By Omar F M’Bai
Africa-Press – Gambia. In societies striving for progress, truth and merit must sit at the head of the table. Yet across schools, boardrooms, and nations, we are witnessing an unsettling shift, a quiet burial of substance beneath the towering weight of familiarity, influence, and personal loyalty. The most dangerous part of this phenomenon is not its noise, but its silence. The death of substance is rarely announced; it happens incrementally, through everyday decisions to reward closeness over competence, silence over scrutiny, and comfort over courage.
This essay is a reflection on that cultural decay an autopsy of what we are becoming, and a plea to rescue what still remains.
The rise of familiarity over merit
In recent years, it has become glaringly evident that many institutions are no longer driven by the best ideas or the most qualified individuals. Instead, decisions are increasingly shaped by who is known, not what is known; by who belongs to which camp, not who offers solutions. From board appointments to school elections, the criteria of selection are no longer grounded in merit or track record, but in social comfort, alliances, and loyalty. The rise of familiarity over merit
This is not merely disappointing, it is dangerous. When familiarity replaces competence, we invite mediocrity into leadership. As George Bernard Shaw once observed, “Nothing is more dangerous than ignorance in power.” And yet, this ignorance is not accidental, it is carefully chosen, because it does not threaten the status quo.
As a parent and former Board Member of Marina International School, I recently observed a school board election that reflected this very decay. An election that should have been about vision, governance, and reform quickly descended into a battle of influence, anchored in proxy voting and overseen by a process lacking transparency and independence. The returning officer, committee members, and communications machinery were all closely aligned with one candidate. Over 96% of proxy votes were secured by that candidate’s camp, a statistical absurdity in any fair contest.
Yet what disturbed me more was not the outcome, but what the process revealed. It showed that even in a school, an institution meant to teach children about fairness, rules, and integrity, the adults failed the test of example. What was demonstrated to the next generation was this that loyalty matters more than law, proximity matters more than principle, and substance is negotiable if the numbers add up.
We must ask ourselves, what values are we passing down? The rise of familiarity over merit.
This is not a school-specific issue. It is a microcosm of a larger crisis across The Gambia and beyond. In public institutions, civil society, religious bodies, and businesses, decision-making is increasingly divorced from merit, ethics, or performance. Instead, personal affiliation, ethnic bonds, political convenience, or mere familiarity drive appointments and outcomes. The broader collapse of standards.
The result is stagnation. And eventually, collapse.
We do not lack competent people; we ignore them. We do not lack solutions; we sideline those who offer them. And in the process, we create systems that cannot reform themselves because reform would displace those who benefit most from the dysfunction.
There is also a human cost to all of this.
Brilliant minds are discouraged. Reformers are branded as “troublemakers.” Teachers who challenge the system are overlooked. Parents who raise valid concerns are dismissed as “emotional.” Talented young people give up or leave. The cost of silence.
The result is quiet despair, an erosion not just of institutions, but of dreams.
As Frantz Fanon warned, “Each generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfil it, or betray it.” Today, many institutions are betraying that mission, not through deliberate malice, but through indifference and the comfort of routine familiarity.
Stephen Hawking once noted that “The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.” This illusion is now widespread. Institutions believe they are functioning because they are busy, but they are busy doing the wrong things, reinforcing the wrong values, and appointing the wrong people.
Boards meet, elections are held, minutes are recorded but the soul of the institution is corroding from within. Accountability becomes performance. Integrity becomes branding. And substance becomes a distant memory.
What must be done
To reverse this decay, we must take deliberate steps.
1. Reinstate merit and transparency as non-negotiables. Processes must be independently audited, open to scrutiny, and guided by clear standards.
2. Dismantle loyalty-based systems. Leadership must be earned, not inherited, or distributed among friends.
3. Educate our communities. Many citizens participate in flawed systems out of ignorance, not malice. We must help people understand why standards matter.
4. Speak up, especially when it is uncomfortable. Silence is complicity.
To conclude, there is still time to turn back. But the window is closing. Every time we reward familiarity over substance, we lose a part of our future. Every time we ignore competence to maintain comfort, we betray the very purpose of leadership.
As Winston Churchill said, “The price of greatness is responsibility.” Those in leadership must now decide: will they protect positions, or protect principles?
History will remember the choice.
About the author
Omar FaFa M’Bai is a legal practitioner, governance advocate, and parent. He writes regularly on institutional integrity, leadership, and education across Africa.
Source: The Standard Newspaper | Gambia
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