By Mathew K Jallow
To some, the issue about the future of the military and the NIA in the Gambia may be a sensitive subject replete with risks and blind turns, but for a significant number of Gambians, simple logic and a dose of pragmatism trump the baseless fears that border on the ridiculous. In the aftermath of Yahya Jammeh’s tragic rule, some efforts undertaken to craft Gambia’s future, and decisions around this theme, were neither very well thought out, nor informed by thoughtful professionalism. And discussions of issues on moving forward aside, there is a moral dimension to the failure of judgment that underpins the political commentaries trending on social media. The issues that continue to dominate social media relate to the fates of the National Assembly, AFPRC, Army and NIA; institutions that for more than two decades, spearheaded the political tyranny in Gambia. Coalition decisions around these institutions, motivated by convenience and fears of destabilizing social order, bends towards permitting these institutions to remain legally active in Gambia’s political life, a Coalition inclination that is completely at variance with the broader public opinions. Short-selling Gambians on issues of significant legal and moral dimensions, poses certain risks, not the least of which is the financial cost and the diversion of considerable resources from pressing national needs, to maintaining a redundant military and NIA. The greatest casualty of deferring to what is socially convenient, is the absolute failure of the application of the rule of law as the primary instrument of guaranteeing sustained social order. And yesterday, as hundreds of Gambia’s young converged on the National Assembly, which by detachment and indifference, is complicit in brutal crimes against innocent Gambians, they demonstrate the groundswell of public opinion tilted towards the dissolution of the law-making body, for their criminal dereliction of duty and failure to protect the Gambia’s Constitution. Read More
1 Comment
I am not very good at long wordy paragraphs. I think the maintenance of the NIA in the new democratic polity of the Gambia would be a serious psychological error, if for no other reason it would be an appalling reminder for many Gambians of the terror misery and cruelty meted out by this group during the kleptocracy of the last 22 years.