By THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Today, 18 February 2018, Gambians are celebrating the fifty-third anniversary of their statehood. Even after more than half a century of national independence, poverty, inequality and deprivation are rife in the country. During these years of statehood, the country had only three presidents who served in office, with the first two forced to leave power amidst crises. The last twenty-two years were spent under the authoritarian rule that claimed the lives of unknown number of Gambians while maiming many more. Thousands of citizens were subjected to various forms of abuse such as forced labor, unlawful confiscation of their properties, illegal dismissals from their jobs, medieval-era alchemy and witchcraft, illegal detentions and imprisonments, and extrajudicial executions.
After fifty-three years, the country faces dire social and economic conditions with high unemployment rate, skyrocketing cost of living, and chronic electricity and water supply shortages when still only half of the population is literate. Most communities in The Gambia remain steeped in rudimentary living conditions. Unsurprisingly, the country lacks the ability to feed itself when almost half of the population, in 2015, lived below the poverty line of approximately D 57 ($1.25) per day. Furthermore, The Gambia is a highly indebted poor country that spends about half of its annual revenue to servicing and paying the national debt, which currently stands at D 48 billion ($1 billion) or 120 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Over the years, state transgressions and ineptitude deteriorated into bane criminality, official corruption putrefied to the intolerable, and the economic burden became unbearable as democratic consolidation looms like a mirage in the horizon.
Is this The Gambia that citizens wanted at the dawn of Independence? Was this The Gambia the new leaders envisioned at Independence? What kind of Gambian does the citizens want? What is the national organizing ideology? Does the country have a common or collective ideology that binds the hearts and minds of all citizens? What is the basis of their patriotism? Do they have a sense of sovereignty? In other words, what values, standards and objectives underpin The Gambian nation-state?
These questions, persisting and still relevant after five decades of statehood clearly indicate that The Gambia has State sovereignty but not national or citizenship sovereignty. Until now, the vast majority of Gambians are not fully aware of their citizenship rights that the sovereignty of The Gambia resides in them, and that the government derives its legitimacy from the people. The evidence of this lies in the fact that citizens who are well aware of their sovereignty and power could not have allowed one person and one political party to rule them for thirty years, and then another for twenty-two more only to leave the population in abject poverty. A sovereign people cannot allow their leaders to lord over them, like slaves, for entire generations.
Thus, the mere fact that The Gambia had to endure with only two men and two parties for fifty-two years to still remain poor, deprived, and backward points to one fact: the citizenry lack an adequate understanding and sense of sovereignty that the country belongs to them. When one lacks awareness of ownership to one’s own property, one therefore fails to protect that property hence allows someone else to take possession of it. This is the tragedy that has befallen on Gambians for fifty-three years!
The year 2018 therefore brings the country to the crossroads. Which way will Gambians take? Are they going to tread on the same old path of the past half century or are they going to take a new direction towards sovereignty, independence and empowerment?
At independence, Gambians failed to generate a conversation to determine the kind of country they wanted. Rather the new rulers and the society merely inherited colonial institutions and instruments hoping to transform them into a new society. Fifteen years later, the country faced its first armed insurrection when a bunch of radical youths ventured to change the state of affairs by violent means. After the 1981 crisis, the country again failed to conduct a conversation to ask the fundamental questions that ailed the society and state. Yet another thirteen years thereafter, a bunch of disgruntled young soldiers also took up arms to overthrow the elected government only to imposed a fierce totalitarian rule for twenty-two years. That regime was voted out of office but the incumbent, after initially conceding defeat, refused to hand over power in a peaceful transition. A standoff — generally referred to as ‘The Impasse”— ensued for two months with no institution in the country able to pacify the rogue head of state. Consequently, in January 2017, the rest of the world came to rescue Gambians from themselves as they once again failed to demonstrate leadership and responsibility in the manner they governed their affairs. The question now is, are Gambians going to journey for another fifteen or so years only to plunge themselves into another crisis; or are they going to assume full responsibility to determine the kind of country a sovereign people deserve?
As we launch the first edition of our publication, The Gambia Times wish to state that Gambians deserve a genuine democracy, rule of law, free press, and good governance that produce affordable bread and butter, and quality healthcare for the average man and woman. The Gambia Times will strive to create a Gambia where the fundamental rights and freedoms of citizens will be respected, protected and fulfilled by the State, first and foremost; and sacredly defended by all stakeholders in the society, at all times. Gambians deserve a nation-state where citizens enjoy the fruits of their labor and the sovereign resources of the country are equitably, fairly, and justly distributed. Gambians want a country where men and women are treated equally in all spheres of life, and where persons with disability enjoy to full extent their rights as all other citizens. Gambians want a peaceful, safe and stable nation-state where their children will grow up with opportunities, which will empower them to become civic-minded adults to effectively contribute to national development.
Can they create That Gambia? Only time will tell. Until then, The Gambia Times declares that the citizens deserve a Better Gambia!