Lessons are beginning to be drawn. The Barrow administration should take stock. What did it promise the nation? What has it achieved? Journalists are conducting their interviews. Different stakeholders are beginning to make their assessments. Foroyaa will start the countdown to the 19th of January 2018.
The Barrow administration will be one year old on the 19th of January 2018 and the nation will be 53 in a month from today. 53 years of nationhood and one year of Barrow’s administration will soon be weighed on the balance. In our view, the fundamental objective of Barrow’s administration is to make the slogan ‘One Gambia, One Nation, One People’ a reality.
A sovereign republic should have a sovereign people who are not divided by their ethno linguistic, gender, or religious diversity but are united by their love of country and a deep sense of belonging to it. This is what is missing.
The Gambia has been a sovereign republic for 47 years but little work has been done to build a sovereign people who will defend their republic and the rights of their fellow citizens. If the Barrow administration can achieve this, it would have been considered to have achieved the most important mission in Gambian history. All those who have such an aspiration would have the task of exercising their authority to govern to promote the prosperity of the people. However if the people are divided into warring factions based on ethno linguistic or partisan loyalties, there would be no basis of building a prosperous homeland.
Hence one would expect that a person who is elected on a non-partisan, non-religious and non-ethno linguistic ticket, should be able to be a defender of the rights of all citizens and would facilitate that all are rewarded on the basis without fear or favour, affection or ill will. This is the primary task which is expected of the Barrow administration and Foroyaa this year will be judging the Barrow administration on the basis of this golden rule.
