About dissent...

One (wise) politician was credited to have said this: “we find comfort among those who agree with us (despite holding other opinions privately, I'll add) - growth among those who don't."

Well, this is true everywhere but in this "New Gambia" on social media that apparently has a thing for sensationalism, where dissent is like 'waameh' (seasonal), and often at the expense of accuracy, because almost everyone's a genius of enlightenment, and so almost everyone's so emotionally attached to their ideas that all news feeds be cramping with [it's a Monday morning and I don't want to sound rude].

Instead, according to me that is, there's very little to no growth but more confusion from our differences in opinions on. What we call review or feedback is often intentionally controversial as to repel every piece of fact that'd otherwise get in the way of the juiciness of the story we want to sell.

So, it isn't uncommon you see a thing so badly reviewed and the performers demonised and vilified one minute, and the next minute, the same thing is full of praise, the same doers dignified by the same set of reviewers like, uh, so it wasn't all bad after all... or is it because our appetites, approvals, and ratings depend on partakings, hence shifty... eh?

New level, new devils...

In this life, no matter how ungainful you think your livlihood is, there will be someone out there trying to bring you down. If you find that statement "negative" or demotivating, that's your business, because God Himself didn't say it wouldn't happen. He just said no weapon fashioned against you shall prosper.

You know why? Because from when you're built for greatness, like baby Moses under the pharaoh, there's that special Providence that protects you, and in such a way that despite the overwhelming odds against what you do, a fortunate outcome prevails, and that pisses off those who'd rather they turn you off - so they adjust, hence the saying: "new levels, new devils."

The best Mbalah-man after Dr. Youssou N'dour, Pape Diouf said it even better. Muneh: "garab gi nara dorn pencha eleg, Lawbeh du ko gis beh gorr si ko. Yallah mi ko def morm mo koi aarr.” Meaning: no woodcarver will be able to 'see' the tree that will ultimately serve as the leisure hub, much less be able to chop it down. Such a tree is protected by the Most High Himself).

About hell...

A mentally ill friend has this theory that when we all die and finally meet our Maker, he said given the considerable degree of trepidation on that day, the Lord will give us His Godly look and say:

"Nahay mbow!' Y'all think I took all that trouble in creating y'all only to cause y'all burn in hell?" And he said the Lord will turn to the angels and ask: "Who am I?" They'll reply: "You're God, the Most Gracious and Most Merciful. Master of this Day of Judgment." Then He'll say: "open the gates of heaven and let these fools enter."

Perhaps it was his lucid moment, but I was so wowed that the lucidity of his theory got me thinking against his being insane. But then, seeing man's injustices against man, the many nutcases, transgressions, and immunities for crimes against humanity, I think there are more indications to the contrary; there certainly has to be a hell down there for damnation, and I pray we aren't part of the lost souls. May we live right and achieve salvation.

Cyber bully...

Theodore Roosevelt called the White House the "Bully pulpit", but the "bully" wasn't literally taken. By it he meant "a terrific platform from which to advocate an agenda. Roosevelt used the word bully as an adjective meaning "superb" or "wonderful", a more common usage at that time."

Source: wikipedia.com

Today, the miracle of social media has afforded us all a similar if not an even more conspicuous platform; only that the "bully" is now taken literally, and so we are no longer using the platform like adults with sound judgment, for the most part that is.

It saddens me that some of us are so dead to intelligent civilisation that we would stoop so low, be so profane, so insecure, so devoid of sense of tomorrow as to take pride in assaulting good people's dignity. It saddens me even more that some of us would do such acts for hire, and the hirer for some malicious enjoyment derived from observing respected people getting disrespected.

Well, for those at it and don't want to stop for a change, knock yourselves out. As for y'all victims of cyber bully, especially ladies, take this from Chris Colfer. He said: "when people hurt you over and over, think of them like sand paper; they may scratch and hurt you a bit, but in the end, you end up polished and they end up useless" - and man, he's right. In my entire existence and I'm a very observant man, I have never seen anyone ascend to greatness by pushing others down.

Season's greetings...

Last year, The Gambia's "December" was one hell of a confounding thriller, an emotional rollercoaster- you know: the surprises, suspense, anxiety, occasional loss of nerve, and the outrageous Machiavellian manoeuvres.

By God and His Word that He’ll test fortitude using episodes of adversity before prosperity, and by our common regard for ours as a unit of many but one family and country, 2017 turned out to be pretty awesome. But of course, sanity cannot but prevail because 'nyun barriwunj' (we’re not so peopled), definitely not built for conflict.

It's almost the end of 2017 and I send season's greetings to you and yours. May the good Lord continue to protect, guide and disrobe us of all forms of gimmickery, be it social, political, or intellectual, and the 'sanj-sanj-lu' (pseudo-gutsiness). May He shower His blessings upon us all, and usher in a New Year of bountiful opportunities and possibilities. Amen!

Gambians really did well you know...

Democracy is awesome. It unfetters all political shackles and encourages those interested in politics to vie. And because it’s the electorate's to decide, the best way the aspirants can gain momentum and have their approvals escalate is to outdo each other in generosity to the voting public.

See KMC for instances; all the mayoral hopefuls are doing their thing to make their significance felt, and so the municipality is winning. I don’t know, perhaps I’m being selfish but I think the mayoral elections should be delayed so that the largess will keep coming, because it’s almost always a different ball game when politicians get voted into office.  

Genuine charitable behaviour does exist...

By the abundance of nutcases, this world may sometimes seem a clusterfuck, or one in a state of moral and altruistic decline. But even so, all of us have been (in one way or the other) assisted in ways to confirm that indeed, genuine charitable behaviour does exist.

May we know the ones imbued with such kindness. May they inspire us to be them. May we raise them.

But... let one not flatter oneself by imagining oneself as being the very best of every form of benignity, or think that others, no matter how far they go out of their way to be courteous or make others feel good are being motivated primarily by base desires, selfishness or some other kind of ulterior motive... that's bad.

"They"

When they’re painfully desirous of what you possess, be it your qualities or providence, they’ll attempt to detract, and by so doing they’ll distract, and then if you’re clueless, they’ll extract. Don’t ask me who ‘they’ are; just watch your tract and keep track: detract, distract, and extract, that’s their track.

What I mean is:

Let the quibbles not cause you to think little of your worth or the value of what you do. Don’t allow the noise to prevent you from concentrating on you and yours. Or else, before you know it, they’ve taken over, or taken possession, and you’ll be there like: chaaa! Nyee nyor toch sen [I’ll leave the rest in my head]. 

Do we really have free speech?

Apparently, free speech has an unspoken rule in today’s civil society, not just on social media. Folks will allow you to speak freely as long as you agree with them, and you don’t dare withhold admiration. So, maintaining your good relations will oblige you to lose your objectivity sometimes – there’s almost zero room for differing views, no matter how informed your take is.

For my part, I say miss me with that mindless wagon already. If that makes me unreliable, all well and good, but if you’re just being difficult to deal with, ‘falow faata France!’ Now here’s some voluntary advice:

When people talk or are being quoted by people to you, and your feelings get hurt, it’s only fair to find out, get the facts straight, ask for context if need be, but don’t jump and judge intent. Learn to get rid of that ‘I will side with whatever the heck you say unless it is about me’ kinda attitude - it evinces straight up narcissism. And to rise above it, be empty of prejudice when you listen, and let not your pride kill your rapport with people.

It takes courage to preserve integrity...

I can't think of anything as lacking in principles and honesty of intention, and as evincive of weakness, perhaps selfishness, as one who can band together with even fucktards, just because one cannot beat the fuckery - so one says: 'man, if you can't beat them, join them.'

But then it takes courage to sustain one's integrity, because believe me, this dunia will test you in ways you never would've imagined. And courage, like Aunt Maya Angelou of blessed memory said, is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can't practice any other virtue consistently.

Politically, there's no "Team Gambia."

Politically, there's no "Team Gambia;" it's a facade. We are not a team... not yet. All we have for now are groups, like high school cliques, like groups for and groups against that cabal kinda shitstem that the Quadrangle used to have, and so groupism all over.

And the most destructive of all the groups is on social media. I call theirs the 'ACT' (Alliance for Covert Tribalism)... but that's because they're all ACTs - of disappointment, by folks so "woke" they would rather they represent the choicest.

So they go from one thread to another, looking for friendlies to indulge their delusive entitlements, using the naive to speak up against imaginary exclusion, discrimination, and mistreatment, and parading their frustrations under the guise of anti-tribalism.

I hope their selfish interests collide and implode, so the evil alliance is dismantled. But until then, I put up with the BS!

Feedback, criticism if you like...

I don't know much about the concept of the 'Perfect Man' (Insanul Kamil), but I'm of the belief that the highest attainable state of human excellence is not perfection. I think the goal's to be better and to keep improving. Therefore, receiving candid feedback is an imperative. Anyone who feels bad about that is not ready to improve.

However, like Frank A. Clark said, feedback, or criticism as he exactly puts it, is like rain. He said it should be gentle enough to nourish a man’s growth without destroying his roots.

