Democracy is rooted in the sovereign expression of the will of the absolute majority in a peaceful manner, to determine representation. There is no member of a political party in the Gambia who would not accept such a view of democracy.
On the other hand, populism is rooted in building sentiments of groups on the basis of ethnicity, religion, place of origin, political or other opinion and mobilise them to impose the will of the mob by force.
The crowd becomes a symbol of legitimacy. Whoever could pull a bigger crowd is conceived to have more legitimacy.
Gambians should bear in mind that the former head of state left the country because of a defeat at the polls. He had a whole army and use to mobilise tens of thousands of people.
The object of the change is to move towards a more democratic order. This could only be achieved by battling ignorance and liberating minds from mental slavery so that each Gambian could freely determine who should manage the affairs of the country to eradicate poverty and enlarge liberty dignity and prosperity . Gambians should embrace democracy and turn their backs at populism otherwise , others would come to occupy the Gambia and manage us instead of being free to manage our own affairs . This is the verdict of truth band commonsense and is incontrovertible .
