Dear Editor,
Have you heard about the disease which is about to kill the career of hundreds of students who graduated from The Gambia College? I guess not.
But who in this country haven’t heard about this? Who haven’t heard from newspapers and other media, from students, teachers or even the desperate street thugs?
It’s a pity that a nation will make promise to its citizens and shatter the promise without care or remorse. Would you believe that a captain will sail down the river with his crew and later sink the boat expecting to escape the danger? Well, that defines this situation. The Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education has woefully failed the students of Gambia College thereby exposing its dishonesty and disloyalty to the country as a whole.
This started in late 2021 when the college students secured scholarships from the ministry for their three-year training at the institution. The agreement was sealed and the students told their families of the blessing. At the end of the term, I would see my friends standing by the accounts office paying huge sums of money as tuition fee and I’d raise my hands towards the sky and thank Allah for making me lucky to be a MoBSE sponsor. But were the dues paid? Then I didn’t know. No MoBSE sponsor knew.
But as the saying goes, nothing stays hidden under the sun. I was in for a surprise. What can one expect from a country which depends on foreign aid and loans and where corruption and embezzlement of funds is rampant?
When the exams were over in late 2024, students were told to go secure their attestations but the MoBSE sponsors were not given their attestations and were told that the ministry had not been paying the fees for the whole three years, and that anyone who hadn’t completed the payment won’t access the attestation and transcripts. For months now, many are still struggling to pay while other students have secured their attestation are in the fields teaching.
MoBSE has committed a crime. Many of the students might not be able to ever pay their fees and might be unemployed. What I can’t understand is why they took the trust of people and burnt them to ashes?
Nothing seems to be done about the matter and every day the college is full of these students hoping to get their attestations and transcripts. The question is: when will MoBSE pay? When? May Allah bless us all.
Muhammed Korta
Teacher
Re: NAMs to get D81.8M in allowances in 2025
Dear Editor,
It’s deeply disheartening and unfair that in a country like The Gambia, where many people struggle daily to make ends meet, our National Assembly Members have allocated such an exorbitant amount — D81,840,000 — for their personal allowances. This reflects a gross misplacement of priorities in a nation where the majority live in poverty and lack access to basic necessities. Parliamentarians are elected to serve the people, not to enrich themselves at the expense of public funds. This misuse of resources highlights the growing disconnect between our leaders and the realities faced by the citizens they represent.
Instead of focusing on their own comfort, these funds could have been directed toward initiatives that alleviate poverty, improve healthcare, invest in education, and create job opportunities. The Gambia deserves leadership that prioritises the welfare of its people, not some self-serving agenda. It’s time for accountability and a re-evaluation of how public funds are allocated. Until this changes, the struggles of ordinary Gambians will continue to fall on deaf ears. May Allah salvage The Gambia.
Muhammed Baji
Serekunda
Happy New Year!
Dear Editor,
One very noticeable lapse in The Gambia is the disconnect between the government and the people. The Government of The Gambia does not represent the political and economic development interests of Gambian people. The Government of The Gambia is living in a parallel universe from the Gambian people. The Gambia can best be described as an organised chaos. Everything and everyone is desperately frantic to make the next dalasi to survive. The government has a hands-free relationship with the people – let them fend for themselves. There’s no coherent policy deliberation in government to turn the organised chaotic Gambia into a more organised society of people enjoying political and economic development freedoms. Everyone is in a frenzy in The Gambia; the desperate rush for the next dalasi. The people are nice though, very nice but it’s hopeless and desperate for so many in so small a country. There’s no connection between The Gambia Government and the Gambian people. If only ordinary Gambians could realise that their chaotic political and economic lives will only be organised and developed through politics if there’s an established connection between The Gambia Government and the Gambian people. The Government of The Gambia is obliged to develop policies that will connect the Gambian people through politics to their government. The role and responsibilities of the government of any country is invaluable to the political and economic development of its people. A hands-free government totally disconnects from its people is the organised chaos called The Gambia.
Until a responsible government and responsible policies are developed in government to connect the Gambian people and their government, the desperate rush for the next dalasi in the organised chaos called The Gambia will only get meaner and more unkind. Our society is breaking down at the seams due to the discontent between The Gambia Government and the Gambian people. The hopeless situation is made more desperate by the lack of political policy vision for change from the opposition. President Barrow is totally hopeless and The Gambia needs change.
Yusupha ‘Major’ Bojang
Brikama
