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.