By Tabora Bojang
The current climate of divisive politics, hate speech and use of abusive language in the country is informed by the political bankruptcy of Gambian politicians, claimed Bakary Bunja Dabo the leader of the opposition Gambia For All Party.
“Time has come for the political leaders to blow the whistle. This game must be brought to an end. It is a dangerous nonsense,” BB remarked at a press conference yesterday.
The First Republican vice president and minister of finance, said if left unchecked, the current toxic climate could bring The Gambia’s democracy and political system into disrepute and undermine the very basis of stability and peace needed in the country.
According to Mr Dabo, it is unfortunate that after two decades of misrule and repression under Jammeh, Gambian politicians are engaged in “blame games” and “useless rhetoric” instead of focusing on the real challenges of salvaging the country from its sunken pit.
“This is a country which is very fragile after decades of misrule, abuse and repression. Our society is highly polarised and is in a fragile state, so why should we worsen the situation with negative social and political tactics which only go to make us more vulnerable and undermine the very basis of stability and peace that we need in this country? We were a civilised people living in a civilised system of democracy. So why should we get to a stage where six months or so before the election our political climate is clouded with divisive rhetoric, abusive language, hate speech and all the negative vices that bring our democracy and our political system into disrepute?
“I blame this on the political bankruptcy of the political class. There is very little focus on the real issues facing our country. On the contrary, people run after headlines because they want to be quoted in newspapers, but they are only giving cheap rhetoric to things that are meaningless,” he charged.
Dabo who returned to the country in 2017 following two decades of exile in the United Kingdom said The Gambia has badly derailed across several spheres of its development agenda, saying the time has come for politicians to urgently focus their energy and time on the process of nation building set by the founding fathers of independent Gambia.
“This is not the time when we can afford the luxury of creating unnecessary problems, yet the politicians are talking and blaming each other. We are not interested in that. We are telling them to blow the whistle and stop their people from the trend of anti-social behaviours. The people doing these are their followers. We believe they [politicians] have a strong influence over them and they could bring a stop to it only if they have the political will,” he added.
