Money has become the devil that engulfs Gambian leadership. “Tourneh sen khel yi, ba dunge khelat dara ludul def ko di” alpha and omega. It has swallowed conscience, judgment, and responsibility, until nothing else matters.
In Gambia today, a leader can divert money meant for hospitals and give it to a sick person lying helpless on a hospital bed, surrounded by cameras, state media, and praise singers. Griots will sing of mercy. Broadcasters will announce benevolence. And the leader will smile with pride, as if generosity replaces justice, and charity replaces systems.
Leadership has become easy in The Gambia because there is one denominator believed to solve all problems: MONEY.
A student who burns the midnight candle, sacrifices sleep, and excels in examinations is not celebrated for discipline or intellect, but rewarded with cash. In that moment, all the years of effort, struggle, and brilliance are reduced to a single envelope. Achievement becomes a transaction and Excellence becomes a price.
Even leadership selection has fallen into the same trap. Money has become the alpha and omega of elections. The brain of a candidate no longer matters, Vision is irrelevant and Competence is optional.
In fact, the most unserious candidate, empty of ideas, poor in understanding, rich only in noise, often becomes the most popular. Why? Because foolish rhetoric entertains and stands visible during a battle of ideas. And the voter, who should understand that the ballot in their hand represents the destiny of an entire nation for five years, is deliberately kept ignorant of its value.
That voter is then praised as “wise” for exchanging the future of a country for D500.
Let us be honest.
We have seen presidential convoys kill pedestrians through reckless driving. These deaths never lead to self-reflection. No investigation into driver competence. No accountability. No reform.
Instead, an envelope appears, D50,000 offered as “condolences.” A price is placed on a human life. The message is clear: this life was worth D50,000. Take it, accept it, and move on.
I have never seen a Gambian leader’s convoy held responsible for a life taken by reckless driving. This is not normal. This is not leadership. This is absurdity institutionalized.
Where cameras are present, the amount of money shared increases. Where attention is loud, generosity becomes louder. Celebrities who already earn millions are showered with public funds. Politicians who are financially secure receive land and cash from the treasury. Political leaders call this appreciation.
Meanwhile, soldiers who carried our national flag, who were sent to Darfur, Sierra Leone, and Liberia, return home to nothing. Some have no house. Some leave behind widows and children with no shelter and yet, a celebrity/politician is valued more than a man who died for the nation.
How did we get here?
This culture has killed innovation, It has killed creativity, It has killed progress.
Today, innovation is no longer about solving national problems. It is about impressing politicians. People sit every day thinking not of how to build industries, but of what kind of performance will attract money from leaders. Sharing cooking pots, distributing ashobee, writing praise songs that intoxicate politicians into throwing cash.
These are called innovations now, ridiculous innovations, but innovations nonetheless because the reward system is broken.
Finance is crucial to any upright nation. In highly structured countries, spending public money is the hardest part of governance because every coin must be justified. Accountability is heavy and questions are constant.
But here, money flows easily because it belongs to no one and everyone at the same time.
A student who excels could have been given a pen engraved: “From the People of The Gambia.” That pen would become a family treasure, a historical artifact and a symbol of pride passed down for generations. Children yet unborn would look at it and say, “Excellence lives here.” But our leaders believe D10,000 is more valuable than legacy.
Since the money is collected from all, the only moral way to spend it is for the benefit of all. Without favoritism, without discrimination, without cameras deciding value.
Wake up Gambians money is not the Alpha and Omega but ideas, discipline and patriotism are. Only then will peace emerge and only then will development begin.
Hon. Ahmadou M.H. Kah
Leader, Tabax-Reewmi
