At knowledge, awareness, vigilance level: Without the understanding of what is right, and the desire to act according to what is right, there may be no realisation of what is wrong.
It is in the minds of people that corruption, evil, violence, mischief, exploitation are born; it is in the minds of people that the battle for justice, equality, fairness, honesty, love for truth, tolerance must be started too.
The minds are now the new battlegrounds and who controls them, and the narratives that are played there, will control lives of people.
At the foundation level. The foundation is everything; it holds the structures, what Marx calls the “superstructure”. If the foundation isn’t right, no matter how beautiful an edifice is, it will one day come crumbling like a house of cards.
So what is the foundation on which our polity is standing on? Is it made of sand? What is it made of? What values, beliefs, principles, work ethics, mechanisms, systems, processes, standards, etc comprise the components of our foundation and how compact and supportive are they?
If the foundation isn’t right, forget the building. Is our foundation actually right? Has it ever been right? Let’s look to it. It is the foundation which will give us a strong foothold into the future. And I agree with my nemesis, Alagie Saidy-Barrow, that to build a New Gambia and create a New Gambian, we must dismantle the current the foundation.
Our superstructure is standing on a foundation of sand; it is not a question of “if” but “when” will it collapse, if parts aren’t or haven’t collapsed already. You don’t have to be a civil engineer or architect or even a Kiangka to know how important a foundation is to a building…
And yes, to ourselves we should be saying all the time “be true. Don’t be false to any person”…