Isn't that something that we in this New Gambia can use right now? Exactly what I thought! A lot of us who offer criticisms these days are either inconsiderate, condescending, rude, or it's probably the satires that we employ in our social commentaries that are so crude. And so we need self-examination, because we are making bitter the people we want to cause to do better.

To reduce poverty, create more jobs and ease dependency.

To begin with, I’m not an economist and I’m not pretending to be one (I don’t do that). I just happen to have an opinion as usual and here it is:

Pay increase for civil servants is awesome, particularly those in the lower salary bands. However, without providing new jobs for those who are still unemployed – you know, distribute the availability of means of securing the necessities of life, 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.

So, unless we de-concentrate earning abilities, the percentage raise this year 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’m not saying government should provide work for everybody, 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, 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.

About Jerusalem...

Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. I seek refuge from the trumpery of trumped-up Trump. Jerusalem is al-Quds, not Trumpistan. May Allah rid this Holy city from Trumpification (Implementation of Donald Trump's political ideas) and of his Trumpy Zionist aggressor-friends, sooner than later, for Allah is Able to do that and He's Most Generous in answering. Ameen!

As for the brat himself who sees his Trumponomics (business exploits) and Trumpism (his philosophy, politics and presidency) as "playing the game," I pray that Eminem becomes America's next president so we can goad him to use the 5th Amendment to (unjustly) subject all of Trump's property rights to eminent domain. Let him know what victimisation and wanton occupation feels like.

Ok, now I don't know if I'm being Trumpish or Trumphobic, but man, I'm as outraged as this "Day of Rage," so I declare support for the Palestinian struggle, and by Allah they shall liberate their homeland from invasion. To hell with what that nutcase says. It's only right to render unto the Palestinians their homeland, and unto Israel what has she, certainly not the recognition of Jerusalem as her capital.

And we wonder why we're all POOR?

I was in my room, but it sounded like a wedding ceremony going on. The MC was announcing the donations with a portable PA system so I could hear:

'Aji Fatou di hariti Ya Kodou mo johe danta bi. Muneh ak hepp: temere, nyarri temere, nyetti temere……juneh, nyarri junneh [claps] - 'Aahhhh, bess du tuti. Sohna Njie di aawo Lamin Fandeh neh mo johe boiti orr bi, teh muneh pareh wut deh... laillalallah! Gewel yi ana ngen? Ndey Ndikeh nyow na teh Dollar lai mayeh... aye wye, lu wye di def teh munuko dai nuru peerat...."

That's the story of my part of the world where 60% of the people are poor, where majority of the few that are considered rich are just 'chapteh' (borderline affluent). So, attempting to appear prosperous by outrageous flauntings is prosperity. No wonder we all plead comfort by being incredibly flashy, spending what we are yet to own, and usually trying to impress rivals that do not exist.

Meanwhile, in America, LeBron James is sponsoring thousands to get a decent college education. But of course LeBron is imbued with the spirit of the common man, and so he cannot but care; he's so rich in spirit he gives back to socially useful causes. May we be like him. May we know and raise many like him

Relative Privation Fallacy, that's it....

When and where something needs to be done about something and something is being done, qualitatively that is, even if that thing's not what you would've done or started with, it's only right to appreciate progress, knowing that not everything can be done at once.

'Olof Njie neh “Su don mahn”, dey yaha mbollow.' ("If it were me” destroys unison). Hold on! I'm not referring to offerors of genuine alternative propositions. I'm talking about those often logically crippled arguments that follow the typical "su don manh;" however good they may sound, I see them for what they usually are: specious, downright fallacies of relative privation.

See, if you want to dismiss my argument, Samba's complaint, or Buba's priority, it's not "by force" - you gotta come with logic, not just bringing up a case or existence of what you think is a more important thing than ours, or a problem you think's more problematic than Samba's and that's it, regardless of whether your preference is as feasible.

For instance: there were shoes to be donated, and I suggested that donating them to kids in Kunkumendy who trek eight miles to school would be awesome. And some pseudo-woke altruist was like, "hell no! Is it because you're from that region? In fact, you're talking about shoes... I'd rather we help that kid that returned from Libya a cripple after stepping on a landmine." I was like, grr...! I feel for the kid, prob'ly more than you do, but... it's shoes we're talking about. Does he need it?

Richness of the Spirit is best...

When you're imbued with the spirit of giving, kindness, empathy, and so love, or you believe it's more honourable to give than to recieve, and you can part with your very last for a worthy cause, people, particularly the stingy (whose only gift is the gift of receiving) will think you're richer. Baakarr inducing yaakarr, I call it.

And since you don't go about holding a banner that reads: "wolahi, I'm also broke," we take advantage, hoping there's more where what you give's coming from. By God, you may not be as rich as one would expect from the literal sense of the word, but you're rich in spirit, and you'd very rarely run out of means, because in you, God sees a dependable medium, and so He blesses you evermore.

Our traffic, our attitude.

When you're new to a community and you want to know about the people, befriend the children for their bizarre honesty, the elderly for their communal memory, and observe the traffic for the conduct of the people. A traffic in perpetual disorder typifies an indisciplined society. Yeah dread, actions on the streets are all allusive references to how people live and treat each other real-life

Pay attention: where people want to drive without proper licenses and registrations yet blame law enforcement for avoidable confrontations, where drivers are so reckless they can shift from one lane to another anytime they want, where none is willing to give way, y'know, so heedless of traffic rules and signs, like they alone pay road taxes, where a passenger will see 23 people trying to enter a 14-seater van and still join in the 'boohanteh,' that's a typification of an unruly society, where anything goes, and people expect everybody to desire or despise on their behalf.

Can you see how that last sentence sounds a lot like our Gambian democracy? Are we allowing others to live as we want them to let us live? Wait, you remember how those taxi drivers at Westfield will peep all over the place for no apparent reason, perhaps for the love of the sound of their horns? See how we have amongst us those who even if they don't really have anything to say, go from post to post yapping and acting "oh, no you didn't" like shanaynay.. yuh zee mi? Jekhna tak!

#SenegambiaIsMine

BUT,

"Olof Njie neh bukki su yabbeh gaindeh sa dohin wa la." (If an hyena disrespects the lion, it's prob'ly because the lion wasn't evincive of his lion-like appearance, stateliness and dignity).

Same way, how the world sees Africa is up to Africa, to our self-esteem and composure. In one thought-provoking blog post that I read sometime ago, written by Malaka in January 2012, titled: "You Lazy (Intellectual) African Scum!" The white character referenced therein tried to illustrate why white people feel superior to the African and I take excerpt: 

"The white guy who picks up garbage, the homeless white trash on drugs, feels superior to you no matter his status or education. I can pick up a nincompoop from the New York streets, clean him up, and take him to Lusaka and you all be crowding around him chanting muzungu, muzungu and yet he’s a riffraff."

Man, perhaps because of the melanin overdose in me, I emotionalised the piece and I was so, so mad. But soon after I replaced "Lusaka" with "Senegambia" and "muzungu" with "toubab," I began to rationalise, and it all made sense.

The Gambia and youth empowerment...

Granted, youth empowerment is an imperative. But the way I see some young people want to go about claiming it on social media, haral mahn ma start di save for my retirement wolahi. Ah, waw di! The 'na paayi step aside' kinda activism isn't only scary, but ruthless and mutinous.

Wye tamit ku forg neh we are going to converge somewhere in The Gambia for some 'Fongdingkeh Sembengtunyaa Bengo' (youth empowerment meeting), and perhaps have the president preside over the transference of everything (authority, control, power, and knowledge) from the elderly to the youth, you're in for a very rude awakening.

It doesn't work like that. The succession we seek is not one to be offered in a charter, nor handed on a platter, we must work towards it. And even when earned, the path will always require the wisdom of the elderly. Even Emmanuel Macron that created his and counteracted the odds has Brigitte Macron by his side, and he seeks elderly counsel.

Appreciate progress... no matter how little.

When and where something needs to be done about something and something is being done, qualitatively that is, even if that thing's not what you would've done or started with, it's only right to appreciate progress, knowing that not everything can be done at once.

'Olof Njie neh “Su don mahn”, dey yaha mbollow.' ("If it were me” destroys unison). Hold on! I'm not referring to offerors of genuine alternative propositions. I'm talking about those often logically crippled arguments that follow the typical "su don manh;" however good they may sound, I see them for what they usually are: specious, downright fallacies of relative privation.

See, if you want to dismiss my argument, Samba's complaint, or Buba's priority, it's not "by force" - you gotta come with logic, not just bringing up a case or existence of what you think is a more important thing than ours, or a problem you think's more problematic than Samba's and that's it, regardless of whether your preference is as feasible.

For instance: there were shoes to be donated, and I suggested that donating them to kids in Kunkumendy who trek eight miles to school would be awesome. And some pseudo-woke altruist was like, "hell no! Is it because you're from that region? In fact, you're talking about shoes... I'd rather we help that kid that returned from Libya a cripple after stepping on a landmine." I was like, grr...! I feel for the kid, prob'ly more than you do, but... it's shoes we're talking about. Does he need it?

Illogical is so alluring these days...

