Prof. George Ayittey made an interesting analysis exposing the inability, incapacity and betrayal of Africa’s intellectuals in the process of development and democratization.
However, a lay man in the Gambia may be of the perception that all is well in the new dispensation, but believe in me, there is an impending intellectual paralysis and holocaust descending over us in a very fast paced.
This is characterized by vile opportunism, unflappable sycophancy and trenchant collaboration on the part of some intellectuals all in disguise of lukewarm political analysts, social commentators, orators and fictitious trumpet blowers.
We must unashamedly but on record that these are the very products of defective foreign system and institutions in collaboration with their sizeable disciples foot licking their masters like they (masters) have no fault on their own.
They blindly copied all sorts of ideologies and paraphernalia and wants to transplant it into our political configuration without putting into consideration the country’s political realities. It must be unequivocally put clear to these people that the era of brain washing and imagination has been substituted with the era of science and fact.
Sensible people, who are in possession of their mental faculties, only accept claims and counter claims when it has the backing of social scientific evidence. Organizing symposia and making elaborate speeches like cool cats never bring development. Development is about being foresight, serious and pragmatic not hiding behind podiums and arranging your bones in the high table with suit and tie put on.
Additionally, their perpetual quibbling against every decision and development policies of the government, their ability in identifying problems and inability in providing corresponding solutions to the problems mentioned, is enough justification for one to dispute and doubt their intelligence and competence in showing us the way forward.
Essentially, one would have expect a lot from the intellectual community of the Gambia to be the saviors, light, and liberators from the clutches of underdevelopment but this would have been fallacious, gigantic miscalculation, and misguidance.
These are the people who wants fast pace development without compromise. They want rain without thunder and lightening; they are the people who want infrastructures without cutting down trees, yet they continuously lambast the infrastructural deficit of the country.
What a hypocrisy at it climax? Development should be seen by these elites as a double edged sword that goes with a price and in payment of such a price, all hands must be on deck to work together contingency and mitigating strategies in other to extricate the future generation suffering from our compromises. This is the verdict of a responsible citizen and it is irrevocable.
If anybody tries to revoke it, then you are trying to redefine the meaning of a responsible citizen. These are the people who today, are celebrating the miraculous developmental strides of the People ’s Republic of China and Singapore but did they ever give themselves a second to interrogate the prices China and Singapore had to pay in substitution of such a development?
Am of the inclination they never did or even if they does, they are naïve to share such a finding with the larger society of the Gambia so that we can also progress and turn our back against underdevelopment that has been choking us for decades.
Gambia has resources in abundance that can help develop this nation to expectation. Our ocean is filled with fishes, we have a river Gambia that can help commercialized our agriculture and maximize production with excesses for exportation, we have fertile lands for agricultural production.
But self selected environmental revolutionaries will start to set tongue wagging and strengthening their muscles of discontent whenever government tries to touch such arable lands. For God sake and for the sake of this tiny impoverished state like the Gambian, can we please be realistic and stop being unreasonable just for a second?
This Facebook governance cannot take us anywhere. We will always be retrogressing instead of progressing. Am not disputing the fact that government must not be blame.
It should be, but in doing so, our approaches and criticisms must stem from intelligence not instinct and unreasonable emotions. Time for the Academics, Scholars and intellectual community of the Gambia to rethink, redefine, reshape and reposition themselves.
For all Gambians are looking up to them as designated liberators from the pains, sorrows and stigmas of underdevelopment.”Wars may be fought with weapons, but are won by men. It is the spirit of men who follow and of the man who leads that gains the victory” George S.Patton.
LET JUSTICE AND TRUTH GUIDE OUR ACTION
Author: LAMIN ML SAWO (UTG)