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Janko
Gambia
1267 Posts |
 Posted - 10 Nov 2007 : 11:05:45
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Is it that simple?
Sometimes I contemplate if the problem(s) of the Gambia would solve just by having a new government in office.
Is it that simple, that a new government would change the worldview, ethics, moral, ideals and principles of the individual Gambian whose efforts the development of the nation is dependant.
Is it that simple, the ill-treatment of office, duties and responsibilities would be perfected as soon as a new government comes in place, is it? Let us assume is that simple.
Who, in your opinion, is fit and able to rule the nation and why is your choose the best?
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Clean your house before pointing a finger ... Never be moved by delirious Well-wishers in their ecstasy |
Edited by - Janko on 10 Nov 2007 11:12:16 |
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Karamba
United Kingdom
3820 Posts |
Posted - 10 Nov 2007 : 23:00:17
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Janko,
For a start, it is more important to define the task then identify the skill match to the task. By experience of what obtains in Gambia, politicians seek office position when they are not seriously committed to defining the task let alone to stand competent in handling it. It has always been the case in Gambia that names produce louder sound than the demand by people for competent upkeep and efficient delivery of THE TASK. In short, Gambian politics is not sharply TASK FOCUSED. Perhaps we even have less TASK ORIENTATION and that is carried right through. This is just an observation. Ask the most immediate political aspirants if they are ready for the task and the true answer determines if they are fit to move it. |
Karamba |
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Janko
Gambia
1267 Posts |
Posted - 11 Nov 2007 : 03:47:59
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Karamba
Thanks for bringing light to this issue.
I do not expect any names as such rather what vision/idea and focus ones chosen candidate should have.
Personally, I would give my vote to a candidate that has focus on education and has a clear idea as to how s/he would achieve that.
My candidate would also have a vision/idea of how to incorporate the traditional social structure with the present administrative structure.
My candidate has a clear vision as to how the country would be self-sufficient in the everyday basic needs. (rice, tomato, potato, meat, fish etc.)
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Clean your house before pointing a finger ... Never be moved by delirious Well-wishers in their ecstasy |
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Janko
Gambia
1267 Posts |
Posted - 16 Nov 2007 : 00:07:35
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Charity begins at home implies that the question of good leadership is not only confined to one single place or entity rather required in all stratum of human organisations and groupings. Its a necessity for every department, profession, office, village, family, town, school, business, farm, construction site, market or store. Is not a question of one rotten mango rather a problem of too many cooks.
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Clean your house before pointing a finger ... Never be moved by delirious Well-wishers in their ecstasy |
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Karamba
United Kingdom
3820 Posts |
Posted - 17 Nov 2007 : 00:42:25
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Janko,
You are right. Even if we are not leaders by social or political terms, we are all leaders by natural selection. Every person is leader of personal life chores. We lead and others supplement. Without commitment and seriousness of purpose, leadership failure becomes inevitable. Voters are leaders too. In a wider context, voters take the spectacular leadership position to decide who to vote for. When that decision is marred with irresponsibility, there disaster prevails. It all depends if we all try to track the reel along the successive shifts in our various roles. That brings out the crucial dimension of transactional analysis. Where responsibility is neglected, failure in leadership is prompted.
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Karamba |
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dbaldeh
USA
934 Posts |
Posted - 17 Nov 2007 : 02:42:26
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quote:
Originally posted by Janko
Is it that simple?
Sometimes I contemplate if the problem(s) of the Gambia would solve just by having a new government in office.
Is it that simple, that a new government would change the worldview, ethics, moral, ideals and principles of the individual Gambian whose efforts the development of the nation is dependant.
Is it that simple, the ill-treatment of office, duties and responsibilities would be perfected as soon as a new government comes in place, is it? Let us assume is that simple.
Who, in your opinion, is fit and able to rule the nation and why is your choose the best?
Uncle Janko, thanks for a great topic and questions. Fundamental answers to these question is what we need to shape the direction our country need to head.
I will add my two sense to the questions as I see them. I honestly think a new government will not be able to address most of the problems that plague our belove nation for several decades. Ours is not only political, but more social as you indicated. Social because our peoples' mind set in advancing our nation is backwards. Many and I mean many Gambians still think more about themselves and theirs than a collective welbeing of a nation. They still see government as an entity of opportunity not to provide service to our people, but to develop and advance their own agendas. At the end of every word day civil servants , service men and women look at what they accomplish for individuals interest instead of a peoples' interest.
Now I will give you my ideal candidate or political leadership. Since people still see Presidents as Lords or kings, see educated elites as super beings, my ideal leader would be someone who will stand and lead by example.
