Muslim lives matter

The world will condone things that will radicalise you, and then the same world will condemn you for it. Screw that BS. Where I come from they say don't get angry with or condemn what is in the cup whilst absolving the person who poured it.

I heard... for China, Islam is a 'mental illness' that needs to be 'cured'. So, they have mass re-education camps where these Muslims (activists I suppose) are being held, and the camps are being run like “wartime concentration camps.”

The detainees I heard are being forced to attend political re-education lessons and sing political songs or even forced to denounce Islam and swear loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party, in addition to being forced to eat pork and drink alcohol and other acts forbidden by their religion.

Very legitimate for the whole world to raise concern about such unapologetic oppression but no, because the rights of Muslims aren't as pressing to them as the rights of non-human animals, as climate change, LGBT, feminism, or their profitable relations with China, especially Muslim nations who are almost all recipients of Chinese loans. But Allah is sufficient for the believer.

Appropriation Bill 2019

Granted, a budget is a management tool. Yes, our budget should represent national values and aspirations. Yes, good grief! The figures I see being shared on here are massive by any measurement, but that's about it, the figures! Until you know the justifications, the fiscal rules, spending warrants and other conditions precedent to convince the National Assembly to accept the bill, dismissing everything as outrageous is only making the tool an obstacle.

See, where resources are very limited, there will always be competing interests and priorities, like what's good for the builder, the environmental activist may not be okay with, just to give an instance, and lest a fallacy of relative privation tug of war, a NATIONAL budget will hardly be left to a referendum, even though it would've been politically correct to give folks that much illusion of a voice in their fiscal affairs.

So, for my part, unless I see an explicit argument as to the follies warranting all the fuss, or suggestions of better national results for less than the amounts requested, all opposition to the bill (not the Supplementary Appropriation Bill) is debatable. But that's just me trying to offer a voice of reason.

My friend had a problem with the new presidential advisory positions, but seemed okay when I said 'c'mon dude, even Harvard graduated presidents keep advisers' - some official and others on unofficial capacities, but as many as the subject matters that the president could use advice on, especially where the president feels left on his own and that's neither confirming nor denying that ours is, lest I be too much an empath.

Others are kinda nervous about the expectations at the Quadrangle: the salary increase. But quite frankly, if it's not okay to love a job that cannot even pay one-eighth of your bills, not okay to call yourself a worker that still envies his jobless friends, not okay to see your family fall apart because half of your life is dedicated to some compassion-deficient employment that gives an offering plate for a salary, and if it's not okay to invent travels or take bribes at it, then my friend, a raise is in order, particularly for retirees and those at the lower salary band. One needs not much empathy to see that.

Yes, for those who are long-term-oriented, the trend isn't sustainable and I agree, especially for families like typical Gambia’s that are so extended that even the extension of the extended family becomes family; these increases will only mean more dependency on the sole earners and supporters of such families.

But that's why we need new jobs for those who are still unemployed – y'know, distribute the availability of means of securing the necessities of life by de-concentrating earning abilities. Otherwise, the percentage raise for FY2019 regardless, relational burden will cause these civil servants to come next year and ask for more.

I’m of the belief that when more than one person in every household is gainfully engaged, and all willing to feed the kitty, the burden on individual income will lessen and that’ll encourage personal savings - a move from not affording to save to not affording to not save.

I heard the minister say the downside of the raise is putting a brake on all but essential civil service recruitments. Well, can the government provide work for everybody anyway? That’s not even possible.

The government’s job is to employ essential people who will help create the conditions for employment creation, restrict expenses to socially useful causes and essential national conveniences (yes, even when there is the budget to do otherwise), provide water, electricity, dependable communication, and facilities that’ll attract investment. But most of all, allow entrepreneurs to freely explore, innovate and profit. Yeah, we gotta allow them to PROFIT, because if they don’t profit, they wouldn’t employ and I hope that's the thinking.

The SAP

The official story that the Supplementary Appropriation Bill's been rejected is good news for democracy and system change, or at least an indicator of the latter. But that's the part that'd cause one to seek enlightenment, like: now, what?

What if the SAP request was just a front to retroactively normalise our fiscal data... you know, one seeking to fix an already incurred over-spend (D1.2b), because no contingency or advance warrant exist to allow the Ministry of Finance to be creative with?

What happens if, by their oversight role, Parliament is provided an appropriation account, or a variance report for 2018, showing huge excesses presented as can't-wait obligations? What's the penalty for exceeding expenditure limitation set by the legislature?

I heard the Appropriation Bill 2019 is also marked for rejection tomorrow? What's the legislative stopgap measure thereof... because furloughing the civil service or causing a shutdown of national operations pending a redo wouldn't be so cool?

Political Epicaricacy

The way I see some of us rejoice at the wedge that the BYM is (seemingly) becoming between the UDP and the presidency, as if: 'Yay!!! We can't wait for the fall out!' Is the pits of political epicaricacy. Really so low!

Perhaps it's the price to pay for being the most influential political party, but seriously??? Sometimes, in my head, I'm like: 'hey, to you be your party, and to them their party!' Particularly lately that the suggestion making the rounds on here, by folks who aren't even UDP, is Darboe to retire from party leadership... as if that's not entirely his party's call?

And seeing how the man's given his life to the party and to politics, the admirable strategist he's at it, at this point that his is all about loyalty and commitment to party objective, that shouldn't even be a motion... that's like asking him to retire to 'no life to retire to.'

But that's us (the average Gambian) for you. When we support you, you become a holy object. We can find you holding a gas canister and a box of matches, smelling like a chimney, near the fire, and still try to find someone to blame the blaze on.

But oh, boy! Should we like someone above you... even holding a fire extinguisher makes you the perp. We'd adduce that you're just tryna put out what you started. Our sense of affection pays zero attention to even the natural imperfections of the people we glorify, and I don't know if that's a good thing.

Africa’s Independence is Overrated...

If your part of Africa is different, may you inspire the rest, and excuse the generalisation - where assessment of general conduct is being made, sweeping remarks are usually unavoidable - and considering all things that in some way constitute what we call independence or sovereignty, I consider Africa’s overrated.

We are largely in dependence, if not deeper dependence. How we astonishingly choose to define our national realities in our various Constitutions doesn’t matter to me, as long as we remain that continent that every other continent sees as one to be helped, saved, or fixed, we are not independent.

As long as every Afro-foreign relationship remains at the mercy of ultimatums, imposition of policies and structural adjustments, expressions of threats of coercive measures intended to ensure compliance, or acceptance of things that we would otherwise reject if we were independent, we are not independent.

As long as we keep presenting our continent as one absent of rationality, so much that any knowledge or advice from a non-skin-folk makes more sense to us than all our learned kinfolks combined, especially when it comes to economic thinking, we are not independent.

As long as those diamond diggers in Sierra Leone and Angola still earn less than a dollar a day, with their children being a part of the workforce, or some Ivorian or Ghanaian cocoa farming community can hardly afford chocolate bars for their kids, owing to the price pegged by the high-end producer, we are not independent.

If you ask me, the only independence we have is the independence to hold our own summits, and all we do in there is to confess admiration for Western lifestyle, respect for China, particularly for not following the dictates of the West on its way to economic success, and how Dubai and Singapore can be exemplary models of economic development for us, but that's it, until the high-level meeting after that.

Cassandra

Ayard, once you hold an independent will and you own your views, male or female, you tend to become a Cassandra, metaphorically speaking that is. You'd be known for knowing and speaking the truth, yet disliked not for what you say, but what you know, and by those who tend to get hurt by the truth.

