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Momodou
Denmark
11640 Posts |
 Posted - 17 Jun 2023 : 16:58:56
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ALAGIE SAIDY BARROW TAKES ON POLITICIANS AND THEIR EMPTY PROMISES!
A Promise Is a Comfort To A Fool!
Decades ago, I heard one of the best reggae music singers, Gregory Isaacs, say that a promise is a comfort to a fool. While he used the statement in the context of love, I cannot help but hearken back to this poignant statement when I hear the myriad of promises our politicians make. We saw local government contestants promise us all manner of things during their campaign. And thankfully for them, in The Gambia, the accepted maxim is that when you are campaigning, you can say anything! Imagine the APRC candidate making the meaningless promise that he will make “KMC the best council in West Africa.” To think that such people have the guts to want to lord over the people makes you feel sorry for Gambians.
But saying saying anything to bamboozle the people is not limited to campaign time. Apparently, you can say anything during the meaningless State of the Nation address because you will not be effectively held to account. You can always count on the fact that many Gambians hardly conduct any research to establish the veracity of what you say. Importantly, you can count on obfuscating what you said through your surrogates. The biggest assets Gambian politicians have are those in their circle who benefit from their power. These individuals will say anything to justify or defend anything their political benefactor does or says! And so when the political benefactor makes promises they have no intention of delivering, the surrogates will not only support the promise but will be on the prowl defending why the promise or statement is taken out of context or giving us reasons why the war in Russia or global warming or COVID are to blame for every failure of the government. And so, in The Gambia, promises really don’t mean much.
Sadly, it doesn’t have to be that way. Time was, and making a promise places a moral obligation on the promise maker. Time was. One’s word was their honour, or as they say, your word is your bond. Time was, and people would rather suffer than break their promise. But oh, how times have changed. Listen to this quote attributed to our president:
“I promise to serve this nation with a clear conscience, a clear vision and clearly articulated and realistic development plans and programs. Let us work harmoniously to implement them together in our best interest.”
There’s a reason someone once said your actions speak so loudly that I can’t hear what you say. For someone who hoisted Tombong Jatta, a murder and rape apologist, on the Gambian people and for someone who enabled several dictator enablers to continue riding on the backs of their victims to tell us they will serve this nation with a clear conscience is a painful listen and very scornful.
I will serve the country with a clear conscience if a broken promise is being promised again, and sadly, there are many who will continue to buy the already broken promises. A clear conscience is impossible when you are in coalition with murder, rape and theft apologists like Tombong Jatta.
Our ancestors warned that “If nakedness promises to clothe you, then look at its name.” Not in The Gambia. We seem to find comfort in any promise, even if it’s a broken promise. But let’s put aside the broken promises for a minute and talk about the emptiness and meaningless of this State of the Nation address. Again, someone told us it’s an excellent democratic practice for the president to address the people’s representatives once a year and update them on the nation's state. And since we simply copy and paste, Barrow gets someone to collate information from his various ministers and put it together in the form of a speech to the representatives. By people’s representatives, I mean those that the people supposedly elected and not those masquerading as representatives of the people when no one selected them. That will be the new Seedy Njie and Tombong Jatta!
I don’t want to delve too much into President Barrow’s speech, but the emptiness and laziness some of his ministries exhibit is just mind-boggling. Consider the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who could only provide four meaningless lines for Barrow even though their PR game will make you think they are the most efficient ministry. I guess when you are too tired from all the travelling to conferences and advertising yourself or when you have nothing to say, you can spit meaningless sentences that sound really good but mean nothing. I mean, what does it mean when you say:
“Our foreign policy remains forging more collaborative efforts on the international scene, based on our shared principles and values, strengthening partnerships across the globe, and active participation in relevant regional and other international organisations.”
It means nothing! It’s a bunch of words cobbled together by someone who had nothing to add to Barrow’s speech but felt obliged to say something. And while we are at it, someone should tell our government that you cannot be a beggar and borrower nation and claim to have principles and values! Again, you've just got to feel sorry for Gambians! But then, people deserve what they accept!
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Article contributed by ALAGIE SAIDY BARROW 17/06/2023!
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A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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ALAGIE SAIDY BARROW TAKES ON POLITICIANS…..
