When one reads any of the newspapers in the country, both print and electronic, one immediately realizes that the Gambia seems to be polarized. It seems to be divided into two major camps: one is the National People’s Party (NPP) and its supporters and the other is the United Democratic Party (UDP) and its supporters.
The NPP camp of course has other small parties who could rightly be counted in that group. And the UDP has a large support base in the whole country. This division has made it such that whatever the leaders of these parties say is immediately made into an attack on the other.
These statements are then fueled by the supporters in the other camp and then the language keeps deteriorating until it becomes vulgar. These statements are usually such that they can engender no good for the country or her people. Most of than not, what this does is to distract the people from the important things they should be doing.
Recently, a statement made by the President of the Republic of the Gambia has generated so much debated that it seems to be getting out of hand. One of the media houses reported it but the Ministry of Information saw the report as one that was not relaying the news accurately.
The ministry thus issued a statement to clarify the statement of the president and the said media House saw that as the government trying to intimidate the media. Thus, if there is mistrust amongst the political leadership in the country this can have so many unintended repercussions which may not be good for the image of the country.
When situations like this happen, the best way forward is through dialogue. There should be a national dialogue amongst all the political parties and civil society organisations so that many misconceptions among the leadership – both on the part of government and the opposition – can be trashed out once and for all.
The National People’s Party (NPP), being the ruling party, should perhaps take the lead and invite all political parties and civil society to have an honest and open dialogue so that these types of situations will be minimised if not eradicated completely.
The Inter-Party Committee could have a huge role to play in this dialogue. Let it be known that the Gambia is bigger than any individual, party or organisation. If everyone claims to love the country and will do anything for it then why is it so difficult to put the company first and work for its peace and progress?