Just that unlike beautiful Cassandra, folks' dismissal of your valid warnings and concerns isn't because your predictions are cursed to be disbelieved, but because it's you, and so it's safe to say that it's deliberate.

Well, that's why you'd keep getting vindicated like, "didn't I tell you so? This too could've been averted if only you'd listened." A Cassandra state of mind is a blessings but often taken for granted, and those who do so always live to regret it, because they'd know you're right, or at least sense it, yet choose to ignore you, even though eventually, your predictions invariably happen.

In case you don't know Cassandra, in Greek mythology, she was the daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy. She had the gift of prophecy from Apollo who after she refused his amorous advances cursed the gift so that her prophecies would never be believed, but interesting, to the detriment of her community.

Truth doesn’t always attract goodwill

In today’s Gambia, especially on social media, good opinion is mostly from an emotional base. If you think I’m lying, identify your target, say what appeals to their prejudices, even if it’s so much fervour about nothing, or just you playing the devil's advocate, let it appear to claim as have they, and there you have your goodwill.  

But hear this, Rasta! The agreeable reaction thereof is only until you go back to keeping it real. That’s when you’re renamed a “hypocrite” – and that’s how I came to overstand that in fact, truth doesn’t always attract goodwill. So, my guiding principle: write whatever the heck you want to write, just don’t pontificate and don’t fuck with people.

Ignorance... is it bliss?

Ignorance and the said happiness thereof is no bliss per se. You don't expect much demand from someone so oblivious to everything except his single view of the world. It's like Mao Zedong's allegory of the frog at the bottom of the well.

You don't expect the frog to think as big, or see as far as you that's knowledgeable through books, travel and other forms of exposure, or you that's metaphorically on top of the well. It's only natural the frog thinks small because it sees the sky as only as big as the top of the well that it's able to see.

If the frog surfaces, has an entirely different view and remains lowly in thought, then you can now blame it or call it mumpsimus. But that's hardly the case, because most frogs eventually become the loudest; you know the intalk: "never see come see."

I think I may have found a word for that kinda mental state. Call it 'frogasm,' you know: that rush of excitement upon sudden enlightenment. It can cause the frog to croak until it blows its throat up; if you know what I mean.

So I realised that....

If betrayal has taught me anything, it's that another person's opinion of someone else’s character doesn't always fly, that sometimes, the reputation that precedes a person does not necessarily become the person.

So, it's always worth the time and trouble of finding out first hand, before issuing a middle finger, disliking, or reserving a space in your heart for someone. You'd be sorry to realise that in fact, your inclination was based on an invented character, good or bad.

I guess because of superficial interests

The Gambia has a very funny history of not doing anything beyond conception, or at best, the first (baby) steps: beautiful plans, noble causes, plausible beginnings, and that's it.

Soon ego-serving infighting will transform the team into groups, and the moon therein jealous of the stars, causes become curses, eventually what the military calls a 'SNAFU' - situation (seemingly) normal, (but) all fucked up, or 'FUBR' (fucked up beyond recognition or repair).

What I mean is, we begin everything, and never finish anything. That's my fear with all these CSOs, task forces, activistic fervour, commissions and all, and I hope I'm proven wrong.

As is the micro, so is the macro...

Do you know that our streets, workplaces, communities, you know - the crab mentality, wedge issues, the artificiality in beliefs therein are all microcosms of the hydra-headed disorder at national level?

Yeah, they are, and the same shit’s why Marina Parade (the macro) is not going to blossom; because the environment is not growth friendly.

If you really and truly want the macro to change, you got to start with the micro: yourself first (your mentality, habits and actions), then your household’s, then your community’s, and so forth.

Govt and The Travel Ban...

Our national travel expenditure got to almost a quarter of a billion in 6 months, there was legitimate outcry, the government heeded, imposed a temporary ban on all government funded trips except for essential statutory meetings.

But... where the hell was SCOT (the Travel Clearance Unit)? Well, that’s by the way.

Some say its “drastic” but “commendable”, some say it’s “too late”, some say it’s overtaken by events - “travel votes are almost exhausted”, others see a “deviation from real issues." Me? I see a reactive but at least a listening government, who's being listened to, I don't know but I hope the ears wouldn’t turn selective.

The struggle is real.

So, these kids came to the house with a trophy, drumming and chanting: "olé... olé olé olé..." you know, asking for donations for winning a championship or something.

"Which tournament did y'all win?" My brother inquired, knowing that the trophy's just coming from a neighbour's store being cleaned. [Oops, busted!] I laughed so hard like, man, the struggle's real, yo!

But then it's a validation of my theory that we are a microcosm of everything 'aguan at state level, where donation is sought for every rass-claat thing, real or speculative, only to get stolen, poorly distributed, or embezzled by the very donation seekers.

The meddling with us!

I see meddling on the increase, like I see sinners sinning against other sinners in the name of goodness. But that’s what up - where there’s moral ignorance there’s moral arrogance, and feeling pious is confused with righteousness.

But that’s also because the picture of righteousness is being repainted to recognise all who profess the truth as righteous, even if they live a lie. So, even I that prays that the things I do in the night don’t see the light can pretend to being all right, and right, all night.

Good people still exist

If your experiences suggest otherwise, or you just cannot be one yourself, I'm so sorry, but really, goodness and good people still exist in this dunia and the Gambia is no exception.

It's just unfortunate that here, we tend to frustrate benevolence by rendering genuinely kind people tired, or cause them to feel naive by taking them for pawns, fools and objects of exploitation.

Probably why today, outrageous Machiavellian manoeuvrings have become the newest acts of kindness, because we hardly inquire after motives, and perhaps why each time a guy does some lady a favour and doesn't ask for her name, number, and address or panty size, there's astonishment all over her face like, wow, he's a different breed. 

Good people still exist

If your experiences suggest otherwise, or you just cannot be one yourself, I'm so sorry, but really, goodness and good people still exist in this dunia and the Gambia is no exception.

It's just unfortunate that here, we tend to frustrate benevolence by rendering genuinely kind people tired, or cause them to feel naive by taking them for pawns, fools and objects of exploitation.

Probably why today, outrageous Machiavellian manoeuvrings have become the newest acts of kindness, because we hardly inquire after motives, and perhaps why each time a guy does some lady a favour and doesn't ask for her name, number, and address or panty size, there's astonishment all over her face like, wow, he's a different breed. 

Managing Directors and Damaging Directors

I was told that during Baba Jawara's reign, some seemingly disgruntled person nearly caught hell for saying that the Gambia had two types of high-ranking corporate officers: "Managing Directors and Damaging Directors."

Well, while I may not know the import of his pun, here's what I think, and I sketch:

The Managing Director is one who knows that the best and less expensive form of "capacity building" within an organisation is doing away with wedge issues and creating a supportive workforce, one who values truth even when uncomfortable, one who appreciates feedback, positive or otherwise, and encourages open exchange of information, so that members of staff may know a bit about each other's and therefore, versatility.

The Damaging Director on the other hand makes this difficult to accomplish, dispenses information on the pretext of it being a 'need to know,' but deep down, it's for the sole purpose of alienating those who refuse to be slavish, you know, under the guise of secrecy, when insecurity is what it usually is.

A Damaging Director would rather 'divide and rule' than 'unite and lead," and that's why they fail woefully to apathy, to a working environment where workers will come to work yes, but keep their heads down and do the bare minimum, you know, what the Mandinkas call 'dankong dorong' or 'yamarri sindo', just for the pay cheque at the end of the month.

Say "nothing," you're fine!