Someone, who will say no to corruption and mismanagement of public resources. This person will start with himself and call on all citizens to put development of public and social institutions at the top of the list.
This ideal candidate will for the first time institute hope and responsibility in our individual citizens by calling for patriotism and collective efforts. He will lay down consequences for putting individual interest before national interest.
This leader can accomplish this by first declaring all the assets he has to show the country that he is ready to lead a corrupt free government or at least a government that is ready to pay attention to the plight of it's people.
My ideal leader will have to outline the basic productive sectors of our economy aka agriculture and give incentives for people to engage in self food production. He will have plans to preserve the food products produce by our farmers for their own consumption.
This leader will have to emphasize education, education, and mandatory education for all children. He will have to recognize that a healthy society is a productive society and therefore health care becomes one of the highest priorities of the State.
This candidate must be someone who understands that there is more than one productive sector of our economy. Private sector development, tourism and fisheries among other agricultural areas must be in the forefront as well.
Now the immediate question is, how can this leader finance such initiatives. Yes, this is probably a 20 to 30 year development vision that cannot be accomplished in 10 years. This leader only needs to set the stage and put us on a path to shaping our own destiny with uncompromising hunger and eagerness to compete the rest of the world.
These development projects can be finance through international grants, loans and from other strategic partners who are interested in investing in our nation. It is conceivable our nation is one of the highest indebted nations in the world, but debt forgiveness is more likely today than ever in the history of Africa. This leader will tap into those resources and give our nation a fresh start.
I can guarantee that with the magnitude of global integration and interdependence, one is more likely to achieve these goals today with proven results.
Further more, my ideal candidate will have to embrace and practice open democracy without fear of losing his leadership. He would entertain free press and independence of the judiciary. Respect the right of citizens and jealously safe guard the human rights of our citizens.
This ideal leader must be someone with utmost respect in the international community who will be willing to help him develop an independent society.
Finally, a nation's most precious assets is its human intellectual resources. This candidate will call on all Gambians in the diaspora to especially the intellectuals to focus on coming home and rebuilding our nation. He will call on Gambian entrepreneurs around the world to put their nation first and second. By embracing these verse untapped resources, Gambians in the diaspora can enormously help shape the destiny of our belove Gambia.
In a nutshell, my ideal leader is someone with a vision to use our own situation and resources to address our issues and put us on a path to building the true smiling coast of Africa.... More stuff... , but lets hear from others as well.
Thanks again... |
Baldeh,
"Be the change you want to see in the world" Ghandi
Visit http://www.gainako.com for your daily news and politics |
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Janko
Gambia
1267 Posts |
Posted - 21 Nov 2007 : 19:24:09
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It is when we can imagine good leadership qualities that we can identify a bad one
Uncle dBaldeh,
your input is expressive, enlightening and gives a good sense of leadership by example.
The philosopher Jayjah Dampha outlined the nature of continuity and self-awareness thus:
If bushfire burns, dried grass the mindless proclaims the grass is dead. However, when the rain falls that grass grows as if nothing happened to it ever, he said.
The only way to reed off wild flower in your farm is to pull it from its roots.
It is true, we are products of the history of Gambia but even history has points of discontinuities. It is as much our duty to change the course of history where it is at our disadvantage and recapture the soul of our dear nation by moving in time and space, here and now.
It is our responsibility to break the vicious circle and grow new seed in the rain-season and not standby whiles the wild flower takes over our farms. Moreover, we have to be able to separate groundnuts from wild flower.
It is worthless to complain about the poor growth of a certain part of the farm after harvest.
Every one should be able to identify what seed to cultivate on his or her farm.
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Clean your house before pointing a finger ... Never be moved by delirious Well-wishers in their ecstasy |
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Janko
Gambia
1267 Posts |
Posted - 02 Dec 2007 : 23:50:06
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Right and Responsibility
Right and Responsibility are two sides of the same coin; he that has no alternative (responsibility) to present has no right to criticise. As much as criticism is a guarantee for democracy, it can also be a tool for anti-socialt behavior, said Mr. Dampha.
How can criticism be a tool for anti-socialt behavior?
The responsibility of a critic is to present an alternative to what s/he criticises if s/he does not have an alternative s/he looses the legitimate right to criticise. Mr. Dampha calls a critic without an alternative to give a “blank critic” a passive-aggressive attack as oppose to a constructive active attack, in which one tries to correct by presenting an alternative, democratic judgement.
Secondly, the critic and the criticised most be on the same page, that is to say discourse the same issue. Nevertheless, if the critic and the criticised have two different points of departure there is no room for consensus and without a possibility of coming to an agreement, each party would mobilised its own supporters to get what they want undemocratically, anti-socialt behavior.
