Dear Editor,

What’s happening at the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare?

Well, is the ministry of Health and Social Welfare in a limbo to absorb the human resources needed for the service delivery for a better health care for our people? It is almost six months since graduates from the School of Community Health Nursing, School of Public Health and School of Registered Nursing and Midwifery cannot be employed by the ministry which has vowed to deliver better health care to the door steps of every Gambian.

I wonder what the authorities are doing to resolve this issue. The Ministry of Health & Social Welfare claimed to have a directive from the Personal Management Office (PMO) to not employ anyone until January 2018 due to overstaffing. As a matter of fact, the public facilities are in dare need for health workers ranging from nurses to public health officers in all the regions of the country.

As for my little knowledge about financial budgeting, their cannot be any employment for this graduates till January 2018 due to the fact that the budgeting for the next half of the year is said to be exhausted. 90% of this graduates are sponsored by the government and most of them have started applying for private sector employment which is a great loss to the government.

I wonder how the future of the graduates from this three health institutions will look like and how funds spent on them by the government will be wasted. Now is the time for a better decision to be made to avoid this situation. Better late than never, think about it!

From a Concerned Citizen.

The idea of a think tank emanates from the civil society where a group of professionals or experts would constitute themselves into an institute or an organization to engage in research and advocacy. Such research and advocacy are geared towards generating or focusing on ideas, knowledge, policy and development. Through studies or policy research or development evaluation, think tanks therefore identify new trends, highlight gaps and proffer solutions which are then used by governments, the private sector and indeed any other stakeholder to address challenges and grow. The United States is one country that has made great use of think tanks in building their country into one of the most advanced places on earth.

The Gambia National Think Tank (GNTT) is not a private or civil society initiative. Rather it is constituted by the government. In its membership, there are public servants as well as private individuals most of who have had longstanding engagement with the public sector in both the PPP and APRC administrations in various capacities. For example the GNTT Chair Sering Falu Njie once headed the National Planning Commission in 2008/2009 as well as headed the national initiative against poverty, SPACO in 2003 to 2007. Some had served as consultants for various public sector institutions under both the PPP and APRC regimes, while others were former ministers and senior public officeholders. Still others have been active in the private and civil society sectors locally and internationally. This means they have all been active with the Gambia even though we could not produce a free and developed society.

That notwithstanding, the members of the think tank are indeed well known and well qualified Gambian experts that can deliver. Their profiles tell us that there is no Gambian who knows the Gambia better or more than these people. Hence they cannot and must not fail the Gambia. They were there when the First Republic failed the people, and they were there when the Second Republic was being built into a regime of blood and tears for Gambians. Therefore Sering Falu Njie and his fellow think tankers must know that Gambians also know them and we are watching.

It is important to note that the 19-member group has only four women and one youth, with no professionals from the academia, media, clergy, NGO and farming communities. The terms of reference of the think tank appear not being public yet. But citizens do need to know the terms of GNTT in order to empower the people to know how and on what issues to engage GNTT and above all to hold the think tank to account. In the launching speeches and messages reference was consistently made to national development and good governance. But what do they mean?

In light of the above and knowing from where the Gambia has come, it is an understatement to say that this think tank has a huge job on their hands. Not just professionally, but also politically and morally. The making or the breaking of the Gambia has now been placed squarely on the head of Falu Njie and his colleagues. Therefore as adult Gambians who have seen and engaged in the yester years of the Gambia, they have no excuse for not providing the necessary, urgent and unpleasant advice that this country needs. This is a huge opportunity placed on their hands. It is a personal issue as well because they now have the chance to either repair their own individual shortcomings or excesses, if any they have caused the Gambia in the past or make that contribution they could not have been able to do before. Will they live up to expectation? That is the question.

In my view the think tank must dedicate itself to the reconstruction of our statecraft into a modern democratic dispensation. The Barrow Administration is a transitional instrument hence it cannot hope to fix all of the myriad social, economic and political challenges the Gambia faces. This administration has taken over from a 22 year regime which practically either undermined or weakened or dismantled each and every national institution hence the broken system we have now. No Gambian must honestly therefore expect that water and electricity supply could be fixed in just three years. No Gambian must think that farmers’ plight could be addressed within three years. No Gambian must think that Barrow can make the prisons top standard immediately or solve waste collection or fix all the roads in Banjul right now.

Hence this think tank must think deeply to advise Barrow realistically on what he must focus on and how. It must identify what needs to change and when. This is why I think the best thing this think tank can do is to review our entire legal, policy and institutional environment in terms of the very structure, function and management of the state in order to ensure good governance and sustainable development. In other words, GNTT must be the vehicle for bringing about system change that the country badly needs if it is to survive well into the future.

