Alagi Yorro Jallow
Mamudu: President Barrow should be reminded, and his administration of the many frailties Gambians fought for in the past in a bid to ensure that the Gambia progress past the ugly chapters of yesteryears that brought us too much heartache, chaos and despair. Gambians cannot in good faith encourage the office of the First lady and her foundation, Fatoumatta Bah Barrow FaBB Foundation to go around the world pleading for aid for her foundation, especially when her husband, President Adama Barrow and his senior government officials have been reluctant to exhibit transparency and accountability regarding government expenditures and paying a deaf ear to numerous calls to declare their assets.
Mamudu: Wives of presidents should just stay home, bake cookies, have English tea in small cups and saucers with their friends, and get babies, or whatever it is that wives of rich men do. But coming to tell electorates about healthcare, women’s empowerment, youth development and environmental programs when their husbands are stealing from hardworking women and youth who pay taxes, is just unacceptable and annoying. Middle class elites and low class of men and women taxes pay for those exuberant and flamboyant ceremonies with the flowers, and fancy tents, and the security that follows First Ladies around making sure they are not poisoned and that they have a clean loo. So, let president’s ‘ wives go visit Sheryl Sandberg and lean into something.
Report suggest that the Fatoumatta Bah Barrow FaBB Foundation didn’t know how the ($ 750,000) 33 million Dalasis from a Chinese investor was deposited into the account of the FaBB Foundation. Reports advanced that the First Lady is one of two people who ostensibly signed for the money to be removed from her FaBB foundation account to charter a flight, which never happened.
Chairperson of the Foundation one Fatou Ceesay immediately claimed ignorance of who deposited the money and for what purpose the 33 million Dalasis ($750,000) was meant for. Further inquiries by the online press further revealed that when the monies were deposited at the Guaranty Bank, the amount was transferred to an account operated by White Airways, a Portuguese charter airline company but was returned soon thereafter to the Foundations account with the Guaranty Trust Bank in Banjul.
In the current budget, there is an uncommon appropriation of over 370,000 Dalasis for the First Lady’s office which has been approved by the ‘tyranny of numbers’ of the Tactical Alliance dominated National Assembly members. The voters feel that should be enough to undertake projects the First Lady holds to her heart in one budget year, especially for a government preaching a pro-poor agenda. While Gambians appreciate the First Lady’s desire to help those in need, the Gambia’s history and current predicament and reluctance toward transparency and accountability forces Gambians to demand thorough scrutiny.
Mamudu: The amount of ($750,000)33 million Dalasis is still unaccounted for, the electorates are asking, where’s the money? Who transferred and for what purpose? The case of a mysterious bank transaction amounting to ($ 750,000) 33 million Dalasis that originated from Hong Kong through the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Chinese to Guaranty Trust Bank, London Branch to Novo Banko in Lisbon before being deposited into the account of the First Lady’s Fatoumata Bah Barrow’s Foundation (FaBB) at the Guaranty Trust Bank in Banjul. This transaction has since raised more questions than the officials of the Foundations can provide answers to an increasingly frustrated public that should be a cause for concern, not only to Gambia’s First Lady and officials of the FaBB but to the Barrow government.
Mamudu: This is where our problem lies in the Gambia’s current First Lady’s Foundation, the first in a long time, trying to start a foundation after the election of her husband as President. It becomes very rare for leaders and their families to start up foundations while in office for the obvious reasons that it draws unnecessary attention and scrutiny. Closer to home, our neighbors Senegal is a clear example of how ruling families can easily run into trouble – even if on the surface they aim to do well under the guise of private foundations. This has been a trend for decades. Leaders and rulers have found themselves running into trouble either while in office or after they leave. Businesses looking to gain access to the Presidency use family’s crony business activities and family foundations to cut bureaucratic red tapes.
Evidence has shown that many of those who played by those rules of bribery, corruption and racketeering returned the favor with kickbacks and tribute payments, under the guise of charitable donations to foundations overseen by family. The foundations were in effect, a personal piggy bank for presidents and donating millions to them, making the scheme a major part of the cost of doing business in the country. It is no secret that the Gambian people have been bombarded with allegations and reports that Yahya Jammeh led government was siphoning funds through the Jammeh Foundation.
