For many of us, this week has been a time to be proud; a time for reflection on the possibility of a new dawn, a time where our country has the chance to sow the seed of success in overcoming the great turmoil that our electoral and political process has thus far represented. 

Now, as Gambians are currently involved in a significant effort to sustain and consolidate and strengthen democracy, create prosperity and realise the human potential in the Gambia, we have to mixed results in taking on towards nation-building since 2016.

It is beginning to look like we may be standing at the beginning of a new chapter in our history, one that will hopefully be defined by a prosperous democracy incontrovertibly built upon the will of the people. 

However, unfortunately, Gambians have been put through the wringer. Apart from dealing with the absence of security, employment, health care, education, striving to provide for our families, and rising crime, to name a few, we have been lumbered with political leadership that is solely focused on personal interests rather than on solving our widespread problems. 

Moreover, despite over a hundred and thousands of things that Gambians would ideally like to see done differently, the one consensus of what people want right now seems to be a record on nation-building aiming to promote liberal values and strengthen electoral democracy.

However, now that the first leg of the task has been achieved, this marks the point at which the real work needs to be done. To consolidate the exceptional success that our emergent democracy represents, President Adama Barrow and his government now pass the crucial test without allowing the demons of the past to re-emerge. 

The demons defy stepping up to the challenge of putting personal interest aside for the party to operate in the interest of all the people of this nation. 

Instead, the National People’s Party (NPP) led government of President Barrow must set the objective of making the Gambia a place liveable for the right of the many. 

The grand coalition partners must work in partnership to create a dynamic, broad, and competitive platform for progressives, for minorities, for women, for children, for the poor, and every interest. 

President Barrow must be fashioned as an entity that seeks to restore trust in Gambian politics, cleanse Gambian politics, and decentralise it so that people can once again have hope that politics can be about the service to the public.

The Gambian people do not want to asphyxiate; the Gambia people want to breathe. They demand that Sosalasso politicians leave them alone, remove their knees from their necks, and enjoy peace and stability. 

What do Gambians owe them that you make it seem they must never have peace and tranquility?  That is the total of the caution for the Sosalasso politicians who refused to concede defeat following December 4, 2021, presidential elections which international election observers, civil society organizations, and other presidential candidates as “free and fair and transprarent.”

However, the European Union Election Observation Mission in the Gambia stated, “The public standing of the IEC, which has  been held in high esteem by the stakeholders since the 2016 election”.

These political, religious, and ethnic leaders should please get their knees off the necks of Gambians, and they should let us breathe. They have arrogated too much influence and authority to themselves while not knowing that they are mere paper tigers. 

The Gambia is more significant than them, and the country will survive. As I often say, this country is like the testicles of a ram, which gyrates from side to side as the animal runs. 

However fast the speed of the ram, have you ever seen the testicles fall off? Or when a woman runs and holds her breasts, is it for fear that those delicate parts will fall off? It never happens.

No matter what they do or say, irrespective of their machinations, the Gambia will survive. Furthermore, peace, flowing like a river, shall return to this land.

Unfortunately, The Gambia is currently undergoing severe security challenges instead of teaming up with government and security agencies to find solutions. 

Some present political leaders, disgruntled religious leaders, and ethnic champions are in cahoots to exacerbate the situation. 

They are plotting to contest the presidential election results in the courts and planning endless press conferences and post-election protests in numerous cities, which would pass a vote of no confidence in President Adama Barrow, a man they so much love to hate. 

These agent provocateurs were the first to sow the seed of evil, disharmony, and suspicion in the country through the war of tongues they have deployed against the government of the day for many years. 

In their estimation, nothing good is happening in the country except violence and vandalism. Moreover, the only way for out is a removal of the constitutional order.

Now, how do you achieve such in a democracy without subverting the very essence of democracy itself and throwing the country into a tailspin? They do not bother, neither do they care. All they want is to get the man they do not want to see out of power. 

So they have deployed everything against him: evil speaking, hate speech, misinformation, disinformation, bile, malignancy, and more. In the build-up to the 2021 elections, they banded together, endorsed a candidate, whom they were already calling ‘My President’ before the polls. 

However, what did we see? As Gambians opted for a man they could trust, they were beaten black and blue.

They have been plotting to get through the back door what they lost through the ballot box. Bad-mouth the man, paint him black, portray him as incompetent, and turn the people against him. 

Furthermore, they have found a smokescreen in the security challenges the country is facing. They have crept under it to show their hidden, hostile hands.

President Barrow conquers other fronts, particularly mega infrastructure projects while combating insecurity and myriads of different challenges. Roads, bridges, rural electrification, airports, building schools, and college campuses, other massive projects are ongoing. 

Furthermore, they tell themselves that he will still become the authentic Gambian hero unless we stop this man. So they are throwing everything against him, including the kitchen sink.

