Column | On the
Proposed Anti-Corruption Commission – Part 1

By Saul Saidykhan

Due to the persistent calls for action by the opposition, civil society groups, activists, and our foreign Overloads euphemistically called “Development Partners,” Barrow is promising to establish an Anti-corruption commission. I DO NOT support the idea. An
Anti-Corruption Commission in Gambia will be as USELESS to us as the “Independent Election Commission,” the Office of The Ombudsman, the National Human Rights Commission, and the new Media “Access To Information” Commission!


These Commissions are for the most part nothing more than COSTLY cozy positions created by our corrupt leaders to settle their equally corrupt and morally bankrupt supporters among the western educated elite. They add little or no SUBSTANTIVE value to our quest for a righteous and effective government.
For perspective, I was in Primary 5 in 1977 when SM Dibba first contested against DK Jawara. From a distance, we watched our elders go into a makeshift polling booth to cast their votes.

Our Lower River Division had four Constituencies: two in Jarra, two in Kiang. As inherited from the Brits, the elections were supervised by a UNIT at the Local Government Ministry. Ballot boxes from all the towns and villages in the region were collected and taken to Mansakonko to be counted in the presence of the polling agents of the different candidates in broad daylight. By 4 PM, all four winners were declared in Mansakonko. No drama, no hanky-panky. This was the norm in the Jawara era.

We now have a costly “Independent Electoral Commission” that has only been able to conduct a single RELATIVELY clean presidential election in 30 years. The other Commissions have similar pathetic records.
In a professional literature I read recently, Corruption or fraud is defined as “deceit, trickery, sharp practice, or breach of confidence, perpetrated for profit or to gain some unfair or dishonest advantage” over others.
Corruption thrives in Gambia due to three factors:

1, OPPORTUNITIES to steal abound. 2, Lack of a history of holding corrupt senior officials accountable in the past 60 years serves as an INCENTIVE for current public officials to do the same. And 3, Societal ATTITUDES towards corrupt people allow them to RATIONALIZE their misbehavior!
It’s obvious that our small country of less than 3 million people is bedeviled and hampered by chronic rampant corruption. Because of our small size, I believe we have less than the generic “6 degrees of separation” between or among our citizens.

As such, fighting corruption in Gambia is almost impossible because in addition to having a history of weak or corrupt presidents, most Gambians especially members of the elite are related to each other by blood, ethnicity, marriage, place of birth, school, resident community, culture, or interpersonal relationships. Worse, as stated because people are generally never held accountable for corruption, it has become socially acceptable. In some communities, it is an entrenched part of the culture.

The corrupt are not only celebrated but venerated with honorifics in many Gambian communities. How can one convince a youth that corruption is bad or unpatriotic when he/she has seen or continues to see his/her grandparents and parents routinely steal from the public or their other employer throughout their childhood?


About the author

The author is a renowned writer and financial professional. He is also a regular contributor to this medium.