By Burama Jammeh
What we have being doing is trying to find out exactly what this struggle is about. We started with questions: What are we trying to solve? What is/are the problem(s)? Do we want to remove and replace the president? Do we want ‘A Democratic Republic of The Gambia? Very basic, isn’t it?, but fundamental to finding the right solutions/approaches.
We concluded that most Gambians wanted ‘A Democratic Republic’ whether those desires are implied and/or well thought out is a different matter. In addition whatever ‘A Democratic Republic of The Gambia means to each one of us are probably miles apart. As different as understanding of democracy maybe, the logical questions is why aren’t we democratic and how can we be since that’s what we wanted.
The reasons for not being democratic have its roots to our origin – it predates Independence. We as people do not come from democratic traditions even though there are some traditions/cultures that aligned well with democratic principles while other not so much. We want democracy but didn’t come from a democratic tradition – then we must be taught on democracy. Democracy is not some periodic elections, roads, schools, airports, Banjul arch, flashy presidential vehicular fleet, some nicely painted 2-story buildings and/or fanciful governance arrangement but a lifestyle of a people.
Now we arrived at the beginning of nationhood. When we acquired independence from colonial administration and eventually became a republic – that resides ownership of state to the people. The leaders of the nation were supposed to teach us and mainstream democratic principles in the everyday business of the state. Instead they choose to decorate the state with their image corrupting our good cultures/traditions while democracy is blocked from arriving ashore. They became synonymous to the state. In short The Gambia was neither a functioning democracy under Jawara nor it is under Yahya. They made us contend with periodic elections to legitimize their rule.
We have identified 4 ‘Schools of Thought’ including ours in the struggle to solve the problems. The 2 prominent (“Untying the Opposition Parties” & “Use of Force”) are hoping that their eventual leader(s) would introduce democracy in Gambia. The best they will get is Jawara’s version of democracy and at worst another brutal dictatorship fashioning Yahya’s. More important HOPE is not a plan. History is not on their side – from Kwame Nkrumah to Yahya AJJ Jammeh in Africa– individuals never subject themselves to the disciplines of democracy yet they (those leaders) consider themselves the most democratic. Of course their version!
Of the 4 ‘Schools of Thought’, ours lend its origin from the people and end at the people. That is to develop the requisite human capacity that demand, put in place functioning institutions, mainstream democracy as lifestyle and oversee the sustenance of democratic institutions and values. Between the start and end can be mirrored a full circle that will be very eventful with trials, tribulations and milestones which hopefully will constitute a good part of our political history. It will also not be a straight line nor will it be a cake walk, however hard our resolves are tested if will follow true with a plan there will be no other final destination but ‘A People’s Dictated Functioning Institutional Democracy’. Any deviations from this end goal are probably not worth our fight and certainly not mine. This is nobody’s version of Democracy but the people with whom the Supreme Power/Authority of the State resides and shall ever be so, so long we do not fall for complacency.
Our ‘School of Thought’ has the following distinct features that set us apart from others:
1. Focuses on The Problem: We made deliberate attempts to separate the problems from its effects. We also discipline our selves not to get buck down into noises and weeds. That enabled us to see the problem predating our independence. That is democratic principles and teachings are not necessarily the same as our traditions and cultures. This is just who we are as people. In fact there are few cultures, if any world over that can be considered democratic from get-go. We should have been taught but we were not. We ended up with politics of personalities and “yai-kompining”. We did not have a Constitution before 1994 and the 1996 Constitution is seriously flawed and without defense mechanism, no due process of the law, no rule of law, incomplete numeration/protection of rights/liberties, indemnifications and governance/authority not decentralized. We seriously believe with systematic efforts to addressing these issues with the power of people are the most practical, most feasible and most sustaining paths to democracy. In essence these informed our analysis of the problem. We understood the agony behind unlawful arrests of citizens, firings, illegal detentions, looting public coffers, etc. yet they are symptoms (effects) of the core problems.
Just a stupid analogy: ‘If you come home to a busted water pipe pumping water onto your living carpet – you don’t solve the problem by asking spouse and kids to bring pales to collect the running water. First thing first, you run to a safety valve to arrest the flow. If your plumber is stupid enough not to have safety valves, your next best option is to seal the bust/crack. It’s after taken care of the source (problem) you begin to fix the damage cause to the living room’. Hope this made you think deep about the nature of our problems.
2. An Approach with a Vision Back with a Plan for A Democratic Gambia: Already in draft, ‘The Working Paper’ is our Vision of A Functional Institutional Democratic Republic of The Gambia. We hope to have a finalized version the soonest that will serve as our main working tool. It will be the ‘Holy’ Plan of the struggle regardless who is president now or in future and/or are in opposition. Of course it will be a living document – meaning with time and changing circumstances it will require a revisit by the people for appropriate changes. One thing that will never change is the guest of achieving a ‘Functional Institutional Democracy’.
