The forthcoming presidential election in the country has thrown up yet another opportunity for the politicians to do what they enjoy doing most - trading words.
Whenever you see politicians in this country going in and out, one’s mind goes to the fact that elections are coming nearer.
However, as the nation heads towards yet another presidential election, which is due later this year, we implore our politicians to turn their backs on hit-and-run smear campaigns and face up to the challenges confronting the ordinary Gambian in the street.
The average Gambian craves for a government that will create the enabling environment for their prosperity.
They want to have food regularly on the table; they want to pay their children’s school fees without tears; they want to see the tap water running 24 hours non-stop; and they want to be sure that any time they flick on the switch, there is electricity, whether at the office or workshop or in their homes.
A leader who can do all these, and much more for the populace, will enjoy their unalloyed loyalty.
Change just for change’s sake will never help.
As we always say on this page, Gambians are now fed up with criticism; they want constructive action.
Our politicians must learn to be creative and results-oriented.
Instead of criticising, they must create entire new paradigms for The Gambia’s development.
It is evident that, if sound economic structures are put in place, our youth will not need to risk life and limb to cross treacherous seas to seek greener pastures in
Our politicians must cease to play to the gallery by exploiting the predicament of our people.
What Gambians want to hear is not the reiteration of their problems, but practical ways of getting round the problems.
They want solution-oriented leaders, not problem-reminding leaders.
Though we have some way to go before the polls, all intending presidential candidates must tell Gambians, in clear and emphatic terms, how they intend to revitalise the productive base of the country’s economy.
They must tell us how they plan to irrigate our farmlands, so that we can farm all-year-round.
They must tell us how they plan to revamp the National Water and Electricity Company (NAWEC) so that it can spur the general development of The Gambia.
Indeed, come polling day, there is no doubt that the Gambian people will surely reject, at the polls, any candidate who fails to tell them what they want to hear: about their economic well-being and social security.
So who will emerge victorious come 24th November polls, the opposition or the APRC? Only time will tell!
“Elections are won by men and women chiefly because most people vote against somebody rather than for somebody.”
