Have it both ways
The luxury of having all your basic rights, but not being able to practice them fully is one of the most unsatisfactory things you can encounter. It is just like the confusing phrase “You can’t have your cake and eat it too”. This confusing phrase hits my mind whenever I think of the human rights condition in The Gambia and those who defend the government for denying us our rights. The world would be a perfect place if everyone had the rights they deserve, with the luxury of practicing them whenever needed. Yes I am talking about 3 Years Jotna. I don’t think it’s even necessary for me to telegraph my personal position on this issue, because that will be completely missing the point, and legitimizing what this government is doing. They are trying to put restrictions on the rights of citizens to assemble and express themselves freely.
Playing the Both Ways
In terms of empowering the general public and providing them with the 2 most basic rights namely the right of speech and assembly, most of the politicians like to play both ways. While we were still busy enjoying the early days of Adama Barrow’s presidency, some of the critics started to point out a lack of real change in the country since the new president took his office. Those people criticized the current system by mentioning that all that’s been changed are the faces, and everything else, including the old corrupt system, was the exactly the same one in the background. The critics of the new president initially started facing a lot of resistance from his supporters, who argued that it was way too early to expect any major changes in the country, and anyways, the system was way too bad to be fixed in just a few months, or even years. The expected changes were further delayed by the fact the Yahya Jammeh (predecessor ) to Mr. Barrow, left the reserves of the country depleted as a result of the worst alleged corruption in Gambia’s history. Those defenders were patient then, and one can reasonably argue that they were right to be so, but those same people are not showing the same level of patience for the three years Jotna.
The word “democracy” is not as simple as it sounds, things like freedom of speech and freedom of assembly look like a perfect combo of the leading principles of democracy. But the harsh truth is that everyone loves to defend rights until they see someone else exercise them. People will make a whole lot of excuses to prevent someone else from practicing the same right that they love having on their plate all the time. Everyone these days seems to love their rights, while not letting anyone practice theirs in front of them, just like telling someone to eat whatever they want but to prevent them from eating in front of you. While we all like to defend the excuses of our political leaders, won’t it be better if we started to speak for the oppressed? And the people who feel insecure in their very own country due to a lack of robust human rights? By the way, only a fool thinks that human rights begin and end with protection from physical abuse in the hands of the state, so we will not even bother putting up that wall.
What about the Campaign Promise?
It is not about who feels it’s too early to criticize the president and who doesn’t, but it is actually about the right of the people to take to the streets and asking the president to remember his campaign promises. While the president is doing absolutely right in asking the people to let him complete his 5 year tenure as stipulated by the constitution, but at the same time, the people should also be given the right to protest and keep reminding him of his campaign promise, and that he lied to millions of people so early in the whole process. Reasonable people know that there is no acceptable plan for finding Barrow’s replacement, but that should not shield him from criticism.
Restrictions On Public Gatherings
The first signs of oppressing the citizens are the fact that they aren’t issued permits for public gatherings. However, the first excuse that is presented is security concerns, but the whole idea of issuing permits for large public gatherings was to provide proper security for the public. It is not the responsibility of the protest organizers to protect the public, that responsibility falls squarely on the shoulders of the government, and denying people the right to protest is never to confused with protecting the public. It is imperative that every citizen stands tall and protect these rights for everyone. It is dangerous to wait for an issue that you agree with.
The Main Defense against the Critics
And finally, one of the main defenses that Mr. Barrow’s supporters used to present was that despite the poor economic condition, the citizens were finally free and all have the right to speak freely, without having to worry about any resistance from the government’s end. What happened to those people? With a few exceptions, the condition of human rights has reasonably improved since Mr. Barrow took office. There is no denying that, but considering who we had in office, those improvements are not saying that. Now that the government is facing a minor existential threat, even those small gains are no longer safe. A real commitment to the principles of democracy is what we need.
Back to Mr Barrow’s defenders. Many of you today take to calling the 3 years Jotna movement a rebel movement. Isn’t that ironic? These people are only trying to exercise what you guys have been touting as the President’s greatest achievements. You said he gave us back our freedoms, but he bought water cannons just in case we exercise these freedoms too loudly. The real take from this condition is, if the biggest achievement of a government is the restoration of the basic, God-given rights, then no one trying to express those rights should be criticized, or labeled as a criminal. That would be having your cake and eating it too.
