhere and at anytime.

I was not going to mention it had I knew it would not solve the problem, blood brothers nearly killed each other when the younger one decided to throw his weight behind the Gambian leader, while the other who has been residing in The Gambia has some negative misconceptions about the Gambian leader, he wanted to frustrate his brother by adopting a negative attitude towards anything or anybody who is seen to be closed to those closer to the corridors of power.

It wasn’t by accident when people waylaid me in the provinces asking me to give them my own reactions to what is happening in the city and that how certain issues had fared. Sometimes I don’t want to drag into sensitive party politics, lest I’m seen as a griot or a Jaliba for the system. But the bottom-line is that probably it has happened to many of you, when many people in a particular community expect the elites to help them decide their future.