Remember what I said about ours becoming a society where you wouldn't even make sense if you're not affluential? Scratch that!

Today, illogical is so alluring that an even easier way to catch attention than using logic or the gem of wisdom is to say what folks want to hear... however disingenuous and whatever the heck it is, let it just agree with their own reason and prejudices.

Imbecility regardless, keep your unflattering feedback to yourself and give (pseudo) kudos, and you'll be loved back, like: "aww, real wye nga!" "Belahi bro, ya bakh" - are they too being sincere? I don't know. Whether left or right-handed, 'ha' or 'hanni,' commendation has become a social obligation... and so the magnanimous animosity all over the place.

December 2nd Anniversary...

Man, our president got swag, yo! It just felt kinda strange seeing a heavyweight in a lightweight shirt, jeans, and a baseball cap.

On a serious note, if we are going to continue celebrating the anniversary of every event leading to the New Gambia:

Y'know, from the December general election now known as "freedom day," to our ex-president's time-buying gimmickry dubbed the "impasse," Halifa's press conferences and celebrityship, to President Barrow's historic return from momentary-exile, Darboe and Co's release, et cetera, I suggest we identify a non-traffic non-peace disturbing venue.

God, I'm so allergic to disturbances. In fact, the only reason I'm putting up with traffic and not occupying Westfield in protest right now is the sight I behold: these ladies and their figure-flattering t-shirts, as if tailored to their body measurements, tucked into all these fine-arse ripped jeans like, Holy Moses, Gambians are beautiful!

Feedback...

Not all who gives feedback is passing judgment... and unlike a military roll call, it cannot be 'all present and correct.'

So, feeling kinda dejected and all defensive whenever it's not a commendation or a favourable representation in words means you're not ready to improve.

Osama Sarwar said "success lies in absorbing negative feedback and making the best use of it" and I believe.

The best things in life are no longer free...

Akor: "the best things in life are free." N'kayeh n'mbang wulengkeh, n'mang song!!!

The best things in life are no longer free. In fact, the three most expensive things these days are freedom, healthcare and education. My boy says I should add pilgrimage and marriage but I'll pass.

Seriously, today, if you fall sick and you don't have money or some health insurance that you can depend on, you'll settle for Paracetamol or 'Nyorkett.' If you cannot afford a lawyer, you'll be convicted of a crime you didn't commit. And if you think those two are expensive, try higher education; even Gofundme is getting worried.

So, I say the best thing in life today is to get paid, knowing that you're gonna need to do stuff, and stuff cost money. Today, even if you want to make sense, you gotta be seen making money.

In the Gambia, ACCA is overrated...

First of all, no diss intended, but take offense if you like. God knows I'm not one to belittle achievements. I'm just of the opinion that the ACCA qualification is being overrated in this country. In fact, I will say it: a good number of these new breed of accountants who cannot count, but act as if they were doctorated in nuclear chemistry are just overpaid bookkeepers. If you think I'm being jealous because I didn't see it through, show me one that you can credit with making one professional breakthrough.

Granted, ACCA is a rewarding qualification, but it's not Alpha and Omega. Look, even professional pickpockets can form a body, develop skill standards for pickpocketing, turn the standards into teaching curricula, roll shit out to tuition providers that are willing to offer the programme and call the qualification ACP (Association of Certified Pickpockets). Same difference, seriously! And who knows, they may even secure a Presidential Charter - you know, add another C: ACCP (Association of Chartered Certified Pickpockets).

Gambia - Balance we need!

Gambia - it's a good thing we are coming on here to add our voice to our national conversation. But, without balance, it's just a confused uproar - "virtue is in the middle."

Thanks to the miracle of social media and of nerds taking over our existence, civil disobedience is being digitalised and it's a good thing. It's amazing how much impact you can have with just a smartphone and a hashtag. Today, even my type with glossophobia could be heard from our bedrooms.

However, whilst it's virtuous to disobey a thing that you feel was designed to make a few more equal than the many, it's equally virtuous to know when to apply your brakes. Taking things to excess would manifest as recklessness, and not only that; it may cause you to lose your truth, or reveal your true colours - as in your ulterior motive with what you bash. Well, evidently!

There's no system that's excellent and delightful in all respects. So, if you act as if yours is the perfectest thing since [what I want to say is rude], you’re only being a political ambassador trying to give excuse for not doing better or trying harder.

But also, if you're campaigning for change to a system in which everything and everyone works in perfect harmony, delete that thought already, because shit will always happen. We gotta be even-handed in the way we appraise. It will take us far.

Shadeism

Your economic or educational gains regardless, as long as you’re black - I mean dark, you're vulnerable to colourism in Northern Africa. For the record, I'm not saying every North African is a nutcase like that, because even in the desert you'll find an oasis.

What I mean is, the recent footage of migrants being sold off as slaves in Libyan 'slave markets' is perhaps fresh and so it sparks outrage, but it's a manifestation of realities from 19 o'long. Gaddafi used many of our brothers as mercenaries.

If you ask me, ours is a clusterfuck of a continent where equality is just a pretext in speeches - as elusive as the U in AU, and as the C in ECOWAS.

Can't we all be our individual best?

It's amazing how much greatness we can create in this country if only we allow everyone to be their individual best, if we stop making everything as if a contest for a prize or some award, and if we could extol our favourites without lowering someone else's in position.

Seriously, I see no relevance in setting two in opposition if they aren't mutually exclusive. Wait, I think my language is failing me; let me give an example: if you want to say how amazing Gee is, just say 'Gee's dope.' It's not necessary to say 'Omar is straight-up wack' just to justify that Gee's the bomb. Yeah, that's pretty clear.

Why we have jobs without people...

And because our career dreams are functionally the same, i.e. a steady job in civil service, we have as many people without jobs as there are jobs without people, despite our many talents and impressive college education, and I believe this points to a lack, defect, failing, or all of the above in our education system.

Ours is so academic, its practical importance is borderline... by it we take school for the sole source and referent of the term education, 'mansakunda dokuwo' the only source of employment. So we all go in there not just to satisfy our intellectual curiosities, but to be programmed with the same software. And because people are different, the software when incompatible becomes malware, evidently.

I'm not an educationist and I'm not pretending to be one. But I needn't be one to know that the word 'educate' is derived from the Latin word 'educo,' meaning to educe - to bring out, to draw out, and to develop from within. So if you call yourself educated and you cannot use it to power up your talent or turn on someone else's, but rather let your talent turn on you, yours isn't education, 'ejukenseng' (butt-naked) more like.

Colourism!

Wait... if these Arabs can feel too superior to honour Bilal ibn Rabah as one of the most trusted and loyal companion of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, do you think they'll have any regard for you and I? And that's symbolically speaking.

I'm talking to y'all wannabe Arabs, y'all that I see wearing desert protective clothes during a typical Gambian summer and you think it's Sunnah, y'all who hold Arabic newspapers sacred, because you cannot distinguish between mere Arabic text and the Qur'an, all y'all who think it's haram to listen to Cess Ngom during Ramadan, but you can listen to najwa karam because she sings in Arabic, her lyrics regardless.

Listen Africans! Before oppressed people, we were blessed people, so let's not be oppressed by ourselves. Say to hell with colourism, f*ck what's going on in Libya. Damn the African Union and shout out to Burkina Faso for making the first move in showing the government of Libya that all men are created equal. Let's stop subjecting ourselves to mental slavery. Let's stop shedding all our values in the name of wakefulness, because no single race is of higher consciousness than the other, and if I'm wrong, then mine is a racial accident because I'm not unconscious.

Now to all you borderline specialists in African affairs: check your sense of Pan-Africanism by comparison with the efforts that rebuilt Europe after the second World War and see if we are doing great... what are we using our support structure for? I say abso-freaking-lutely nothing other than making grandiloquent speeches in celebration of pseudo-Pan-African led dictatorships that are even more evil than colonialism.

Pan-Africanism doesn't stop at calling each other "comrade," wearing Mutabaruka inspired clothes, singing 'Shosholoza' and quoting Julius Nyerere. We need to use the cause to educe black potential, to support all blacks to develop from within, and do so until fair-coloured chauvinism is no longer able to reproduce. But until then, y'all contemporary Pan-Africans bore me to death.

New Zimbabwe

I hope Zimbabwe is not just free from Mugabe but free at last. Historically speaking, many an African revolutionary agitator that ascended the throne 'this way' soon forgot his mission, confused his boundary, and parted with his principles.

So, instead of changing the system, many allowed the 'shitstem' to change them - or should I say reveal them. Many, perhaps unwittingly, got consumed by greed, ended up sacrificing every single value they once held dear, becoming manifestations of the same mindset that caused them to revolt.

So, yeah, I'm happy there's change, but not too thrilled until the agents of this change use their newfound power to empower and not overpower.

Are we all created equal?

By our superficial human perceptions, it's natural to question the belief that all men are created equal, and the fairness of nature by the conditions of those who are differently enabled (not disabled). However, we believe that all people will be put to test, and that belief is the substance of our hope, and it suffices evidence for a people of faith.

