Dear Editor,
I’m casually following Darboe’s tour of the country. Nothing has changed about Darboe’s politics except that the narrative “they stole the election” is being reinforced and made the official position of the UDP leadership.
There’s something about politics in opposition that Darboe and his UDP leadership doesn’t seem to get: The Agenda for Government, Change And National Development. An opposition political party seeking to unseat the government must have a policy programme for government tailored to addressing the socioeconomic development needs of the electorate.
Darboe and the UDP leadership and their attack the government’s deplorable record in power but not setting out their own policy agenda for government to address the failings of the sitting government is not a winning political strategy. The electorate already knew that their government is a mess. What the electorate are looking for is a way out of the mess. “They stole the election” is not a policy idea that’ll address any of the socioeconomic development challenges that the electorate are facing. The most marketable political language in The Gambia that’ll make the electorate vote for change is the economy. Darboe and the UDP are better off talking about the economy: the cost of living crisis in the country (the hyperinflation > the national debt), access to public services and the rampant corruption.
If Darboe and the UDP can talk about their policy programmes for government that’ll reduce the cost of living crisis in the country and better access to healthcare, education, electricity and water supplies et cetera, then they are in business. But to make the phrase “they stole the election” the main political talking point of the election is a doomed to fail again political strategy. Give the electorate hope and something to vote for. The Gambian electorate want to know the policy measures of a UDP government to reduce the cost of living crisis in the country. The Gambian people want to know what a UDP government would do in government to improve access to healthcare, education and other essential public services in the country.
Darboe and the UDP should be talking about the Policies that a UDP government will implement in power to provide access to public services, jobs and affordable living standards for the people. And reforms to the broken down political system, the rampant corruption and the negligent incompetence of the government. People tend to vote for hope and change, a departure from the past into a new and better place. “They stole the election” and attacking the useless president without any alternative policy ideas that the electorate will vote for is not a winning political strategy.
Yusupha ‘Major’ Bojang
Scotland
A requiem for shame
Dear Editor,
Someone defined shame as a “painful emotion that arises from an awareness that one has fallen short of some standard, ideal, or goal”. When a society inoculates itself from this painful emotion, it becomes a shameless society that thrives on immoralities including lying, breaking promises, duplicity, inconsistency, greed, corruption, betrayal, and selfishness.
In a society where shamelessness thrives, morals, principles, values, and ethics all die a slow and painful death. Look at what obtains in The Gambia today and you will understand what I mean.
In the colonial space we are told should be called Gambia, shame used to thrive in our homes. Shame used to reside in our hearts. She loomed large in our interactions. Shame guided our behaviour. She gave birth to dignity and pride —shame sired honour and principles in us. Shame used to be valued, and some people guarded it with their lives; they’d rather die than lose shame. Everyone reading this knows shame. And today, we are all witnesses as we stand and watch shame die a slow and painful death in our homes, within our politics, among friends and neighbours.
For some of us, in fact, for too many of us, along this journey of life, we sacrificed shame for fame, political power, borrowed privileges, and ill-gotten wealth. Some of us are still searching for shame, while others have long since settled for shamelessness. And that is because shamelessness gets you good government jobs. Shamelessness gets you opportunities to travel and mingle with people considered important. Shamelessness gets you wealth. Shamelessness gets you closer to powerful politicians. Shamelessness makes one believe that being a political prostitute is somehow better than being a dishwasher in Europe.
Can’t you see how we have swapped shame for legality? Can’t you see how shameless one has to be in kneeling before a fellow human being groveling at their feet for opportunities? While political mésalliance grounded in opportunism is hailed as a genius today, shame would have discouraged anyone from licking their vomit. While shame would have frowned upon anyone making promises only to turn around and break them, today, many among us settle for the dictum that a “promise is a comfort to a fool.”
As we gather here today, we cry for the resurrection of shame. We pray for shame to take its rightful place among us. We pray for shame to come back and guide our conscience. We pray for shame to permeate our society so that we can banish the diseases of broken promises, so that we can cure inconsistency, so that we can heal from hypocrisy, so that we can reject opportunistic politicians, so that we can avoid self-dealing public and civil servants. We pray for the return of shame to unite us. We pray for the death of shamelessness, which has led to the birth of dirty politicians.
Shame, the people of this colonial space need you now more than ever. Please do not abandon us because our poor people, the farmers, the teachers, the police officers, the low-ranking security officers, the taxi drivers, the nurses, security guards, drivers, and those suffering in silence all need you back. By our greed, we have neglected our duty to each other as a people. By our greed and desire for wealth, we have adopted Fankung Fankung and abandoned our communitarian inclination.
Please, shame, we are on our knees, please come back to us. Enter our minds like you did the men of yore, those who would rather die than be shamed. Please build us so that material wealth, government jobs, and privileges will not blind us to what is wrong. Shame. Please guide us so that we don’t adopt lies all in the name of protecting our privileged positions. Shame. In the name of our God, please come back to us.
Alagie Saidy Barrow
