By Omar Bah
Leader of the Gambia Moral Congress has told his fellow political leaders that the peace and stability of the country rests on them.
Mai Fatty was addressing fellow party leaders at the Inter-Party Committee’s first breakfast meeting on Saturday. The meeting gives political parties space to discuss matters of mutual interest and further settles divisive and contentious issues among themselves.
“It is the party leaders who can make or break this country. I say this because the country’s loyalty and support in the political field is distributed among us. We must always understand leadership is what is required. You may have a multitude that follows you but you are the leader and the example must come from you. Leadership too requires courage,” Fatty appealed.
He said party leaders should ensure that the messages that they disseminate preach and convene peace.
“The conduct of leaders particularly at the higher level manifests the kind of country you will like to see for your own children. So our relationships among each other and the way we conduct our politics will determine the kind of country that we will be proud to pass to our next generation of leaders. This country must remain intact. The Gambia must succeed,” he added.
IPC
He described the Inter-Party Committee as part of the processes that would help to consolidate Gambia’s democracy.
But the IPC MoU, Fatty warned, will be meaningless “if we are not honourable enough to live by it. We all know the title of honourable must be earned in our dealings and actions. We must exemplify what it seeks to establish. That is the only way that this country will change. We must give respect and expect respect in return”.
“We have come a long way and indeed mistakes were made along the way but we have learned from some of the mistakes. As we reflect on the next trajectory for this country, we must all remember that there is no competition here. What we have is a contest of ideas and that together with our personal relationship, the MoU will be better understood,” he added.
He urged his fellow party leaders to give citizens, who are suffering day and night, the respect they deserve.
“The GMC believes that every political party registered in this country is a partner. We are of the same goals and objectives and this is how we understand the MoU to be. So in our match towards creating a very strong and compassionate society and a Gambia for all, we must hold each other as brothers and sisters,” he said.
He added: “As people belonging to the same country and cheering the same destiny, the way forward in unionism, in harmony, in peace, in our understanding to build a future, in our country that is durable and that would be the envy of other democracies. Our size doesn’t really matter, it is how powerful our ideas are or how determined we are to get those ideas moving forward.”
