Bishop Manga Delivers 2025 New Year Message on “Liberation”

Bishop Manga © Askanwi

By Most Rev'd Bannie E F Manga Presiding Bishop of Methodist Church The Gambia and Chairman of The Gambia Christian Council

December 2024

It's exciting to stand on the verge of a new year. The year 2025 is expected to be a very reflective and engaging year with all the possibilities that it can pose for every Gambian. Psalm 3 verses 3 to 6 summarizes our experiences as a Gambian people. It reads:

It's exciting to stand on the verge of a new year. The year 2025 is expected to be a very reflective and engaging year with all the possibilities that it can pose for every Gambian. Psalm 3 verses 3 to 6 summarizes our experiences as a Gambian people. It reads:

In this year 2025, our nation will proudly celebrate 60 years of nationhood. I wasn't born, but to read of the doubts of some human beings on the prospects that we might not be able to govern ourselves and sustain our small country is proved wrong in the fact that we continue to exist 60 years on. Heartiest congratulations to every Gambian and those who journeyed with us all through these years. Indeed, God continues to be on our side. We pay homage to all those who have contributed to making The Gambia what it is today. Mention must be made here of the liberation struggles associated with our quest for nationhood. I do not intend to delve into the realms of the political leaders but wish to reflect on the ordinary people whose names might never be mentioned in any academic discussion.

Drawing from my thoughts in my thesis, “The Quest for Liberation in The Gambia', I wish that we will be reminded about the term liberation. Liberation is the sole desire that all humanity seeks for. It has to do with the search for freedom from anything that constrains, confines, or bounds. Liberation presumes a prior bondage or incarceration. It has to do with the totality of that which affects humanity either directly or indirectly. As a result, liberation is such a wide school that issues social, spiritual, environmental, psychological, intellectual, and political activities.

Against the backdrop of the foresaid, it can easily be suggested that liberation is an old activity that has existed with the beginning of social order and the human race.

Liberation would mean, in my opinion, the happy state of having been released from servitude for a life of engagement and satisfaction that was not possible before. Thus, for Christians, liberation is that which is given by God in Jesus Christ, who came to set humanity free from the power of sin and Satan (John 8:34–44). In this respect, it would factor in the totality of that which affects humanity.

The Gambia is a fabrication of the Anglo-French Demarcation Commission, following the 1889 border commission. The name Gambia" for the river and the territory surrounding it, is much older than this date. It is said that Alviso Cadamosto in the 15th century referred to the river and the country as "Gambra.". Other names of the area were "Gambu", "Gambea", "Guabuu," and "Guambea."

Two possible explanations are offered for the origins of the name in the booklet Historic Sites of the Gambia. The first suggestion is based on linguistics. It proposes a linguistic link with the word "Kaabu" (from the famous Mandinka Empire) and with the Wollof word "bur," meaning king or chief. A combination of these words would imply that Gambia originated from "Gambura," which means place of the king.

The second explanation is based on oral tradition. The griot (praise singer) Alhagi Fabala Kanutch links the name to the first contact that people living in the Gambia had with the Portuguese. According to the story, the Portuguese met a man at the mouth of the river called Kambi Manneh. Kambi was a messenger of the King of Niumi (a kingdom near the mouth of the river). The story continues that when Kambi was asked for the name of the place, he presumed the Portuguese was asking for his name. So he said "Kambia". Thus the Portuguese knew the place as "Gambu". The exact origin of the name Gambia is obscure, but it is clear that from the encounter with the Portuguese, the river and the area surrounding it became known as "Gambia".

With this brief background, I wish to advocate that in our 60th anniversary as a nation, we consider reflecting on the theme Preserving our heritage. In the Gospel according to Luke chapter 12 verse 48b, we find some great wisdom for ourselves. It reads: "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked."

This scripture is anchored within a story where Jesus Christ was teaching his disciples about participating in the bigger story. Psalm 24 verses 1 and 2 tells us the earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters. On this premise, we can comfortably pivot that the Gambia is the Lord's. However, God entrusted us with this beautiful country that we love so much and call the smiling coast of Africa. Our smiles - beautiful and real as it represents are reflective of our heritage - a resilient and determined community of faith and order.

To preserve our heritage as a community in the context of our 60th anniversary as a nation, I wish to proffer some thoughts that are rooted in our faith context.

1. Some of our collective shared property must be protected and dignified. It is important to remind ourselves that properties and possessions can often be disputed and contested, but there is one common heritage that we will never dispute: our final resting place. History tells us that one of the most beautifully kept properties of our communities has been our cemeteries. It is sad to see the present state of this shared property that connects the past to the present generation. We cannot continue to allow this state to prevail. It cannot be the responsibility of the government alone. We must take ownership of our own and collectively manage and perverse this common heritage.

2. Sustainability of our Peace. Recent rhetoric by our esteemed religious and political leaders needs to be toned down and revisited. Borrowing from my Christmas message of 2024, please be reminded that Peace is the absence of conflicts. It is not necessarily the absence of differences and temporary misunderstandings among people. When love is the bond uniting us, peace will be built up step by step, negative encounters and confrontations will disappear, and relationships will become more transparent. I stand very much afraid that the rhetorics emanating from our political and community leaders are unhealthy and distasteful. We are not seeking to develop a United family called The Gambia, but it is so obvious that we are grooming a society that will be divided by selfish and unpatriotic tendencies that will destroy our sustained heritage as Gambians. 1 John chapter 4 verses 7 and 8 is very clear. "Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love."

3. Caring for creation. Within the understanding that The Gambia could have some resonances with the interpretation 'the place of the king', I believe that we must make our country befitting for kings. A king's palace is well kept and tidy. It is also a welcoming and friendly place. Further, it is also spacious enough for healthy interactions. Isaiah chapter 55 verses 6 to 12 speak to this effect.

"Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain comes down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands."

My brothers and sisters, in this year of 2025, let's celebrate ourselves as a resilient, determined and loving people who will preserve our common heritage and dignity as people resident in The Gambia. We will take ownership of this beloved country together and participate fully in the process of continually making it better for all. On behalf of your brothers and sisters in the Methodist Church The Gambia, I pray for a fruitful and blessed 2025 in Jesus name. Remember, to whom much is given, much is required—for the common good of all.