By Omar Bah
Jimmy Hendry Nzally, a Gambian PhD student in Political Science at Vijre University in Belgium has called on President Barrow to honour the three -year Coalition agreement and avoid plunging the country into another leadership crisis.
“The problem we have in The Gambia is leadership and that vacuum needs to be fixed. We have had a failed leadership, and a leadership without concept or sense of direction,” he told The Standard in an exclusive interview.
Jimmy added that if President Barrow had followed the agreement of the Coalition by now “we would have been enjoying a new constitution and many institutional reforms, amongst others.”
“But we have a president who is talking to the media asking people where they were. We have a president who thinks the Gambia owed him something rather than sharing the Gambian story. The Coalition members are no more in agreement. There is just one dominant party, one ideology and one individual influencing the dictates of government,” he charged.
President Barrow, Jimmy added, should have used the Gambian change as a humble experience for him and avoid attacking Gambians just because they criticise his policy, adding that he is not sure whether Gambia will have a productive outcome after President Barrow.
He also urged the government to be mindful of the agreements they sign with Senegal and the outside world, saying a transition government must not sign long term agreements.
“Let them focus on the reforms and forget about entrenching themselves in power. Gambians are too aware now to be fooled. What is sadder about this country is we do not even have an elderly statesman.
Jawara was kicked out of power and Jammeh was forced to leave the country, so Barrow has a big chance of being the Gambia’s Mandela if he plays his cards well,” he noted.
Jimmy further called on the Gambian leader to be mindful of the people advising him, especially those urging him to betray the Coalition agreement, “they are not his friends. They want him to fail because no matter how long he stays in power he will still leave one day. Jammeh is a good example.”
“The current administration must realise that the country is seriously running into debts,” he added.
Jimmy observed that although debts do not necessitate economic collapse, “one thing that can easily collapse a country’s economic is loss of confidence, which is the same mechanism by which debt may pose a serious threat.”
“No serious investors will want to come to a country whose money has been taken by a former government or a country whose leadership claims there is no money and yet they keep flying from now and then receiving big per diems.”
