By Omar Bah
Momodou Malcolm Jallow, a native Gambian-Swedish MP, has blamed Gambia’s 60 year’s of slow progress on bad governance.
“As Gambia mark 60 years of independence, we should be celebrating a nation that has risen from the chains of colonial rule into a beacon of self-governance, development, and prosperity. Instead, what do we see? A country drowning in corruption, incompetence, poverty, and suffering—a nation betrayed by its own leaders,” Jallow told The Standard.
“This day should not be one of blind celebration, but one of deep national mourning for the hopes shattered, the dreams crushed, and the future stolen from generations of Gambians,” Jallow lamented.
He said what the country just celebrated is 60 years of failure, squandered potential and leadership that has enriched the few while leaving the majority in misery.
“What has self-rule brought the Gambia? A country where children go to bed hungry, where hospitals lack basic medicine, where clean water is a privilege, where jobs are non-existent and where the youth risk death in the Mediterranean sea in search of dignity. This is not independence. This is enslavement to greed, mismanagement, and an unrelenting culture of theft and deception by those entrusted with power.”
Jallow called for leadership and revolutionary change.
“Gambians, let us ask ourselves: Is this the Gambia our founding fathers envisioned? Did they struggle for independence only for us to become enslaved to our own rulers? The answer is clear: Gambians have been failed, again and again, by those who swore to serve,” he added.
The time for excuses, Jallow added, “is over”.
“The time for complacency is over. The time for radical change is now.”
“Gambians do not need another five years of corrupt, visionless, self-serving leadership. We do not need another government that will continue to plunder the nation’s resources and treat Gambians as beggars in their own land. What the country need is a leadership that is honest, accountable, & capable—a leadership that puts the Gambian people first,” Jallow advised.
