Mr Editor:
Kindly allow me space in your well respected on-line news medium.I never doubt your credibility as a journalist and editor. The issue I want to throw some light on is the recent controversy caused by Mr. Mathew K. Jallow's article on Mandinkanisation of the former PPP regime.
I was a young student at the time so I cannot say much but The Gambia is a very different country now which cannot be comparable to the past, both in terms governance and behavioural aspects of the Gambian subject.
I am both linked with the Mandinka and the Fula tribe, as well as having a Fanafana ancestry. I will just tell Mathew as an elder in the news network the first thing to remember is the impact his lucid writings will have on an average reader.The Gambia today is a divided society, although history explains the future but dwelling too much on the past can ignite unnecessary wounds. His comments can be deem as tribalist of the highest order but personally, I wouldn't categorise Mathew as tribalist.Conveniently, he may be a pragmatist. His social commentary about the state of affairs in The Gambia today is second to non .
My final advice to him is, don't let certain bad experiences linger in your mind, we all have gone through it, one way or the other, unpleasant tribal mistreatments. Our society is a tribal society, we cannot eradicate tribalism in its entirety. Some writers can also relay stories of similar encounters. I see The Gambia as a small pond with many large fish, which cannot stay without each other but some times they all have unpleasant encounters. Let us see our tiny country in that light. We cannot do without each other- Fula, Mandinka, Sarahule, Wolof, Jola etc., we are all one big family .
Mathew, the pen is mightier than the sword. Always remember that. The pen writes more horrors than the gun. There is no malady worst than ism's; it is the cause of world disharmony.
Thank you.
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