We believe that we shall be tested through adversity as well as prosperity. So to think that you that's being tested by your wealth and good health have it easier than those that are being tested otherwise is erroneous. Prophet Job was tested with affliction but he remained steadfast. The pharaoh was tested through might, and it seemed a more lenient test, but we all know the rest of the story.

Badmind ah di worsest disease...

Maliciously grudging people can dislike you just for the heck of it, but usually for the blessings you have that they wish were theirs, and they'll turn gods and psychics about it, passing judgments like: 'you think you're [insert adjective] - say smart or beautiful for instance.

If you ask me, you're what they say you think you're; they're just too stingy with compliments. World Boss says it (badmind) is the "worsest" disease. I guess because it affects the heart. So it has nothing to do with your person. They that someone else's God-given gift arouses negative feelings in are the ones whose karma I worry about.

Our ladies are dope. I mean they evince hope...

Anyone who labels Gambian ladies as still petty, competitive or mean to one another isn’t paying attention. In fact, the person should do two rakats and repent.

Seriously, in addition to big-mouthing, all of the above traits are now hijacked by us - so much that even what we consider male fashion is so coquettish I can blaze fyah pon it and I’m not envious. 

So, just as I’m ensnared in the devolution of my gentlemanly standards just to be appropriate to the foolishness and ‘con-troversy’ on social media and I’m not the only guy, my sister is out there kicking ass and she isn’t the only lady, (talk about girl power!), touch wood.

Politics and sycophancy...

Politics and sycophancy will always sail together - be it the politics on here, your soccer team, at home, in corporate circles, but particularly within the state and its administration, and from Washington to Banjul. There'll always be those whose only way to advancing their careers or achieving their goals is by cunning, scheming, and unscrupulous means.

From when you're just an eager beaver amongst frauds like that, from when you refuse to be as shallow and callow as they'd wish, you'll intimidate them. So they'll use a whole range of outrageous Machiavellian manoeuvres against you, frame you, advise against you, up to getting rid of you. In fact, their greatest most intelligent success is when they deceptively play the leadership into taking their two-faced and fawning attitudes for firmness in allegiance. Remember how our former president in conceding defeat lamented that some of his Greens were turning Yellow? Yeah mon, he was played same way.

Don't get me wrong. Politics is noble, but such is the reason why the Rastaman calls it "polytricks"- too many dishonest and self-serving tricks, or polyticks - poly as in many and ticks as in bloodsucking creatures. And like the AIDS virus, you can't tell who is who by looking. You gotta pay attention to the symptoms. And rather than acting rashly, check the validity of the stories and jokes they bring just to get close to you.

What we need...

The way we are so angry and so offended about every little thing on social media these days, as if retaliations-in-waiting - like: "hnn, beyma ken wakh dara rek!” We prob’ly need a Minister of State for Happiness – UAE style.

The first I heard about the existence of a Ministry like that from my boss, I thought he was joking. Sheikh Google said: yes, he's right! Apparently bizarre, but the Ministry's proven to be necessary and effective. We need one to cast off our inhibitions, create a happier Gambia – y’know, one befitting a “Smiling Coast.”

About the ex-Interior Minister...

I don't know the man in person. In fact, prior to December last year, and my decision to vote for "anything" against the idiocratic shitstem we had, Mai Fatty was to me as all politicians were: self-serving. However, we (humans) as visual creatures process information, form opinions and perceptions about people and things based on what we see.

So, in the absence of evidence or the state opening up to say otherwise, the man was a hardworking Minister, radically accessible and a dandified gentleman. For now, the conflicting accusations I'm seeing on here are what they are: rumours, devious innuendos, and assumptions - evincing nothing but the typical: e'nyan, bon, fimisteh, khiss, sohorr, waaneh, kaajeh, rambajj... yeah, and that too.

Here, be motivated...

Ignoring the naysayers to proceed with your idea is just the beginning of success, defying the nonacademic PhDs (pull him(her) downs) after success is the next and prob'ly hardest level.

Best believe it - a pull is easier than a push - I mean it's easier to fall than rise, even more difficult to rise after a fall. So, to maintain your new status against the odds, you've to try extra hard, and I'll suggest twice as much as you did going up.

You can't out-game politicians...

Even though it's pretty much a given that slicing onions will make you cry, and pobarr will make you sneeze, some of us will go into the kitchen, do all that, come on social media and blame every reaction on politicians, or make one angry hashtag about it.

No wonder some of these politicians will also offer fake compassion: 'aw, we feel your plight, and in the very near future, all onions and pepper coming into the country will be free from chemical irritants...' yeah, and we will clap as if Theophrastus has spoken. You cannot out-scam them.

Misunderstanding...

Misunderstanding is the root cause of many a dissension. That's why it's not uncommon to see two quarrel, and when you ask waguan, you realise that in fact, they were both saying the same thing differently.

It makes us hold others responsible not for what they actually say or really mean, but for our own erroneous interpretations.

Like the other day, this guy went into an eatery for dinner. Serving him, the waitress asked: "Sir, will you need a fork?" And perhaps because of the "Happy Ending" label on the door, the guy replied with great excitement: "Eh? Ah... yeah, but after dinner." And so he was defeated of his expectation.

The types of doers in this New Gambia...

Four agents/doers I have observed in this New Gambia: 

1 - Low-key doers: subtle in approach and so evasive of attention. They're so reckful that theirs is often misunderstood as indifference. Their methods and routes can be so long and winding but usually practical.

2 - High-key doers: they must flaunt everything they do, and so loudly that it can be seen, heard, and talked about. You cannot but admire their gift for attention.

3 - The Trojans: appealingly disguised as genuine but spitefully misleading. Traits: identity politics, destiny-denying bigotry, covert tribalism (inventing instances of discrimination just to play victim and throw slurs), selective bashing, pseudo-empathy, bunch of flip-floppers and disappointed cherrypickers calling people hypocrites. You cannot even have an intelligent conversation with them without draining your energy. May we know them so we know how to deal with them.

4 - The rest of us.

If you blame them, blame the courtiers...

I wouldn't blame the presidents entirely. Without all those self-serving courtiers around their presidencies - I mean those whose ambitions are driven by their greed to remain privileged, and so much that they're opposed to change, no president in Africa will have the balls to overstay, because power belongs to the people.

Gambia social media community and bigotry...

Two can play the ‘ndoti-ndoti’ game. But it’s not a national day of bigotry so I abstain. Still, we need to overstand that system change is not a rap battle. In fact, initiating the process is one thing - having to deal with nerves, especially of those who are emotionally attached to what was is another thing.

We cannot attain the change we desire if we keep cheering each other into foolishness, irresponsibility, insolence, and the use of very blinkered, condemnatory, and generalising comments like the following among others that I pieced from an awfully bigoted Facebook thread:

One said to the other: "...for them it’s like a Mandinka is ruling, so we have to make sure that we defend him at all cost, because they're the rightful rulers of this country." The other said: "I am utterly disgusted and knowing how we all defended them last year when Jammeh said the same thing to them..." then the sheep rudely stuck his oar in: “the green youths are far better than these people."  Now, do you have to be a Shakespeare to infer reference of the pronouns? Egg-zact-ly!

All who is genuine must endeavour to dead these reckless appraisals by calling them what they are: condescending, narcissistic, not realistic... sheer emotions excited by frustrated senses of entitlement, that’s what they are. I was so disappointed that the above comments were made by people I once respected; little did I know they were just pretending to be against the valuation of people according to preconceptions. 

It’s fucked up how a good number of us who claim to be politically open-minded are just a bunch of pseudo-liberals, evidenced by illiberal thoughts and tendencies like the excerpts above. If you think I’m lying, just resist their resistance, even if teasingly so, and see how their inclinations, prejudices and preferences in the closet will come all up on you like bees. But that’s it; patronage is a thing of the heart; you can’t hide it for long - it must out.

Before I finish, here’s free advice: it’s natural that when change occurs, some thoughts are overwhelmed by emotions of what was, some minds woken up, and some hearts broken. But because events in life are not recordings that you can playback, fast-forward or rewind anytime you want, it is best to press the play and savour every minute of the moment, of course not losing grip on the degree of focus required for the future.

Bul heyp ku nyow ess. Bul ceasi't kula jiutu... bokalen ligeuye...

When someone's new to, or unfamiliar with the ways you do things at work, take it easy on the person; do not taunt. You empathise to encourage, knowing that some period in the past, you were as green.

As for you who's new, what you think you know regardless, some things you learn by doing. So, don't pretend to know if you don't. If you don't want to be invisiblised that is. Don't look down your nose at experience; it's also a valuable thing.

Just stay positive...

Each time you feel like you're doing great, shit happens and you're given cause to get upset, I know. It's a resentfully prejudiced road out there, selfish, cold, slanderous, cunningly greedy, you name the fuckeries. And there's so much excitement about nothing.

Still, make your moves. Take your chances, go to Plan B, err, learn from it, load Plan C, grow like there's always an opportunity in every difficulty.

Don't let the devil switch your presets. Pay attention - just because a thing's unlikely doesn't mean it's impossible. Obama and Barrow became presidents, remember? Count your blessings. Savor the positives and let the negative thinkers wallow in their muds of negativity. Hopefully, today will give birth to some goodness.