Constructive criticism is the process of offering valid and well-reasoned opinions with the intention of betterment. The critic evaluates both good and bad, based on prior knowledge and offers alternative/sugestion for something better. There can be a tension between constructive and useful criticism; for instance, a critic might usefully help an issue by shading light on what is poor - but the critic may have to appear harsh and judgemental in order to achieve betterment on condition that an alternative is presented.
Every right has a responsibility attached to it. JANKO cannot have the right to criticise without the responsibility to construct. (Ask not what your country can do for you but do what you can for your country. who said about patriotism-----well….).
If JANKO is not able to take his responsibility by presenting an alternative vision as to what kind of Gambia he envisons –has he the right to criticise the present state of affairs? |
Clean your house before pointing a finger ... Never be moved by delirious Well-wishers in their ecstasy |
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Karamba
United Kingdom
3820 Posts |
Posted - 03 Dec 2007 : 00:17:26
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Janko,
In every social interplay, there are progressive and retrogressive or backward persons. There are the responsible and also the irresponsible. The reasonable and the unreasonable. They appear in different forms and persuasion. You have summed it up in the best by stating in clear terms that he who holds a desire to criticize is bound by the rationale of responsible reasoning to provide better option. Only fools will sink with straws where iron rods can do better. The resolve to criticize for the sake of it is typical of persons without clear direction or not one at all. Anyone is capable of making noise as a desperate venture to divert attention. You know what, Janko, responsibility is the key issue. But the lack of genuine ideas on the part of one person does not condition reasonable people not to table issues. In life, the battle between true and false is real. "The unity and struggle of opposites"-Karl Marx, as stipulated in the 'Law of Contradictions' is quite relevant here. No matter how loud the noise of false may echo, it is still unable to beat the clear sound and fact of reason. The ultimate truth inevitably prevails over all forms and norms of falsehood. |
Karamba |
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ylowe
USA
217 Posts |
Posted - 03 Dec 2007 : 04:26:16
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| Most presidents does things right but leaders do the right thing. |
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Janko
Gambia
1267 Posts |
Posted - 04 Dec 2007 : 11:56:52
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Leaders are made not born
Karamba
The philosopher Mr. Dampha once said; Leaders are not born but made and that there are two categories of leaders;
1) A leader of the people
2) A leader for the people
A leader of the people is formed by the visions and aspirations of the people.
A leader for the people is an individual having a vision and an aspiration that s/he thinks would be good for the people. The difference between the two types of leaders is; the former is inspired by the active involvement of the people (from down upwards) and the later by their passivity (from up downwards)
There is no born-leader/born-to-lead; but an active or a passive populace makes a leader. An active public induces its political wisdom into a leader who adheres to their needs whiles a passive public is ruled by a dictator.
The common problem of African leadership (in politics) is not just the individual leaders’ self-centredness but also the passivity of the peoples. The method of governance and the national agenda are left to the vision and aspiration of the leader(s) to single-handedly resolve. This creates a situation where leaders do not only intend to die in power once they have it but also do not groom someone to take after them.
Under his long term in office, Jawara did not groom anyone to takeover party leadership nor the presidency. Senghor did groom Abdou Joof, which gradually led to a democratically elected leader. Nevertheless, Jawaras reign ended with an unexpected coup d´etat.
The question is, is such a grooming in place at the present. Are the Gambians having any vision or aspiration that could inspire a leader of the people?
Do we have a list of priorities to hand to our feature leader?
Do we have a clue as to where we want our dear nation to be in 10, 15, 20 or 50 years?
The passivity of the Gambian public in everyday politics is an inspiration for another military takeover.
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Clean your house before pointing a finger ... Never be moved by delirious Well-wishers in their ecstasy |
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Karamba
United Kingdom
3820 Posts |
Posted - 04 Dec 2007 : 20:04:10
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Janko,
Based on the needs you have rightly outlined, it works out that people have to identify their felt-needs and then mobilise the required resources in meeting those needs. Where it happens that the relevant qualities required of the one to lead is not at hand, nothing stops people asking for it. Then it becomes an obligation on the person seeking to lead to shape up into the required fabric the job demands. In the case of Gambia, Yahya Jammeh has not been shaped for the seat he now occupies. Worse still is that he insists we as citizens have to sit and watch him ruin the seat in the process of ruining the whole nation. He is not ready for a decent dialogue. After 13 years, the whole population of Gambia now has it clear that Jammeh is not the right fit. Even if he claims being the choice (which claim is subject to one million units of doubt) we all know how rough and unfair choices are influenced along Gambia's awkward political process. Therefore, there is need to show Jammeh the exit passage, his ultimate fate. Insisting on imposing his heavy weight on the population will do him more harm.
