By Ebrima Manneh
The progress of society is enhanced by the diverse ideologies of the citizens that come from different tribes, races, sexes, and other categories. The beauty of diversity is that each group or individual brings something different to the table increasing the strength, ability, and possibilities of achieving the desired outcome. In the daunting task to defeat an entrenched dictator, we overcome divisive tactics, and embraced our diversity as a source of strength to achieve our goal. Identifying the factors that threatened our unity in the past helped us form a formidable coalition that ended dictatorship, and ushered a democratic government.
The success of returning the nation on the path of continued growth and development rests on the equal embrace of challenges by both the elected officials and the people. The new government is not only tasked with meeting expectations to fix and improve the country’s deplorable utilities and services, but must be tolerant, and embrace criticism as an unavoidable democratic tenet. The citizens must also embrace the sacred obligation to contribute to nation building, especially during these difficult times marred by scarcity and depletion of the country’s meager resources. Just as we accept or adopt fighting to safeguard the new freedom as a responsibility, contributing to the rebuilding process should be equally considered a necessity.
The division and hatred the past regime incited between tribes, parties, and various organizations should compel the current regime to run on an inclusive and generous platform, and engage partners constructively to attain a viable solution. The government cannot vacate the principle of making people the most important resource. For this to be a reality, the government must follow the will of the people, and not will the people to follow. A true understanding that the power of government truly rest in the hands of the people, creates an unwavering sense of responsiveness to their needs and concerns. The government has a responsibility of winning the trust of the people by creating a nation that will care for all. Indications or reassurance that the elected officials are genuinely concerned about meeting the basic needs of the people, will boost up morale and confidence, an also enhance their patience on expectations. The government and the people can work together, establish policies and practices that serve the best interests of the majority, and not a privileged few. The responsibility of setting the vision for making these aspirations a reality rests on the leadership. The citizens cannot afford to be complacent, and treat “democracy as a spectator sport.” A vibrant and effective democracy requires the full participation of all citizens. We can no longer not be involved in the matters affecting the well-being of society because of the negative connotation given to politics. Desisting from activities affecting day-to-day affairs of the people means surrendering it completely to someone to do as he or she chooses. Being complacent and naive yields undesirable outcome as we have experienced. The call for citizens to contribute to nation building does not take away the need to be vigilant to prevent the return of dictatorship. It is a call and a reminder to handle the great success of defeating dictatorship responsibly.
Being critical and holding elected officials accountable is a citizenship responsibility essential in ensuring checks and balances in the system. It is an important safeguard of democracy that citizens must exercise with great determination. Theorists warned that the collapse of an oppressive regime may provide an opportunity for another dictatorship if the citizen are not vigilant. As chaotic as the current situation may be, we must not panic, but see it as the reality of the aftermath of dictatorship. The horrible legacy of dictatorship which necessitates the preservation of a durable democracy, requires citizens to stay involved and persistent in their pursuit for justice and accountability. While the government is cautioned to be tolerant and receptive to criticism, and not see it as antagonistic to the rebuilding efforts, the criticism must be based on the truth with the goal to still find common ground. We must collectively defeat provocateurs, and encourage a healthy alliance just like we did leading to the creation of the coalition that defeated dictatorship. We are still challenged to seek what unites our leaders and the people than reinforcing division. By controlling our bias, we can identify and recognize the contribution of the individual leaders to the well-being of the nation, and reward them by being grateful to their services. It is not blind loyalty as often misappropriated, but rewarding goodness with goodness. We must continue to work on building trust and giving trust a chance. A progressive society is built on the embrace of shared values and interests based on the truth, and not on falsehood and division.
The government has an enduring task of honoring the unwritten agreement with the people; return the power that was hijacked by dictatorship back to the people, ensure the balance of power that is required in a democracy is adhered to, institute term limits to ensure transitional leadership to create opportunities for young leaders, and more importantly, allow the exercise of civil liberties and natural rights. Another great benefit of term limits is to provide citizens the opportunity to replace leaders within a given period if they fail to meet expectations. By making elected officials understand they are replaceable will enhance their sense of obligation to their constituents. Signs or practices that threatens the durability of the newly won democracy should be countered collectively. Under tyranny, the freedom of speech and the right to assemble were completely denied. The current regime is empowering citizens by making sure their voices are heard, and not stifled as done previously. This is a great start and significant assumption of responsibility as the fundamental responsibility of government is to protect the rights of citizens to “life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.” The deplorable conditions of the country are real and need urgent attention, but the citizens must admit that the obstacles are real. While we urge the government to response to the demands of the people with urgency, we ask the people to be realistic on the timeline put on the government to meet the expectations. A destruction that took 22 years cannot be fixed completely within a short span. The current situation requires patience on either side, and expectation management while exercising a sense of urgency.
The lessons from the various eras in our history should serve us well. We learned the importance of valuing and safeguarding, and the need to protect the hard-won rights. We learned the detriments of looking the other way, and staying uninvolved during perilous times. We also learned what ineffective representation in parliament could yield, the enacting of laws that serve power and not the interests of the people. We also realized the importance of education to offer checks and balances and ensure balance of power. Education enhances the exercise of informed consent to prevent the infringement of rights, and avoid coercion. An informed citizenry cannot be lured into accepting short-term fixation, but rather focus on long-term goals. During our long experience with dictatorship, we witnessed the patent failure of all civil institutions including the judicial system, that either served power or remained mute while atrocities were committed against citizens. Of all the things that went wrong, a significant moral failure was how the masses suppressed their conscience, failed to speak and defend the truth, but justified falsehood instead. At a larger scale, there were a lot of intellectuals, religious and community leaders that “abandoned principle to serve power.” The wide range of conformity and enabling plunged the nation into long dictatorship. This is an important reminder not to be conformist, but also not to be obstructionists and deter progress.
As we embark on reinstating democratic, social and economic institutions, we must equally embrace the responsibility to do our part for the attainment of the desired outcome. Being critical also requires being realistic, genuine and responsible, and not irresponsible in our demands and expectations. The daunting task of rebuilding requires all of us acknowledging that we all bear equal obligation. The rebuilding task is a collective responsibility for both the government and citizens, who must continually ask themselves, how can we contribute and make it better? Admitting the fact that what unites us is greater than what divides us will enable us to see the good in others, compliment and assist as needed instead of focusing on shortcomings and weaknesses. Let our shared interests, the good of country be our reason to continuously seek compromise where our views are different. May God bless the Gambia and her people, bless us with the rationale to accept the truth, bless the government in the quest to rebuild the depleted institutions and ease access to basic necessities. May God continue to intervene in our lives and efforts and keep us on the right path, as He intervened to ensure the end to tyranny.