The Super Nawettans (Zonals) are promising.

When Senegal saw that local wrestling was gaining appeal, the wrestling federation got it structured, the government provided the environment, the media got involved, national and private television stations designed programmes to rouse public interest, made celebrities and role models out of the athletes, and gave businesses an opportunity to sell their goods and services through sponsorships.

Gambia, contemporary, if we truly want to develop sports, football in particular, that's the way to go, and the zonals are a start. See it more than just a pastime, make it attractive and spare us that tired-arse 'we-need-to-go-back-to-the-grassroots' strategy. Raise money and pay money, the grassroots will come to you. Seeing the crowd and the talents in this zonals, just as the ones before, I cannot but wish these kids a career better than mine: "koto bi mo munon ball" - that, a certificate, a trophy and D750 are all I can show for playing ball.

About #OccupyWestfield...

Even I know that politics and protests have a long-standing connection. Even I believe that you cannot call it ‘social equality’ if young people aren’t allowed to feel worthy of attention, if they are denied their right to be heard and to voice their objections and concerns without hesitation. But whether this entitles young people to always have the last word is what I doubt.

From when the proposed #OccupyWestfield protest was conceived on here, I had zero fears as regards the intentions, because within the "movement" I know young folks who even though they may not be as conservative in the way they do their thing, even I am wowed by their valor and liberty of mind. So to say they don’t have their hearts in the right place is just a chat.

However, emotions almost took over some hearts just after the denial of a permit to go ahead with the protest. Focus started shifting to the illegalness of the denial than the end in mind. I started seeing defiance-nudging comments, causing so much agitation, even after the fact that to me, the online campaign has already won the executive’s attention and interest.

At this stage therefore, some activists would’ve given the executive the benefit of the doubt as to whether they’ll keep their side of the bargain. In fact, if December is what they say, some would’ve given them till January, so that in the event there's failure, they'll have better base to justify a Plan B.

I have to be honest - by the looks of things and the trend of arguments, it's as if we just crave a protest and protest we will regardless. So, I ask: what if the National Security team's appeal to put a brake on the protest is really and truly for the safety of country? What if they cannot divulge details of the alleged threat for same security reasons? What facts have we that theirs is just aiding the creation of a culture of fear?

As a final point, I’m not rebuking anyone. It’ll be very inconsiderate of me to chastise the young for their tenacity in the face of risks, because I have been there. I'd equally be too idealistic to expect them to overstand my perception, calmness and composure, because they haven’t gotten the years in my age. But I get disappointed when I see elderly folks who rather than urging the youth to show moderation in what they do are goading them into confusion.

Anyone can be subjective...

#NewGambia - 'lu opah toorou!' Because even the most open-minded and tolerant of men have their moments of fatigue, and you cannot call it intolerance when they too invoke their right not to tolerate the intolerant - you feel me?

In fact, right now, some of us who are on here to connect with friends, with family and like-minded people are becoming sick and tired of being sick and tired of blinding our eyes and pretending not to see how insidious the political maneuvers are in this 'New Gambia,' particularly the passive aggressive bigotry trending on social media - you know, under the guise of political humour or the spirit of some (idealistic) democratic BS, by people flattering themselves as if the deepest in the room.

See, people need to overstand that others are exercising restraint simply because the constant hostility is not conducive to progress, but when push comes to shove, anyone can hit the 'Fuck it' button and misbehave like anyone else, 'nabeh tinyaala, abeh yeh tinyaa!' And if bigotry is what we want, bigots we can all bomboclaat be. Watch it!

Another Babylonian injustice...

Where I live, NAWEC's not the only oppressor. Internet (data) is a bloodclaat joke. Serious thing! Mini WiFis, 3Gs and (supposed) 4Gs round here are sinfully slacker than Comium's GPRS. Trust it dead, I ain't lying when I tell you it takes my browser like twenty-ten refreshes to have stuff posted on here, and this rant will probably take more. Yeah, rather than access I get axed and ex'd. Bloody hell!

Lawyer Tambadou must hear this. I see Babylonian injustice. I frequent uptown, so I can confirm that internet's relatively faster round there, as if we here don't matter, as if ours is an offering, and we all pay the same ultra expensive shit and thing. Call Customer Care and they'll ask you to switch to Flight Mode and back... maybe I should take my holy rosary and go Roman Catholic on these companies  - you know, curse their illicit profits.

Narcissistic...

If you think NAWEC's unfeeling, shifty and unpredictable, try a narcissist. Like an electric switch, his friendship can turn off to enemyship in no time, and for no apparent reason.

Be you a friend, a spouse, co-worker, or anyone he comes in contact with, the narcissist will try to screw your mind just to feed off it. If you choose to be an enabler because you're parasitic and slavish like that, you're cool with him.

You who he cannot manipulate, he'll introduce to a whole new world of drama and feed off your unhappiness. If you ask me, every fault that he accuses you of is usually not yours. And it'd be easier to find a flying fish than to expect him to accept his faults let alone change or apologise.

Are you truly liberal?

What you claim regardless, you are neither a liberal nor socially tolerant if you keep having a problem with anyone who does not have a problem with what you have a problem with.

It is perfectly natural for others to not have a problem with what you have a problem with, even if your having a problem with what you have a problem with is divinely sanctioned, and them seemingly sheeple.

Gambia, dem beh nyaaka dem bi, si nyun la dess!

In order to nullify this increasingly popular "Gambia Du Dem" notion, and to develop as a people, we must develop mindsets, rise above the ego-inflating pettiness, be more obliging, and rekindle that obsession we had with being Gambian - yeah, I'm old enough to confirm that that's how blessed we were before we became oppressed.

We must learn to ignore the ignorable - you know, things of little significance and value, like who cannot use a fork and a knife, like who wears heels to the beach, whose Gucci is real and whose is Made in China, like trivialising some efforts and authentic dreams whilst celebrating illusions, like acting wasteful as if "taka" or "futu-sito" is different from a wedding.

We need to use our energy on things that matter, the big picture: prerequisites to development - like encouraging intelligent and foresighted national conversations, not the usual seemingly 'us versus them', or debates intended to goad one another into anger, like validating every decent education or employable skill, source regardless, like inspiring entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship, not just serving self-serving entrepreneurs, like praying for NAWEC for instance - yuh see mi?

Maneh, Gambia dina dehmam?

Maybe I’m not as patriotic, maybe like I sometimes want to believe, my being Gambian is a geographical accident – but that’s beside the point. All I can say is, collectively and especially on here, we don’t act like nyu buga dem, seriously! My theory: If half is finding solutions to our collective problems, and the other (usually louder) half is finding problems with/for every solution, there can only be plenty of noise - you know, like Roadman Shaq singing, no solution - yuh see me?

Propaganda...

In this our world of increasing misinformation, a world where media entities deliberately and misleadingly tailor news to fit a particular partisan agenda, and invariably so, a world where bad news sells more than breakthroughs, where my creative writings provide more truth than your average news item, and with journalists who cannot spell, forming an opinion about how good or bad something is, based on a headline, without reading and overstanding content is as reckless as using a knitted condom. I don't know about people, but me? Give me the whole story or miss me with it.

The Gambia and the concept of education...

When the dictionary defines ‘education’ as an enlightening experience, or the facilitation of the acquisition of knowledge, skills, values, beliefs, and habits, the ‘school, college or university’ is used to exemplify source or access, but it’s preceded by the adverb “especially” – meaning: for the most part.

Now, does this definition preclude the fact that it’s an education to watch a good workman work? Would I be wrong to say that Jatto Ceesay is educated in the art of football, or some unlettered Sarahuleh entrepreneur in the art of moneymaking, et cetera? That’s what I thought.

Benjamin Franklin is credited with this saying: “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” if you ask me why, I'll say because there are people who learn best by doing.

Well, it’s just unfortunate that here, not all educated minds have educated hearts, and it takes both to be really educated. Here, hearts are so resentful that it hurts some academic supremacists to see differently-educated people doing extremely well without a college attendance certificate.

I hate to say this, and it’s me being optimistic. Before our hearts are as educated to appreciate hard skills just as we do abstract learning, and to differentiate between idealised capacity (competence) and performance, swear down the rest of humanity would finally be living on planet Mars, and we’ll be here wretched, lonely, “Building The New Gambia” or trying to overstand the concept of democracy, NAWEC doing what it does best, because the “qualified” engineers cannot engineer ‘furrno-kerign’ let alone generate electricity - talk about behind the times.

Glossophobia...

I have been fighting glossophobia my whole life and I couldn't graduate. So I prefer writing to talking. Do I admire people who are able to resist that crippling fear of putting themselves on a podium, yes. But I'm not ashamed that I still suck, and I'm not alone.

Someone said that "public speaking is the number one fear in America. Death is number two." So funny, yet so true. In fact, many a famous speechmaker throughout history was once terrified of public speaking, confessedly.

