By Madi Jobarteh
At the end of the day, the issue is about 12 million dalasi handled in a manner that is not ethical and lawful. It is about how the sweat and names of hardworking ordinary workers were used to obtain illegitimate wealth. Thus, regardless of what the law says, it comes down to who is doing what they are aiding or inhibiting the process of getting back these 12 million dalasi and punishing whoever is responsible.
In a normal country, citizens would have stormed KMC to demand accountability. They would have confronted the Mayor for how such gross misconduct could happen under his watch! In fact, in a normal country the CEO would have been arrested first, even if she would be released on bail so that investigations kick off to set the stage for prosecution. One cannot be responsible for the misappropriation of 12 million dalasi or 240,000 US dollars of public funds yet you are freely relaxing at home.
But in the Gambia, not only is the CEO allowed to go home with 12 million dalasi hanging over her head, but a State Minister would have the audacity to deploy armed police to escort back that CEO into the same office against the decision of the elected governors of that institution. Can there be a greater insult against the residents of KMC and all Gambians!
But this is all happening because this country has never been serious with itself. One needs to look at how we conducted ourselves since 2017 to realise that we are not ready for prime time, as my dear brother Salieu Taal would say! A State and society that condone, defend, protect and celebrate corruption and the corrupt is not a serious society.
The fingers on one’s hands are not enough to count all the many instances of corruption that have been uncovered in this country since 2017. Where is the audit report of 7 SOEs which exposed massive corruption in public enterprises? If you look at each and every contract of this Government, the prominent feature about them is bribery and corruption – Banjul road project, Semlex, EU fishing contract, the fishing agreement with Senegal not to mention the many stories of corruption reported in the media that the Government could never refute.
For example, Gainako reported the dubious police contract about number plates, while Malagen had reported multiple stories covering the mismanagement of COVID funds, as well as bribery cases in the fisheries and extractive industries sectors. Furthermore, Gambia Participates exposed the plunder of COVID millions which are still unaccounted for. In fact, the Minister of Health had stood on the floor of the National Assembly to expose corruption in his Ministry. Yet until today, Pres. Barrow, nor any other public institution has caused the arrest and prosecution of anyone for corruption in a country which has been rated as a highly corrupt society.
No one needs to do any investigation to establish the fact that corruption is the cause of the poverty and underdevelopment of this country. One only needs to look at the national budget which continues to rise in billions annually, yet poverty, deprivation and high cost of living also continues to rise. As the national budget increases year after year, we also see how the Government demands more funds through supplementary appropriation bills year after year. Furthermore, despite the high rate of taxes and loans that are imposed on citizens, basic social services are erratic, poor, expensive and not available to the majority of citizens. Therefore, where does the taxes and loans go to, including the huge amount of grants this country receives all the time?
Look at the terrible roads in every village, town and city in this country. Look at the public health facilities from ESFTH to Fatoto health centre, where basic tools like gloves are in short supply. Look at public schools and the general poor state of all public facilities and how dilapidated and wretched they are. Yet taxes, like loans and grants, are always so high. Where is the money? Still, ask yourself if the cost of living is reducing or getting unbearable daily?
Meantime, we continue to realise high expenditure on incentives such as cars, travels, per diems, presidential tours and general fanfare as hundreds of people are transported to State House for meaningless meetings that only consume more public resources. So, while we can sit here debating about who has which power in the law to suspend the CEO or not, don’t forget that 12 million dalasi is messed up!
Corruption is the cancer killing this country and we have a Government that is not only corrupt to the core, but it is not interested nor committed to combating corruption. There is absolutely no political will to fight corruption. This is why this Government is consistently ready to block individuals and frustrate any effort to fight corruption. If it is not protecting individuals who are corrupt, rest assured it is preventing those fighting to stamp out corruption.
This is what Minister Musa Drammeh is doing at KMC. He is frustrating the KMC from combating corruption while protecting those accused of corruption. It is like how Adama Barrow removed Muhammad Manjang from SSHFC just to allow corruption to flourish. It is how they have now forgotten the case of Fisheries PS Bamba Banja just as how they have manipulated investigations about gun importations and the fertilizer scandals just to cover up corruption.
Citizens must rise up in a massive series of protests from Banjul to Basse otherwise this country is being led to its grave by its political leaders in the Executive and the Legislature.
For The Gambia Our Homeland
