(JollofNews)- Section 1 subsection 2 of our constitution establishes the sovereignty of Gambia on the citizens of the Gambia. It went further to establish that the legitimacy of the state and its officers is also derived from the citizens.
Furthermore, it says that government institutions and public servants function on behalf of, and serve the citizens. From this entrenched provision, it is therefore clear that each and every state institution and each and every public officer is legally in his or her position simply because Gambians gave you that legitimacy and authority. These state institutions and officials are therefore servants of the people of the Gambia, and nothing else.
Such political awareness was unfortunately never carried out in the Gambia since we gained independence on 24th April 1970. As Jawara and the PPP regime took over, they merely replaced the colonial regime. The necessary political education was not conducted such that our people merely responded to Jawara as they responded to the colonial regime. Thus Jawara went to live in the colonial governor’s residence, which became State House.
Despite various changes to the laws, institutions and processes, the fundamental fact remains that the people were never empowered to realize that in fact and indeed the president and his government are the servants of the people. No government ever enlightened the people to realize that power belongs to the people.
For this reason, we saw how Jawara was idolized with various songs and praises heaped on him. When he goes for his country tours, the poor masses received him like a king, and donated their meager resources to him. This same trend continued under Yaya Jammeh to the point that he even acquired the most ludicrous titles such as Sheikh, Nasurudeen and Babili Mansa. Thus in effect, what we have seen since independence is that the relationship between the state and the people became one of a slave and the slave master.
Instead of the government being humble and answerable to the people, we saw how the government became overbearing and oppressive. This means therefore the necessary transparency, accountability and responsiveness expected of the government was absent. This has resulted to uncontrolled corruption, inefficiency, and poor delivery of basic services, while the civil and political rights of the people were trampled upon with impunity.
Now that we have come to 2017, it is therefore important to awaken our people to rethink about the very essence and purpose of the government. Above all, it is necessary to make the Gambian realize what is the meaning of citizenship. It is such political awareness that will usher in true democracy and sustainable development in the sense that when the citizen is aware of his or her rights, privileges and duties, he or she shall be determined to play his or her role as a citizen. When that happens, it means instead of the government looking down upon the people, rather it will be the people who will realize that indeed power belongs to them as citizens.
With this knowledge, the people will therefore take steps to put the government under scrutiny for the purpose of making it serve the national interests better. We will therefore be able to ensure good governance, which is the foundation upon which national development can be achieved.
For this reasons, I have therefore decided to refer to the President as the Chief Servant as a means to begin the process of transforming the mentality of the masses towards elected officials and public servants. Our constitution defines the president and all government employees as Public Servants. It never referred to them as Public Masters. I wish to enlighten the masses that they are the employers of the President. We pay him a monthly salary for his services from our tax money. His job is nothing other than to protect our rights and satisfy our needs. Hence the President is nothing other than our employee or our servant or our Mbidan. He is not above us in anyway.
Therefore it is important that all citizens realize that the President is not a king or emperor. The President is not powerful, rather power resides in us the citizens. The President is there to serve us. In this service, we must scrutinize each and every action or decision he takes. We should not be afraid of him. We should not serve him. We must serve only the Gambia. It is We the People who elected the President. If he does not serve us well, we can vote him out in the next election. Because all employees of the State are public servants, the leading servant is the President. For this reasons, I call the President the Chief Servant.
