Today is the last day of 2019 and we shall rejoice and be glad. Why not? For as Robert Schuller challenges all Gambians, “tough times never last but tough people do, and tomorrow is January 1, 2020.

It should ordinarily be a day of celebrations. But, for us in the Gambia, it will be more than a New Year Day. A year of despair can beget a year of hope. Gambians in this new year, 2020, can piece together our shattered civic and political norms.

We can re-tie the bonds of unity that cynical politicians have went for their own gain. We can recommit ourselves to a path of empathy and justice. So, what were the most indiscreet, absurd, ridiculous and dam foolish statements of 2019?

Men and women wearing lipstick and powder are the same as activists, political party surrogates and pundits. Political, religious and tribal rapidness being the fashion of the times, men and women in power took action that would otherwise have been irregular.

Will the Gambia get out of intellectual power arrogance, obsequious sycophancy and intolerance? That is the question 2019 leaves behind. The answer will come loud and clear as 2020 gets into stride.

Threats to citizens with different opinions will either become the rule of life or a thing of the past depending on how civil we all become in our politics go from now.

There is this story of a little boy who visited the village store with his father. On their way out after shopping, they encountered the owner of the store who offered the little boy some free candy. “Get a hand full of candy”, the store’s proprietor said to the boy.

But rather than act as directed and scoop the candy, the boy just stood there looking up at his father. Apparently thinking the boy didn’t get his message, the owner repeated himself, “Son, get a hand full of candy, it’s free.”

Again, the boy did not move as he continued to look up to his father. Finally, the father reached into the jar and got a hand full of candy and gave it to his son who beamed with smiles. But as they walked back home, the father stopped and asked his son why he had to rely on him rather than scoop a handful of the free candy by himself. With another big smile on his face, the boy looked up to his father and said: “Because I know that your hand is bigger than mine.”

Whatever may be the challenges we face in 2020, for those of us who believe in the Almighty Allah, we must learn to place them in His hand. Because “His hand is bigger than ours”.

A new year calls for stock taking and projections. It will be nice to start 2020 by carrying the cake of one’s charity from home to an orphanage homes, thousands of children are living without one or both parents, putting them at risk of dropping out, falling ill, being malnourished, and suffering from other effects of poverty.

This new year, 2020 should define so many things and so many people at goal setting. This new year, it will tell if the Gambia will ever work for the Gambian people, the hoipolloi or to an oligarchy.

2020, it will also be momentous in the politics of the Gambia. Somehow, you feel that the Gambia will work only if Gambians works that should explain our new year standpoint or resolutions. When we hear desert encroachment, our minds races to the arid North and its geography. But desertification is much more than having rainless years and fruitless soil. Can’t we see of the political and fiscal choices made in the past, the Gambia has become a veritable desert in politics and economics?

Power tussles garnished with dangerous politics reign in this country. There is a thick plume of intolerance in the air. Independence of mind and critical evaluation and critical thinking of issues used to mark out the Gambian people. But they are capital offences today among the so-called progressives.

The Gambian people must be warned against Gambians getting bogged down by the pettiness of power addict politicians, fake patriots masquerading as democrats who were already showing their faces even in those early days of the regime changed in 2016.

What we witnessed in 2019 are careerist and power addicted politicians and political parties masquerading as big and small, herd their sheep from one brown pasture to another.

Politics, to them, has become an end in itself, fulfilling election promises and making life better for the people are distantly secondary. The desert is approaching, encroaching. Should those who claim leadership of the race be seen fighting personal battles when the real enemy is advancing?

When the desert encroaches on the fertility of our existence, what do you do? We were taught to stop it, whatever it takes. This strain of encroaching desert will take much more than ceremonial tree planting by effeminate emperors to conquer.

A divided people can’t confront a determined enemy. They will lose their present and their future. I hope someone listens — before it is too late.

According to doyen Journalist Dan Rather’s best-selling book, ‘What Unites Us: Reflections on Patriotism, eloquently stated that “empathy is not only a personal feeling; it can be a potent force for political and social change”. The veteran journalist further scribed that “the suppression or denial of empathy is a deliberate part of a cynical political calculus”.

Dividing people and stoking animosity can pave a path to power. This has been well known since the time of the ancients. But these divisions inevitably come at the expense of the long-term health and welfare of the nation.

If we live in a democracy, we have more than just a chance, we have a real opportunity to build a more perfect country. You understand that it can seem that our democracy is under attack from within, and indeed in many ways it is. But we have seen an outpouring of energy and activism swell for real change from Gambians of all walks of life since Gambians decided in 2016.

We are pushing back the tides of prejudice, small-mindedness, and bias. This task will not be easy. The forces arrayed against the majority will of the Gambian people are strong and well-financed.

They are fueled by an unfair and entrenched political system. But they can be defeated. They feed off fear. As President Roosevelt famously exhorted, “we have nothing to fear but fear itself”. We have only one Gambia, the Gambia of multiple faiths, multiple languages, multiple food and dress cultures—Incredible Gambia. Will the incredible retain its glory?

Happy New Year to all my friends, colleagues and family-A fresh start is a moment of hope and great expectation, may all of you begin 2020 with boundless joy, joyful spirit and abundance of Allah’s favor. My greatest desire for all of you this New Year is success, courage and prosperity.

By Alagi Yorro Jallow