For example, in terms of agriculture, we must bear in mind that since independence the Gambia has been unable to ensure food security and food self-sufficiency. Meantime we had the most intellectuals within the Ministry of Agriculture for decades. They had multiple projects and millions of dollars of funding. Yet since the First Republic, the Gambia imports more food than we produce despite the fact that we have a largely flat and fertile land with incredible amount of water as rain, underground water and River Gambia with adequate labour. Therefore why was it that we could not feed ourselves? This answer lies nowhere but in the kind of policies, laws, personnel and institutions and the kind of political leadership we always had since independence. Just as it is in agriculture, one can find the same explanation for the poor performance in sports, education, community development or energy among other sectors. They all reflect that there was something fundamentally wrong with our state system for which we could not just deliver as we should despite the presence of all the necessary resources.

This means therefore that GNTT must be able to identify our challenges as a nation and offer policy solutions. The think tank must realize that it is not the government and it has not partisan political base or objectives. Hence its role must be to offer policy ideas to restructure our management, governance and development systems in terms of ideas, tools, laws and institutions. Policy is a roadmap that leads to a destination. Hence I do not expect the GNTT and Barrow will take the Gambia to its rightful destination or develop this country within three years. Rather I expect that they must establish the right roadmap so that future governments would find in place a structure or system that if they follow will get the country to that desired destination. This, I think should be the fundamental role and contribution of the think tank.

In this regard, it is important that the think tank understand the state of affairs in the country and the expectations of the masses. They must exercise clear genuineness and commitment to the country. They must realize that they are not a political action group for Barrow or any other party or individual. They must guard their integrity, independence and credibility and understand that they are now the crafters of a new Gambia. This means the think tank must be ready to produce the right ideas and policies even if unpleasant. They must be prepared to stand their ground against any attempts by Barrow and the government to coerce or compromise them into political expediency in any form. To protect their credibility, the think tank must therefore share its finalized policy solutions and ideas with the general public knowing that ultimately their legitimacy comes from the people of the Gambia.

Similarly Barrow and his government must demonstrate to Gambians that they did not form this think tank only for selfish political reasons. They must realize that this think tank is not for the purpose of political expediency intended to secure their future political objectives. Barrow must demonstrate to us that he conceived this think tank out of a deep and genuine concern to build a new Gambia never seen before since independence. This means Barrow must be honest and fair to the think tank to give them the necessary space, resources and respect to do their job. He must be prepared to receive their solutions and demonstrate political will and commitment to implement those solutions. Where he cannot implement any solution he must tell us publicly what are his reasons. He must not allow the government to spend resources on such an initiative only to ignore the product of that initiative.

Finally Gambians deserve to know the structure, functions, powers and focus areas of the think tank. The think tank must inform citizens about how to access them. They must create a platform to engage citizens in order to obtain necessary data and ideas. Therefore we expect GNTT to create a website and social media platforms as well as engage in community meetings, organize policy forums and create other places of interactions so that Gambians can share their views and desires for a new Gambia. The business of building the Gambia is the responsibility of all citizens. The good thing about such initiatives is that they create the avenues to have a conversation with all stakeholders. Thus the think tank is an opportunity available to all citizens to contribute their quota to national development. Hence let the think tank open up to the people immediately so that the conversations can start.

Kudos to the Barrow Administration! Good luck to GNTT!!

God Bless the Gambia.

Dear Editor,

My colleagues and I have been working for Africell (call center) for many years before being it was outsourced to 24/7 Call center. We first went on a 6 months’ probation with them. After the 6 months, we were offered very rediculous contracts. The contract was so bad that we were never given the time to read the full contract nor givena copy of it. We were told to either sign or leave. We had no option but to sign because we all know how hard it is to acquire a job.

On December 1, 2014, we were given our confirmation letters as full time staff for the 24/7 Call Center. (See copy of it attached, the name is sealed to hide the identity). We have been working as staff since then.

On 12th June, 2017, to our total dismay we were given another contract paper to sign which we could not understand why we should sign a contract when we are already confirmed as staff of the company. The funniest thing is the contract is dated January 1, 2017, which we were never informed about.

So as thing are we want the relevant Authorities to help us address or answer the following because when we tried to ask them to address some of our concerns they said we either sign or failure to do so means we reject it meaning we’ve lost our jobs.

