By Omar Bah
The leader of the Gambia Moral Congress, Mai Ahmad Fatty has said that although Gambians defeated tyranny in 2016, “we are yet to defeat some ways of the dictatorship.
“So far, we achieved fundamental changes in the political dynamics, but there has not been significant improvement in the governance infrastructure.
“The civil service, the public service, the security sector, and most public institutions have not changed much,” he told supporters in France where he has started meeting his diaspora supporters.
Fatty, who recently resigned as President Adama Barrow’s special adviser said commitment to service delivery, prioritization of national goals, lack of prudent fiscal discipline, including efficient public finance management, and failure to lead by example are some of the negative factors impacting Gambia’s development.
“While the public service accepted the political change, resistance to the elements of change from the old ways, continue to cripple efforts. Consequently, we must face the truth and admit that the system has not changed much. System change continues to pose a major challenge, and this is largely due to absence of serious commitment to the national interests against personal or cult interest,” he said.
He added: “We can defeat this inimical tendency by working together as like-minds, against the new hegemony that seeks to monopolize major economic opportunities at the detriment of the state, and working together by ensuring that the economic system is not operated in such a manner, as to permit the concentration of wealth, or the means of production in the hands of a few individuals or groups.”
The Gambia, he added, will be better placed to confront these challenges “if we restore the values that have characterized our nation. Many of those values have been undermined for over two decades, and it is time to restore the balance. Our commitment to a fair and equitable society is at the foundation of our approach to government. Fairness will be a guiding principle for a GMC government, whether dealing with labour relations, access to educational opportunities, healthcare, tax system, and many other aspects of government policy”.
Read Fatty’s full speech on page 13 and 14.
