THE GAMBIA AT 50: STUNTED BY POOR ADMINISTRATION AND TYRANNY

It's exactly 50 years today, since the Gambia attained Nationhood from British Colonial Rule. Coincidentally, she's only three months older than the Gambian president who claimed he'd 'refused to be born during colonial rule', a birthdate that couldn't be verified. That 'Independence' was happily celebrated until armed bandits turned murderers and greedy oppressors dislodged a democratically elected government in 1994. In what they called a 'bloodless' coup, these soldiers only needed three months before they started what is to become a Slaughtering Spree.

Ever since President Jammeh and his carnivores first tasted blood on November 11, 1994, nothing has been the same. This regime killed, maimed and exiled more Gambians than the Whiteman did when the Gambia was being 'colonized'. Under a terrible dictatorship, Gambia and Gambians today are more afraid and uncertain than they were when Kunta Kinteh was sold into slavery. A country where neither daylight nor nightfall guarantees security/safety from gun-toting criminals paid by the same people they terrorize. How's that a Coast smiling?

Never missing a chance to soil the British and the PPP government, president Jammeh angrily blames the Gambia's underdevelopment on the '400 years of British Misrule' claiming that 'they looted, robbed the Gambia of her natural resources' and the '30 years of rampant corruption, flamboyant lifestyle, nepotism and overstay' while boasting of 'true independence and advent of transparency, accountability, probity' on July 22, 1994.

While we sit on different sides of the political isle, what is not debatable is the absolute economic hardship, poor and governance and the death of rule of law in a nation known and envied for her peace, stability, economic and institutional vibrancy in the first Republic. Today the country's Domestic Debt sits at uneasily D16 Billion. The TRANSPARENCY, ACCOUNTABILITY & PROBITY slogan died the moment Jammeh found his niche and way to pursue his pilgrimage of wealth accumulation and power obsession. EVERY reason advanced for the violent overthrow of the first Republic went through the window as none of the charges levied on the PPP were ever proven in any courts, and he'd done thrice worse than what colonialism and PPP combined could have.

For a nation once dubbed improbable, to have excelled with little to no natural resources but abundantly spoiled with human capital, has over the past two decades inched closer to near improbability. We have not only been dependent on foreign aid but absolute dependency on Yaya Jammeh for everything from food handouts to religion and justice. We have become a one-man State. We've seen the death of institutions, parastatals like GPTC, GCC, GPA, GAMTEL that were built from the ground after independence only to be forcefully milked by an irresponsible administration that has not brought about a single development project or investment that employs 20 Gambians per year. That is why the Gambia National Army became and remains the biggest employer in the country.

Despite all these downers, there's still reason to observe our country's Nationhood. Though the state of affairs is far from viable, we must not let the current government and its leadership relegate a significant National Day to play second fiddle to July 22 or the president's birthday. We still have to celebrate and appreciate the efforts of those who fought for mama Gambia's weaning from the British. The founding fathers of our nation would be proud for us to not allow this day wallow in abyss of historical death.

Despite the two-decade setback, I have faith that the Gambian is able and capable to re-emerge, reinvent and restore the pride and dignity of our nation and her people, position her where she belongs amongst her peers. A nation of peace, stability, and bastion of moral and political democracy. The unnatural, incessant events of 1994 are an indelible taint on our history but must not define us as a Nation and People. The Gambian's enterprise, decency and love for peace are unmatched. We'll overcome and create a better Gambia where we'd  be able to create greater opportunities for our youth who venture on a risk economic migration to Europe through the 'backway', dying in the desert or at sea. We'll create an enabling environment of unabated creativity for advanced technology and better, accessible, affordable healthcare and education.

We can do this! We only have to break this political and military bondage and repression to realize it.

Happy Golden Jubilee, Gambia, while we await the president to deliver his speech to the nation and the world. Hopefully, the recent events in Banjul would have an influence on the route he takes: Reconciliation for a better Gambia or Alienation for an already divided Gambia.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AND PEACE TO THE PLANET.

Saidykhan!