“If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking’ – George S Patton
“Where we all think alike no one thinks much” – Unknown
I recognized efforts made by many out there to change the path of our nation. The efforts are not necessarily good enough if they are not equal to and/or not addressing the core problem. We should commend all the opposition organizations and their followers for maintaining the political discourse within Gambia for this long at times of severe risks. On the flip side the political activists, especially those outside the Gambia are yet to find their rightful role in the struggle.The journey of human history has being very politically turbulent but more importantly a learning expedition – not sure if we learn much from the 48 years of nationhood or maybe at a very slow rate. From the Caveman (Dark Ages) to Ancient Egyptian Pharaohs’ to the Roman Empire to the Computing Age man has come through mostly adverse political challenges. WW II is probably the most significant events for democracy even though the Greeks the founders of democracy. That war did not start to expand the frontiers of democracy and freedom but it ended leaving the victors with undoubted believe that democracy, freedom and civil liberties is no match for evil and despotism. They set out to fortified democracy and freedom with the famous ‘Marshall Plan’ and as well put in place other instruments to ensure the virgin world follow in order to keep communism/socialism at bay. A little over ½ a century later the commitments to defend democracy, freedom and civil liberties is not the same – maybe those currently in power in the West and/or controlling Western institutions did not fully appreciate the cost of freedom they cherish and/or due to harsh economic realities world over. The fact that the world is no longer so excited to support and defends those fighting for their freedom, as was the case even 30/40 years ago has serious implications for our struggle. Until we understand the extent of global enthusiasm for the defense of democracy and freedom, the shakers and movers and how to engage them The Gambia will not a priority.
Our current interparty political dispensation could be credited to Mr. SM Dibba (‘The Dibba Approach’). This was after Jawara and his People’s Progressive Party – PPP (which by the way included SM Dibba) effectively killed political opposition with the ‘Winner-Take-All’ doctrine. This has essentially dis-incentivized political opposition and consequently all of United Party (UP) except Mr. Gobou Njage of Serekunda West and PS Njie (UP Leader) cross-carpeted to PPP to ensure their political survival and of course make a living. The problem with ‘The Dibba Approach’ it was not to address the problem instead it was to remove and replace Jawara. Frankly, Mr. Dibba has no problem with Jawara’s Gambia except for the internal PPP dispute that resulted to his explosion from the party with the resultant lost of his cabinet position. Fellow Gambian, Jawara is beloved for many reasons by all of us but one fact remain – Jawara’s Gambia is not a democracy and our struggle should not use it as our golden benchmark. The solutions of this struggle would require ‘boldness’, ‘freshness’ and ‘thinking outside the box’ on our part.
The political parties in existence on July 22, 1994 were bulldozed by military take over led by Yahya AJJ Jammeh. Upon return to party political activities we straightaway fell back on ‘The Dibba Approach’ rather than demanding a systematic address of the core problems. In fact our first opportunity was putting in place A New Constitution. We blew up this process because some of the most vocal and visible convinced themselves that Yahya would not contest hence a fast opportunity for their ascension to the seats of power in Banjul. On the other hand some were busy cooking up the document to fit Yahya knowing he is going to contest. Democracy was the biggest loser in this cats and mouse game. What was more troubling about the way we conduct ourselves during the so-called ‘Transition Period’ was our failure to learn from military take-overs in our Sub-Region. Since then every 5 years some will go around the country promising our people a laundry list of things they will do if elected to office. Each time these people will convince themselves and their followers that this is their time and victory is on sight. Certainly electioneering has kept politics alive in the minds of concerned citizens. However, that is probably the only tangible benefit. On the other side it is bad in that is not about addressing the fundamental problems. Although I understand the human inclination that Mr. X will fix it once elected. Human being is conquering animal by nature. Yahya spoke about it before testing the cakes of power and today he is 180o away. In fact he did not only denied Gambians democracy but even kicked out all his colleagues to be by himself. It should be about ‘Functioning Institutions Democracy’ that places checks and balances on people through separation of power amongst the institutions. Let’s put in place the horse before the cart.
In the last 10 years we have settled on the believe that unifying the opposition is the solution. For sometimes now I have being saying no it is not. This is not to say unity is a bad thing – what it simply says is that it is only a strategy to remove and replace Yahya. In fact it will not accomplish that goal since elections in Gambia and not won and/or lose because we are united or not – every election statistics since 1962 can attest to that fact. That could be a topic for another day. However, even if we remove and replace Yahya that is not the same as democracy in Gambia, at best it will be the better of two devils.
