By Mathew K Jallow
The term Founding Father conjures up images of the American Revolution, and applying it to Sir Dawda K. Jawara, has always felt like a stretch for me. Yet, the realism and enigma of Sir Dawda is articulated in the pioneering spirit with which he so ably led the Gambia into the mush-rooming age of political independence. Sir Dawda Jawara was molded in a cast, which almost defied definition. The embodiment of a conglomeration of three cultures wrapped into one person, Sir Dawda, out of social expediency developed a redeeming neutral identity that combine his Wollof cultural upbringing into a detribalized Fula family and set him on a journey towards adolescent identity crisis. Sir Dawda’s character and personality are the products of the refined sophistication of the Aku culture into which he was married, the omnipresent Mandinka heritage, which loomed large in his background and the Wollofnized Fula upbringing that shaped his early years. And growing up in Bathurst, now Banjul, where his discriminating sense of tribal identity was diffused by homogenizing cultural forces more powerful than the confounding sense of tribe, Sir Dawda, became a product of the environmental circumstances that profoundly pervaded his early life. With the pull of different cultures and the draw of conflicting identities, Sir Dawda learnt to rise above the narrow limitations of tribal identity in order to escape to a neutral safe-haven, and away from the demons of his inner cultural conflict.
Even when politics necessitated a response to the self-interests that consumed the antagonistic tribal forces in his government, he seemed to quietly retreat into the familiar neutral. And nearly two decades after his fall from political grace, Sir Dawda’s story is still being written by the inadvertent paradoxes of history, as contrasts with Yahya Jammeh’s murderous regime becomes the true testament of the genius of Sir Dawda’s leadership. There is no a doubt that the verdict of history will cast President Dawda Jawara in good light; notwithstanding the economic failures that supposedly led to his political downfall. Throughout his public life, Sir Dawda remained neutral to a fault; for when faced with competing tribal forces, he show-cased neutrality that often bordered on detachment from the natty gritty of the nation’s daily political life. Sir Dawda k Jawara was never given to drama, and even when the nation’s resources were plundered right before his eyes, he seemed almost unable to provoke a sense of accountability and discipline in response to the exigencies of the moment. And despite his abundant gift of wisdom, Sir Dawda Jawara easily fell victim to his popularity, but more important than that, he never learnt to hold the feet of his subordinates to the fire. It was this lackadaisical approach to governance that became his undoing. For, even as he drew sharp criticism for the country’s descent into the depths of corruption and tribal infighting, he seemed to bury his head into the sand.
Yet, despite his failures as our leader, Gambians today would rather relive the worst of the Sir Dawda K Jawara era, than to remain prisoners in a state of suspended animation that challenges our national conscience and degrades our humanity. The last two decades of Yahya Jammeh’s ignorant dramatics are radically different from the tempered era of Sir Dawda; an era characterized by the paradoxes of insidious tribal conflict and manifest political harmony. As President, Sir Dawda was without a doubt a man of vision both by nature and circumstance, yet he lacked the strength and the force of will to rein in the run-away corruption, looting and the pervasive plunder of our nation’s resources. Today, that corruption remains embedded in the body politics of our country, but elevated a level of corruption bordering a crisis situation. In spite of this, Sir Dawda remains the picture perfect embodiment of nobility and grace, a rare breed of politician who exudes a angelic serenity; a man who seems more fixated on his unique qualities as a compassion statesman and whose superior morals precludes greed for material wealth. In that regard alone, Sir Dawda has become the true definition of honor. During his thirty-year long presidency, Sir Dawda provided opportunity for Gambians, yet somehow, the cloud of ethical degradation that hung over his successive governments, failed to alert his good judgment for reason that to this day, leaves many Gambians perplexed. As president, Sir Dawda Jawara was unlike most African leaders of his generation; leaders who took advantage of their positions to enrich themselves with the wealth of their people. If there is one negative about the era of Sir Dawda on which there is universal consensus, it is that he overstayed as president, even when the signs for his departure were written on the wall for all to see.