Toxic are those who have something bad to say about anyone who isn't in the room, the unsolicited counseling and pretended shoulder givers you call colleagues or friends in today's corporate Gambia, those who though embody epicaricacy, they'll appear as if they empathise with your difficulties.

But like some internet Meme I once saw suggests, when they find you feeling low and ask "what's wrong?" Tell them "nothing," you're fine! They certainly will insist like, "are you sure?" Tell them "no, but it's not like you'd care." And by my experience, most of them really don't care.

They ask because they want to find out... just for gossip, which disclosures about you will be twisted and used against you. If you ask me, and by the Meme that is, going with "nothing's wrong" is easier than dealing with the drama of revealing your true feelings to these lowlifes.

Bigmanism

Bigmanism: a personality trait you don't have to break sweat to find in our civil service. It's usually the effect of ignorance plus a higher, or executive post of employment, one that unexpectedly places holder's name on the door perhaps.

Bigmanism: the act of ignoring people issues under the impression that you're too focused on bottom line, or because you're the "big man," you can shove austerity on everyone whilst yourself, being everything but abstemious.

Bigmanism: wearing some very large 19th century suit to a 2018 event, walking like you're suffering from a painful pelvic misalignment, swinging twenty-ten supposed car keys, allotting unnecessary space of the alleyway to your special stagger, disturbing the peace... and yeah, I know... I'm 'effing weird.

Are we cursed?

I saw it shared on here that out of 153 countries, Forbes graded the Gambia as the 152nd best; that’s like second worst country for business, and I find that dreadful. And because invariably, we hear officials and investment agencies say that ‘things are getting better.' So, I assume we were either the worst and now second to worst, which is a plus although pathetic, or there’s sham somewhere.

But for a nation where political disagreements frustrate restructuring, where pride gets in the way of innovation, where taxes never drop, where some employers are unethical or narcissistic and their workforce so grasping, where infrastructure is in a rut, technology below par, where "capacity building" yields a near-negative capacity utilisation rate, where corruption is a sign of ambition, where quality of life is pitiable, and where red tape is on the rise because some irrelevant people want to remain relevant, I don’t think Forbes is lying.

As I was composing this piece, some grown man left the many bathrooms in their house, went around the edge of the fence, took out his PVC pipe and started to pee, you know, as if: 'pree mi bredda, mi nah give a damn, caah Gyambiya nah ready fi prime time yet!" 

I see people blaming the Government and the Government blaming attitudes. I see our national conversation taking a turn to frivolousness, tetchiness, impertinent chattings, rash censures, and spiteful tribalistic sentiments. I see MDI dying because our intellectual community prefers GIMPA.

Well, thanks to the clusterfuck, I think I've found my Plan E: do my own thing, revive my rabaraba, go to Ginack and start a shop or some weed farm, or start a private strip joint, just whatever! No partnership, no going public, no merger, just me, because collectively, and as much as I hate to say it, this country doesn't inspire hope.

Ability without opportunity - hopeless!

“Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime…” very well! But that’s just one part. The man’s knowledge of fishing will HARDLY cut it if the equipment required to go out there and catch fish isn’t available to him.

Just like our part of the world is trying to curb irregular migration by training the next generation of entrepreneurs, but up to the last day of the course that certificates proving attendance are given and that’s it. So, it begs the question: how can a mere certificate help the trainee to start, or nurture, or grow through the difficult and vulnerable early stages?

To me, that record of having undergone the training without the tools to help the trainee put his training into practice is as hopeless as ability without opportunity. See why many were trained to create employment ultimately become employment seekers… ironical, right?

The Golem effect in us...

We want others to change; at least that's the claim and it's cool, but how many of us do know that we also have a very crucial role to play in guiding their transformation process? Yes, we do, and it's not in our rebuke.

The Pygmalion effect or its theoretical counterpart (Golem effect) respectively suggest that higher expectations (including trust I suppose) placed upon individuals can lead to an increase in their performance, and lower expectations lead to poorer performance by the individuals.

In the Gambia, by our (seemingly general) thing for naysaying, jaded negativity, and distrust of the integrity and motives of everyone else but ours, it’s safe to say that what’s prevalent here is the "Golem effect." You'll find it in schools, in workplaces, hangouts and even homes.

It's like declaring someone as good for nothing, yet expect that person do well... you see? Very near impossible because the ability to do well is largely inspired by the person's self-esteem that you've already punctured by the stigma, and so what you expect of the person will more than likely happen.

Same way, an employer who's decided on who the low and high performers of his workforce are, appraised or not, makes his bias known and recognises them with such bias, no matter how hard those unfairly classed as lowly are trying their best, God help that employer the class he's fixated with are worth their salt, because his action towards the others will dampen their enthusiasm to a point they will no longer give a rat's arse.

The Age of Inflation

By the evident decline in the value of almost every rass claat thing these days, I guess it's safe to call ours the age of inflation.

From academic inflation where some duh-gree today is as good as a high school diploma of old, to economic inflation where your thousand bucks cannot afford what a hundred could years back, and then lyrical inflation: too many vibes, singers and lyrics, yet too little consciousness.

But I guess that's because lyrical sacrilege's become the trend, and all what the fans love is an artiste who can misuse metaphors and turn insults into badges of pride, flowing like: “yo-yo-yo... gyal yuh too cute and yuh pum pum so tight” or something like: “mi seh yuh punany wet di draws up” etc.

It's always about the money...

“It’s not about the money” (neither is it gratis). “It’s a calling” (aspiration come true, more like). “It’s my quota towards national development…” that’s what most of them will say. 

Me? I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and say wow, admirable! 

But, if eventually, the quota you keep taking keeps putting the "quota" you claim to be "contributing to national development" in the shade, you're a poacher. If you're a member of the helm, you're Botha…. and I just rhymed.

Underdevelopment Indicator

You know your community is underdeveloped, worst case undevelopable, or refusing to develop if you can be away for a period of some length, come back, and from the airport to your house, you're not even caused to ask: "wow! When was this..." let alone care if your route is signposted with directions, simply because of the tiring lack of novelty:

Same structures, same facilities, same service provisions - like electricity playing table tennis with appliances, fences covered all over with avoidable mbalit (refuse), corroded corrugated roofs, same potholes and depressed roads, same jagged walls with eye holes, not even a single noticeable pre-Tobaski repainting... you know, indicators that will make you look at your community and feel despondent.

"Try na/ try nanj..."

By our satisfaction with mediocrity and bare minimum achievements, if what you do is considered wack, it's really lame, because here in the Gambia, you don't have to "do well" to be enchanting.

So, the Smiling Coast becomes or is becoming the trying coast:

Some kid sits to an exam, comes home with 'second to last,' mom and pops throw a party because "try na" (he tried).

Civil servants and service providers serve as if they're doing the people they serve a favour, but that's because the people they serve don't see them as just people doing their job.

Someone we call a journalist, who makes a living aggregating, writing, editing, and presenting news, is absolved the decent use of basic grammar because "try na"... in fact, "English is just a language, not a test of intelligence" we'd say.

Your mechanic fixes one mechanical device on your ride but disables another key component and you cannot refuse to pay him because "try na."

Our soccer federation assembles a national team in two weeks to play against a world cup team. We cannot blame the lack of chemistry on the federation being tardy because "try nanj." So, the team manages a draw, at home, let's celebrate - "try nanj."

Our Teachers Deserve Better

Do you know Sarreh Dompho or Touba Wapa, in the URR? I bet most of us don’t because they’re in the sticks. But do you know that despite the quality of life in these places, some fellow I know, born and bred in Kombo is there making sure that kids there have an education?

