The Minister of Health and Human Services of the US Tom Price has just resigned. He resigned because of an outcry at the huge cost of his travels and the mode of travel. He prefers chartered flights or military transport. Within 5 months he incurred 1 million US dollars to the American taxpayer.
A public and media outcry forced him to first pay back about 50 thousand dollars. But this did not abate things and with intense outcry he finally resigned today. More ministers are also under fire for their expensive travels.
This case mirrors our Gambian situation where not only has there been many travels with incredibly large delegates but also our senior government officials travel on business class. This kind of attitude is no different from the US scenario as it reflects in both cases how public officials waste public resources through expensive travels. If Americans could cry foul to not only force Tom Price to pay back some of that money but also going further to force him to resign, surely Gambians must not also sit still while millions of dalasi are wasted in unnecessary and futile travels!
Therefore Barrow must put an embargo on travels for 3 months and a permanent embargo on business class!!! If such expensive travels are not good for America certainly they cannot be good for The Gambia.
Let us use our ambassadors to represent the country in many of these meetings or simply forego many of these inconsequential conferences.
Let these travel monies go to our public health facilities and public schools and cleansing services or provide more resources to the police to be more efficient and less inconveniencing.
Finally apart from the treaties Barrow signed in New York what bilateral meetings with fellow heads of state did he have? Citizens have a right to know!
God Bless The Gambia