Clearly Janko, you have demonstrated your preference not to mention names of leaders. It is understandable that the task is more important than individuals associated with the roles. If you permit me to draw in the person of Yahya Jammeh, it is with the understanding that he is the one currently throwing his heavy weight on the population with unreasonable force of imposition.
Because Gambians have suffered so much over a period, it is proper that we take responsibility to review and to determine our best way forward. It is not enough to stay blaming the current predicament. It is possible to undo it.
To narrow down the task, Gambians must rise up and take firm stance with greater commitment. The attitude of placing a whole population's livelihood in one hand is not just going to work. No matter how competent that person is, there is always a limit to productivity, performance, and results. |
Karamba |
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Janko
Gambia
1267 Posts |
Posted - 06 Dec 2007 : 18:23:09
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Karamba
To harvest, we need to sow a seed and for the seed to grow it needs a prepared soil.
Dictators are everywhere and anyone could become one, we have to find a way to deal with them and make them democratic.
Voters would only fight for their rights or demand that their needs be adhered to if they know what their rights are. The constitutional right is not genuinely rooted that voters deliberately vote left, right, blank or remain passive in their settees on Election Day. Rather the passivity is because voters do not know the framework within which to claim, complain or fight their rights. In my certainty, the majority of voters are passive because of the lack of knowing their constitutional rights and therefore unable to demand transparency and accountability.
We can groom “a leader of the people” by increasing the knowledge of the voter about his/her rights. Only then, could there be a possibility to mobilise the populace for or against a particular stance. However, we need to cultivate democracy in the voter by borrowing the Chavéz method, which is to:
i) Form study circles throughout the country to discourse and debate the constitution in all languages.
ii) To put it in the school curriculum for pupils to read, discourse, practice and debate, from kindergarten onwards
iii) To find other forms of mediating its messages in open discussions, on TV, on the Radio, theatre plays, films etc.
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Clean your house before pointing a finger ... Never be moved by delirious Well-wishers in their ecstasy |
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Janko
Gambia
1267 Posts |
Posted - 22 Dec 2007 : 12:35:16
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“Power” is an hallucinogen that stimulates fantasmic perceptions of the SELF, it induces and amplifies imagenative experiences. We all have the predisposition of despotic dictatorial tendencies. That’s why Power needs be controlled and its false impressions put in check by a regulatory mechanism; the division of power, laws, constitution.
However, these mechanisms of control ought to sink in the consciousness of the populace and the instances that oversee their implementation. If not the control mechanism is out of play, useless, dormant, lamed and susceptible to corruption, bias, favouritism and gradually the nation/society falls into disorder.
Is there any guarantee that a democratic system of governance will prevail?
Yes, the populace is the guarantee for stability and democracy if and only if she has the ability to scrutinize governance and able to demand transparency on her terms. Before that popular democratic level of consciousness is accomplished, there is no guarantee that the next government would not be a dictatorship with despotic imaginations
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Clean your house before pointing a finger ... Never be moved by delirious Well-wishers in their ecstasy |
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Janyanfara
Tanzania
1350 Posts |
Posted - 22 Dec 2007 : 13:35:15
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Janko,
For the Gambia to be a vibrant mordern nation, we need an independant/interdependant free from interferance monopolies of Government.The Executive, the legislature and Judiciary should each play their part without interferance and control from any power base.We don't need a capable leader to succeed we can have a vibrant free from manipulation and control all these three most important organs of a government functioning side by side with each playing its part as enshrined in our noble constitution without party politics only dedication to nation building.
Once each is empowered in the constitution to be free off the executive enslavement and has autonomy to carry out its duties through balance and checks, then then then then then then we shall have the Gambia we really want. Otherwise it is useless talking of a capable leader.It wouldn't work like that. |
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jambo
3300 Posts |
Posted - 22 Dec 2007 : 13:41:42
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janko, "We can groom “a leader of the people” by increasing the knowledge of the voter about his/her rights."
i am under the impression that gambians know their rights when it comes to voting, most gambians i have me are disallusioned with the choices of candidates.
look at the last election, where was the opposition .
the president can come and go, but the lcoal officials are the ones you should worry about. In every country, there is mayor, local council, some body of sorts that is voted in, NOTE VOTED IN, if they were honest and law abiding this would help Gambia.
the elections in January if they get honest people and do the right things by the voters, gambia could change within 6 months.
how many times do you here of local officals who drive big car, have big house, flash this and flash that but will not help the locals to get a water hole, schools neglect, roads not repaired.
START AT THE GRASSROOTS. |
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