So I hate it when people ridicule others for their speech anxiety, or equating it to stupidity, and as if they themselves were born on a podium with silver microphones, when in fact their command of the art is but in the delivery of high sounding absolute nonsense.

About the lies on social media...

Some hoaxes online make me want to wish that all keyboards come with built-in polygraphs (machines that detect lies). So that whenever one hits the enter button to post crap, the beeper will go like: BEEP, BULLSHIT DETECTED!

Some critiques, eh!

When your tailor sees you with a nice Khaftan that he certainly didn't sew, it's not uncommon that he feels cheated on, and to want find a way to give vent to his emotions, usually offering very trivial and inexistent critiques - say it's too long, too tight, the placement of the buttons is awful, it doesn't match your physique, the breast-pocket is outdated... y'know, et cetera! Kids today will say "he hating" - to mean jealousy and anger bundled as criticism.

Writing...

What you write, when it's genuine, unaffected, and honest enough, actually happening or capable of happening, people relate; people connect because it's real.

Truth is: we may put on cosmetic displays here and there - y'know, just to acquire that social image that comes with acting a certain way, but deep down, we all like it simple and ordinary.

This is why we all enjoy events where we can loosen up and just stay true to ourselves. Just that not everyone has the courage to resist the temptation to pretend sophistication.

Note to activists...

To be an activist, you don't have to become a prophet of doom. Activism shouldn't be about sharing hoaxes and causing people to lose faith in humanity.

It shouldn't be depressing; it should instead be uplifting. It should manifest the best in humanity despite the jerkassery and endless lunacies in diverse places.

What's in an arbitrary label anyway?

When people are really good at what they do, their names become definitions. Michael Jordan's for instance is a definition of excellence, not only in sports. Mandela's for someone willing to be put in prison for adhering openly to a belief, and Delilah for an attractive and seductive but ultimately dangerous woman.

So, Lawyer Darboe being dubbed Mandela, in my opinion, and in the non-literal sense that it's usually said is not necessarily equating him to the celebrated South African lawyer and freedom fighter; their realities are a bit similar but different. It's just a figure of speech, dammit!

In fact, if we try harder, some names on social media may become definitions of 'opal' (uppity), 'sehw' (nitpicking), and 'kawuyehyaa' (foolhardiness)... but I'll have a problem with y'all calling Barrow 'Kurangmala Mansa' even if he fixes the disgrace at NAWEC; that name's just not sexy.

What communal progress abhors the most...

Progress abhors a community where largess and volunteerism constitute a fard (legally binding obligation), and where people are so afraid of taking responsibility yet so quick and so good at delegating culpability for something negative or undesirable.

So everyone expects someone to do everyone's job, including things that are so easy that anyone could've done. In the end, no one sees the need to do for such a community what anyone could have done, because the consequences are usually not fair valuations, and that's so annoying.

New Gambia, still...

Gambia - coming on social media to cast aspersions, just for the heck of controversy, and perhaps because it’s how you see it happen elsewhere is neither "building" an enviable "New Gambia," nor is it keeping The Gambia Gambian.

I have said this before and I will reiterate: some tendencies, beliefs, norms, attitudes and behaviours are people and geography specific. And really, the level of disrespect, pseudo-intellectualism, gutsy lampooning and trash talking on here lately is so NOT us.

Maybe some are too young to remember how it was before July '94, maybe too forgetful or too unwilling to appreciate how ours was generally a politics of wits, of tolerance and mutual jokes, known by the Wolofs as 'Kalantu' and 'Sanawuyaa' in Mandinka. Or maybe like NAWEC, we need prayers - some serious soul searching. Maybe I'm too old school or too "hypocritical," but I thought I should say this... suma yown si golo bussi pudaroo.

Our recovery from idiocracy...

The New Gambia – Commission of Inquiry - lessons being conveyed – emotions alternating between ‘mungork, nyaw!’ and disappointment, between should and shouldn’t, could and couldn’t, why and why not, et cetera

Some respondents come calm, composed and to the point. Some will talk almost non-stop, until you’re like, hey, e’fanang! Can’t you see that was a leading question to what you said you had no clue? Others get caught between answering affirmatively and risk making judgmental statements or say no and get grilled further.

That’s what circumstantial allegiance to power does. It fetters the will and disrobes the mind of its duty of care - of its nobleness. Before one knows it, one’s caused to do very reckless things, things that one will look back in anger, frustration and shame like, how did I let this happen? Wishing you could go back in time and fix your part of the mess.

Despite all these, it wouldn’t be abnormal for the human in you to feel for the respondents; I do that all the time - like, c'mon, we all knew what it was like. You know, like, under the circumstances then, anyone would've done likewise. But is that so? ‘Alama mumino beh tankala kataa ning katatola.’

The kehbehtou!

If our social media community is representative of a fair sample, it's safe to say that The Gambia has more drama kings than queens.

Pay attention and you'll see that on here, most of what was stereotypically feminine is adoptively masculine - the pettiness, the exaggerated reaction to issues, the struggle to always have the last word, the interpersonal intrigues, the vindictiveness, et cetera.

"Enabling environment"

An "enabling environment" is not just the legal, organisational, fiscal, informational, political, or cultural design, it's also attitudinal. The environment must shed every mentality that isn't conducive to the claim of enablement.

In fact, it's safe to say that no environment is enabling where hearts are disenabling, where struggling to escape the many interpersonal intrigues, pettifoggings, attacking of (supposed) adversaries, inflammation of division and other wedge issues is business as usual.

Some debates eh...!

No matter how exonerative your defence is, you just can't win with someone who's as stubborn as recklessly determined to prove that you're guilty of wrongdoing. Even worse if the person's skilled in playing victim, and is in solidarity therein.

I'm not saying don't bother arguing, but if it's taking forever to reason with the person, or make progress towards understanding, best thing's to invoke your Miranda right and move on - y'know, knowing that anything you say can and will be distorted and used against you.

Pray for our newfound democracy...

I'm neither a political expert nor pretending to be one. But I needn't be one to opine that the saddest disservice to any budding democracy is NOT criticism (without malign) intended to provide suggestions for improvement, but the dishonesty of those who got defeated of their political expectations and are taking forever to get over the cycle of grief.

It's those who tend to become the reason why I feel like burning politics: those hellbent on emboldening a support structure that'll create third rail issues, either for the heck of controversy or to entice potentially polarised individuals to rebel out of imposed disillusionment.

It's those who (since it's a majority rule) make it look as if the electorate was duped, and now it's that tyranny that they've been warning folks about, as if there's a certain cabal in power that's placing its own interests above and at the expense of country, and as if there is/are groups that are deliberately targeted for oppression, sans statistics.

If they are really good and the audience is manipulatable, they'll succeed in giving them a perception of disarray, just to create a tension to exploit. I hope this our thing we call democracy be saved.

Grassroots my foot... pay my friend, pay!

I thought my sporting days were the suckiest until I heard the account of two former national sprinters. I was like, man, thank God for Plan B.

Well, how can we thrive in athletics when St. Augustine High School's "inter-school" team is more equipped and motivated than the National Team where an athlete is supplied with one oversized singlet all season long? And you wonder why these kids run off the slightest chance they have? At executive level, the clichéd diagnosis is: "we need to go back to the grassroots."

Grassroots? Mtcheew! If you want to develop a sport, you make it attractive, be ingenious about it, raise money to pay money, because the career span is too short. That's what Senegal did to promote the growth of their national sports. See their wrestling league today; no one tells those boys to go to the beach or hit gym, they already know what they're striving towards.

Excuse explicit content ...

Olof Njie neh diganteh jekarr ak jabarr, kersah gi waruta barri. (Between a husband and wife, too much shame is a turnoff) - here's a true story:

He was 60 something, married this fine 22 year old. First night abed, acting all 'moka pojj' (alluring), the girl offered a sensual massage. All was good until she got to the man's most remote and farthest.

"Bloody hell! Are you mad? Can't you see I'm your dad's contemporary?" The man yelled. The young lady apologised for her manners and shied to sleep.

Each night thereafter, the lady will wear her tastiest nightgown, do a lil cock-tease and then she'll retire for the night. Night seven, the man was so horny he couldn't concentrate. He thought it's about time he redeems himself:

"Yowe suday lu ndao lolu motah nga merr beh teye amm, mooti'ngini. Dehfal lula nekh?" (It's like you're still mad at me? Look, here's arse. Do whatever the heck you please)

If the Gambia fails...

IF The Gambia fails like she likely would thanks to our continued bigotry, divisiveness and unending cynicism, I wouldn't blame the leader, I would blame the creators of his leadership, and that's none other than us "The People" in the statement of the meaning of the word "democracy." Blame it on wedges disguised as change makers and activists, but in fact slacktivists.

Blame it on self-appointed senior-deputy-chief-acting-principal-government-bashing New-Gambia-building strong-institutions-creating stuck-ups and academic supremacist with the following as their de facto terms of reference:

1. Be all over social media throwing seemingly well-reasoned but actually fallacious arguements to shrug off the good that others see. 2. Exploit issues that you know are controversial and divisive enough to polarise the people, and to weaken our unity. 3. Propagate your prejudices and divisive sentiments of disillusionment to mislead eyes, minds and spirits into unnecessary defiance. 4. Plus any other jerkassery that you may deem necessary.

