This was the month of victory and the month of the impasse. Who is drawing the lessons? All have forgotten the sand bags in the street and the security alert that gripped the nation. Few could tell what the future held. Gloom and doom were predicted by the international media.
ECOWAS built forces but Gambians who did not want their people to die and their properties to become chaff in the wind decided to lead the nation to the path of peaceful and democratic transfer of power.
Blood shed was avoided and the returnees came back to a nation that was at peace with itself with only few pockets of hostility within communities that were easily and quickly nipped in the bud through reconciliatory means. History punishes a self-righteous people who close their eyes to their past and do not learn lessons to shape their future. Libya is there for all to see. Some have built armies in the name of religion and others in the name of tribe or ethnicity and others in the name of nationalism . Who then will unify the nation against foreign domination? The oil wealth which used to assist many at home and abroad is now being consumed by firearms and ammunition.
Three years have elapsed since those days of uncertainty. Instead of building a united country, arrows are crisscrossing on the political firing range. Daggers are being drawn and the gnashing of teeth is the order of the day.
