If you live in a society like the UK you are bound to have some relief despite all of the challenges of life. The fact that a small police station can hold accountable even the people at the very top gives you the feeling that the law is enforced and you are protected. That feeling in itself is good for the peace and stability of society.
Thus the fine imposed on the British prime minister is hugely significant for any society including the UK itself. But most especially, it is instructive for societies like The Gambia where public officials have unbridled sense of superiority, arrogance and a shameless penchant for abuse of office.
With this fine, every public official in UK would confirm that they are not special and they are not above the law. Such acts of accountability serves to humble down public officials to realise that they are no different from the people they serve. It is obvious from this fine that PM Rishi Sunak will now further humble himself to realise that arrogance doesn’t pay good at all.
On the contrary, in The Gambia, public officials are generally not only arrogant but also inefficient, incompetent and above all abusive yet they still have the temerity to think that they are sacred cows! This is because they are never held responsible hence entrenching their vain arrogance!
Why this country is sooo hantanparach since Independence is caused by nothing other than the utter arrogance, ineptitude, corruption and illegality of public officials. They consistently and constantly underperform and at the same time abuse the law while at the same time plundering public wealth yet nothing happens to them.
Just look at the Auditor General’s reports and the reports of various commissions of inquiry since 1994 and since 2017! It’s nothing but a story of arrogance, ineptitude, corruption and illegality. Yet no one is held accountable. This is why a culture of impunity prevails in The Gambia everyday.
I hope the IGP Abdoulie Sanyang will learn a thing or two from Sanford Police so that he will begin to do his job properly henceforth by holding arrogant, abusive and corrupt public officials accountable.
For The Gambia Our Homeland
Madi Jobarteh