Do you also know that to date, since its approval that is, some of them say they’re yet to feel the delectation of the improved civil service Transport Allowance, while some official living in Kanifing going to work somewhere on Kairaba Avenue is?

Do you know that after graduation from the college, some of these teachers are caused to wait months before deployment because someone responsible somewhere was dragging feet? So the raise they seek isn’t salary, because they know the time of the fiscal year it is. 

What they seek is equity and their right to basic dignity. Disregarding which claim will only make it easy for private schools to keep winnowing out the grains (teachers and students) from your public schools, and you'll keep wondering why the ones that keep on against their will cannot make grains out of chaffs.

Gambia - poachers turned gamekeepers...

About this "New Gambia" on here, whilst I see and appreciate the pragmatists and brave whistle-blowers, I'm also seeing what those who choose to blind their eyes and pretend not to see the growing disconnect with sincerity don't see. But that's because most of them found God just after December 2016

I mean: I see genuine concerns, just like I see selective rage, convenient amnesia, strange cases of poachers turned gamekeepers - you know, folks who evidently prospered through crooked means, now protecting interests, rights, priorities, and exposing loopholes they previously loopholed.

These are folks who will read this and know I'm right and being so tactful at it, but will still catch feelings, or assume that I'm just being bitter - folks who, or whose have known no other career but being civil servants for a nation as poor as ours, yet so wealthy even successful entrepreneurs want to be like them - as if it isn't ironic already using civil service and wealth in the same sentence.

That's why there's confusion as to whose criticism is genuine and whose isn't, because evidently, some defiance is just some disgruntled ex- syndrome, (Alkali koto la kuwol): "I no longer partake, so I'd rather hate than rate..." like Buju puts it: "thief neva love fi see thief with long bag" - yet the thief acts as if his dislike is motivated by "love for the people who are suffering real bad" - perhaps why the song's called Untold Stories.

Don’t fear neo-colonialism.

Fear the often groundless fear of neo-colonialism: like some of us, particularly the contemporary pan-African’s suggestion of neo-colonialism in every Africa-foreign relationship, even those of mutual interest or where benefits will obviously outweigh costs.

We tend to overlook the fact that every nation is a piece of this earth, and none, not even almighty America is self-contained, but if we, like orchestral pieces, act in concert, we can cause the pieces to produce one piece, and that harmony is peace.

Granted, the pan-African intellectual movement aims to encourage and strengthen bonds of solidarity between people of African descent, but it doesn’t write off the need to pivot on others. Africa needs all, like America relies on the East for oil, the East on America for her technology, Europe and China on Africa for her natural resources, and the rest.

Yes, there will be corporations and foreigners trying to steal a march on Africa, just like Africa has a history of being taken advantage of by her own people, and that’s where her best-educated and best-trained should prove their worth - not just to say: ‘NO! This is another trans-colonial or neo-colonial bullshit’ and that’s it, but to have a bearing on how the relationship should look like and make sure it’s favourable.  

The typical politician...

One Galsen rapper said this in Wolof and I paraphrase: the typical politician is not unlike a manual transmission vehicle with a dead battery, or given up starter.

They all need the electorate to push them to start, but soon as they release the clutch and the engine rotates vroom, 'fu wye ham jem' (each on his own), usually.

That's why where there are amongst the pushers those who push in anticipation of more than just the decency of a wave, a "peep, peep," or a "thank you," who probably expected a ride or some gratuity thereafter... they end up disappointed, naturally.

Hejjna deff nyu dabb...

I don’t know, the extent of hate and bravado in this country, particularly on social media is beyond insane.

Just today, first I listened to a Mandinka hating audio and before I could let that pass, I saw another ignorant filled live video, and I'm like rass-claat, this country is screwed like seriously…! And with all our problems already?

Maybe, for the sake of convenience, I should blame that too on our 22yo Dictatorship? But, whatever the reason(s), unless we are willing to change our individual ways the way we force change on others, we can have Barack Obama as president, Vladimir Putin as his vice and Mother Theresa as minister for relational matters and still, this ex-smiling coast (deliberately lowercased) will remain a trying coast, because none can thrive in such nonsense.

There can be no collective progress in a country where even those whose is as wack as a flop can really think they're "all that" - the indiscipline, uppity, and the jerkassery of being all up in other people's case, tryna taunt them, what they wear, who they roll with, what they speak, where they come from, the spots they chill at, their choices, et cetera.

With people like that, Lord have mercy on us all... I mean with people who hate everything they wish they could dominate, and because if they can't, it intimidates them, they keep trying to make the holders feel inadequate.

Just saying...

It's said that when a flower doesn't bloom, you fix the environment in which it grows, not necessarily the flower.

Similarly, a political system is impacted by the people and attitudes around it. Let's not forget that.

So, even if you've a Robin Hood at the helm of your ship, and storm's coming, with a bunch of Shylocks and Judases as crew, he cannot save the day.

Traffic today....

I've seen some really sound and fair-minded traffic officers ayard, and I respect them; they characterise hope. But... sometimes, when you meet the very unreasonable ones, you lose all grounds of hope - the ones who act as if overseeing traffic means waiting to be offended, and like every perceived offence is an affront to their pride.

Earlier today, around Jimpex, allowing a friend to alight, given the terrible elevation of the eroded roadway, and the ride's ground clearance, I had two options: to slant on a fairly even slope by the junction and give way to the coming traffic, or advance and force the ride into the shoulder drop-off, risking scrape, or even breaking my bottom plate, and I wasn't gonna do that.

From about fifty metres away, I could hear this traffic officer coming and storming like he just spotted the nation's most wanted fugitive or something: "HEY, DRIVER, HEY! STOP... BELAHI WOLAHI TA'LAAHI, TODAY YOU'RE GOING TO COURT." What for? I asked. "For obstruction," he said.

Well, given the rass-claat condition of every blood-claat road ayard and the traffic at the time, I did what I thought was practical, but the man insisted on the allegation that I violated section something of some ordinance I can't remember. He called the section: "Particulars of Offence." Perhaps because I didn't give him the impression of being educated like I usually don't, he asked if I knew what the word "particular" implies... I was like, wow! Now potopoto is on the point of catching fire.

But because I was getting tired of the blathering, and his lack of respect for those who were trying to talk him out of whatever he thought he had against me, I thought massaging his ego may help: "Sir, on a scout honour, I'm sorry!"

"Now we are talking. That's what you should've done from the start... apologise!" He said and then went on: "you're Touray from where...? Are you down now (whatever that means)?" while stretching out his hand to my chest as if checking my pulse for trepidation, and that got me mad. But my disapprobation triggered another offence: "talking back to a police officer." He took out his phone and said he was recording everything I was saying... that, now, my going to court is not about my "conduct" but my "action" - perhaps he meant the other way round... looking forward to it.

What SSHFC needs...

'Waxtaan' is a Wolof word meaning conversation, genuine dialogue, exchange, discussion, and so forth. 'Werranteh' is also Wolof, but meaning to argue, to have a spat, rhetorical bomb-throwing, to fall out, etc. I believe the origin of the latter is a portmanteau of 'wehrr' as in to expose and 'anteh' meaning each other... excuse my Wolof spellings.

I have heard some Wolof speakers say it is 'wediwanteh,' but I guess it’s all the same thing, just that this one will mean to go against, to contradict, or to oppose each other.

So, relatively, 'waxtaan' is what SSHFC needs, and that's what the parties are not doing. It's a more tactful approach to solving problems, or talking sense into others, especially when they’re doing something that you don't believe is right, and particularly when therein are those who have chapters in their book they'd rather not read out loud.