Civil service not civil slavery...

Nothing's as honourable as service to God and country. But really, how folks can slaver for civil slavery (service), and the unimaginable things and backstabbings that I see people do for a 'Mansakunda Dokuwo' (government job) is just so baffling.

Before anything else, I cannot ball with a "Golo'k Gong" (GG) - [where I come from, that's what we call a government vehicle].

Secondly, I hate fleeting 'teranga' (prestige). I hate to work in a 5-star office only to return to my shack in Wellingara. Bloody hell, can't we see... even a position of Permanent Secretary isn't as permanent? Well, people are different, I guess!

Confession...

In The Gambia, geography seems to determine the quality of a product. So, once I was coming from abroad, got some wrist watches as 'yobal.'

And because our's is a community where every friend of mom and dad is an uncle or aunt, before I knew it, I ran out of gifts to give.

The following morning, I went to the Albert Market in Banjul to restock. Knowing the value that folks attach to stuff from foreign, Europe and America especially, I didn't tell... well, until now. LOL!

Gambia, the Ashobi wahala... lol

I’m of the opinion that in every free economic environment, businesses take advantage of what’s of the moment. Like how almost every stand on the streets of America was selling Barack Obama’s “Hope” apparels. We saw Jatto Ceesay backpacks, Pope John Paul exercise books, and most recently brand #GambiaHasDecided, including its shameless imitations. Sheikh Ibrahim Niass and Sheikh Ahmadou Bamba’s portraits flood the Senegambian market during Gamo and the Grand Magal respectively; list goes on. So, about the Ashobi thingy, some of y’all see budding sycophancy, I see capitalism.

What I’m trying to say is: businesses will always exploit happenings for a profit, including other people’s misfortune – haven’t you seen profit-oriented charities? How about the length that a typical journalist can go to fetch and publish bad news? So, in my honest opinion, if some garment maker saw a selling product in commercialising the president’s face, and the president isn’t claiming consent or contractual compensation for the use of his personality right, why should I worry? To begin with, I don’t like Ashobi - I don’t like looking like everyone else. Secondly, with the lessons being learned from the ongoing Commission of Inquiry, whether any public enterprise will have the nerve to become a client of such is what I doubt.  

So, even as it is good to be preventive, I don’t think this is anything like that emotional blackmail that used to obtain - where some self-serving civil servant will do a circular suggesting some presidential-ego-inflating event, solidarity march, or some farming visit, coining it to look like it was the president’s call. Or some event organiser suggesting that a certain cultural group be invited at an awful cost to the taxpayer, because that group’s the president’s favourite. Or some connected photographer or pseudo-author using the office of the president to sell their works to public corporations... yeah, that was messed up, this isn’t.

Weed...

I have an opinion... on weed, and I'll say it! Whether I 'pohn' or not will remain a 'kumpa' even to Kumba.

My take is unlike President Jimmy Carter's. He said: “penalties against possession of a drug should not be more damaging to an individual than the use of the drug itself.” And that's exactly what the (unfair) war on weed is doing. I write this in honour of buddies who are still trying to get their lives back after the prison shitstem robbed them of valuable time.

The irony is, the herb's prescribed to regulate epileptic seizures, used for the treatment of glaucoma, asthma, anxiety, PTSDs, etc. yet we frown on its recreational use, and not on tobacco and alcohol; why is that? See Babylonian injustice? See why intelligent civilisation is calling for decriminalisation, if not total legalisation?

I'm of the theory that anything's capable of being abused, especially when made illigal. Yeah, when a thing's decriminalised, "abuse" drops to "use" because that macho image, and thrill in the illicit will no longer be there. Ask any sincere fornicator, they'll tell you how their urge dropped from kinky to normal soon after their unions got legitimised.

Envy…

When you're moving up through the ranks and they're stagnant, your low-key nemeses will hate themselves just as they envy you.

In the end, they'll come out as if statisticians, going about collecting data on you, compiling what they want of it, unfairly analysing it, validating it with their partners in envy, then draw damaging conclusions just to puncture your self-esteem, knowing that it's your most empowering and valuable asset.

Don't let them bruise your confidence like they did theirs, even if they be on steroids... like the kids in Senegal will say: 'bul maye ken beuzz!'

Cynicism...

Life's like the weather. Sometimes it offers great feelings, sometimes bad vibes, and sometimes it's just ugly. Ah so di ting set. I mean you can't go through life expecting all your ideals to come true.

That's like setting a very disappointing experience into motion - after which a frustration that can blind you to not being able to see anything but the cynical version of every good thing that others see.

And by your conduct of denial, anger, and sulky dissatisfaction, folks will think you're green with envy, or just plain rude: "ki defa enyan. No, hamady more like! Ki sah fum tojj?" Well, to me you're just heartbroken.

Gratitude, like common sense, is not so common...

Where I come from, we call it ‘yaroo ndik yorror’ – the obedience of someone who is because he or she cannot be anything but meekly obedient. I mean those who when in need of you, pretend modesty, being as soft as the foreskin (derri dambal).

Push them to break out of their need; facilitate their climb up the ladder, support them to obtain a new identity and you’ll become their first if not their biggest nemesis. This is why I think they Kenyan proverb is unfair; it’s not only the donkey that says thank you with a kick. Humans do it all the time.

Bad mood!

Many a bad mood is down to one thing: discontented attitude - pawning what’s readily available for a mere yearning, even if it seems certain to happen. The feeling's a toxin and it has an antitoxin: an attitude of gratitude for what’s readily available. So you can complain about the food being unpleasantly cold, or rejoice because there’s food, and in knowing that it’s easier to warm the food.

The Commission of Inquiry!

I looked forward to it so badly, and now that it's happening, the effect is debilitating. I see learned people on the high table, seemingly valuing honesty and order than anything, seeking to unravel the truth, throwing questions that those responding would rather they wouldn't, probably feeling envious of those institutions that stayed off the radar of the plunder.

I see some respondents fumble for answers, especially when a question puts them on the spot, like they're being caused to think faster than their usual intelligence. I sense a lot of complicity, but I also see circumstantial perps and collateral victims. I see technocrats that I once thought knew everything, now taking the trouble of proving that where there's dictatorship or idiocracy, the rifle is mightier than the pen. I hope a wake-up call and death to whatever it was that caused that shitstem that we once had.

Kerr Fatou ak GRTS...

Public corporations are created by the state to carry out public missions and services, fact! The "Kerr Fatou" show, from conception to now that it's given this pitch into GRTS networks has proven to be one such service that needs to stay.

But, in the business of media production, content producers and broadcasters have always had their moments of storm. However, from when they ignore those of us who tend to make a small problem seem far greater than it really is, put unevaluated sentiments and egos aside, issues get resolved, even before their viewers know it.

I'm not saying it's or it's not the case, nor do I condone censorship, but for the cultivation of political trust and goodwill, it's not uncommon for a government to crave the indulgence of state-owned media and even private media to delay certain airings, usually to buy them some time to achieve a certain public demand.

So, for my part, we don't always have to squash our beefs by throwing fists; sometimes it's best to dialogue, especially in this our Senegambia that's as amiable as it's controversial and divisive; so many wedges and termites amongst us, dread! Look what we did to the brotherly bond between Muhammed Ndao and Eumeu Saine.

The bravado in this New Gambia... mtcheew!

Checking up on facts in this new Gambia is a piece of work - because almost everyone's trying to flex some nerve, using frivolous, petulant, impertinent and rash censures - we call it "civic duty," still. But those who are being fairly reasonable are said to be hypocrites, as if objectivity doesn't exist here anyone.

But that's none of my business.

My headache's life itself - the emotional highs and lows, of good times alternating with really difficult times. One moment you’re sending good wishes, as on a happy occasion; next minute you’re doing a eulogy about someone who’s just died. You can be riding through a certain relationship of great happiness, then from nowhere, shit happens, leading to a serious break-up, or shit goes all so damn complicated. See how you cannot tell from this moment to the next what you'll be in, can you?

“Who will help Myanmar's Rohingya?"

Some article was captioned: “Who will help Myanmar's Rohingya?" – Well, even if Justin Trudeau, Emmanuel Macron, Donald J. Trump, Vladimir Putin, Theresa May, Ban Ki-moon and all other bigger heads fail, Allah wouldn’t - “Allah is sufficient for us and He is the Best Guardian.”

See, throughout history, each time a (true) Muslims fights, it is in self-defence, because (true) Islam despises tumult and oppression. But as far as we know, Muslims have become the most persecuted people in the world, and it’s no longer a case of misunderstanding – scratch that; it’s plain-arse bigotry. Check unbiased news channels and see today's news on Rohingya, then tell me if you still wonder why some Muslims get enraged and radicalised?

We need to overstand that the support structure for faith is an affair of the heart. Personally, I may not be a model Muslim, but earlier this morning, I saw a video of uniform men on the loose, beating up everyone who resembles a Muslim, including kids, and I wish I could enter my monitor to whoop some arse. And these weren’t doctored videos or alleged abuses, shit’s real in Myanmar!