1. Is there anywhere in our Labour Laws that says after employees are hired they can sign a temporary contract. Because according to the new contract we are now on temporary employment (See copy of the contract too)

2. Can an employer put an employee on probation without their consent until the last month of the probation as it is in our case?

3. Is it possible to go on leave while on probation because since January 1, 2017, staff whose leave was due have been going on leave every 15 days of every month. As we are writing this piece some are still on leave and were called to come and sign their contracts.

4. We want to know who came up with this decision if it is Amie Singhateh Mbye, The Manager of 24/7 call centre who also doubles as the wife of Mr Badara Mbye MD Africell. What also doubt us is, they said the call center is outsourced but until now afrcell is paying our salaries and electricity bills of the complex, and even if a bulb is blown out, it is africell that will fixes it. Which makes the outsource issue questionable.

We put our concerns to you with the hope that someone out there will take a step to remedy the situation. We all voted for change with the believe that the new dispensation will help stop the injustices that we are facing at our work places.
We have suffered a lot at africell and nothing has ever been done about it.

Note: Whatever is written in this piece is nothing but the truth. We are fasting and will never write lies in this holy month of Ramadan.

And we will be coming up with more damning revelations about George Khairallah (one of the heartless Lebanese that is in charge of the call center) and Mr Badara Mbye for all the dirty business day are doing.

It has come to my knowledge that Toskani Pharma Company Gambia Ltd based in Brikama came to the Gambia almost ten years ago; [since September 2006] with the intention of investing in manufacturing of drugs for the health sector. They have established a factory in Brikama where samples of the drugs they wanted to deal in were produced. The samples were said to have been sent to Ministry of Health who sent them to Geneva for testing to ascertain their authenticity. The result was said to be positive, meaning the drugs are real and not fake drugs. The company was since then awaiting to be issued with a production and sales license to be fully operational.

This company on few occasions was given temporal license for production without sales license which means that they can only produce the drugs but can’t market them in the country. There is a chronic shortage of drugs in our health facilities which was inherited from the APRC regime of Yahya Jammeh. This could have been prevented and or addressed if the then regime which always claimed the health sector to be its top priority area assisted and encouraged Toskani Pharm Gambia Ltd fulfill all its set out criteria’s for production and marketing.

The company by now could have gone into the production of all the essential drugs required in our health facilities. Simple drugs like intra venous fluids such as Sodium Chloride injection, Ringers Lactate Solution for injection, 5% Dextrose injection etc which are used on most of the patients admitted in our health facilities would not have been imported into the country by now. The cost of most of the essential drugs could have been less and affordable by ordinary Gambians.

The Barrow coalition government should find out why this company could not take off ten years since its arrival into the country. Let them ascertain that there is no one or interest groups [especially those already engaged in pharmaceutical business in the country] trampling them underfoot for selfish interests at the expense of the masses.

By Abu Hamza

Dear All,

I know once again some of you would be asking the obvious question: ‘What on earth has
any toubab to do with our social problems?’ My answer is: A lot. What happens in Gambia
affects me, not only because globalization has compressed the world, but because I have
been a keen observer of Gambia’s socio-political development.

Tribalism was once an issue in Europe, leading to brutal wars among nations. But as soon
as Europeans realized that the issue of tribalism is eating away the very foundation of our
peace and democracy, we tried to bury it deep. So tribalism is not an African problem; but
Africa has chosen to make it a weapon to destruct one another.

Gambia has always been relatively peaceful, but undemocratic. However, with the
transition to a full democracy, a lot of Gambians have armed themselves with tribal
trademarks. What this does is to slow down the development process of the country, and
blind the people to not be able to speak truth to politicians. This is similar to the cultural
effects that produced Yahya Jammeh.

I strongly believe that the new government is not organized to support and favor only one
tribe; it aims to represent all tribes, no matter what happens in the last twenty-two years.

A long time ago we had tribalism here, too. People from the middle of Sweden were
treated better when compared to those from the south. If a boy from one village sneaked
out in the middle of the night to court a girl from another village he could even be caught
and killed by the young men from the girl’s village.

That was the tradition. Sweden wasn’t even one country at that time, it was split in several
smaller kingdoms and each of them had their own king. All these kings and their soldiers
fought for more power, more land and they married women to get more land and by that
more power. Marriage had nothing to do with love, only families who could become useful
to each other. When Sweden or Europe in general, realized that in order to develop as a
people they had to put away their tribal differences, then everyone became open to the idea
of cosmopolitanism. People became more open to exotic cultures by intermarrying. Today
there are thousands of mixed kids in Sweden whose mothers or fathers are Gambians. The
father of Sweden’s Minister of Culture and Democracy, Alice Bah Kuhnke, is a Gambian.