Change... ?

By the conduct of the average Gambian change-seeker, change appears to be misunderstood to mean unearthing malicious stuff to shame the past, perhaps to compensate for one’s own eventual lag. Just like the typical mechanic whose job, in time, gets as good as the job of the ex-mechanic he claimed could have done better.

It’s like you taking your stalling vehicle to the mechanic for fixing. He opens the hood, disregards the solution just to play the blame game on the earlier mechanic, (yowe denga am sance. Kee tuti mu yaaha sa motor bi) only to eventually replace your carburetor air cleaner with an empty poti tamateh (a tomato tin can). SMDH!

The Bias in What We Think Is the Truth

The reason why today's views are highly subjective is because the only thing that most people see is what they're already looking for and prepared to accept.

For this reason, when shit happens, the ones who are not a part of us or ours tend to be held in the wrong until proven above suspicion, which is as difficult as impossible because we hardly seek evidence to reason us out of that presumption of guilt.

Today, as if mere manmade constructs, virtue can become a vice or the other way round, as and when we find it convenient. What is true is usually what we want to accept as true. For instance: I read something on the internet and it supports my prejudice, ‘it’s definitely true.’ But when it doesn’t, ‘man, not everything you read online is true.’

This is why most of us find comfort among those who agree with us, like Samuel L. Jackson was to Leonardo DiCaprio in Django Unchained. You call them friends - I call them shadows, because they duck when you bow, nod as you nod, echo what you say, hate the people you don’t like, and like the ones you love regardless. The backside is, when all your light sources go dim, shadows like that disappear.

About the SSHFC Staff Protest

I’m not one to get involved in workplace politics or some other people's wahala but, I wouldn’t diss the staff of Social Security just because I was made to believe that the extent of public interest reasons tending against their protest should prevail over every claim or displeasure they hold.

For my part, admissibility of their claims, or the uprightness, prudence, or austerity that management is trying to show signs of can only be determined by objective assessment, which objectivity we are nearly losing by the preconceived notion that what management did was required in the interest of the public, particularly “poor pensioners.”

I’m neither a legal person nor pretending to be one, and the staff, in lieu of putting up with the changing environment, can kick rocks if what they have is no smoking gun, but... even I know that no matter how badly we think disregarding the staff is needed in the public interest, we cannot disregard what they may have against management just like that.

In fact, I ask: what reasons do we have to doubt the credibility of the staffers' line of protest other than what we were fed, which the members of staff are refuting as just a smokescreen - y'know, the: “Eh, n’ko! These people are just disgruntled because we had to keep a tight rein on their Ososu...?” Again... like I said, not my wahala!

Is it right thing for YOU? Do it!

Do what you think is the right thing for YOU, especially living in this nyankarr part of the world that’s infested with people who, rather than being inspired by another person’s good fortune, they envy it.

I mean people who pick holes in nearly every rass claat thing they want but don’t have, just to make sure nobody else has a good time with it.

You know, the type that will pour scorn on your adidas as showy (not because it really is), just to feel good about his own ‘Abibas’ (you know, those hilariously ingenious fake Adidas products).

Democracy and meritocracy don't always run in tandem...

I know... a democracy and meritocracy running in tandem is the wish, but it's not necessarily so. A democratic nation doesn't always mean a nation ruled by talent, pragmatists, or people of superior intellectual status. Consider yourself lucky if you have one, but taking your democracy for a silver bullet is in my view a misunderstanding of the principles of democracy.

For what it's worth, I want these things just like we all do, but even I know that our political model is such that it'd be difficult if not impossible to limit access to power to people of marked intellectual ability, because ours is based more on popular election... it's the majority that decides.

That's why where due processes of election are followed and a knave gets elected president, you cannot say it's undemocratic, because the person represents the will of, even if you think is the foolish majority, and therefore becomes the most powerful man in the country. Resistance to or disregard for that political authority is itself a violation of the dictates of democracy.

While it's perfectly understandable to get incredibly irked by what politicians do, and whilst it's our right to disagree, being disagreeable at it can cause us to go entirely out of line, like I think it's out of line to declare with so much assurance that the President and his are not our leaders but Public Servants and Chief Servant respectively; even implying that they shouldn't just be imbued with good shock absorbers for criticism, but also be punching bags for every Jack and Shinaynay... I think that's a very condescending downplay of the presidency.

I'm of the belief that anyone who happens to be in a position of leadership that affects your life is your leader; even I never vibed with our high school prefects but I recognised their leadership, not to mention someone who presides over a national cabinet and commands the armed forces.

That's why when we express a disagreement with a president in person, even though respect is earned, protocol and basic discipline demand that we start with the word “respectfully,” and use "Your Excellency" or "Mr. President" in lieu of holder's name, because it's the office (of the president) that demands that respect, even if we cannot vibe with the incumbent.

Again, for what it's worth, I respect those who have the courage to sincerely speak truth to power, especially when speaking truth to power is neither popular nor easy. They must be heard and respected. If the powers that be are not ready to hear such feedback, then they’re not ready for growth.

However, today, whether all who speaks such truth is motivated by deep belief is what I doubt. Been here, seen a lot of trash and bravado, I can tell that some go bonkers just for the heck of it, and perhaps disinclination to give credit where credit is due, which diminishes the credibility of the critic, therefore, hard to take seriously. I hope the things we say and do out of love for country will not cause us to lose our way.

I'm for authenticity over originality...

Omar Touray: lazy writers plagiarise; great writers pick brains for ideas. They're just good at hiding their source.

Pablo Picasso: Good artists copy; great artists steal.

Abraham Lincoln: books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren't very new after all.

Marie Antoinette: there is nothing new except what has been forgotten.

Stephen fry: an original idea. That can't be too hard. The library must be full of them.

Ralph Waldo Emerson: all my best thoughts were stolen by the ancients.

Coco Chanel: Only those with no memory insist on their originality.

See how all these great artists are telling you that it's not unusual for people to think or express the same thing at different times and in diverse places.

Can't you see AUTHENTICITY is what's of the essence... would you rather listen to some knowledge-impeding yet-to-evolve or amnesiac of a lecturer who tells you to avoid the miracle of Google and be ORIGINAL?

Do me a favour, ask him or her to tell you what he or she's ever said or done that's never been said or done by someone somewhere and I'll tell you his or her source... please.

We all want the best for The Gambia; that's the claim.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion; that’s my opinion on opinions. Unfortunately, in The Gambia, particularly on here, some of us want to share opinions that are neither based on genuine information nor real life experiences, yet get all upset and defensive when others express their opinion about their opinions.

Fine… if you want to use the opinion card to justify ignorance, or as your immunity to being told how prejudiced you sound, suit yourself. I sure don't care if we have a clusterfuck of 'uh-pinions'. Just make sure you don’t interfere with what I also think about what you think, because you’d be violating a right I accept for you.

That said, we all want the best for The Gambia; that's the general claim. None of us want to see the system slacking off; I suppose so. We all know “we have a long way to go;” evidently. But with what speed do we get there with the means available; that’s where our arguments diverge.

Some want to get there so fast so soon; we think they’re inconsiderate. Others who are criticised for being satisfied with mediocrity believe that no matter how fast we want to get there, we can only go as fast as the speed permissible by our reality, and I’m of the opinion that, that’s always the right speed.

You don't, because you're in a hurry, want to drive 220 kilometres per hour on a road as bad as the Kuntaur to Barajally road. Your wheel bearing will go bad, and because you cannot replace it unless the time legislated for replacement is due, your tyres will also go bad, or worst case, the wheel can fall off entirely, which resultant costs will include retardation, replacement and an avoidable thorn in your repose.