And because humanity’s lost its sense of empathy, the world’s watching. Those beautiful speeches and manifesto that got that (formerly-sensible) State Counsellor of Myanmar to power is being reversed to suit the broad intolerance. Now tell me - how can there be world peace when what we condemn, what we condone, the wrongs we right and the transgressions we overlook are as discriminatory - eh? I place the helplessness of the Muslims of Rohingya before Allah.

General practitioner more like...

I may be able to live with the person, I'm that tolerant, but I cannot trust someone who no matter the thing under consideration is, has an idea, is aware of, heard of it, felt it, saw it, seen it, knew it'd, had a better one (but will never show you), been there, done that, or knows someone, probably a grandfather or some sixteenth cousin who has, was or is.

And topics ranging from religion to politics, sociology to anthropology, economics to accountancy, climate change to chronic illnesses, preventive care to mathematics, criminology and humanity to money making, the development of technology to the evolution of humankind, from the cold war, both world wars to some other hypothetical wars to come, from The Gambia's 1981 coup to July 22nd, President Barrow studies to how Barack Obama could've gotten himself a third term, etc.

Be your own competitor...

Competition is good for performance. But what's liberating is the competition with your own self, especially where attitudes seem to be in support of a collective demise, where folks don't mind seeing you get ahead, but not too far ahead, and where the fear of failure is so rife that for one to succeed, one tends to believe that someone else must fail.

See, dread! By being your own competitor, it’s easier to count your blessings, track progress, and to see if you need to calibrate to outdo your past performance. There’s is no fear of you losing and someone else winning; you either succeed or you learn, zero time for irrational, illusory, groundless, unfounded, and unprovable Babaaláwo-seeking fears and beliefs... Isn't that a liberating experience?

The partisan zeal...

Gambia - we went to the polls to elect the leader we wanted. Whether the one chosen was the choicest or not, there could only be one. So, I think it's best we get over our individual disappointments and unselfishly be a part of the creation of the leadership we deserve of him and his.  

What's inconducive to this end is making everything seem as if 'us and them', like it's being disappointingly peddled on here, and unfortunately, by (imperceptive) intellectual elites, (pseudo) political experts and (not so liberal) liberals who still seem to be blinded by partisan zeal.

Being open is virtue...

I'm a discreet person myself, pretty much. Perhaps why I admire people who are respectful of privacy. But don't confuse it with what the Wolof's call "hoet" (overly concealing and so secretive that you can pretend naïveté), especially in dealing with those you call friends; that's so deceptive.

Really, it's easier to vibe with people who don't mask their feelings, whose honesty, even though blunt and often bizarre is admirable, because you know where you stand with them. You can rest assured that when you offend them, they'll tell you rather than hold some ill-feeling about some mistreatment that you don't even remember doing.

'Barrow-phobia'

Gambia - this bizarrely proactive stance on shortening the president's incumbency to three years, under the guise of honouring some "MoU" is just calculatedly depriving, so 'Barrow-phobic,' and ungenerous. Yeah dread, that's how I see it!

Weather forecast... August 21, 2017.

The time is 11:00AM in Banjul, and the weather is 29° C, partly sunny. Social media humidity is 78% with ‘Darboe-ly’ storms blowing from Facebook to Twitter. The pressure is 1014.00 mb and it’s on the Coalition MoU.

This wasn’t hard to tell because cloud cover is just 35%, setting visibility at 16 km. However, despite this visibility, it’s like some aren’t seeing far and here’s why:

As we detract, trying to make every scenario appear worse by unrealistically aiming for some perfection that we are not working towards; I mean as we are hard at finding faults and nitpicking in the name of criticism, folks in my area are stranded; commercials drivers are on strike, how charitable.

Some who were calling for this reduction in fares are today in solidarity with the drivers because it’s averse to the status quo, how noble. Drivers who used to accept 5 Dalasis for an 8 Dalasi tariffed distance in the name of altruism are now aggrieved by a Dalasi less than 8, how consistent.

Gambia... the politics... ray beh tass!

Gambia - it's not a crime to prefer one political figure over another; we all have our choices. But it's insincere for one to act politically neutral yet going about couching one's opposition in a very phony (but not so deep) show of keeping it real - you know, just for the heck of bringing about a reaction. My friend! Political patronage and admiration are affairs of the heart; you cannot hide them forever.

So the egos win...

I have seen beyond borders, interacted with fine minds in other places, and I can confirm that the average Gambian is relatively very intelligent. If only our egos weren't sprinters, and our perceptions marathoners - no diss.

See, because the amount of endurance and space we allocate to hold our conversations is usually not extended to sustain a "marathon", we go for a "sprint," so the egos win, hence we act too quickly, indifferent to the consequences.

Hear from both sides...

Hearing from just one side, and it happens to be one that disfavours our friends, it's not uncommon to pass emotionalised judgments. But as we hear the other party's and we rationalise the merits of each account, the causes and effects thereto, it's often a different ball game. So we end up feeling bad that we got played to justify the discreditable.

"ku e'nyaanul neh Yallaak diw."

All things happen by God's permission; that's my belief. But, though your blessing, acknowledging someone through whom you're blessed is not ruling out the fact that it came from God, it's gratitude. So, saying "it is because of God and so-and-so" is not blasphemous, say it! Olof Njie neh: "ku e'nyaanul neh Yallaak diw."

truth is powerful.

It's natural to feel disappointed that someone so close to you, or one who pretends to know you can go all Judas against you, accepting every awful thing being said about you as the truth - just like that, and particularly where this person's expected to defend your honour.

But while feeling all disappointed is granted, it will be so unhealthy and unyieldly to give up as beyond hope of vindication and in the allegiance of man. Rest assured in knowing that in the end, the truth about you that is being caused to be called into question will always have the upper hand, because truth is powerful.

Some people are just likeable...

Some people are naturally easy to like. If you want to be as likeable, don't hate; just try and be as sweet, simple!

Saying defamatory stuff about them, speaking ill of them, trying to put them down, belittling them through speech, or driving a wedge between them and the people they vibe with wouldn't change what people feel about them. Well, except for the naive, and not for long.

One more thing: because theirs is an innately kind disposition, know that whatever you say about them will more than likely be passed on to them.

Distrust...

'Olof Njie nayna, ku dai sa fowukai, dehloufa nala teh.' (He who poops at his playground is only making his return so difficult). So before forming your beliefs, have proof. Don't just base your reaction(s) on hearsay. It can be very dangerous.

In fact, it creates distrust, and where there's distrust there's doubt, where there's doubt there's suspicion, where there's suspicion there's fear, where there's fear there's anxiety, where there's anxiety there's self-defence, usually against threats that do not even exist.

And if you allow your ego to win by failing to talk about the cause of the distrust, with a view to resolving it that is, swear down you will end up embracing the enemy whilst shunning your true friends... I joke a lot but I hardly talk nonsense. I have seen a lot.

Pray for Sierra Leone...

Wonderful prayer from the Catholic Relief Services and I dedicate it to the beautiful people of Sierra Leone

"Compassionate Lord, we pray for those who have been devastated by recent natural disasters. We remember those who have lost their lives so suddenly. We hold in our hearts the families forever changed by grief and loss. Bring them consolation and comfort.

Surround them with our prayers for strength. Bless those who have survived and heal their memories of trauma and devastation. May they have the courage to face the long road of rebuilding ahead.

We ask your blessing on all those who have lost their homes, their livelihoods, their security and their hope. Bless the work of relief agencies and those providing emergency assistance. May their work be guided by the grace and strength that comes from You alone.

Help us to respond with generosity in prayer, in assistance, in aid to the best of our abilities. Keep our hearts focused on the needs of those affected, even after the crisis is over. We ask this in your name,

Amen."

Tukki (travel)...

"We think too small, like the frog at the bottom of the well. He thinks the sky is only as big as the top of the well. If he surfaced, he would have an entirely different view." - Mao Zedong

Where I come from, it is said that: "Ku yaaga tukki, yaaga gis" (he who travels for a long time sees a lot), because travelling gives experience. Like I was told and I believed that our airport was one of the best around the world; that was before I had that escalator fail at some airport in '09.

"Professionals" ayard...

Perhaps they also feel the same about me, but really, some of these Gambian "professionals" bore me; so nitpicking that besides theirs or some babylonian consultant's, nothing that someone else does is ever good enough for them - you know, each be tryna justify his credentials until you're like: 'maneh, yen forlen tojj?'

Bring them together to criticise some work and all they'll do is "creaticise" (create faults to find). Ask them to rectify it, they'll cause a total malfunction, "wrecktify" I call it; so not conducive to progress.

At a certain validation workshop, one suggested that entrepreneurship be made a "core" skill. Another was like: I would rather "key" than core, then the rest of the day saw twenty-ten other synonyms. 'Abeh ning sembo' that you wonder if a workshop or war zone was what it was. Saddest thing is, the thing will get validated, either for 'ha' or for 'hanni.' Now come two years later to assess impact and all you'll get is finger-pointing. 'N'tol teh taa!'