Dear editor,
Rumours are going around that the resignation of the Minister of Basic and Secondary Education Haddy Jatou Sey and the sacking of the Communication and Digital Economy Minister Ousman Bah, are as a result of both of them refusing to relinquish their US citizenship as required by law.
Section 71 of the 1997 Constitution states in sub-section (2) “A person shall not be qualified to be appointed or hold the office of a Secretary of State (Minister) if, he or she is a member of the National Assembly or if he or she holds the citizenship or nationality of any country other than The Gambia.” Therefore, in view of this law, one would wonder how these people got appointed to serve as cabinet ministers when they had not met those requirements of the law. In the case of Minister Bah, for instance, he had been in office for more than two years whilst Minister Sey had served for less than six months. However, any reasonable person should have expected that they would have met all the legal requirements before their appointment.
This is yet not only another indication of this regime’s lack of a proper policy direction, but also an indictment on President Adama Barrow’s advisers, particularly his chief legal adviser, the Attorney General and Minister of Justice. It is hard to imagine that President Barrow would appoint anyone in the cabinet or in any other senior position without consulting with the Attorney General for legal advice. Therefore, in such a case, the blame should be placed squarely on the shoulders of the Attorney General whose duty it is to advise President on the legality or otherwise of his appointments.
Also, the very fact that ministers had to resign or be sacked for simply refusing to relinquish their citizenship of a foreign country indicates some apparent lack of confidence in the system. Indeed, if President Barrow reserves the power to appoint and/or sack ministers and other appointees at will without being required to give any reasons, is an indication of lack of job security, and some of those holding foreign citizenship could be justified for refusing to give them up when they know that they could be sacked any time at the whims and caprices of the President.
Therefore, the only way this situation could be addressed is when we finally get a new constitution which we expect would give the National Assembly a role in the appointment of cabinet ministers and other senior officials where such appointments would be properly scrutinized before being approved.
DA Jawo
Travel freeze
Dear editor,
Gambia government officials despise being called per diem hunters. I remember a certain official who apparently traveled so much that they earned themselves the title of SN Brussels. I don’t know why but traveling is something of a prestige for many of us. We long for others to know that we are traveling. I guess it makes us feel important. During the TRRC, the UNDP thought it wise for TRRC personnel to visit the diaspora and engage with Gambians. I was listed to go to Europe but I turned it down in favor of someone on my team who I thought fits the purpose more than I did. A colleague would laugh in telling me that in Gambia, the boss hardly ever forgoes travel to a subordinate especially when there’s per diem involved. Perhaps it was a privilege for me to able to say no to travel and perhaps others don’t have that luxury. I understand. But I also think there are some who simply abuse travel opportunities and they are simply motivated by greed.
Imagine if the government made all travelers submit reports before their travel indicating exactly how their travel will measurably impact on Gambians. And once they return, submit a report spelling out exactly how that travel benefits Gambians. Of course these reports must be scrutinized to ensure they are not perfunctory. But as usual, we don’t address the root causes. We simply try to treat the rashes and ignore the leprosy. As in, we put bandaid solutions on brain tumor problems.
In worthy organizations or institutions, when something undesirable takes place, like when government officials start abusing travel opportunities to fatten their pockets, worthy organizations/institutions/departments engage in a process that helps identify the causes of the undesirable activities. One of the processes used to identify the cause of an adverse event is called the Root Cause Analysis, and a simple tool that is sometimes used to identify the causes and effects of the event is the FISHBONE analysis or diagram. Some also use the fishbone analysis to get to the root cause of positives that that they want to sustain. As the name indicates, a fishbone diagram resembles the shape of a fish. It is meant to guide you in understanding the factors behind an adverse incident. You know, like why are travel opportunities being abused. But given our penchant for half-baked accountability measures or solutions, rather than seek to get to the root cause, we jump straight to what we think is the solution.
If my memory serves me right, this is not the first time a travel freeze has been in place. The tyrant, Yahya Jammeh also tried it. They even made it so that one needed clearance before traveling. Obviously, their measures may have worked in the short term but here we are again, Barrow is doing what Jammeh did. But I guess when you surround yourself with Yahya Jammeh’s people, Jammeh’s half-baked solutions become your solutions too.
Alagie Saidy-Barrow