We understood Dr. Abdoulaye Saine penned a book on ‘Post Yahya Jammeh Gambia’. I did not see/read it but I hope to in the very near future. Nonetheless I hope the book makes realistic practical assumptions of Yahya’s downing. Very likely whoever the successor will fashion our nation into his/her version of democracy that may or may not be what Dr. Saine envisioned. My best guesses are – should Yahya die today of some natural cause – he will be succeeded by one of the influential faction in the National Army. Should he go by means of force certainly the leader of that force will take over. If his down fall is through elections (theoretical an option but not going to happen) in the current Gambia we can expect at best Jawara’s version of democracy and/or somewhere in between Jawara’s and Yahya’s. The current environment provides no incentive for such emerging leader to make Gambia a functioning democracy as it did not when Yahya took over. This is why we are unwavering on our conviction to empower the people of the Gambia to assume the requisite power of the republic in order to lifestyle democracy. This is not a quick fix – social engineering takes time but the alternatives on the other hand will never make it to the finish line
We hope Gambians would sooner rather than later get off ‘The Hoping Game’. That is Mr./Ms. X or Y in power will introduce democracy. At best it will be his/her version of democracy and not one “of the people”, “by the people” and “for the people”. In fact we do not have to look far to see what happen if a person assumes power without the requisite instruments to check their egos. Yahya Jammeh did not only abuse ordinary Gambians he also expelled all his fellow coupists and some are long dead (Sadibou Hydra). Equally 1990s PPP of the “Yai-Kompins” and Propaganda Secretaries was whole lot different from the 1960s of The People of The Protectorates. The only commonality of the 2 is the leaders (Yahya & Jawara) remained and become even mighty powerful. One remains with 2 choices – go with the flow like a dead fish or get the boot or both. Fellow Gambian get off hoping and have ‘An Executable Plan’ based on a vision of A Democratic Republic of The Gambia. We (Gambians) will never agree on one plan, that is democracy but at least it’s a plan.
3. Requisite Knowledge/Conscientization/Information Management Systems for Democracy to Function: We stated earlier that democracy is not synonym to our cultures and traditions ways. Hence great need to educate and mainstream democratic lifestyle cannot be over emphasize. However, that is one chunk of that cake. Besides informed and vigilant citizenry we must have correct and accurate information/data at all levels that inform decisions. One gets arrested (supposed to) based on written facts. National Plans are made (supposed to) on facts that are deduced from the available data. Our nation never had accurate records of how many we are, where we are, what do we do, who are dead and when, where, how, etc. In such a clutter of mess how can we honestly argue for desire for an accurate voter register and elections? The Government of The Gambia cannot prove they issued the birth certificate you hold – no systematic storage of records. You don’t think any mainframe computer can print an exact lookalike of such birth certificate? My kids were issued birth certificate 5 times due to wrong name spelling or wrong place of birth, yet each time is a new registration number without reference to the old one. I bet they must exist 5 times somewhere. My father passed away at RVH in 1982, when I grew up and wanted to know his cause of death because he died young. To date nobody can fine his file. Brikama Area Council had bogus names on payroll – famous “Alikali Commission”. The same may still be happening because nothing changed since besides rearranging of the people. These are serious limitations, if not a complete blockaded for democracy to work. We have a plan to work with authorities to fundamentally overhaul the Social Information Management Systems. Even an encrypted Excel should do if we don’t value it for specialized software.
4. Our Approach is Neutral & Independent: Our approach calls for working with all Gambians on the most pressing issues of making the country a functioning democracy. Hence our relationship with players (The People, Government, Political Parties, Professional Organizations, Civil Society Organizations, NGOs, etc.) will be informed by our vision but not to further their specific interest. We shall not ally any group on their agenda nor would we oppose one so long as is based on democracy. Naturally we will work with all and quite possibly we shall oppose all should they fault democracy. This is 180 degrees difference with those advocating to help political parties organize against another parties.
5. Our Approach has Plans to Raise Required Funds: There is no shortage of Gambian groups/organizations doing (supposedly) one thing or another. This is a good feature of a growing democratic society; hope someday the same vibrancy hit the shores of our homeland. What is not impressive about our groups/organizations are our inabilities to institutionalize and as well secure adequate steady stream of resources to enable do what they exist for. Most groups/organizations remained in the living room of the founders. The out of pocket contributions from Gambians is a good show of commitment but too inadequate to pay for what needs to be done. Our best guess of the cost of this struggle before all said and dusted will be north US$100 million. We would have to rely on other sources for such astronomical sum of money. Fortunately such other sources exist and we have plans to ask for the needed resources. We’re currently working on putting in place the legal requirements before beginning to solicit funding. It doesn’t mean checks (cheques) will be flying overnight but we can take comfort on the fact that we have built good cases to be competitive in our quest for funds.
We hope this gives you an insight to our approach and prepares you well if you plan on participating in the Teleconference either for or against.
Saturday, July 20, 2013
5:00pm – 7:00pm EST
Conference Call # and Code: (605) 475-5900 & 416 565 6#
We hope to detail out the necessary ‘Institutional/Organizational Development’
Involvement, Comments, Questions, Suggestions
Burama FL Jammeh
facebook.com/burama.jammeh
twitter.com/bfljammeh
810 844 6040/810 772 1628