The greatest threats to The Gambia are not merely corruption, poor leadership, or weak institutions. Beneath these visible challenges lie three deeper societal hazards that have quietly shaped our national culture for decades: lowering the bar, taking things for granted, and naivety. These three negative attitudes have become so deeply embedded in our public consciousness that they now influence how we judge governments, evaluate public institutions, and even relate to one another as citizens.
Until we confront these three hazardous mindsets, genuine national transformation will remain elusive.
The first menace is lowering the bar.
When a society consistently lowers its standards, mediocrity inevitably becomes the norm. Once we accept poor performance as adequate, we reward incompetence while punishing excellence. We normalize substandard services, tolerate weak institutions, and celebrate achievements that should merely be considered the minimum expected from a functioning state.
This attitude has become pervasive in our national life. We excuse failures by those entrusted with public office instead of demanding competence, integrity, and results. We applaud the completion of projects without asking whether they were properly designed, whether they are sustainable, whether they offer value for money, or whether they genuinely improve people’s lives.
A government is not successful simply because it constructs roads, erects buildings, or commissions projects. The true measure of success is whether these investments provide quality services, improve living standards, reduce poverty, expand opportunities, and uphold the dignity of citizens. Otherwise, by now the number of roads and buildings would have reduced, if not ended poverty, deprivation and improved healthcare completely. Unfortunately, we have become satisfied with appearances while neglecting substance.
The second menace is taking things for granted.
Perhaps no phrase better captures this mindset than the familiar refrain: “At least it is better than before.”
We hear it repeatedly: “Barrow is better than Jammeh.” “Jammeh was better than Jawara.” “At least we now have electricity.” “At least we now have roads.”
Such statements lower public expectations because they rely on comparisons with failure rather than measurements against what citizens rightfully deserve. Governments should NOT be assessed by whether they performed marginally better than their predecessors. They should be judged against constitutional obligations, professional standards, prudent management of public resources, and internationally accepted benchmarks of public service.
A road cannot be judged simply because it exists. Citizens must ask whether it was built at a reasonable cost, whether it will last, whether it serves economic development, and whether it represents value for taxpayers’ money. Electricity cannot be celebrated merely because it is available. The real questions are whether it is affordable, reliable, sustainable, and sufficient for households, businesses, and industries.
Progress is not measured by comparison with yesterday’s failures. It is measured by today’s performance against the standards required to build tomorrow’s prosperity.
The third, and perhaps most dangerous, menace is naivety.
Naivety is what allows the first two hazardous attitudes to flourish. When citizens accept official narratives without questioning them, they become naive. When people celebrate announcements instead of demanding implementation, they become naive. When societies praise leaders instead of evaluating outcomes, they become naive.
When the government claims to have built “the first in Africa” or “the best in the world,” thoughtful citizens should not be impressed by slogans. They should ask a much simpler question: What difference does it make in the lives of ordinary Gambians?
Public relations can never substitute for public service. Unfortunately, our political culture too often rewards rhetoric over results. One only needs to travel across the country, from Banjul to Fatoto, from Kartong to Koina, to see the consequences of these three menaces. Our settlements remain poorly planned. Our public infrastructure remains inadequate. Essential services remain limited, expensive, and often unreliable.
Visit hospitals and you will find shortages of ambulances, equipment, medicines, and essential facilities. Visit police stations and you will often find officers without vehicles, reliable internet, adequate computers, or proper working conditions. Visit our courts, from the Supreme Court in Banjul to the High Court in Basse, and you will encounter courtrooms with inadequate ventilation, poor lighting, uncomfortable seating, broken fans, and facilities that hardly reflect the dignity of the Judiciary. Visit schools across the country, from primary to tertiary institutions, and many classrooms remain overcrowded, poorly ventilated, lacking adequate learning materials, with neglected surroundings that undermine effective teaching and learning.
Yet we frequently celebrate the construction of new buildings simply because they are freshly painted or architecturally attractive. Meanwhile, billions continue to be invested from taxes, loans and grants but The Gambia remains a highly indebted poor and least developed country.
This is precisely why lowering the bar is so dangerous. Instead of demanding excellence, we congratulate ourselves for achieving the minimum. Our tendency to compare ourselves almost exclusively with neighbouring countries further compounds this problem. We often ask whether we are doing better than Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, or other countries in the sub-region.
Rarely do we ask whether we are meeting the standards achieved by societies that have successfully invested in good governance, quality education, effective healthcare, modern infrastructure, and accountable public institutions. There is nothing wrong with learning from our neighbours. But our national ambition should never be limited by geography.
More importantly, Gambians deserve quality public services not because another country has them, but because we are citizens of a sovereign republic. Human dignity is universal. Good governance is not a luxury reserved for wealthy nations. Competence, accountability, efficiency, transparency, and respect for citizens are minimum obligations of every government.
The Constitution does not promise Gambians second-class governance. It promises justice, equality, accountability, and the quality welfare of the people. The responsibility therefore rests not only with those who govern but also with those who are governed. Citizens must reject mediocrity.
They must refuse to take poor governance for granted. They must replace blind acceptance with critical thinking. A democracy flourishes when citizens question, investigate, evaluate, and hold power accountable and not when they applaud every announcement or defend every failure because it appears marginally better than the past.
The future of The Gambia will not be determined merely by elections or by changing governments. It will be determined by whether Gambians themselves raise the standards by which they judge leadership. Until we stop lowering the bar, stop taking things for granted, and abandon political naivety, we will continue to recycle the same disappointments under different administrations.
A nation rises only as high as the standards its citizens are willing to demand. The Gambia deserves far more than survival. It deserves excellence.
For The Gambia, Our Homeland
