By Omar Bah
The founder of #GambiaHasDecided, Salieu Taal has called on Gambians to be mindful of the kind of leadership they are creating.
“My worry is that we are now moving towards personalising government again rather than institutionalising it.”
Taal said many Gambians thought after uprooting Jammeh the coalition would stay together and create a Gambia that is inclusive regardless of party affiliations.
“Unfortunately in a short while we have instances where the government started doing things that are contrary to the constitution. The appointment of the first vice president was one clear example. So that was a very bad signal and there were many instances where steps were taken contrary to the constitution,” he said.
Taal added that whenever civil society or groups disagree with the policy of government, it doesn’t mean they don’t respect or they dislike Adama Barrow.
“Leaders and dictators are created. Our leaders are human beings like us. We should accord them the highest amount of respect because their responsibility is to act on our behalf, but they are not above the law,” he said in a Standard exclusive yesterday.
Speaking further, Taal added: “We need to be very careful because inasmuch as we have democracy in place, we must hold our government accountable and holding our government accountable doesn’t mean that we will like or dislike the president or the executive.
I personally believe as Gambians we are losing track. We were one family determined to build a democracy, but as we speak we are so polarised in so many ways that I am afraid that we may start seeing more political violence and ethnic divisions. My biggest worry and concern is the growing trend of intolerance. Without tolerance we cannot build a meaningful democracy. I am not blaming any group. I think collectively we need to have a discussion on how we need to build a democracy that is tolerant where minority views are respected,” he concluded.
