The Gambia is between the devil and the deep blue sea
By Musa Basadi Jawara
The Gambia’s chronic illness is not just political. It is tone-deafness to truth. It is our societal convenience with sugar-coating. It is what we locally call “Mashlahaa” – the habit of looking away to keep peace, even when peace is built on lies.
Term limits are not selective
The loudest voices shouting “No to Third Term” against President Adama Barrow must extend that principle to opposition leaders who have already contested two presidential elections. If UDP leader Lawyer Ousainu Darboe is seeking his fifth or sixth five-year term, then he cannot claim the moral authority to challenge the incumbent on term limits alone.
The political system is broken. The fix must be comprehensive, fair, balanced, and total. You cannot demand limits for your opponent while asking for exemptions for yourself. That is not reform. That is replacement.
From criticism to engagement on energy
On energy and other pressing national issues, criticism must graduate to engagement. UDP leader Darboe and his party played a leading role in the coalition government of 2017 and 2018. They could have addressed the myriad of challenges the nation faces. Instead, they chose politics, enjoyed the power of the day, and for personal aggrandizement and megalomaniac tendencies, the UDP leader opted for a bid to replace the presidency before he was ignominiously sacked.
Recently, the UDP leader appeared in a video on social media mocking the President and decrying ongoing power outages and blackouts. Whatever his intent, if Leader Darboe is serious about solving the energy crisis, what stops him from approaching President Barrow, the Energy Minister, Nawec executives, and National Energy Authorities?
Leader Darboe must present his party’s energy policy and contrast it with that of the current government. That is statesmanship. Mockery creates clicks. Engagement creates light.
To GALA: Abandon the protest and answer the Gambian question
To GALA and all planning the June 15-19 protest: I urge you to abandon it. Teargas, arrests, mayhem, imprisonment, chaos, and inordinate hardship will not bring meaningful change. It only deepens wounds we are trying to heal. I have already written to national leadership and the most prominent authorities in the international community. My letter has reached them. The issue is engaged. Please stay home. Please stay calm. The work of reform has begun, and it cannot be built on the backs of broken families and shattered streets. The Gambia needs solutions, not smoke.
The systemic decay, institutional deficits, and existential crises we face did not start today. If blame is the currency, then everybody has a share – even the poor, even the village farmer. The damage was done years and years ago. This is not a five-year problem. This is a sixty-year question.
The Gambian question
The Gambian Question since independence was never truly answered. On February 18, 1965, the British Monarch delivered the Magna Carta of our nationhood to Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara – our instruments of independence. That “Magna Carta” was not parchment. It was a covenant: that a tiny nation carved between Senegal would prove that democracy, tolerance, and the rule of law could thrive without oil, without minerals, without an army. The Gambian Question, then and now, is this: Can a small, poor, ethnically diverse nation govern itself justly, feed its people, and protect its freedoms without descending into tyranny or collapse? That question was posed in 1965. It remains unanswered in 2026 because we keep changing governments, but never change the system.
The interrupted experiment
The Gambian experiment began as an improbable nation. The world did not believe a sliver of land, 11,000 square kilometers with no natural resources, could survive as a democracy. Yet for thirty years under Sir Dawda, we did. We became a classroom for the world – proof that patience beats power, that dialogue beats bullets. Then came 1981 and 1994. The coups. The Experiment was interrupted, derailed, fractured. The laboratory was shattered. But the question remains: What if the coups had not interrupted the process? What if the covenant of 1965 had been allowed to mature? What kind of nation would The Gambia be today? That “what if” is the Experiment we lost, and the Experiment we must now resurrect.
Inheritance without completion
1981 tested us with bullets. 1994 tested us with fear. Both interruptions taught the same lesson: when institutions are weak, personality rules. When the rule of law is replaced by the rule of men, the nation becomes a pendulum swinging between hope and despair. We inherited a state, but we never completed nation-building. We inherited borders, but not belonging. We inherited a flag, but not a future. Until we answer the Gambian Question with institutions stronger than individuals, we will keep repeating 1981 and 1994 in new forms.
The path forward
So to GALA, to UDP, to UMC, to all: Protest will not answer the Gambian Question. It will not restart the Gambian Experiment. Only disciplined institution-building will. Only a national consensus that places country above party, covenant above convenience, will redeem the Magna Carta handed to Sir Dawda. We owe it to the farmer in Kerewan, to the girl on the bicycle, to the child not yet born. The Gambia is between the devil and the deep blue sea, but the sea is where ships are built. Let us build.
UMC and the duty to stand firm
With regards to UMC leader Talib Bensouda: he was seen on social media in Dakar, attending the National Congress of Pastef, taking photo ops with former Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko. This was an unforced error and a politically rookie mistake.
Why step into a dangerous, dynamite political minefield? Sonko was recently removed from the premiership and the political hostilities are yet to come full circle. If I were UMC leadership, I would abstain. Stay out of the geopolitical powder keg of our francophone neighbor.
UMC is yet to register its party under a cloud of impropriety, misconduct, and malfeasance at the Kanifing Municipal Council. UMC must stay home, establish its party, find its feet, and stand firm. As Lincoln said: “I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true.” First, find your feet. Then stand firm. – Musa B Jawara.
