By: Sandally Sawo
Lamin Cham, a close aide to President Adama, has issued a challenge to the country’s Islamic clerics, calling on them to use their pulpits and other platforms to instill moral values in children to combat violent crimes in the country.
The law enforcement is now dedicating more time and resources in trying to bring the rate of violent crimes to an acceptable level but reports of, inter alia, armed robberies, rape, suicides, kidnappings, drug abuse and burglaries have virtually become commonplace.
To NPP’s chief mobilizer Cham, the Gambia’s crime situation could also be traced to moral decadence.
He, therefore, tasked the country’s Islamic clerics to champion a moral crusade with a view to making the streets and homes safer.
“If we instill Islamic values in our children, they will not be in the streets, causing chaos,” Cham said as he addressed the National Islamic Council members, who visited the Gambian leader at the Presidency recently.
“The entire Muslim population in The Gambia is your flock. I would like to urge you to use your pulpits to preach discipline because discipline promotes growth, and that’s how development is attained,” he emphasized.
Cham urged the Islamic scholars to use President Barrow as a classical example when preaching discipline to the young ones.
“A religious person will always have good attributes. If you lack good attributes, you may go rogue. The reason they call him [President Barrow] President of Peace is because he is pious. You cannot torment people or become callous when you are religious. Some of the speakers here even bear witness that no matter how busy the President may be, he will disengage to answer the call of prayers,” he pointed out.
Cham then tasked his audience to spearhead a campaign of character moulding.
“We will entrust you [religious leaders] with that task. Please, help with the spiritual awakening of our children. If children are spiritually nourished, they will not commit violent crimes in the streets. All this lack of control in our streets is due to a lack of spirituality. Anyone disciplined by the law could be traced to a lack of discipline at home. You are the cornerstone of societal decorum and calm,” stated the NPP’s chief strategist.
“If we have a disciplined society, we will have peace and, by extension, development. Discipline is a core value of developed nations. We have non-majority Muslim developed nations because their citizens are disciplined. China is so huge, but it’s a developed nation thanks to discipline. So, you [religious]leaders are our bastion of hope when it comes to discipline among children,” he added.
