Gambia’s withdrawal from Common wealth: Opportunistic undertaking or Independence? Gambia has withdrawn from the Common wealth citing neo colonialism. Gambia is a free state having acquired independence and therefore entitled to its choices. That Gambia has taken all this years to withdraw calls for a pause, which they have quit due to criticism on trampling on human rights calls for further questioning. Should we wait for a holocaust, or a Somali-replica state to question? President Jammeh has ruled Gambia with an iron fist from 1994 and king Louis statement “l’Etat C’est Moi’’ captures his leadership. Human Rights is not a gift handed down as a favour by government or state to loyal citizens. It is the right for each and every citizen. Part of our joint responsibility is to help illuminate the way, chart the road forward and provide Africa with beacons or guidelines based on international experiences as we transverse the transition from colonialism and neo colonialism. Withdrawal from Common wealth is not a panacea to building a responsible humane state.Full justice is not always achievable and that both justice and prudence must be humanized The lustration process with the change of government from colonialists has also been very risky with pseudo democrats taking over power at the first calling. Impasse has replaced impasse in a phase which seems almost unimaginable. The unending quest to understand the African state involves a constant movement between the general and the particular and demands the continued questioning of established assumptions. In the light of sheer weight of human suffering that results from these human rights abuses, its difficult to remain dispassionate or detached. It is feasible, that deficiency of social order is primarily responsible for the formation of extremist groups, which, unfortunately have serious normative social influence possibly because of the [ostensible] sense of order and power such groups create in profoundly cacophonous societies. The state then employs excessive force to quell any dissent. Somalia is just an example; the jihadist group Al Shabaab has gained wide popular support among both Somali and foreign jihadists who have bought into the notion that the group’s main agenda is that of cultural and religious preservation. This obviously complicates efforts to disrupt its wide regional and global network, and dominant presence in Somalia. All this was started by the repressive centralized regime of Siyad Barre. A simple alibi for those who from within and without Africa who continue to fuel and profit from excessive hand of the state in human rights abuse, however, indirectly, and with however with many cut outs facilitating deniability. Powerful taboos have long prevented any serious discussions of alternatives to the post colonial state in Africa, even in those cases where states have abysmally failed to meet basic needs of their inhabitants; the principle of sovereignty has been invoked to shield that failure. It is time that these taboos were broken, one part of this process calls for a rearrangement of the intellectual furniture as the unthinkable remains unthinkable only until someone thinks it is. The governments of Africa need to be questioned more by the public itself. This can only be done through continued emancipation and empowerment of the common man. It is also useful to recognize how quickly the previously inconceivable can metamorphose into normal and banal. The state in Gambia in Henrik Ibsen’s words ‘is the enemy of the people.’ Pulling out of the Common wealth is not a panacea of helping the people; will you quit the UN, AU, and any other body because of constructive criticism? The community of Nation’s needs integration and not isolation, Africa needs to be worry of its own dictators it has baby seated for years under the banner of sovereignty. Gambia’s case is opportunistic a rather than planned form. Choices have to be made, but what of the opportunity cost at the expense of the people? Auchi Ngonela
Posted on: Fri, 04 Oct 2013 07:07:26 +0000
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