Here we are after 48 years of nationhood but for many is just the last 19 years (period Yahya is in charge). To give it some perspective add few years to that is the period Europe emerged from the rubbles of WW II to what it is today; yet we cannot still make a safe trip to Basse from Banjul in 3 hours. It’s my humble view that we have already employed more than enough time yet we are not even on the path to fixing Gambia much more starting the hard task.
We in the diaspora (simply those of us living outside the borders of The Gambia) have a special opportunity to help our nation get on track to appropriately addressing her problems. This is so because we are beyond the reaches of the authorities in Banjul to directly harm us and equally importantly we are better position to sell/market the plight of Gambia to garner International interest for the needed transformations – otherwise anybody at anywhere can undertake this task so long as you can do the work. Either way if appropriately undertaken – it’s not going to be easy, it will take time, it will cost lots of money which we do not have but have the potential to raise it and sadly it may claim life and property. As hard as these difficulties may seem they are better than the disadvantages of alternative approaches so far known to me.
The Diaspora Gambia or their representatives would need to stand independent of electioneering for any political group(s). That is we are neutral brokers with a set agenda – Democracy, Freedom, Civil Liberties, Appropriate Decentralized Governance Structures/Authorities, Prosperity in an Open Equal Opportunity Nation.
That position enabled us define our problem (Problem Statement/Analysis). This begs the question we ought to ask ourselves: What Do We want – A ‘Democratic Republic of The Gambia’ or to Remove and Replace Yahya? These are completely different and the later doesn’t necessarily guarantee the former.
In as much as we despised Yahya and his A(F)PRC Enterprise we cannot continued to ignore the fact that he has to be an important component of the solution. Many of us are with the notion that Yahya is singlehandedly the sole problem. No he is not. Certainly he is one bad guy (Darth Vader) in our history but so too anyone of us will be with the current environment. Our problem created Yahya and if we did not stand our grounds quickly we can expect many more Yahya’s in the very near future. Yahya is not powerful as suggested some. His power is to the extent of our weakness. It is a simple mathematical equation: Yahya + Gambians = 1, when we are zero, he is 1, when we are 0.5, he is 0.5 and when we are 1, he is zero. We should work to tilt this equation on our side. He currently has the upper hand; hence he has no incentive to work with anyone to fix Gambia. The stronger we organize and amass our voice the weaker he gets; that will be his incentive to listen and ready to work with us on the coming of democracy. Strategizing with the opposition group is implicitly telling the other side you are an opponent, hence he will treat us as one of his political foes. The other problem associated with this strategy is the endless leadership squabbling that continued to further divide us.
Here under are the lists of the conceptual format of this initiative
Define Problem/Problem Statement/Problem Analysis
Analyzing the Operating Environment including Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) Analysis
Goal Setting and Program Development
Project Proposal Development and Cost Estimation
Institutional/Organizational Development
Marketing and Advocacy
Monitoring and Impact Assessment
Reporting
Each of the above is a serious work that would require serious people ready to give back to the nation. In fact what makes it daunting is that we do not possess most of the essentials needed. Fortunately, there exist opportunity to get everything we need so long as we do the right work, at the right time and at the right place. Some may be wondering what would the vehicle to carry on this initiative. Others expressed concern of Yahya will not accept this or that – you’re refer back to the mathematical equation. In fact many other questions exist and probably we do not have all the answers; however there is enough to start the work.
The hope is to present this Concept to a National Teleconference. The tentative date for such teleconference is July 22, 2013 – symbolic date. This is a Monday and wonder if that will not dampen participation. We could also consider July 20 that is a Saturday. Participation will be open to all interested Gambians and none Gambians alike. Some serious consideration is on whether at this stage we do need people within Gambia to participate – remember it is not about helping opposition parties to organize but to begin laying the foundation of ‘The People’s Movement For Democratic Gambia’. Look forward to a Public Announcement in the near future on this teleconference for a ‘Democratic Movement’.
Reference could be made to the Concept Papers of ‘The UGAMA Initiative’ headed by the UGAMA Consortium (Chicago Mid-west Conference, 2007) coordinated by Yero Jallow. Also in circulation is the draft of ‘The Working Paper’ that I authored about 2 years ago. In case you would like to read – drop me your email at [email protected]. Hope these provide a good guide for your participation and contributions. What we may try to avoid is Yahya this or Yahya that – yes they are out there but doesn’t help the cause at this moment. Finally, should you have any ideas to share please or want to play significant role in the approach feel at home to come forth and/or drop ideas at the email below.
God Bless Gambia!
810 844 6040