A nation is judged not by the poetry of its promises, but by the honesty of its actions. When the Gambian state is measured by this standard, the verdict is deeply troubling.
Who killed the police officers whose lives were sworn to the service of the Republic? To this day, unanswered questions linger like an open wound, mocking justice and insulting the intelligence of a grieving nation. Who sanctioned the forceful removal of the Auditor General, the very office entrusted with holding power to account? When watchdogs are silenced, corruption does not merely grow. It is invited.
Rampant corruption and the abuse of public resources have become so normalized that outrage itself now feels fatigued. Public funds vanish without consequence. Scandals erupt, are briefly debated, and then quietly buried beneath indifference and impunity. Over nineteen million dollars lost in what amounts to broad daylight robbery stands not as an exception, but as a symbol of how cheaply accountability is treated.
Alongside this moral decay runs economic hardship. The steady depreciation of the Gambian Dalasi is not just a technical monetary issue. It is a daily assault on dignity. Savings lose value overnight, purchasing power shrinks, and the cost of living rises relentlessly while wages remain stagnant. For ordinary Gambians, survival has become an act of endurance rather than aspiration.
The economy shows signs of exhaustion. Youth unemployment remains high. Small businesses struggle under inflationary pressure. Dependence on remittances deepens rather than diminishes. Institutions meant to inspire confidence instead provoke anxiety. Justice is slow, selective, or absent. The rule of law bends easily under political convenience. Merit is too often replaced by patronage, and competence by loyalty.
A state that fails to protect its officers, safeguard its finances, respect its institutions, and preserve the value of its currency is not merely underperforming. It is betraying its social contract. Democracy cannot thrive where impunity reigns, where corruption goes unpunished, and where citizens are conditioned to accept decline as normal.
If the year 2026 arrives and the status quo is endorsed, then it will signify more than an electoral outcome. It will be a national confession. A declaration that Gambians are content with decay, tolerant of injustice, and resigned to economic erosion. If that is accepted as democracy, then democracy itself has been emptied of meaning.
The future of The Gambia cannot be built on silence, fear, or forgetfulness. It must be built on truth, accountability, and the courage to demand better. A people deserve a state that serves them, not one that survives by failing them.
M R R.
