Dear Editor,
I want to take this opportunity to send my condolences to my party leader, Ousainu Darboe, the entire United Democratic Party, the Kah family, and the entire nation at large for the demise of our dear sister, mother, aunt, and grandmother, Aji Sukai Naka Kah. May the endless blessings and mercies of Allah SWT shower upon her soul and all departed ones and grant them Jannah. Ameen Ya Rabbie JazakAllah Khairan.
We have a political system in which chiefs are appointed rather than elected by those they preside over. Governors imposed on regions by political appointment. We clearly feel and see complete disassociation between the nation and the state. Brothers and sisters, did we ever consider these as the state’s foul play? We, as a nation, cannot succeed in achieving a just political system in which justice guides all actions without being fully ready to do what is necessary for our emancipation. We cannot keep blaming others, because the oppressor never granted freedom without the oppressed fighting for it.
The failure of representation in The Gambia’s current political system stems from the 1997 constitution of the country’s second republic. The unprecedented empowerment of the president, to the demise of the separation of powers and the separation of control, is clearly manifested in the political structures of our motherland. Is this The Gambia, our homeland? Brothers and sisters, can this be in harmony with what is fair and right? The constitution empowers the president, as head of the executive, to appoint governors to regions and chiefs to districts. The system is nothing but a clear painting of ill representation. But where do the capacities come from? Who gave the president such rights and why?
We are in a serious problem, and we had the chance to solve it, spending one hundred and sixteen million dalasis (D116m) on the draft constitution, which was thrown in the dustbin by Tamina Biyayi and his greedy, selfish, and self-centred brown-envelope parliamentarians.
The solution to our problems is not by sighting what clearly went wrong, why, where and how. These are not the times to speak political language or act like diplomats, where we will run away from the roots of the issues, giving the people scenes of romantic politics.
We as a nation must walk a mile instead of half a mile when a mile is the price to uproot Adama Barrow (Tamina Biyayi) and his administration. Our second chance is not to let our inferiority complex overcome us, to forget our personal problems and political differences, and to come together and vote him out on 5 December 2026.
In doing so, we embrace our values, culture, and all the positive aspects that bind us together as a nation and that will strengthen national unity from the wanderers to shine. We must stand collectively as people of the nation and address our issues in the needs of our people.
Lamin Saddam Sanyang,
The Netherlands
