By Da One
If you hear the names Sheriff Touray and Pa Amadou Saho, you might have already subconsciously categorize them to particular ethnolinguistic groupings. Rightly or wrongly, it will be immaterial and you are soon about to find out the reason.
I had a conversation with these two gentlemen on how and why our social, political and economic fabric has and continues to degenerate to a level that has the potential to give birth to a Rwandan-type genocide if we don’t collectively and decisively act now. I am a convinced African republican, meaning I value nationhood that ultimately should yield power to an African continental government. This conviction is above all other considerations. The two mentioned gentlemen, probably even more than me, have placed their premiums on the cohesiveness of our country above their individual “ethnicities”.
I placed the word ethnicities in quotation marks because to them, the beautiful manifestations of Gambian languages and cultures should not be primary or even secondary factors to mark our identities. For them, what binds us as Gambians and Africans for that matter, is our common struggle for an equitable society firmly based on the ethos of justice and prosperity.
Between sips of coffee, I listened with all the attention I could muster as they took a plunge into the post-independence ethnic diversity of everything Gambian—from the composition of sports clubs in the 60s,70s and 80s, to how ethnic fluidity is to be found in families from Karton to Koina. Today, I know from my conversation with Sheriff and Pa Amdou that ethnic and tribal considerations played no part in the battle for the independence and liberation of our country from colonialism and colonial exploitation. Essentially, a great sense of nationhood prevailed that made each and every Gambian to become a defender of justice and equal rights for everyone in the country irrespective of language, culture, trade or religious affiliation.
As the conversation progressed, I, a dumbfounder, caught myself asking in my subconscious mind why and how have things taken turn for the worst. Why and how is the renewed sense of ethnolinguistic belongings taking center stage in our national political discourse, both in the country and surprisingly even amongst Gambians working and living abroad?
Perhaps there are more questions than answers at this particular moment. That however leaves us with one important matter at hand to be confronted head on. The complicity of many political party leaders in fermenting and fanning the tensions that all too well have come to dominate social media platforms since our transition from tyrannical rule to a democratic governance in a supposedly free society.
For the purpose of this opinion piece, I shall refrain from naming those political party leaders who have no policy messages, no messages on the importance of national cohesion to defeat the demons of corruption, no messages on how to end chronic poverty and our underdevelopment status. The vast majority of these political opportunists only guarantee to get to power or stay in power, is to breed hatred and ethnic animosity amongst Gambians. Sadly, it’s the same Gambians who have everything to lose should they begin to shed each other’s blood.
Those who, first and foremost, have put on the ethnic flames, undoubtedly, have either already planned their exits or will beforehand evacuate their immediate families to safer countries. This is what history has taught us.
According to Sheriff and Pa Amadou, these politicians are not even loyal to their ethnicities. Their intentions, acts and utterances are meant to play Gambian people against one other so as to concentrate power and privileges in their hands and their immediate families. That’s how and why our country has degenerated and is regressing in the political, cultural, social and economic consternation of the African continent. It will be hypocritical of me not to agree with them.
For today, I am lucky to have met with two compatriot Gambians of outstanding convictions, who have given me hope that our ethnic diversity (languages and cultural practices) are treasures worth celebrating to serve as the foundations of our unity to continue fighting the battles to promote our general welfare. Any other contrarian path or trajectory to their disposition will be a betrayal to our ancestors, foreparents, children and their progenies yet unborn.