Dear Editor,
Everything is set. Everything is planned out. You planned everything and even made contingency plans just in case anything goes wrong. You’ve received all the assistance you were promised. You have all your people on your side. You have all the support you needed. Now it’s time to execute the plan. Your target will be destroyed beyond salvation.
Then you go behind their back and start executing the plan. They must be destroyed, you say to yourself. You call a few friends and family members to offer you moral support. You even managed to play the victim. They stand by you. They never bothered to hear the other side of the story; your side of the story was enough for them. And so they join you in destroying your target. You execute your plan to perfection. Thinking nothing could possibly go wrong. You imagine your target suffering. Down and out. On their knees. You dream of them wanting to beg you for forgiveness but afraid of attempting it. You imagine them in destitution and that brings you some comfort.
Then your plan doesn’t work as expected. The suffering you wanted to see never materialised. You see your target standing strong, as if they’re making fun of you. You see them doing even better than they were before. You get angrier, more frustrated. You adjust your plans. To hurt them. But nothing you do harms them in the way you desire. With every blow you attempt, you see them get out of the way. They don’t only survive, they thrive.
Then you default to your factory settings: Slandering their name! You lie about them to make others hate them. You make them into a monster and turn yourself into a victim. You tell everyone how horrible this person is. You wish them ill but they still somehow continue to rise. Your misery continues. You hurt. You become sad. All because you wanted to destroy someone and you see them progressing and rising high and higher! And then you get consumed by your hate of this person.
Alhagie Saidy Barrow
Kiang
This is China using drones as firefighters! Amazing
Dear Editor,
Shouldn’t this be the place that Africa should have been today and even above? If you tell that to African leaders and their ministers and technocrats, they will say, “you don’t understand”!
China was established as a republic in 1949 from a fragmented and dominated set of kingdoms and communities. By 1957, Ghana was independent as the first in sub-Sahara Africa. That is 8 years after China’s independence. The Gambia claims independence in 1965, i.e., 16 years after China. Nigeria was independent in 1960, i.e., 11 years after China.
Today, China is the second largest economy in the world, if not the largest already by the time Trump/Elon is ready bankrupting and dismantling the US. China has distinguished itself as a technological giant, military power, financial goliath and above all a respected voice and leader in the world.
Whither Nigeria, Ghana, Gambia, DRCongo, Gabon, Angola, etc?
The headquarters of the AU in Addis Ababa was built free of charge by China as a donation to Africa. Across the continent, China has built uncountable stadiums, roads, bridges, conference centres, airports and many more as either gifts and loans to various African governments.
In the Gambia, both the Independence Stadium built in 1980 and the SDKJ Conference Centre and the Samba Juma Bridge in Basse are all donations from China.
China has lifted hundreds of millions of its vast population out of poverty within a generation. It has made the provision of basic social services affordable and accessible to most of its over one billion citizens. It has achieved some of the most remarkable achievements in infrastructure development with state-of-the-art railways, trains, airports, city planning, while already a leader in space and underwater exploration. Chinese rockets are in space and its submarines are at the deepest places in the oceans.
China registered all these marvelous achievements under severe threats, attacks, obstacles, and constrains of all sorts by the West over the decades until today led by America. Notwithstanding, China now has become the leading single investor in Western economies from Europe to Canada to the US and Australia.
When one truly understands the history and circumstances of China and its success today, one cannot fail but wonder how? Which means, you would ask yourself, how come Africa is still a beggar to China? If China could do this, how come Africa, the richest and best positioned place on earth could not?
The story of China only highlights the gross failure of the African leaders and their technocrats. While China is manufacturing its own airplanes, ships, gadgets and so on, Africa remains hapless under unbearable loans, poverty, deprivation, corruption and oppression. But if you listen to its leaders, ministers and technocrats, you hear their pride in receiving China Aid. Shameless!
Madi Jobarteh
Kumbujeh
