Dr. Ismaila Ceesay once said that Madi Jobarteh is an idle and bitter man. When I founded the EF Small Centre, he said it is a one-man NGO. He said I hide behind activism but am in fact a politician working with “certain political parties.” Today, he adds that I am unpatriotic, selfish, and that I hate my country.
These are quite outlandish allegations. One may ask why a state minister would make such outrageous comments about a citizen. Clearly, they are intended to misrepresent, caricature, alienate, and eventually silence me. The question is: why? Why would a state minister spend so much energy on a single citizen as Dr. Ismaila Ceesay is doing?
The answer lies in two concepts: Narrative and Space, or more precisely, the control of them. In one sense, much of society, governance, and development can be reduced to these two concepts.
Narrative is the story, the message, or the idea. Since time immemorial, the contest in every society has always been about who creates and controls the prevailing or dominant narrative. In other words, whoever controls the dominant narrative ultimately controls what people know, believe, and accept. And if you succeed in making people accept a particular narrative, then you succeed in making them comply, whether through action or through passivity and silence.
Since the beginning of human society, there has always been a battle over narrative. We can currently see this battle unfolding in the war involving Iran, even as bombs and missiles fly. The United States, Israel, Iran, and their allies and adversaries are all busy creating, spreading, and countering narratives about the causes of the war, who is winning or losing, and what the future holds, all for the purpose of controlling the narrative.
For decades, the principal creator and controller of the narrative in the Gambia has been the Government. By virtue of state power and control of the media, especially Radio Gambia and later GRTS, successive governments have always created narratives about virtually everything: why prices are high, why electricity supply is problematic, why flooding occurs, why infrastructure is the solution to development challenges, how crime should be addressed, and so on.
In most cases, these narratives go largely unchallenged even when people do not believe them. During the dictatorship, people were afraid to challenge the official narrative even when we all knew the lies, loopholes, and weaknesses. Unfortunately, this political culture of not challenging official narratives continued from 2017 to date.
On many occasions, this Government has promoted narratives on major issues that were either not challenged at all or not challenged strongly enough. We recall the stories about the 57 vehicles, the D35 million in the First Lady’s account, anonymous donors, audit reports being dismissed as mere opinions, corruption allegations, poor public services, and many other issues. For every controversy, the Government produced a narrative designed to cover up corruption, abuse, incompetence, and lawlessness.
This is the importance and impact of narrative. When narratives are left unchallenged, whether people believe them or not, they produce, reinforce, and sustain a particular status quo. They make citizens remain calm and obedient even when they know the official narrative is a blatant falsehood. The moment a narrative is left uncontested, it occupies space and makes the creator and controller of the narrative as the key or only powerful player. This helps preserve the status quo.
The beginning of power and accountability is the challenging of narratives as a step toward participation in the political space. This is what Madi Jobarteh, EFSCRJ, and similar groups such as GALA or Team Gomsa Bopa are doing in this society.
The political and governance space does not belong exclusively to the Government. Rather, citizens, civil society, political parties, businesses, the media, academia, and all other actors are equal participants in that space, whether they recognize it or not. The difference lies in whether one chooses to challenge the narrative or remain silent; whether one speaks out or keeps quiet; whether one protests or stays at home; whether one obeys unquestioningly or exercises constructive disobedience.
Madi Jobarteh, EFSCRJ, and allies have chosen not to remain silent. We have chosen to challenge the narrative and occupy the space in order to push back against the Government’s version of events. This space, like the narrative itself, is a zone of contestation. Whoever dominates it ultimately controls it.
This is why governments everywhere constantly seek to create and control both narrative and space. At the same time, conscious and committed citizens and civil society actors seek to challenge those narratives and occupy that space. If they do not, they risk being pushed to the periphery, becoming voiceless and powerless thereby allowing the terrible status quo to prevail.
It appears that Madi Jobarteh and EFSCRJ are playing their role effectively in challenging official narratives and occupying civic space, much to the discomfort of the Government. Therefore, when we hear the rantings of Ismaila Ceesay, I am actually encouraged because they suggest that our efforts are having an impact. They are being felt within the corridors of power. That, to me, is evidence not of bitterness or idleness, but of active and patriotic citizenship.
It is unfortunate that instead of engaging with our arguments and challenging our narrative, Dr. Ismaila Ceesay resorts to personal attacks, describing me as bitter, idle, selfish, unpatriotic, and hateful, while dismissing EFSCRJ as a one-man NGO. Such remarks do not weaken our position, rather, they indicate that our work is making a difference.
I therefore urge all citizens not to remain silent. Challenge the official narrative. Do not stay at home when public action is required. Speak out, organize, advocate, and protest peacefully as your right and duty. These are among the most effective means citizens have to hold governments accountable, ensure transparency, protect the public interest, and strengthen democracy.
Never underestimate the power of narrative and space.
For The Gambia, Our Homeland.