Morality, accountability, and political judgment
On the issue of Ousmane Sonko, several unresolved matters remain part of public discourse in Senegal. These include past court cases and convictions related to defamation and allegations that led to legal proceedings, his tenure as Prime Minister and the gap between promises made and results delivered, and questions around the handling of state information. Today, the presidency of the National Assembly is also contested, with a ruling pending before Senegal’s Constitutional Council. His closest political ally is currently in state custody facing charges under Senegalese law. Much remains in flux, and the institutions of Senegal will determine the outcomes.
Caution on foreign political alignments
For those in The Gambia who have rushed to defend or align with Pastef: I urge caution. Take a breather. Worry first about your country, about the poor, about the state of affairs at home. Siding with any foreign political figure does not build Gambian institutions. Sonko is a polarising figure – charismatic, controversial, and unpredictable. Senegal itself is navigating deep political turbulence after 30 months of upheaval. My admonition is simple: look inward. Fix what is wrong with The Gambia. Build here. Serve here. Let Senegal settle its own house while we settle ours. Morals and values are not fungible. They cannot be traded or replaced. Morality is the sine qua non to the proper functioning of the administration of justice, the advancement of society, and the maintenance of mankind.
Why I write
I wanted to pause after that heavyweight article on The Gambia after dictatorship, including development partners and foreign diplomacy. But society cannot stop. Issues happen daily.
I know my opinions unsettle critics, especially cyber warriors and digital militia. Let them know my intent and work is for The Gambia to prosper and to help stabilize the country in every aspect of life. This comes from emotion, empathy, and a deep love of country. I do not write from hatred. I write because I cannot watch my home drift without speaking.
A record that speaks
Note for the record: I have waged a campaign to combat poverty in this country. I was an executive of a San Francisco-based global conglomerate called Abundance Fund in the US. We helped several sub-Saharan nations in Africa, and I single-handedly included The Gambia.
We provided water access through boreholes for schools; classrooms with chairs and desks; bicycles for girls commuting miles from villages; horticulture support for women in Kerewan, North Bank; protective gear for small honey producers; blankets for lactating women, infants, and older women in the entire Niani region of Central River Region. This is a few. Refer to my book _Village Life_ for how we tackle poverty with targeted assistance.
Those who criticise, this is how you help without getting into politics. My record is _res ipsa loquitur – the thing speaks for itself. My uncle, Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara, ushered in a career in politics and his stint was seminal, virtuoso, and history will judge him.
The digital militia assumes I will follow his footsteps. I say no. Not in politics. But in work for humanity and mankind? Yes. I have championed the causes above and many more not revealed here or in Village Life_. That is how you make a difference.
Our society is filled with people who cannot see the good and praise it. We are volatile and hateful. Someone you will never meet, not on your wavelength, not parallel in status, who cannot even hang your coat, will attempt to tear you down.
The Gambia has so many problems: societal ills, hate, jealousy. These are anathema to social advance. Negativity complements poverty, underprivilege, and hopelessness. That brings me back to the UDP leader and UMC leaders. Reform must start with consistency. With humility. With service over spectacle.
On integrity and intent
To those who do not know me: I will never compromise my integrity. My call to GALA to call off the protest has nothing to do with me being compromised by the ruling party. I have walked through life with a decent and clean background, with honesty and decency, with character beyond reproach. My record is open, my conscience is clear, and my motive is The Gambia, not personal gain. So take my advice in the spirit it is given. Let us all focus on making this country a better place for all, not on suspicion, not on conspiracy, but on service.
To the opposition and digital militia: Change the strategy
To the opposition and digital militia: you must think anew and change strategy. You cannot use the same method, the same formula, every five years and expect different results. You cannot field the same political candidates, repeat the same rhetoric, and expect the nation to transform. Einstein called that insanity. The Gambia deserves better than recycled hope and rehearsed anger. Change must be now. And you must change. Reinvent your message. Rebuild your trust. Renew your commitment to institutions, not just personalities. The people are tired of noise. They are hungry for solutions.
A sensational truth for a New Gambia
Believe it or not, this will resonate with both our domestic and international audience because truth is universal. It is sensational not because it shouts, but because it dares to be honest. It is inspirational not because it promises miracles, but because it demands discipline. The world is watching The Gambia again, not for coups, but for character. Not for chaos, but for courage. We can be the classroom for democracy that we once were. We can prove that a small nation can teach a big lesson: that integrity beats intimidation, that dialogue defeats destruction, that service silences spectacle. This is our moment. Let us seize it with excellence, with unity, with faith.
National service, not noise
I refused to be silent because silence is surrender. I refused to be silent because a nation cannot heal when its conscience is anesthetized by “Mashlahaa”. I refused to be silent because the child in Kerewan walking miles to school deserves more than sugar-coated speeches. I refused to be silent because Allah gave me a voice, and a voice unused is a trust betrayed. My critics can shout. My detractors can scheme. But I will keep writing, keep serving, keep building, until dignity is restored, until poverty is uprooted, until The Gambia stands firm on its own feet. This is not politics. This is worship through service. This is love of country made visible.