God Bless the Gambia
Mr. Jobarteh: I pray and hope that those who need to read and imbibe this information allow themselves to partake of the Wisdom and vital information you are providing to the Gambian people in general and the Presidency And other Office Holders in the Gambia. I am not very confident that this would ring Alarm bells in the Gambia and wherever Constitutional Democracy exists, such as the Gambia. The people are the ones who should be served, and not the other way around. However, in the Gambia and most Nation States, be they Constitutional Democracies or not, have it Upside down. The people elect the President, for example, Adama Barrow President, and then turn around and build a Cult like following. The same Voters who Voted the President as the “Number One Chief”, are the same who for Economic and Political gain allow their Power and Authority to be Usurped by the President and his Colleagues in Government. The People’s Expressed power through the Voter Franchise Need to be a Part and Percel of the Plurality of the people who Deserve the Respect and Appreciation from the Government and Officials at all Levels. Your observation of the issue is right on target. The question is how do we resolve it without Projecting a disregard for Tradition. Mixing both the Modern and Traditional Practices that do not entertain or encourage Corruption and Corruptive Practices. Workshops and Trainings Skills Should be Mandated and Implemented without favour to anyone Individual, be they the President or the Janitor. The Topics should be Wide Spread and Encompassing to : (1) Understanding your Government and Constitution, (2) What is a Constituency and the Role and responsibilities of the Representative to the Constituency and the State, (3) What is Role and responsibilities of the President in a Constitutional Democracy, (4) The Broad and Limited Powers of the Presidency VS. that of the Citizens in a Constitutional Democracy, (5) Who can and cannot Vote in a given Election, (6) What is the Role and responsibilities of the Citizens Toward Each other, (7) Understanding the Tax Code, the Criminal Justice Code, Traffic Codes, Understanding the Role of the Cabinet Members and What they do, the Role and responsibilities of the Army, the Police Force, and the other Securities etc. The Workshops should be in an Information exchange, question and answer Formats and Should be done through inperson Workshops and through the News Medium for example, Television, Radio Stations and News Papers should be Utilized to Undermine the lack of information and knowledge. Information is Power and like Power, if not Used wisely can be both Wasteful and Deadly. The Presidency is a Civil Service Position like any other Government Position and should respected and honored. In turn the President Should be Honored to Serve the People, The Customers. The President and the Presidency Should Uphold the Civil Liberties of All who call a given Territory, Home. With an informed Citizenry, and an Independent Qualified News Medium, the Presidency And President would be held Accountable, Transparent and Accessible. In Summary, there are times when the Regime is a reflection of the Society or at least the Politically Active and Economically Well-off Citizenry. Let’s hope that the Third Republic makes an adjustment in Deeds and pronouncements before it is too late. Hope the recent appointments and other decisions that seem “Imperial” and Unconstitutional as well as Undemocratic would be Reconsidered or Reorganized.
Well said
Madi, you have made an astute analysis of the situation in the Gambia. It is very true that this cult like status of the president started with Jawara and Jammeh made the best out of it and it seems Barrow is slowly heading in that direction. The good thing is people like you and many others are raising their voices in order to prevent it happening a third time. Personally, I have put down to inexperience, the appointment of the VP which has since become controversial and I am hoping that the issue will be rectified soonest. However I have grave concerns about the allege spending of millions, first on welcoming the president back to the Gambia and the recent amount of money being spent on him daily whilst many Gambians are struggling daily to make ends meet. President Barrow should try and insist on cost analysis of government spending from henceforth. One name that keeps coming up is the Sectary General. The post of the Sectary General should be separated from the post of presidential adviser. Combining the two is compromising the impartiality of the civil service. The Sectary General should only advice the president on matters of the civil service not to be the president’s errand boy. I think it is time that the Auditor General uses his mandate and investigate these allegations and if he/she encounters any resistance from Barrow or anyone acting on Barrow’s behalf then the Auditor General should go public. Gambians should stop “Mass lah” and the infinite “Insha Allah” and do the jobs they are paid to do because doing the right thing and doing the job you are paid to do is also part of worshiping Allah. My other concern is that there seems to be a lot of secrecy around the presidency. We all know that the presidency deals with lots of confidential issues but there is a clear difference between confidentiality and secrecy. Secrecy leads to gossip which can lead to false rumours which can lead to mistrust between the citizenry and the presidency. It is also time for journalist and private media to play their role as the fourth arm of the state and inform and educate the citizenry about their rights and responsibilities as citizens and also what the role and responsibilities of all the arms of the state are. Civic education should not be left to the state media because of the high probability of bias and politicians are most likely to want to maintain the status quo as it works well for them.