The Gambian Dream: ‘A super-power of hope’

If there is any catchphrase that tends to bind us together more, it is the election-era coinage, ‘Alssamadeh’ (Mandinka for good-morning).

The president has used it on many occasions, always in happy moments as the one we saw last Saturday night, when he made one of the most marvellous in his recent spree of life-changing announcements (the completion of the electioneering process that saw him being given another mandate to steer the affairs of the nation for the next five years, the discovery of crude oil, so on and so forth).

That rather short but explicitly conveyed statement revealing the latest discovery was a confirmation of the culmination of hope and wishes into reality; our common goal of transforming this country into a beacon and a ‘superpower of hope for humanity’.

The Gambia embodies all it takes to attain this reverential status given our track record in the promotion of peace, progress, prosperity and tranquillity; the guiding principle of our unfazed urge for meaningful development.

This latest discovery is a beautiful blessing that confirms almighty Allah’s approval of the path our nation is cruising on. And our hopes and aspirations must be that this trend is maintained. As the president said, ‘we can go to the sky if we want, (but only) if we change our attitude for the interest of our country, for our own interest’.

There is a great deal of wealth to be reaped from these minerals, all of which has their characteristically tremendous, undisputable potential. In a way, their presence in this country further boosts our industrialisation prospects.

But the discovery of Uranium, the biggest and most significant of all, needs to be focused on all the more. Perhaps its presence among the lot explains the delay in announcement, as was clearly indicated by the president, during his  address to the nation.

Uranium, like the rest of the discoveries, can serve both as a blessing and as a curse. For instance, today the greatest threat to world peace is posed by the sickening debate surrounding this mineral. Outside its potential peaceful usage for nuclear fuel proliferation, it also is a favourite raw material for some of the most dangerous of weapons of mass destruction - nuclear weapon.

And it is being sought, at all costs, by those that need it - whether for good or for bad. Again this explains the president’s assertion that we needed to put in place effective defence mechanism of our national security interest, as well as our sovereignty, before such an announcement was made.

But beside this possible surreptitiously inhumane usage of these minerals, our attitude as a nation can also render our discovery ether useful or useless. The latter will be even more  eminent if we do not want to replace individual interest with collective interest.

Surely we do not want to make a replica of countries that has turned blessings in the form of oil and diamond, and a host of other minerals, into fuel for war, disease, poverty etc, etc. Notable among these are Sierra Leone, Liberia, Nigeria, Angola, so on and so forth.

Again, the president said it .

The Gambia will be a great superpower if we Gambians (and non-Gambians residing in the country) work together. Part of our ultimate goal should be making this nation a ‘superpower of love, a country where all people, irrespective of their race, religion or origin, can live together in peace as the creator, almighty Allah, wants his creation - the truest form of national dreams, the ‘Gambian dream’. Amen, we say. Let us nurture the spirit of ‘Alssamadeh’.