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Momodou
Denmark
11640 Posts |
 Posted - 27 Aug 2022 : 18:20:12
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IN THE END, WE WILL BE FOOTNOTES IF WE ARE LUCKY OR WE JUST SIMPLY DISAPPEAR NEVER TO BE REMEMBERED: SIR DAWDA LEFT US JUST THREE YEARS AGO TODAY AND WE BARELY NOTICED
By Dembo Fatty
If you have an inflated ego, may be its time to get rid of some of the air so that you can land on some modest ground.
You see three years ago today, most if not all timelines were lit with an obituary of some sort and people trying to out-compete one another in who could write highly glossy and emotional obituaries.
At your funeral Sir, many showed up but I want to believe just for the cameras or for fear of being labelled as uninterested or ungrateful. And so the people spoke good of you because the world was watching and many want history to record their presence.
They competed as to who should read your eulogy. They even argued among themselves and some never spoke to each other since.
Many of your trusted party militants jumped ship and your party that catapulted us to independence is on life support. If only you could come back just for a day, and observe the cracks in your party.
Your YAYE COMPINS have morphed and no one talks about you. Your other names of endearment like BAA DAALA KEBBA, JAWARA DICKO, DKJ are now thrown into the doldrums of history etched only in the memories of history teachers.
Few if any showed up at your grave site today because there are no cameras there but I want you to know that when the Mausoleum is ready, the people will gather again with a lot of pomp because the cameras will be there.
This life is not balanced and if anyone thinks that the world resolves around them, they better think again.
May be because Jawara was a former President that some even stopped to pray and think of him, but how many fathers, mothers or grannies that have since left on August 27, that we don't celebrate their legacies?
This is a lesson of life. That just because you are popular today means nothing about people's love. It boils down to what you bring to the table that the people can partake to solve their needs.
Once that is gone, the world moves on. So we need to be humble and understand that someday, some of the people reading this post will not be even footnotes. They will just disappear never to be remembered.
The wealth we all aspire to have, the fame and celebrity status we aim for or the big mansions we build, will one day mean nothing to us. Sadly, that is realised when we are on our dead beds. Have you not noticed how people, once they attain success, put on dark glasses not to be recognised. I thought they wanted to be popular?
I appreciate your efforts Sir and only those who understand our evolution and the challenges at the time of independence will recognise the struggles. With just about 767 students in primary schools by 1952, less than 40 registered taxis in Bathurst and Kombo St Mary’s combined, virtually no roads; Radio Gambia barely operating four hours a day because of qualified staff and budgetaryconstraints;, a recurrent budget bankrolled by the British Government; wireless communication only at Bathurst, Kuntaur, Georgetown, Basse and Yundum; connecting to the world was like walking back to the Cave Man era;, poor healthcare system and most of the Protectorate schools built by the Native Authorities, the stage was set for a failed nation classification and yet convinced yourself that better days lie ahead.
Certainly, there cannot be anything better than independence despite losing the 1966 referendum by 735 votes because some of your opponents campaigned on "We are in no hurry".
We thank those who saw beyond the challenges and were thought to be insane and yet they trudged on.
We were so poor, that we even asked some nations not to attend our independence because we could not lodge them. The Atlantic Hotel was the best outfit in town and partly why the United States Embassy was located there renting rooms.
The Speaker of the House had to buy his own Chair in Parliament and many citizens with moderate houses lodged many dignitaries. Our independence celebration was an OSUSU.
To gauge the level of the progress of your term, we must be prepared to measure the depths from which you started.
ABARAKA NIANI KEBBA.
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A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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kiwi
Sweden
661 Posts |
Posted - 28 Aug 2022 : 15:00:56
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| is there any written biography of sir Dawda´s life and political career? |
kiwi |
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Momodou
Denmark
11640 Posts |
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kiwi
Sweden
661 Posts |
Posted - 29 Aug 2022 : 20:50:04
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Great! Unfortunately, the book seems to be out of print.
I remember that I many years ago was able to borrow a copy of “Gambian History” at the Kungliga Biblioteket (Swedish National Library), so I started searching. I found it, and also several of his speeches. As I don´t hold a professor´s degree, I don´t know how to book it … I am working on it. 
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kiwi |
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IN THE END, WE WILL BE FOOTNOTES IF WE ARE LUCKY
