By Bubacarr Drammeh
James Clear, a renowned author, states that “The Cardinal Rule of Behavior Change: What gets rewarded, gets repeated. What gets punished, gets avoided. Don’t reward behavior you don’t want to see repeated.” There seems to be a consensus that The Gambia has not achieved meaningful change; and that the country is a “shithole” because of a bunch of mysterious fucking reasons. Right? Is everything the fault of the government? Give me a fucking break! The Gambia is “getting worse in every sector” because we’ve maintained the same, if not worse, fucking lazy-ass, mediocre, entitled, corny, shameless, self-centered, ignorant, and fake behaviors. And because these behaviors are being rewarded socially, economically, and even religiously, you tell me why the fuck people in the country will change their behaviors or even consider behavioral changes?
In my article Shackled by our Mindset, I contended that we failed to achieve our dreams as a nation because we were unable to establish a genuine rule of law regime in our country from the onset. One reason we could not establish a country of rule of law is our mindset regarding governance. This assertion remains true. Even after removing from office His Excellency Sheikh Professor Alhagie Dr. Yahya A. J. J. Jammeh, Nasirudeen, the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, and the Chief Custodian of the Sacred Constitution of the Republic of The Gambia—a person believed to have a “contemptuous disregard for the law, democratic norms and the rights of citizens”—majority of the citizenry still believe that the country is heading in the wrong direction. Of course, removing Jammeh was an immense success, yet the country feels like a fucking “shithole.”
One of the biggest impediments to the progress of The Gambia in all aspects is the character of the Gambian—the lawyer, doctor, nurse, teacher, accountant, mechanic, tailor, driver, government minister, judge, father, mother, sibling, husband, wife, son, daughter, nephew, niece, mentor, mentee, etc. I have spent time in Senegal, and I had travelled to Ghana, Nigeria, Guinea-Bissau. Currently, I live in the United States. I am yet to meet any human being more entitled and fucking lazy than a Gambian. A Gambian feels as though he deserves good things in life without earning them. For example, he believes he should have the best spouse, but he depends on his parents or siblings for provisions and maintenance of his able-bodied. He believes he should be successful but does not take any meaningful action in taking care of his needs. He believes he should have a great life without sacrificing anything. In his essay titled “An Essay on the Decadence of Morality in The Gambia,” Musa Camara, perfectly captures the character of a typical Gambian. He asserted that:
“The Gambian is more often corny, deceitful, and self-centered. He intermittently takes pride in lying as a badge of honor, celebrates any success in deception as a confirmation of his higher intelligence over the victim. The Gambian assumes that his security and advantages in the race of life are assured and guaranteed over others by his ability to willfully deceive an associate, and will under the guise of providing genuine support knowingly volunteer misguided ‘help’ to frustrate the efforts of the already desperate. His lingos for his diabolic mischief are “smartness,” “speediness,” and “fastness” against the unsuspecting victim.”
I will not hesitate to add that the Gambian does not take responsibility for his actions, duties and obligations. If something good happens to him, it is because of an impressive feat he has accomplished. If he fails at anything, it is someone else’s fault—usually a sibling or an uncle or the government. He deludes himself into whatever feeds his myopic ego. He is arrogant and has a fucking sense of superiority. He would do anything — including being physically or emotionally abusive — to maintain his delusional lifestyle. He believes that his problems are unique, hence the popular term the “Gambian Problem.”
The truth is there is no such thing as a Gambian problem. Other nations have faced the issues we have faced with or are currently facing. They have conquered them or are conquering them. We are below average at few things, and we suck at most things. Yet, we believe that we are exceptional at all things. This delusional belief or thought is another impediment to our success. The Gambia, according to Dr. Ismaila Badjie, is “not a serious nation, and we are completely unbothered by our mediocrity.” No wonder people declare themselves experts, entrepreneurs, innovators, and scholars without any qualification or real-life experience. We are not yet a failed state, but we are a “nation of bare minimums.” We are, as Dr. Badjie succinctly puts it, “a country of indifference. Indifference to high standards, indifference to high performance, indifference to consistent productivity, indifference to accountability, indifference to high moral character, indifference to transformational ideas…. indifference to the grim realities of the Covid-19 pandemic……just indifference.” Until we change our mindset and our behaviors, our problems will compound; and without behavioral changes, we will never be productive enough to generate surpluses, savings and accumulate capital as a society to develop our country in our lifetime. Until we start being productive, we will forever remain a “stagnant nation.”
In his seminal essay, Camara states that one of the traits of the narcissist is that he “lies to himself by falsely claiming to possess virtues he lacks.” Because he is full of shit, “he plays his insecurity as his strength only to be consumed by his web of lies.” Concerned over the powder keg our society is characterized as, Camara concludes that “the Gambian society poses an existential threat to itself for playing the same game too long.” We pride ourselves on nonsense slogans such as “the Smiling Coast of Africa.” The Gambia we visualized stops at our envision. Then we begin to wonder the reasons we could not realize what we have envisioned. In our own country, we are “virtual slaves.” Every sector in our “economic ecosystem is dominated” by non-Gambian. As Camara observes, Gambians who live abroad “on either side of the Atlantic from their country, [are] effectively marooned in exile.” Most Gambians who have acquired various degrees (bachelor, master’s, or doctorate) cannot go back to the country they love because they will not live free in the country they love. Even though they sometimes “fantasize that they could return to raise their children and teach them their culture, reality quickly kicks them in their abdomen. The culture they cherished is dead, and the values they were nurtured with are now corrupted at their very source.” They express anxiety because if they return and try to establish a business, they must glue their eyes looking over their businesses simply because they know their compatriots are so retarded that if they look a single minute away from their investments, their businesses will be bankrupt. That notwithstanding, they still want to try “like risk-taking investors.” Unfortunately for them, as Camara accurately depicts, their country is not an “investment heaven but corruption paradise,” which leaves them realized that “they have no country of their own—but a stranger everywhere and most instances, an unwelcome illegal immigrant in the West.”
“If nothing changes, nothing changes. If you keep doing what you’re doing, you’re going to keep getting what you’re getting. You want change, make some.” Courtney C. Stevens