"Where were you?" - Barrow

I see nothing wrong with the President asking: "Where were you?" It's just a rhetorical question. But if it matters to you that much or you probably don't want to eat the corn, just say ah ya yuh deh! You needn't provide any alibi for it. 

The question shouldn't be tabooed or rendered obsolete just because we don't like it, especially when what makes it relevant is becoming the newest cool: folks turning selective amnesiacs, marked by unthinking recklessness and disdain.

Now about the academic supremacy that he touched on and the sake of clarity... for my part that is, intellectualism and elitism are different. The elitist is an intellectual snob, one who acts as if he and his should hold a monopoly on whatever oxygen there is in the world of governance.

In my opinion, part of being a genuine intellectual is overstanding the fact that there are as many ways to information and knowledge as there are people, and that the knowledge I derive from a different source or from practice and pure reason is as good as your book knowledge.

That said… me? I'd rather our presidential candidate be a citizen, have reasonable period of residency and years of age, but most of all be moneyed. Politics is NOT cheap; that's a universal phenomenon. If you don't have the dough to run with the big dogs, stay on the porch.

The idea that we must raise the academic requirement for presidency is specious, however good it may sound. It's more than probably intending to limit contest to those who think they represent the choicest of what this nation has to offer, and that those who don't have academic titles by their names are all downright morons... that feeling of superiority is not just an illusion, it's BS.

Bureaucratic red tape… mtcheew!

Whilst learned-Gambia takes complicated work for a standard by which bigmanism is measured, the rest of intelligent civilisation is getting rid of excessive regulations and cutting bureaucratic red tape, because all it does is create more corrupt hands for the cookie jar, makes irrelevant jobs essential, increases the cost of doing business, and slows the efforts of those with ideas (entrepreneurs and innovators) and genuinely want to do more than mere talk.

I’m not blaming anyone. It’s a systemic predicament, and it looks like it’s here to stay, because the people we trust to effect change are relying on the same dysfunctional system. You know what they say: 'standard procedures create standard people' who can only do the things they’re told to do.

This is why when you go ah Portland, make some dough, come back ayard to invest, you go to a typical office and say you need approval to start something, you’re caused to undergo a twenty-ten-hour grease-every-palm-you-meet office-to-office trek, before you can finally see the APSDADRA (Acting Principal Senior Deputy Assistant Director Responsible for Approvals - that’s how pompous the nomenclatures are), and a signature as ugly as a right-handed person’s left-handed drawing.

GM - About our First Lady's transformation...

I’m sure she didn't come this far to only come this far, because even Michelle Obama had some wardrobe changes. Now the question is: would you, for your part, come as far as she came just to remain the same?

That’s some thought for some of us who seem to be in awe, but sarcastically, about our First Lady’s apparent transformation, as if we have no idea about life's challenges.

Granted, her latest photos no longer look like the ones we saw in December, 2016, but we needn’t be told to know that the family was under a surge of anxiety at the time, and naturally, a feeling of worry and pressure like that, especially about the uncertain outcome of an election that sort, can make anyone look older.

I say she wasn’t “hungry.” It was political stress that took a toll on her appearance. Anxiety ages the genes - go and ask your favourite doctor. In fact, according to me, if after all these years, you cannot see any significant change in your own appearance, comportment, and worldviews, my friend be sad, because you’re not growing.

Or maybe we should end the amnesia by doing a little challenge on here - share our pictures from back in the day, when the struggle was real. It'd be fun to see some of us in our dehydrated ‘Jakaa’ fabrics, raggedy-ass hairstyles and shoes, you know, probably looking like 60 year olds at 20something.

OASN: I don’t like people who scoff at people just to feel good about themselves – especially at women. But the strange and unfortunate truth of the matter is that a lot of us don't get inspired by growth. Instead, we envy it. It’s like we are happy when we are all at the same miserable level, gossiping and throwing pity-parties endlessly.

The ism-schism game...

Now I know why the rastaman was sick and tired of the ism-schism game, because the isms (divides among people) are caused by the schisms (you know: prejudice beliefs like racism, Nazism, elitism, classism, etc).

Well, if only we had listened, maybe people like El Diablo of the United States would never have become President. But look around now. Look at us, man – half the world and her intelligent populace are being governed by nutcases.

Observation

The Gambia

Someone’s appointed
Social media reacts:

Is he one of us?
Yes?
Yay, they couldn’t have chosen a better person for the position.

Every wrong step that he took in the past will be righted and the cost extinguished from collective memory.

If not

Is he one of us?
No?
Man, he’s too old or too young, too tall or too short, too fat or too thin, was too involved or indifferent, overqualified or not up to it.

All the things he did right will be forgotten, and he’d be crucified for that one thing he did wrong.

Respect blue-collar (waacha raahasu)

You hear most rappers claim to have started from the bottom... well, some literally started from the bottom, but some lie; you know why? There's that (street) credibility that they command by manifesting how real their struggle was.

In fact, it's nice to look at yourself in the mirror, at how far you've come, against all odds, how you broke out of an "everyday ponseh" social position to climb up the social ladder and create that "mom, I made it" moment for yourself. Fulfilling feeling, right?

Well, here too, almost every young person wants to claim that G or even OG sort of status, but unfortunately, most of these kids are ashamed of the struggles thereto. I see folks don't wanna do odd jobs not because they ain't rewarding, they just hate to be seen wearing overalls.

Skinny for instance worked as a security guard for years and I never saw him in uniform. He'd rather don his jeans, Jordan shoes, Gucci belt, uniform in a Nike backpack, to be worn only at his station, but doffs it the minute he closes.

Wish me luck in trying to make him overstand that respectability of what he does is not in what he does, but how he does and values what he does.

In the meantime, respect concrete to all who have been there, done it, or are still doing it and remain proud of their blue-collar (waacha raahasu) values, for some paper pusher that you envy also thinks it sucks to be him. Yalna sutura yaaga.

60 Mosques - so what?

60 mosques shared out among 43 districts, given the number of villages and towns in a district is not as nation-shattering as the chattering on here.

Me? If the Press Secretary said it’s not public funded, Parliament, the Director of National Treasury and the Auditor General don’t think otherwise, I don’t care what business or individual is funding the project, and I doubt if disclosure of source is required. All I know is: money buys access, and so the moneyed will always have a voice above you and I.

About the mosque seeking communities, they just want to worship as they will; they want a place to preside over their marriages and honour their dead. If they think their existing grounds aren’t fit for all that, just like some creepy mosque I once prayed at somewhere in CRR, a mosque may not be your priority but it’s theirs.

And just like me seeing the president and asking him for a basketball court at SK East is no threat to soccer, asking for a new mosque is no threat on anyone’s secular welfare, really!

Gambian journalists...

The Gambia, in the past, due to media censorship operations, being a straight-talking reporter, in the face of all the fetters, and free thereof, was as hard as trying to grasp a shadow.

I ain't blaming none, even I would rather speak in parables.

However, today that there’s Freedom of the Press, we have two extremes:

1) reporters who are obviously in bed with the leadership, and

2) the presstitutes (those who misleadingly tailor their reports to fit opposition and often divisive agendas).

I know... for sure, like most rules, there are exceptions, and here’s to those badasses: may we know them. May we be them. May we be able to inspire many to want to be them, because with their objectivity, our democracy will go far.

Bloody thieves...

School's out for summer. Unfortunately, juvenile delinquency is turned on, and I have just been made a victim.

