MC CHAM ADVISES GAMBIA’S LEADERS AS HE REFLECTS ON JOURNEY TO INDEPENDENCE
As The Gambia marks 60 years of independence tomorrow, Momodou Cadi Cham, the only surviving member of the delegation to the 1964 Marlborough House conference that sued for independence, has advised the country’s leaders to realise that they will not hold office forever and must do good at all times.
“My only problem with leaders of these days is that they never appreciate that The Gambia did not start today. There were people who worked, toiled and laid the foundation of this country. It is important to give them their due by creating a prominent space for them in the history of the nation and at national events,” he stated.
Speaking in a special Independence interview with Kerr Fatou online portal to be aired today at 5pm, Cham, now in his eighties, said he is not happy that some of the important architects of the country’s independence are not mentioned in official programmes of the diamond jubilee.
“I am not talking about myself but people like Reverend JC Faye, IM Garba Jahumpa among others should have had a special mention,” Cham reminded
On his reflections, Cham said unlike other former British colonies, The Gambia’s independence talks with Britain were “not problematic” largely because the differences between the local political actors were not too vexed.
“The Gambia’s case was made simple because there were no tribal, regional or religious differences between the local political groupings as was the case with many former colonies, and even the British colonial officials at the talks acknowledged this,” he recollected.
However, he said the Gambian delegation to the talks which comprised representatives of the PPP government led by Sir Dawda Jawara, representatives of chiefs, the Muslim Congress of IM Garba Jahumpa, Reverend JC Faye, and his own UP led by PS Njie, could not agree on the type of government for the country.
“While Jawara and others wanted a full republic instantly, because they were obsessed with presidential system, we in the UP fought for a monarchial type of system where Queen Elizabeth II would still be a figurehead with no interference in our government represented by a governor general. We made sure that any attempt to go for a republic must first go to a referendum with a threshold above simple majority. That is why we did not come from London with a president and that is why the first attempt by the PPP to get the country republican status failed,” Mr Cham said.
He argued that the UP was vindicated because at the time, the country was far behind in economic and security protection for itself and the British were funding the budget shortfall which continued well after being granted independence.
He said by the time a second referendum was called for a republic in 1970, he had decamped to the PPP and PS Njie was no longer in parliament.
Cham went on to become a chieftain of the PPP government and served as a minister in several capacities.
He said the newly independent country survived and avoided any major insecurity largely due to the good relations with Senegal.
“During the colonial days, The Gambia and Senegal had no trade at government to government level and each state would seize goods from each other’s territory and jail anyone found in possession of such goods. But after independence, the two countries integrated at both the people-to-people and government-to-government levels to live harmoniously,” he said.
Source: The Standard
