Lessons from The Gambia
Nothing would be done at all if a man waited until he could do it so well that no man could find fault with it. Cardinal Newman.
Advertisement
In the end Yayah Jameh found out that he could not continue to toy with the will of the Gambian people. Thus no blood was spilled and yet, meaning was given to the vote in that country. The Economic Community of West African States proved that this time round it meant everything that was agreed upon to give meaning to the expressed will of the people. If we as a region had acted when it mattered, Laurent Gbagbo might have been spared being a prisoner. We have to learn from the past.
When it was announced that Ghana had agreed to send soldiers to the Gambia, there were a few who made it appear that it was a belligerent posture that was intended to interfere with the internal affairs of a sovereign country. Indeed one National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament challenged the constitutionality of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo in committing the soldiers to that cause. The MP overstretched the matter when he insinuated that the matter was too important to have been left in the hands of a young person, because the statement was signed by the Director of Communications at the Presidency, Eugene Arhin.
Unlike the Ivorian situation, where the late President Prof Atta Mills reneged on an ECOWAS initiative with his statement about dealing with our internal problems, by committing troops towards the restoration of democracy in the Gambia, Ghana proved to be a worthy, credible and committed member of ECOWAS. Those who doubted the willingness of ECOWAS to continue to pursue dialogue and negotiations and to use force as a last resort have been proven wrong.
It is good that ECOWAS acted and took the initiative of giving meaning to the will of the people of the Gambia. Definitely if ECOWAS had acted when the Ivorian crisis erupted, perhaps Laurent Gbagbo might not have been a prisoner. It must be clear by now that it is better for us to act decisively with leaders who abuse the trust of their people than leave that to Europeans under the guise of the United Nations.
But it must be a development that must be sustained. What has happened to Yayah Jameh must not be an isolated case. It must not be that because The Gambia is a small country, ECOWAS has got the teeth to bite. It must from now serve as a precedent for all of our leaders to understand that they cannot hide under the guise of sovereignty to abuse the will of their nationals. As Dr Martin Luther King has espoused succinctly, an injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We must rewrite the history of the ECOWAS. Those who have all along described the regional bloc as toothless must now not turn round to accuse the same body as being aggressive or see it as an aggressor.
The developments which prompted the peaceful departure of the Gambian dictator will have to be the route that we now have to take to ensure that we do not continue to be a laughing stock when global democratic norms are discussed. Surely, democracy is not alien to Africa, even if some of our leaders present themselves as lacking in the principles of democratic ethos. We must congratulate ourselves, especially the people of The Gambia, for exercising the needed patience. As Jean Jacques Rousseau has noted, “patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.” We must commend the faith of our leaders in believing that it was possible to give meaning to the will of the people by convincing Jammeh to leave without shedding innocent blood. Yes, we have demonstrated, as someone once said, that we must learn to change governments by counting heads rather than cutting heads.
Philip Gulley has noted relevantly that “fear can keep us all night long, but faith makes one fine pillow.” The commitment of ECOWAS to enforce the will of the people of The Gambia has paid off. If they had allowed any lingering doubts about the possibility of Jammeh unleashing the army to fight, we would have been dancing around the problem.
Another thing, we must demonstrate a certain maturity in our politics. We must appreciate our national interest and stop being petty with partisanship. Looking at the critical role played by former President John Dramani Mahama, it would have been a stab in the back if President Akufo Addo had refused to contribute soldiers for the exercise.
The steps ECOWAS has taken has restored democracy to The Gambia. However, we should not abandon the Gambians. We must ensure that their will triumphs.