THE PATRIOMETER, THE MEASURING INSTRUMENT OF PATRIOTISM

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The Senegalese politician during the conquest of power has accustomed us to promises, most of them not kept. Each claiming to be a PATRIOT and ready to defend the interests of the people. Some taking advantage of the ignorance of the masses, others of their fed up with the existing system they want to replace.

Patriotism being abstract with the misfortune of not having a measuring instrument like heat or wind, it should be defined in order to be able to judge people based on their actions, not their promises! Doing so might prevent us from believing what these fine speakers are serving us. Why not therefore create the PATRIOMETER as an instrument for measuring patriotism?

When can I say that my compatriot, party leader who aspires to become the President of our SENEGAL is a PATRIOT? In my opinion, he must answer the following questions positively:

1. What has he done for his country, his city, his village, his community with his own means without using the benefits his country has given him or the work for which he is paid?
2. What has he done to make his country known / recognized / loved on his own, not in the work he is paid for?
3. What risk did he take in defending the interests of his country or his community?

I have no intention of eliminating other deserving compatriots from the race. But the positive answers on the three questions given above would be given a higher weight than any other answer!

I take myself without wanting to shine the spotlight on myself, as an example to judge myself. It’s true that “SÀABU DU FÓOT BOPPAM!” ( A PIECE OF SOAP CANNOT WASH ITSELF) in Wolof. But I know myself better than I know anyone else!

ANSWER TO QUESTIONS:

1. I have fought malaria in the Linguère Department (my hometown ) for six consecutive years. I provided the populations of my Department with drugs and impregnated mosquito nets from the proceeds from an annual ceremony that I organized in the USA and which was so well received by the populations that the Nobel Laureate for Chemistry, Dr. Peter Licensed drove from Baltimore, MD to North Carolina where he found Congressman David Price of the State of North Carolina and Mayor William Bell of the city of Durham, all coming to see one of my events.
2. I repatriated with my own funds the documentary of the first World Festival of Negro Arts filmed by the Russians. After the screening in Senegal, I was invited by a highly regarded American university (UNC-Chapel Hill) for another screening followed by debates. This created a great admiration among Americans for Senegal and a strong envy as they wished they could do the same so that they knew more about their compatriots like Paul Robeson who were in Russia during the same period.
3. I refused as a student to participate in the National Essay Contest titled YOU CAN SAVE YOUR COUNTRY. This competition was organized after David Stockman, Director of “Office of Management and Budget” in the Reagan Administration resigned as the US faced two critical issues: “Federal Deficit Spending” and “Bilateral Deficit Spending” with Japan. The solution had to come from David Stockman who unfortunately had left the government. The competition was launched at the level of business schools. After a lot of tugging with my Professor of International Economics who wanted to force me to participate when I did not want to, I finally accepted reluctantly after I was allowed to extrapolate by pushing my research to find a solution to these two problems: the implication that this has on aid to underdeveloped countries and to Senegal in particular. This paper was one of two awarded in North Carolina.

You see this is all facts, not promises!

The answers to questions 1, 2, and 3 allow us to see the applicability of the Wolof proverb which says:

“KUY RÀAM DI LA BOOT, SU MANEE DAW DU LA FA BAYI”. If an handicap carries you on his back, you can rest assured that he will not leave you behind when he can run!

I invite my compatriots to reflect further on the issue, and to Mathematicians to help develop the “Patriometer Model”.

FEASIBILITY:

The feasibility of such a project would not only open the eyes of potential voters but also limit the plethora of political parties whose leaders come to us with unclear funding sources!.

SINE QUOI NONE CONDITIONS:

The retouching of our constitution.
Creation of Departmental “pre-validation” Bodies for applicants.

The Departmental Bodies will be composed of:

A representative of the Municipal Council
A representative of the city’s Imam
A youth representative
A representative of the women’s organization
A sworn agent

IMPLEMENTATION PROCEDURES:

The implementation of this project requires a transitional period at the end of which the political parties will be dissolved.

Applicants will submit their application to the Supreme Court (or a legal entity to be determined) which will submit it to the Departmental Pre-validation Body for review. After study based on the predefined PATRIOMETER standards, the Departmental Body will send its OPINION to the Supreme Court which in turn, after a compliance study will give instructions to the National Assembly so that the applicant fulfills the formalities that will allow that his application be validated.

I hope that you will find my dear compatriots this necessary and not utopian project to help me complete it because, as we say in Wolof, XEL DU JARIÑ LU DUL XALÀAT! (All you need to do with your mind is to think!)

Bouna Semou Ndiaye

Ex Consultant, Coopers & Lybrand Dakar

Producer & Presenter of

Bonjour Africa, WNCU 90.7FM

Barrometrre1@gmail.com