Issued Tuesday 28 March 2017
In
July 1994 a group of rag tag members of the then Gambia National Army made
their way to the State House and with the speed of a jet fighter flushed
the Jawara regime and proclaimed themselves
the new saviors and ‘’soldiers with a difference’.
The
unsuspecting population cheered on and welcomed them with open arms. I was then a student of International
Relations in far-flung and exotic Ukraine – a country then in the throes of
glastnost and perestroika which equated to transition from command economy to
market economy and one-party centralism to pluralism.
My
Ukraine course mate jokingly asked how
can a rag tag army of 8000 men flush out a so-called democratic regime, with
such speed, and further opined that the Gambia – a beacon of stability and
human rights - is about to join the club
of bad boys in a turbulent sub-region.
Then
the civil wars in Sierra Leone and Liberia were raging. Back home the soldiers
with a difference went ahead to set up a junta – following the well-travelled
road by other west African countries such as Ghana, Nigeria, etc. What followed is now history. During the halcyon days
of the ancien regime, youthful exuberance has propelled other writers to
catalogue for posterity the achievements of the glorious July 22
revolution. However on the eve of the
anniversary of the July 22nd Anniversary, 2016 I had a strong urge to pen an
article, which was published by the Standard Newspaper entitled ‘The Gambian
Political Scene; Missed opportunities”. The article pinpointed the wrongs and
highlighted the missed opportunities for cohabitation by politicians across the
political divide. I observed that despite all the buzz about the achievements
of the July 22 Revolution, “ a key point worth reiterating and amplifying based
on my experience as a student in Eastern Europe during the turbulent period of
transition from command economies to pluralism and free enterprise, development
is all about people, their welfare and aspirations and is all inclusive in
terms of individual and collective freedoms and pluralism and the ability to be
heard and be listened to by the political class”.
I
pointed out that there are potentials for the Gambian waters to be infested
with all sorts of problems including terrorism, religious extremism and
bigotry, underdevelopment, tribalism, xenophobia to point out just a few. The need to battle all these challenges head
on, and not to allow them to rear their ugly heads and derail our march to
greater prosperity and larger freedom in the context of our national anthem was
amplified.
The
political experiment of 22 years is now over, and in my view we all contributed
in one way or the other to perpetuating that type and system of governance,
either by design or default. Benevolent dictators the world over understand the
need to undertake white elephant projects, build a personality cult, control
the media and the narrative and in our context, be ready to part with money and
positions to buy patronage. Babili Mansa
realized this very early on and executed it in such mastery that at one point
he was the unrivalled Babili Mansa on both banks of the River Gambia.
Given that I studied International Relations
in the former Soviet Union- the land of Lenin and Stalin, two totalitarian
leaders of the 20th century; but two leaders of varying personalities and
vision; I observed the developments keenly at home. Whereas Lenin was your text
book intellectual, revolutionary and master strategist, Stalin was folksy and pragmatic party functionary, who just like
Babili Mansa bulldozed his way to the top and became for good or worst the most
known and dreaded leader of the Soviet Union.
His
strategy was simple – know the strengths and weaknesses of your people, make
the “right” personnel decisions and execute development regardless of the human
cost.
Stalin
ruled from the late 20s to the mid 1950s of the last century, but our Babili
Mansa was Stalin re-incarnate. They both understood the essence of smart moves
to control a people by taking command of personnel decisions and the productive
basis of society. Before people could
realize both stuffed the system with likeminded people, across all levels of
government, both local and central, who were ready to go to any length to
promote their agenda. According to Stalin “he who controls the personnel
management of a people controls their destiny”. Babili Mansa equally understood
this and witness the hiring and firing at unprecedented scale during the Jammeh
era – the objective was to hire likeminded people and careerists who were not
necessarily the most bright, but willing and able to play ball and perpetuate
his rule.
Having
consolidated his rule at home and purged the system of his foes and potential
challengers, Stalin embarked on an image reengineering agenda to create the
fake impression that he was the father of the people and all oppressed people
everywhere. To accomplish this task he reshuffled and re- balanced the foreign
policy concept of Lenin, which was rooted in “socialism in one country” to
global socialism.
Any
keen student of International Relations would have gleaned through the basic
tenets of Jammeh foreign policy, which was masked with pan Africanism and anti
imperialism, Africa for Africans, pivot to Asia and the Islamic world. The
overall objective was to consolidate his rule, but unknown to him, in the 21st
century there is what is known as diplomatic inflation.
In
lay man language this is the era of globalization, the information revolution,
and no matter how hard you work to disguise and conceal, the tools of the 21st
century are there to unmask you. He equally failed to realize that in
international relations, according to Lord Palmerston one of the finest British
diplomats of his era “there is no permanent friend, but permanent interest”.
This is a basic principle of international relations. He equally failed to
realize that international relations are premised on a set of systems,
interwoven with web of international organizations, alliances to ensure certain
norms are universal, while certain behaviors universally unacceptable,
punctuated at both bilateral and multilateral levels and the bottom line is to
ensure what is understood in international relations as “limited sovereignty”.
As
I write this piece the basic contours of a multi polar system of international
relations is taking shape, as opposed to uni-polar or bipolar system of
international relations. The Babili Mansa became a victim of his designs and
invariably will go down in history as one ruler who presided over a self
imposed isolationist foreign policy and agenda at the detriment of his people
and country. However, compare Yahya Jammeh to Idi Amin, Mobutu, Bokassa at your
own peril. The Babili Mansa was dreaded and ruthless like the big three, but
unlike the Big Three, Babili Mansa left in his wake some semblance of
development and created the foundation for an enlightened society by setting
the University of the Gambia. He was just unfortunate to rule in the 21st
century – the information age and post east and west world or simply put
post-cold war era, where alliances are forged based not on ideological
leanings, but real politics.
Way
Forward
End
the bickering and start work in earnest to craft the institutions that support
democracy bearing in mind that “Africa needs strong institutions, not strong
men”. The endless bickering sends the wrong signals and undermines people’s
confidence in government. If you doubt that ask the people of Ukraine what
happened to their dreams and aspirations post Orange revolution in 2004.
Govern
with good will, with a high dose of candor and set high bench marks for socio-
economic development, cognizant of the fact that to jaw jaw is better than to
war war and that in a democracy consensus is reached after a thorough debate
and in the process we agree to disagree.
Develop
the productive sectors and understand the limitations of the Gambia in terms of
development options, cognizant of the fact that ours is one of the smallest
countries in Africa, but a vibrant and youthful population endowed with a very
open and hospitable people. If my tourism expertise is any guidepost this is
the recipe for a very vibrant tourism sector and indeed if given the right
attention, tourism could become the cash cow and the goose that lays the golden
egg.
Pay
particular attention to personnel issues, bearing in mind that it was the
control of the personnel division of the Bolshevik party that Stalin was able
to out fox and out maneuver all his contemporaries. And at the same time control one of the
greatest empires in history – Soviet Union (USSR), the country that first put
man- Yuri Gagarin in to space, the first woman in to space- Valentina
Tereshkova and defeated Nazi Germany hands down.
Author:
LAMIN SAHO
The
author studied International Relations and diplomacy. Currently engages as a
marketing and tourism consultant, given his grounding in tourism as well. He
also underwent thorough series of specialized training in Tourism Management,
Destination Management and Destination Marketing.