What does all this tell us: Gambians have to move on to decommission their mindsets. For
more than twenty years I have been observing Gambian politics, but never in the past

decades have we seen such a huge tribal commotion as we have seen in the past months
since Mr. Adama Barrow came to power. This is not the fault of the government. Gambians
have to choose what type of political culture they want to cultivate: a tribal one where
people are castigated for speaking truth to politicians or a rich political culture where
everyone’s opinion is equally respected? The earlier you decide, the better, because it is
2017, and the effects of globalization are rendering tribalism obsolete.

The purpose of this letter is not to tell Gambians to forget about their culture and tribes.
No! But people need to understand that time has changed and so has traditions. By that, I
mean keep what is good and forget the rest. Keep the myths, keep the pride, and keep your
language. Teach your children a sense of self respect but also respect for others. The rants
on Facebook and Whatssap are bad omens for a country of about two million.

To the young generation of Gambians (I called them the Facebook generation), I am
heading to my sixth decades on earth; so I am speaking from experience: tribalism doesn’t
get you anywhere. There is no Mandinka Gambia; no Fula Gambia; no Wollof Gambia; no
Serahuleh Gambia; no Jola Gambia; no Manjago Gambia; no Aku Gambia; and there is no
Serer Gambia. There is only one Gambia – a small oyster where all of you have to
accommodate each other.

Eid Mubarak! And my Salibo 

Pirjo Andersson

[email protected]

The Gambia is a land of Pristine beauty neatly carved into two for a zigzagging river pouring in crystal clear water from the Atlantic Ocean. Meanwhile, across London on a whirlwind Sunday afternoon with friends lazied up to “attaya” serving up ‘Eastern promises’, one was hardly, if at all, prepared for another stunning story concerning Gambia. But then again – It is Africa, and a region constantly unearthing great mineral discoveries where vested interest are found mingling under the radar dissing out dark money spinning in a conceitful motion.

As for the tiny West African state of The Gambia, a cloud of mystery still shroud the country’s oil industry with conspiracy theories dissipating sound discourse & reasoning. According to recent reports monitored on #FinancialTimes, two Gambian blocks combine for an estimated 1 billion barrels of unrisked oil and in close proximity to FAR’s SNE oil field offshore Senegal – considered the largest oil find ever made when announced in 2014.  For the record & clarity purposes – the oil blocks sold and being resold in Gambian waters are machinations orchestrated under the Jammeh regime. These were very bad deals the proceeds of which still remain mysterious, nor the whereabouts of mineral extractions in Gunjur, and Kartong and elsewhere in the country. It is extremely vital for government to revisit all exploitative deals signed under dictatorship – including oil and gas import license schemes designed behind closed door between Jammeh, Amadou Samba, Tajudeen, Bazzi, and their cohorts raking in millions. I understand the administration is looking to unpack such clog & monopoly within the business environment and to reissue import licenses where necessary – but the same criminals still occupy centre-stage in business-ville Mr Officer. We had also discussed the issue of rice importation and for natural-born Gambians to be awarded its import license, although no one in government is saying much on that topic: I repeat, the price of a bag of rice for the average Gambian is unacceptable, and rice importation must cease in a span of five (5) years. I, however, trust the Presidency through the Justice Ministry to take bold steps in redressing this anomaly given an issue of national interest concern.

Analysing African politics – one better expect-the-unexpected whenever there is a coming-together of money, and politics, and mineral resources esp. oil. Across the continent, the collision and sometimes collusion of special interest and big money has corrupted the political class in major ways. In almost every case-study on Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, DRC, and elsewhere, ordinary folks are being short-changed for dodgy-deals & Swiss-bank-accounts or much worst. And I wonder if history will prove pivotal for Gambia’s new leaders to escape that curse, and thrive.

The onus falls on government to reassure its citizens that the country’s natural resources are in good hands, and that ‘… all proceeds will be deposited in a sovereign Funds account at the Central Bank (Honourable Sallah, 2016).’ My take on the ‘oil thing’ is for its line ministry to conduct an extensive audit of every drip of oil and contractual obligation sold under dictatorial rule for the perusal of Cabinet and Parliamentary review respectively. And in an era of constant news flow & information swirling on the worldwide web, our smartphones, the papers and social media, it would be wise for the oil ministry to call a press conference & shed light on the issue. Honourable Baa Tambedou earned such credibility and trust simply by informing and updating the Gambian people what the Justice ministry was up to. Simple truth delivered in plain language. The monthly press conference announced by the Information Minister, on the side-lines of weekly briefings by the State House Press Team is a welcome boost in media-relations, for accountability, and for democracy.

