If you really want to know the discomfort and sadness that the current Gambian atmosphere typically stirs, then you actually need to radically rethink poverty, betrayal, negligence, selfishness and lot more ills. It’s quite sad that Average Gambians are always at the receiving end. Anarchial Gambia.
The ongoing demolition campaign in the country is quite scary. But I believe it’s even distressing and worrying to the victims, especially victims that labored to find themselves places by the markets and roadsides to do their little sales just to make ends meet in such a contemporary ordeal. These are people that aren’t saving anything as they even struggle daily just to eke out a living. Most of them are widows that are taking care of their families and seeing their children through school. But what do force-using men in intimidating black gears and those that they carry out bullying and cold orders know about compassion?
Dislodging vendors by the markets and roadsides is indeed a very cold authority. Most of these vendors are women that take vegetables and other useful produce to the markets daily for sale at just-take-it and please-buy-it prices so that they can have something to take back home.
Most of these are women that wake up as early as you’d not believe it, then go to Tanji, Bakau and other coastal fishing communities to buy fish and take it to markets for sales. These are women that wake up even earlier than Imams and those who call Adhan. Sadly, most of them are either widows or are single-handedly taking care of their families. But does the government even care about that? Anarchial Gambia.
Have you thought about those men that built small outlets where they sell the available few items to eke out a living and also grow their businesses, with the intention of either getting married or constructing a house that they’ve always wanted to? Have you thought about those men that only have a wheelbarrow where they carry people’s baggage and items just to make out a living? But what about the beggars and the disables by the roadsides that no longer have any place to even sit down and wait for the few generous people that give them alms?
A government and its proxies that aren’t worried and concerned about all these are evidently very negligent and cold in authority. If launching a mass dislodging campaign against poor and average Gambians is what they call national development, then that one is an absolute malarkey. If it’s their plan to immediately widen the roads as a political move because election is in the offing, then that’s also not the key. If they can afford to subject the greater voting population in women to hardship and ills, then they aren’t lucky. And when the election eventually comes, that’ll be the time they’ll realize that the women that they so need are sulky.
Now, I’ll put on my maverick self to make you understand this. The Bus Driver, alongside his cronies and proxies has now turned this country into a cow instead. Some have helped him tie the cow up whereas others are helping him milk it. They said the milk is meant for the citizens but it’s them that are enjoying it. And whenever the milk turns to sour milk, they feed the few ones that are also close to them in their politics. Those are the ones that the sour milk is reserved for. Those are the vultures, the political vultures. Call it the puntung pantang if you like. But the way things seem to be, the temptation around them to even start sucking the blood out of the cow is very high. Anarchial Gambia.
Aha, the sophisticated seringtu!
Yeah, so on the whole politics is this dirty and disgusting? So exhuming corpses to put jujus underneath their heads has also been happening here? Are they now confessing? What a sophisticated moriyaa! Well, we won’t be surprised if they start telling us the human sacrifices that they’ve probably done, too. Look, if you’re not going to disgust this kind of politics, then we aren’t into your antics.
Geez, the half kilometer tree parlance!
It’s very plain that we live in interesting times. It’s very interesting that we have trees here that are as long as half a kilometer. If you aren’t aware of this, it’s normal because this discovery was said barely a week ago. Besides, it was discovered in a certain village in suburb CRR. It’s an authoritative discovery, too. Haha. But do you know what’s strange? They said the tallest tree in the whole worldwide world is only one hundred and fifteen meters tall. Now, what about his discovery? Tell yourself what that is. Leave me with my embarrassment. Anarchial Gambia.
Now, who should learn the metric system? Is that also not important? Oh, I forgot – they said no one knows everything. Sure, that’s a very comfortable defense to hide one’s ignorance. But it is what it is – certain weaknesses always expose readily any time there’s slightest chance. Is Incompetence hard to detect? Hey, a soldier doesn’t kill a lion and give it to vultures. Instead, he milks a cow until there’s no more milk, then sucks all the blood out of it and later on give it to the vultures. Cheers soldier. We found your discovery interesting. We are liking your parlance as well. Anarchial Gambia.
Is there any regulation whatsoever in this country right now? We all know that there is a free market in The Gambia. There is anarchy that allows bigger fishes to swallow smaller ones, that allows the rich to take advantage of the poor, that allows the government officials to loot from national coffers, that allows certain directors and heads of certain parastatals to succumb ladies to bed in exchange of either the job or the promotion that they’ve been looking for. Anarchial Gambia.
When you go to our markets, the price of commodities are skyrocketing daily. But GRA officials aren’t interested in that. They’re only interested in overtaxing businesses and also siphoning some taxes to their own accounts. GPA doesn’t care about what happens at GRA. They’d tell you what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. This is so as long as they can also “do their things” and run what they call “deal bu deh”. What does the BAC do with all the taxes they collect across the eight districts that stretch from southern Kombo to Foni Jarrol? What is the work of that PURA? What does the NAWEC overbilling mean? Why is our mobile data this frighteningly expensive? And why does the data finish so fast like a New York minute whereas its speed gets so slow like a California minute? Anarchial Gambia.
In all honesty, you’d be very cavalier to not be aware of all these if you’re currently living in this country. And in the honest indices of national interest, we shouldn’t condone these ills and bloodsucking of our economy. There are so many square pegs in round holes in this country. And until we are serious about holistically combating corruption, nepotism, cronyism and all forms of favoritism; our country will not cease to remain gloomy. And we’ll all be submerged in the gloom with time. That’ll be the time when we’ll deeply regret why we allowed just few people to leave a sour taste in our mouths.
God save The Gambia.
Batou Saidy holds a degree in Public and Environmental Health. Aside from his profession, he is a writer. His writing extends to current affairs, contemporary life issues, politics, sports, and health.
