Too
many people are fleeing the country, most of them women and children and my
heart cannot take it anymore because those fleeing are my very own people.
They
seemed to have lost hope of protection and safety from the state hence fear has
taken over their soul.
Our
streets are covered with heartbreaking words, our minds are made up in a
negative way and our hearts are filled with anxiety.
Who
should we blame for all what is happening other than ourselves? Do we know the
population of our dear motherland? Do we know how connected we are as a nation?
Do we know that we all have the same blood running through our veins and a
prick from a needle on one’s skin will be felt by the other?
If
we know all this to be true then war is not the answer but love, unity,
peaceful co-existence and tolerance for each other’s behaviours is what we need
to put an end to the current political impasse.
Too
many information from different reliable or unreliable sources inundating our
homes, markets, gardens, bantabas, workplaces, communities and the nation
itself not to talk of the social media.
Who
are we to blame for all this information tearing us apart? The misleading
information that we send across have now become the delicious food in the
country that everyone wants to taste and how good or bad it tastes does not
matter at all.
We
have six days to go and still it breaks our hearts that whenever women go to
the markets for shopping, selling or any other mission, all they discuss and
talked about is make things worse among themselves and their fellow women.
Do
we ever think of life after politics? What does the future holds for our
children that will meet and fall in love? How do we expect our children to
behave if we are teaching them such negative values?
War
is not the answer. Love is what we need to be free from all forms of hatred
remarks that are hurtful, painful and unbearable.
We
all know that war is cheap and peace is expensive; so every Gambian,
particularly women and children, should be ready to give out anything and
everything so that peace will prevail in our motherland.
If
we as a nation embark on witch-hunt, who are we going after and what will we
gain from it. Even if one should kill an enemy that terrorised you and made
your life hell on earth, killing the person with your bare hands does not
quench your thirst for vengeance, it only makes you worse than he is.
Witch-hunt
is not the answer either but giving peace a chance is what will define us and
prove to the world that we are a peaceful nation and we will remain a peaceful
nation.
Hatred
fills our hearts and the more we listen to rumours that have taken over our
country, the more hatred gets stronger in our hearts and the stronger it gets,
the more brutal we become and then the enemy will win because he will be better
than us.
We
are a family and it is the duty of every member of a family to protect the
family and not contribute to breaking or tearing it apart.
Our
women and children at home sleep and wake up in fear. They are frightened and
they want all this political game to be over because they want to run or hide
but they have nowhere to run to or hide because this is their home and there is
no place like home.
Since
the incumbent’s statement of not stepping down made on December 9, all in the
nation have become fearful.
But
listening to him on Tuesday night, while he is sitting on his favorite spot on
GRTS TV, his speech was different, calm and for the first time he calls for
nothing but forgiveness and that is a victory for now.
Gambia’s
presidential election has always been dominated by men and this political feud
is between two men who don’t want to lie low and give peace a chance.
Maybe
it is time for women also to take full control of the political landscape so
that in whatever they do they will think of the plight of their fellow women
and children.
But
then again, the two leaders (president Jammeh and president-elect Barrow) may
not turn out to be the problem but those who are closer to them and part of
their inner circle.
We
want them to leave the two leaders alone to solve the problem peacefully
because some of them have seen this issue as an opportunity to fatten their
pocket while adding power and fame to their name.
Any
one of you who are part of the inner circle of both leaders: if you cannot
advise them to go for peace talks, then that makes you an enemy to the
nation.
Our
mothers, sisters and the children of this nation deserve better. Their eyes are
swollen for lack of sleep and fear has taken over their body and the only thing
they could think is an escape route to a safer place all because of a political
game created and spearheaded by men.
We
don’t want our mothers, sisters and children of this nation to become refugees,
sexually abused, tortured, and become food for vultures in a foreign land just
because the incumbent and the president-elect cannot or don’t want to sit on a
negotiating table and work things out peacefully.
What
is more painful than living in fear and the thought of waking up to the sounds
of gunshots each day?
Six
days to go and we are appealing to the two leaders to accept the proposition of
peaceful dialogue to end the crisis before the D-Day.
We
want a Gambia that does not only advocate for women’s empowerment, advancement
and protection but a Gambia that will eschew anything and everything that will
turn our mothers, sisters and the nation’s children into refugees.
Six
days may look small to each and every one us but if we make best use of it and
embark on reconciliation starting from within ourselves in the homes,
communities, markets, gardens, bantabas, workplaces and the nation, we will all
walk to the inauguration in peace as one big family as it used to be.
Both
President Yahya Jammeh and President elect Adama Barrow have caged us all since
after the December 1 polls.
So we are crying, your loyalists are crying,
Africa is crying and the world is crying out to you all to set us free using
peace as the key.
Where
have we gone wrong? Is going to the polls a mistake? What’s going on? Tell us
who to blame because we are all guilty right now?
We
want to take a walk in the country, our country, freely without coming face to
face with soldiers in uniform pointing guns at us as if we are terrorists.
We
want to go to work in peace and return home without being arrested for wearing
any type of clothing. We need freedom because it is a right and we deserve it.