A thieving swarm of stray kids passed through my neighbourhood this evening; two teams, concurrently roadshowing absolute nonsense. You can imagine what a stupid and shambolic street party it was.

So... before I realised that my phone was charging in the salon opposite where I hangout, some kid must have taken advantage of the distraction, went into the salon, took my phone and left me a charger.

I think I'm angry, perhaps sad, or maybe I just pity the future of this young generation's future generation.

Gambian affairs... still

In the Gambia, perhaps even more disorientating than trying to remember a rhyme you made in your dream is trying to become an autodidact. Bloody hell! Here? What you know is not knowledge unless learned from the classroom.

If you haven’t gone through the shitstem, you better be seen and not heard, because the next jab they’d throw is: with what authority does he speak? What’s his qualification? You know – that arrogantly stupid ancient Greek mentality.

Still, on the Gambia,

and perhaps I’m being overdramatic, but I just can’t help seeing it so. I think our national politics is becoming a clusterfuck - the military calls its sort SNAFU (Status Nominal: All Fucked Up, or FUBAR (Fucked Up Beyond All Repair). o, until fixed, I'm out!

Intelligence rules the world...

Marcus Garvey is right: ‘intelligence rules the world and ignorance carries the burden...’

Take a look at the ingenuity of today’s sellers and the naivety of many a buyer – I mean buyers of ice in the winter, fire-seeking residents of hell, fountain-owning water-seekers, and those who live on the beach yet paying money for sand... imagine!

So, I want to add that ignorance creates slavish souls – you know: robots, toadies and beg-friends; those who can go along with anything, without any sound reason other than someone or some group they idolise is doing it.

You know, those people you see all over the place trying to buy from, shop at, attend, visit, subscribe to, join, or support things not because they have to, but because it’s embellished to look posh, and doing unimaginable things just to hang out at, or with people who do not even care about them.

I know, right? No class: the things the ignorant does for class, a false sense of class perhaps, because classy people don’t do trashy stuff like that, especially not with what they don't have.

Class, just like awareness, is not about the costly clothes you wear, the whips you ride, the names of celebrities you know, happening spots you frequent, the barbarian cuisines you eat or music you listen to; it’s attitudinal. It’s a state of mind.

Just an observation...

I have observed, and it's becoming a pattern that whenever it's President Barrow, some people choose to be so limited in their scope of consideration. So, whatever he does or intends to do is either wrong, not enough, or they'd rather he takes care of something else, something "more exigent," even if not feasible under the circumstances.

Here's the latest headline: 'Banjul - Barra Bridge To Be Constructed In 2019, President Barrow Promises ... '

Dummy's take: "Mtcheew! The president should leave that bridge and revamp RVTH."

Skinny: "Smh! What's an equipped hospital without electricity. Let them fix NAWEC first."

Spoonhead went off like an electric fuse: "Fuck all that. You know what... playtime done! It's about bloody time this government fixes the prisons or free all prisoners... or we'd take it to the streets. Power to the people!"

It's like the 'fallacy of relative privation.' In the end, and unless the president becomes a Mayweather about it, knowing that naysayers will always naysay, nothing he envisions will take off, because what's allowable should literally be the most pressing, and that's so, so relative.

The arrogance in the city...

If you live in the city and you still feel obligated to show courtesy to others, because you understand that even if we are differently privileged, no one was delivered from a golden womb, you’re one of the exceptions.

But if you’re the opposite of the above exception, or the cap fits, and you want to exercise your right to be outraged by this post, please shoot; I will totally understand.

Now here’s what’s on my mind:

I think a good number of city dwellers, be they native-borns or long-term residents, Banjul to DC, Marrakesh to Beijing, have superiority issues: you know, misplaced confidence and a thing for attempting to establish superiority over others in all things measurable.

That’s why in Banjul for instance, “ndongo Banjul’ became a synonym for choicest youth. So, even if you’re heartbroken, a typical “ndongo Banjul” will ascribe your state to you not being one of them: “Ah, yowe dor ndongo Banjul motakh.” But, tha f*ck! Does it really matter?

Trust your time zone...

The time I was writing this, it was 7:05 PM in Banjul, The Gambia, and 4:05 AM in Tokyo, Japan - difference being GMT+9. Now can you bring the two zones on a par?

No? Just what I thought! But technically, that’s what you do when you see some success stories, what they have achieved at their age and you feel hopeless because you think you’re aging.

STOP IT. Believers don’t do that. See, from when you're making effort and not procrastinating, leave the effect to your time zone, al-Qadar (the divine will and decree of your Maker) if you like.

Ndoling wo ndoling...

Once you achieve affluence, you cannot control being surrounded by people who just want something from you. Call them sycophants, parasites or whatever... get used to the fact that that's how this grasping world works.

However, if out of that whole heap of leeches you've someone who never wanted anything from you but you, proven, and you let the person go, God help you, but man, you're in for a very rude awakening. Ask Spoonhead.

Moderate is best...

The Gambia will be so ungrateful to NOT appreciate all who made the fight against dictatorship a triumph, be you fighting from abroad or ayard, especially given the fact that it wasn't as popular nor easy; y'all deserve presidential medals of honour.

However, what I find hard to indulge on here are the excesses of those who want to wear "you owe me" attitudes about it. I think it's unreasonable to expect this "New Gambia" to revolve around your demands. 

Even Moses, who, by God's will, delivered the Israelites from bondage wasn't as entitled. But that's perhaps because Moses was reasonable enough to know that even good things can become destructive if taken to excess.

Gambia... the reshuffle, still..

The progress of the process of democracy is not in building too many walls, because the walls we build as structures for defence or protection can also isolate us. One doesn't have to be a career politician to know that.

The process of democracy is about ending differences and building bridges, even if it means recycling some agents who in the past, and in a moral sense weren't all that.

On that note, I hope the ministers who are being given second chances by President Barrow will turn out to be better than our fears, especially now that they know better and their ministerial autonomy presumably unfettered

Jangjangbureh

Of all the places I have been to, in the Gambia that is, the memories that stuck with me through the years were the ones made in Jangjangbureh.

By far, that island used to be the neatest, tidiest, most organised and most enchanting town in the country, a town where every kid attains at least basic education.

Even with the country’s development arrested and the town fairly deserted, the empty storefronts, street traces, lampposts and almost decaying government quarters can tell how dope the place used to be. I hope it's revived someday soon.

Justice first then peace, that's the order...

The rastaman said we all cry out for peace, and none cries out for justice, and so he questioned how exclusive of the latter can the former be. It’s like everybody wants to go to heaven, and nobody wants to die he said. He’s right. You cannot enjoy peace being unjust.

However, by his lyrical portrayal of justice, he said what is due to Caesar gotta be given Caesar; all of it. So, injustice is not just what your system of laws do to you, but also what you do to, for and about the system, whilst knowing that those in charge also have rights.

Justice is behavioural. It’s about empathy, fair-mindedness over bigotry, service above convenience, compassion above egoism. It’s about protesting and demanding what’s rightful but lawfully so. It’s about paying tribute where tribute is due.

It’s not about sharing internet memes with passive aggressive and sarcastic captions just to humiliate another. Being just is about refusing to submit to the outrageous Machiavellian manoeuvres out there, and perhaps regularly seeking refuge from 'Ahlus Satan, Ahl ul-Pretense and Ahl ul-Nafheyha" (adherents to the Satan, pretence and hypocrisy).

Nice one...

The miracle of social media provides so many inspirational messages for those of us who want to inspire and be inspired. This one's for those who marry my type, yet expecting a perfect person out of him. You may change the pronoun as you wish; it will still make sense.

