By Alagie Manneh
The leader of the Youth for Change, Alagie Mamadi Kurang has said there could be a possible duplication of responsibilities in President Barrow’s new cabinet appointed on Wednesday.
Speaking to The Standard yesterday, the former presidential aspirant said the ‘bloated’ nature of the new cabinet could lead to “administrative bottlenecks”.
“We have to see how the creation of new ministries work out. The example is a public service ministry. We need to see how this role is different from the role of the secretary general which is the traditional head of civil service. Unless we see the details of the segregation of duties, the Secretary General’s role may not be the same again, because duplication of duties can become an administrative bottleneck,” he observed.
However, he said the de-coupling of the information and communications ministry might be a good move.
“We are now in an information age, therefore, we must adjust. But again, it’s a wait and see game to find out how the details work,” he said.
Kurang further indicated that women representation in the new cabinet could have been better. “I wish they could have more women in the cabinet, but then the President knows better why he decided that way.”
Generally, Mr Kurang said the President appeared to have made efforts for a balanced cabinet, “in terms of expertise and diversity, however in a number of cases the cabinet members had little or no previous experiences in those sectors and that can be a problem as they learn on the job.
“Finally, in an executive presidency, a cabinet is only as good as the president. He is the head if the fish, and the head of the fish determines the condition of the fish. In short, the buck stops with him. Therefore, Gambians still hold Adama Barrow responsible for the economy, the standard of living in the country, the management of our resources, national security, and the level of corruption,” Kurang noted.
