President Yahya Jammeh is a no nonsense man. The other day,
he took the Supreme Islamic Council (SIC) to task for not living up to
expectation. Now, he is making it clear that he is not going to sit idly by
while murderers run amok in the country. He says he is going to deal with
anybody found guilty of murder. So this is a warning to our youths who seem to
take pleasure at stabbing one another at the slightest provocation.
Murder, alongside theft and lying, is a grievous crime. Nobody has the right to take somebody else's life. No one even has the right to his or her own life. It is Allah who gives and takes life. So when the President says he has zero tolerance for murders and murderers, he is saying something fundamental to our existence as a people.
At the core of his pronouncement is the admonishment that we have to learn to give and take, settling our differences through dialogue, consultation and compromise. Taking the extreme step of killing to prove a point is inhuman
Going by the reports we see every day in the papers, there is really an increase in violent crimes in the country, there have been too many reported cases of murder in recent times. What is responsible for this dangerous trend? Is it because of economic hardship? Is it because we have lost our moral bearing? In either case, we have to think hard and long about this ugly development and try to figure out a lasting solution.
Despite the existence of the death penalty murder is still rife. It therefore means that it has not done enough to deter people from committing murder. What about striving to use our resources to improve the economic well being of the people? "Despite the existence of the death penalty murder is still rife. It therefore means that it has not done enough to deter people from committing murder. What about striving to use our resources to improve the economic well being of the people?
This is the challenge for every one of us in this country. Each of us should learn to live and let live. Most of the things that have led to murder in this country are so trivial that one wonders why people could be so heated up over what could easily have been overlooked.
In any case, the President has spoken; whenever you are provoked think twice before reacting. Your reaction could lead to murder - with all its consequences.
"Violence is the repartee of the illiterate."
Alan Brien