Hear this:

“He’s not perfect. You aren’t either, and the two of you will never be perfect. But if he can make you laugh at least once, causes you to think twice, and if he admits to being human and making mistakes, hold onto him and give him the most you can. He isn’t going to quote poetry, he’s not thinking about you every moment, but he will give you a part of him that he knows you could break.

Don’t hurt him, don’t change him, and don’t expect for more than he can give. Don’t analyze. Smile when he makes you happy, yell when he makes you mad, and miss him when he’s not there. Love hard when there is love to be had. Because perfect guys don’t exist, but there’s always one guy that is perfect for you.”

We move on to discover...

Just because it was great, seemed, or felt awesome doesn't mean there's nothing else that has the (remote) possibility of getting even better.

But, if you SO cannot get over the past, or feel you must let bygones be bygones, forgive, forget, start anew and, you know, all those cute and perhaps humanly stuff, dig in; I mean your foot, just not in with both feet.

Remember what they say about the soup not being a different soup just because it's reheated, or probably served in a different bowl.

Barrow's cabinet reshuffle; the aftermath:

An utterly nauseating mutual consolation society will soon be formed on social media. Ndeysaan, wrong people are gonna be blamed for it.

You may want to get the popcorn, or go roll some weed, because it wouldn't be pretty. One must be incredibly very blind not to see the storm coming.

Well, it will be oddly fun to see those calling for a reshuffle couple weeks ago fuming because this one's a bit too close to home.

Another thing, feeling bad about a decision doesn't make it wrong. That terrible feeling that may want to second-guess the spine is usually the emotional effect.

Our young people aren't as choosy...

Most, if not all of us have been there, done that, dreamt, hoped, craved and occasionally wondered if the God abroad was more generous than the God ayard. But as soon as some of us travel or hit the big time, rather than being inspirations to many, we get all brusque, tweaking and embellishing our stories as if never-erred geniuses from birth, whilst trivialising the struggles of young people ayard.

By this, we confine them to despair, cause them to under-appreciate where they are, undervalue what they have at their disposal, and underrate what they can do with what they have at the moment. Eventually, in their heads, they create a situation in which no progress seem possible ayard.

I'm not denying the fact that you cannot climb the ladder of success with your hands in your pockets. But the way some of act as if to make it big, you gotta be that ultra-human, probably first in class from grade one to college type of person is a lie.

If success was the ultimate result of willingness to do difficult tasks, some people and projects get supported in this country will never make it beyond auditioning for Fools Got Talent, and some unconnected folks who our entrepreneurship openings don’t reach would’ve been tycoons.

A wise man once said that everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid. Any fish, given the necessary appendage will take to the air. I’m quoting this as it relates to the often generalised youth-bashing I see on here. It annoys me, because I know better.

I find it incorrect when some of us associate this bread emergency to our youth feeling suited to desk jobs only. To me, the reason for that is because our education system lacks variety, because there’s very little regard for vocational and technical work.

I’m not gonna pretend to have done any employment survey or read any skills gap analysis report to authenticate my take. But, for what it’s worth, I can confirm that unlike prejudices held by some of us who’ve lost touch with realities on the ground, things have become so stiff ayard that our youth no longer have the luxury to be choosy as far as work is concerned.

It goes without saying that everywhere you go, even in mighty America, there are the lazy ones who feel too good to labour for their living. But, generally speaking, the number of young Gambians I see doing jobs that used to be alien-dominated, including owning bakeries, just like young ladies doing formerly male-dominated jobs deserve notice.

However, Napoleon believes that ability is nothing without opportunity. So they can only do as far as the opportunities presented permit.  And I am not saying that so young people can be too uncritically satisfied with the status quo. Rather, I want those saddled to create such opportunities to up their responsibility. May the good Lord lighten our individual burdens and better our conditions.

Those whose only tool is a wedge....

They say everyone is gifted. Some people never open their package. TRUE! As for the sycophants and jezebels, their only gift is a wedge. Since it’s a tool, be informed that they’re gonna use it to make you distrustful of the people you should trust the most.

If you're like, Mr. err… uhm… never mind!

If you’re the naïve type, or incredibly very (emotionally) stupid to believe everything they say, you'll start doubting motives and the loyalty of (even) those who've never given you reason to. That’s how they traffic and that’s how you’re gonna go down

Gambia, SSHFC Staff Protest...

They say you cannot make an omelet without breaking eggs and that’s true; but also, we need to overstand that anticipating a privilege can change one’s spending pattern, even one’s lifestyle, much less an age-long benefit. In view of that, grinding privileges like SSHFC's to a halt, even if it were the right thing to do, will rub many a beneficiary the wrong way, naturally.

So, even if the Social Security staff weren’t wronged as such, knowing how occasionally messy the process of managing change in a changing environment is, diffusing this situation requires that the authorities are sensitive in the way they handle matters.

For my part, I believe the staff would have made a better case if they stopped at exposing the alleged excesses of their MD and let the right authorities deal with the rot. But as it is, what the outsider sees are entitled members of staff and an outburst of unreasonable anger, which is an extra bullet for the MD.

Now, even if he were at fault, but smart and narcissistic, he can go anywhere and say: ‘you know what. If I have to, I will do it again. I cannot allow contributions that poor workers make into the system (in anticipation of benefits later on) be someone else’s osusu.”

Doing so, he’s going to get the support of the public and incidentally have his own sins absolved like it evidently is happening, because the show of uprightness that he parades is what we want to see in all heads of public institutions.

P.S. If you want to survive the cannibalism of this our crocodile age and you got no principles to safeguard, you gotta be a croc yourself: be ruthless, be acquisitive, be competitive, and look out for your own interest. Otherwise, use your intelligence, know your cannibal, work your plan, and avoid the fleas; good luck!  

Live and let the UDP live...

I woke up this morning, refreshed my browser and the first nasty-arse political post I saw motivated this:

Whichever way you want to interpret it, or wherever you think I belong, it's fine by me. I'm not some fool to blind his eyes pretending not to see what's happening, particularly by the NLF (National Lowlife Foundation) on social media.

I say if talking down to, or wishing to see everything go wrong for the UDP is your definition of having a nation to build, this nation is better off without your fervor, because you're so blinded you cannot see that the members of this coalition government who rate zero in my book, as far as producing or supporting any desired outcome is concerned, aren't even UDP.

But I guess I get it... that's us for you: bigotry towards everything and everyone reaching success but our own. I think it's the price the UDP is paying for being great, and more than probably why Talib enjoys some 'he-is-one-of-us' sort of clemency even though he's UDP.

The Gambia: the planned protest.

Maybe the rationale behind the protest is not just for the heck of palming off delusion upon the public. Maybe it represents the views of far more people than are actually declaring theirs on here. But you may not know that if rather than being inviting, you wanna beef with every supposed fence sitter, or all whose (careful) attention to the probable effects of the planned protest resembles support for the status quo.

Fact is: managing change in a changing environment is every change-seeker's job, and it isn't easy. Yes, fundamental rights shouldn't be given away, but one gotta overstand that this country had a hell of a history as far as street protests are concerned, and even though the history of violence and highhandedness was largely to the shame of the shitstem that was, it's natural that people are still hesitant. Once bitten, twice shy they say.

BUT, if you must protest because you feel it's a silver bullet, they say honey catches more flies than vinegar - honey metaphorically meaning tact... and because taunting one another advantages no one, you gotta use honey to enlighten, to let the hesitant appreciate that protesting is not like anyone should lose their breathing privileges. The goal is to enlighten and if reasonably done, many may come round eventually.