Mama Kandeh, one of the maverick presidential candidates who failed to concede defeat, always uses foul words against the country’s leadership. The more uncouth the words from him, the happier he seems to be. 

To a large extent, he has poisoned the minds of people in his region of the country against President Barrow and the government. Evil words inexorably germinate and bear bitter seeds.

It was ironic to see the politicians lament the removal of ECOMIG troops in the Gambia despite talk of massive insecurity in the land, poor state of the economy, and alleged stifling of voices of dissent. 

This character stood surety for the politics of pandemonium, a Gambian nightmare even more problematic because of misguided attempts to promote political correctness, and he has the temerity to talk of stifling voices of dissent in the land. Good grief!

These Sosalasso politicians talked of utilising all constitutional means to do the needful against the government of the day. 

Well, every butterfly fancies itself a bird, and the fact that the mangrove tree lives inside the river does not make it a crocodile. 

Talk is cheap, and dreams cost nothing. The intention of that fellow and his co-travelers is not really about now. They are playing in the politics of power grab in the presidential election, thinking they should muddy the waters before then as much as possible. 

When the lobster walks on mud, it stirs it up for everybody. The welfare and well-being of the country and its people do not matter.

The disgruntled, caterwauling religious and political leaders are working towards a vote of no confidence in the President. After that, what next? 

First, all Gambians must support a united, indivisible Gambia, stressing that government can only be changed through the electoral process. Other stakeholders have equally done the same, saying it is committed to the land’s present administration and democratic institutions. Good.

However, the current security challenges are not insurmountable. In partnership with other security agencies, the Armed Forces work assiduously to ameliorate the challenges. 

As a result, the Gambia will know peace again. Aamen and Aameen Yarabi. I can hear you say. This land will know peace again. 

Moreover, this is where political leaders, religious figures, and chieftains of ethnic groups should have been positioned. Instead of shenanigans to pass yeye votes of no confidence in a President doing his level best for the country, they should align with other presidential candidates in the conviction that “the Gambia shall know peace again.” 

True, the security challenges are troubling and daunting, but they are not insurmountable. Furthermore, the Gambia shall win. The NPP-led government of President Barrow should be a party entrenched with solid ideals of integrity, impartiality, unity, honesty, and development. 

Moreover, it should also be a party equipped with the valor to welcome new ideas required to make those standards a reality for Gambians; a party of practical process in pursuit of a gallant cause and the solemn obligation to act accountably, transparently, and impartially. These should be at the core of NPC’s intention for the Gambia.

True democracy has never been a concrete box that isolates the political leadership from the people. Moreover, if it is true democracy we are interested in, then the party leadership must embrace that fact. 

Leaders of NPP-led government must use their positions of power to earn the people’s trust because that will primarily impact the public’s confidence in the party. 

More than anyone, the leaders of the NPP-led government know well the change that the Gambia desperately needs. They know that this country is anxious to step away from its past, desperate to get those things done that need doing for the future.

Let me state a simple truth: public faith in the political process is extremely low. Many people are still pessimistic, especially given that a number of the strong players in the new coalition were once part of past governments. 

Part of the NPP’s challenge is to earn the trust of the people by avoiding political trickery, standing up to the opposition, abstaining from inflammatory behaviour, working together, and convincing the public that the party is ready to be the fresh new change the Gambia needs despite some of the personalities that make up the party.

If managed well, the NPP-led government can bring the Gambia together to unite people as one nation. Our hopes for the Gambia correspond with a sense of consideration, decorum, and responsibility. 

Let us be hopeful and optimistic about this chance. One can only shape the opposition and make it what they need it to be when they participate in the process.

As the Gambia prepares to embark on this new chapter in its political life, one element of change seems to rise above all others in terms of importance: specifically the need for our politicians to show love for the Gambia. 

Love for the Gambia means putting public interests above personal interests. It means doing everything possible to keep partisan politics fair and clean. 

Love for the Gambia is not about politicians’ words but their actions. It is about putting nation-building above everything else. Leaders of the NPP-led government must display their love for the Gambia.

With the 2021 presidential election behind, we have a chance to start a new chapter, put aside individual and party interests, and insist on accountability from the political class. 

However, more than anything, we should all accept personal responsibility for making this happen because only individual Gambians putting the Gambia’s interests first can build a just, democratic society that will make present and future generations of Gambians justifiably proud. 

As this new dawn breaks, the Barrow administration gives Gambians a platform to do just that. So let them do not asphyxiate us. Let us breathe!

Indeed, December 4, 2021, was a glorious day for the Gambia. As we keep our eye on making sure President Barrow does right by us, let us also keep our fingers crossed for the success of our Scorpions in the forthcoming African Cup of Nations.

By Alagi Yorro Jallow