For the Gambia Bureau of Statistics GBoS, Parliament should look to grant the agency autonomous status in furtherance of its credible measuring remit. GBoS should be expertly and strategically staffed having capacity to showcase The Gambia’s socio-economic realities, and potential thereby forecasting economic trends & Africa-wide projections. This is necessary for two reasons: First, it will ensure credible data access for media practitioners, academia, the government and its development partner institutions. Secondly, it helps postulate credibility within the system serving as reference point with readily accessible data bank and estimates to foreign investors seeking a look-in. On a look-up on the agency, I am however impressed by its recent findings & work within the beltway & contributions in the overall direction of statecraft. If one may withdraw the obsolete word used to described GBoS last year, but the management very well know internal changes and better produced results are expected of them. Being constituted by an act of parliament is no mean feat. Its equivalent in the United Kingdom is the Institute of Fiscal Studies. As custodians of national statistics, macro-economic and budgetary allocations are dependent on your projections. In the case of The Gambia diaspora, this constituency abroad continues to add to the economy in profound remittances sic than one. But we could do more, and should do more invest within our communities because – Home is where the heart is.

P.S. – In the coming days – I intend to take a critical look at ways in reshaping Gambia’s foreign policy through various lenses and methodologies; and the ethical dimension to it.

For measure – amidst the crisis engulfing perennial partners in the Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC) in recent weeks – huge credit goes to the President and Foreign Minister Darboe in siding with Qatar against Saudi’s uncompromising demands. Surprisingly, Senegal chose to ally with Riyad for monetary favour raising questions about ethics. So, anyone peddling fiction that Senegal controls Gambia, that is your answer – History shall show Banjul took the right policy decision – stood neutral.

Gibril Saine, LONDON

Waqtu Ala! Waatoo Te Jee! Wahtu Amut!

I have repeatedly written about these things, but I will not tire of doing so until I see tangible steps. For twenty two long years we waited to offer our little advice in the way we are governed and did not have the opportunity. Thus you can understand the zeal and enthusiasm some of us feel to have the right, ability, and courage to put pen on paper and give our unsolicited advice and suggestion. So bear with us!

When on December 1 2016, the results showed that you had been elected into office, we were overjoyed. We were full of hope. We were full of enthusiasm and thought: Here comes the chance for us to make rapid progress and be counted among the comity of nations! We prayed, sang, hoped and cried out of overflowing exuberance. Alas! Some people are beginning to lose that glimmer of hope.

Firstly, let me start with the issue of the Vice President. You appointed the good lady Madam Fatoumatta Jallow Tambajang and concerns were raised over her being over aged according to the Constitution. True to your nature of being a democrat, you rescinded the decision and appointed her as minister for Women’s Affairs and overseer of the Vice Presidency. This in itself was wrong because the vice presidency, being higher than the minister, it is hardly possible for her to oversee that position. But we bore it as we had seen that at least you are listening to the voices of the people. But then, on the 25^th of June when you addressed the religious elders, you referred to her as ‘my vice president’. This is somehow reneging on your own word.

The youth need jobs. We expected to have a plan to solve the unemployment problem. The youth need jobs to sustain themselves and feed their families. We expected that by now there would be a development blueprint which will map out ways of giving them jobs. We are waiting for this development blueprint, Mr President.

Then comes the issue of the Constitutional review – and this is somehow pertinent to the issue of the vice president – one would have thought that by now the Constitutional review would be in high gear and underway. But things are quiet. Or is it that something is happening that we do not know about? What is the problem? Why aren’t we hearing anything about that?

Then comes the issue of Term Limits. We want to hear a clear and unequivocal pronouncement on the issue of term limits. This is important because we know that many a time in Africa, leaders have been known to ‘wakh wakheet’ on this issue.

There was talk since the time of the campaign and even later, of a Think Tank. We waited eagerly for this, thinking that that is how we are going to get the ideas to transform Gambia into a modern, advanced and democratic country. When therefore we heard the announcement that it will start or will be launched on a particular Monday, we were elated. That Monday has come and gone; meanwhile, we are yet to see anything Think Tank.

I think one of the things that should be addressed with utmost urgency is the issue of Constitutional reform. Every other thing will gradually fall into place if that problem is addressed. It is the substratum of all actions of the government and the citizens. Please, do something about that!

Have a Good Day Mr President….

Tha Scribbler Bah

A Concerned Citizen