By Salifu Manneh
The Gambia today is kneeling, not walking. After nearly a decade under President Barrow, our country remains stagnant, unable to progress in key areas such as the economy, healthcare, education, agriculture, security, and tourism.
Pick a basket of ten essential commodities, and see how their prices compare to how they were ten years ago since this government came into power. The differences in margin are shocking. On the same token, rewind the clock to ten years ago, explore how many young people had applied for, and secured jobs in the country, and how many young people had perished in the oceans in their bid to run away from a Gambia that continues to be hostile towards them and offering them no hope of progress and enhancements in life.
Try to figure out how many children have completed their grade 12 exams year on year since 2016, what has happened to their educational progress, and how many children dropped out at grade 12 and did not complete any exams due to financial and other difficulties. Again, you don’t have to be a researcher to find a shocking revelation from a critical investigation into the plight and welfare of young people in our country. How many young people fail to turn up in classes due to a lack of transport, money to meet travel costs, parental care supporting their education, and a lack of practical means of getting to and from school daily and weekly?
Our youths are the flotsam and jetsam of a failed government. Their mental, psychological, and emotional well-being has been wrecked by weakened government systems, lack of foresight, lack of planning, and an increased hopelessness and helplessness amongst young people, despite their vast numbers in our population. People in general are poorer, their lives are more miserable than ever before; there is an increased dependence on diasporas to pay for the feeding of families and medical bills in the event of poor health.
Remittances from abroad have become a lifeline of our macro-economics, yet diasporans have little respect and tolerance from the successive governments of dictatorship and the current Barrow Mansakunda. Diasporans have been disenfranchised, and despite their song and praised contributions to uproot dictatorship and install the Barrow regime, we have no say in electing the next leader by democratically allowing us to vote.
Youth unemployment is exploding, and young Gambians continue to die on the way to Europe. No social safety net exists: older people, people with low incomes, and the vulnerable remain unsupported. Mental illness and substance abuse among youth are escalating with no national strategy to address them.
No doctors. No nurses. No diagnostic equipment or modern technology. Schools are desperate for good-quality education. Our children are currently achieving mediocre educational attainment. The problems of urban migration from the provinces to the west coast, KMC, and Greater Banjul areas mean poor agricultural food production, overpopulation, and a poor sense of community security.
It is essential to reflect on some of these thoughts to navigate and gain a greater understanding of our successes and failures as a nation. The more we think critically about these issues, the more it becomes apparent why the blame lies on the doorstep of our current weak and disreputable government.
Are we a Nation in Decline?
Yes. There are many reasons for this. A leadership without foresight and vision, lacking in critical thinking to prioritise the needs of our great Gambia and its people.
The successive governments of Yahya Jammeh and Adama Barrow failed to fully take advantage of our natural resources, geographic size, and beautiful and resourceful river running alongside the North Bank of the country. The soil in some parts of the country is rich enough to feed the whole nation and reduce its dependence on rice importation.
The country’s over-reliance on rice tells a lot about our eating habits and the likelihood of certain health conditions being more persistent in our population than in other countries. Inflation and the rising cost of living are crushing families, while government waste, lavish fleets of vehicles, and bloated foreign services with no returns continue unchecked.
How the average family survives in the rainy season is too emotional to consider. During heavy rains, some families cannot cook outside and cannot get out and about to buy vital items to cook the family meal.
If we had a compassionate government, the disaster management office could make provisions to have heavy-duty vehicles in all water-logged communities to make food purchases accessible.
The Digitalisation of a massive chunk of the global economy is making headway in many parts except ours. We are missing out on a great deal. Our access to Wi-Fi services, particularly home services, is expensive and unaffordable to many people.
Strategic Mistakes of Leadership driven by ulterior motives.
Please follow for part two to be published tomorrow.
