Secretary of State For Foreign Affairs

Department of State For Foreign Affairs,

No 4 Marina Parade

Banjul

The Gambia

West Africa.

Ufs PSDOSFA.

        OPEN   LETTER TO  THE  CURRENT ARCHITECTS OF  PRESIDENT JAMMEH'S FOREIGN POLICY.



Mr Permanent secretary first of all let me reiterate that it is God's decision that brought you back so welcome through faith and wisdom. You are one of the old veterans and you are back. Life is nothing more than empty space that all actors and actresses use to make it what it is. Even the one who appoints permanent Secretaries and Secretaries of state will one day depart his office,for God has no friend when His time is up. Life could be colourless before people who have empty minds and barren hearts, likewise it could still be colourful  and sweet for rich minds and powerful thinkers. As the saying goes “History repeats itself”.  Likewise In trying to fill any existing vacuum or repair mishaps new faces are usually faced with endless challenges.Currently there are officials who are petrified while others are close to the what some call the seat of power. Sometimes working  towards bringing together lose canons and petrified professionals(who are currently serving) is a huge burden
 for anyone serving as a pivot in between those opposing forces.No person controls the future and the present it is only God who does so when serving fear God and no one else.  I would therefore adore the following thought ie "Working hard to leave one’s own good legacy is far much more better than leaning on another people’s legacy"



Please Sirs, allow me to advice you as a nephew,son,brother,uncle and a Gambian. Learn from the past. Do not hesitate to safe guard  all subregional and international relations at all cost. Serve the nation and then cordinate(where possible) with the  person who appointed you while serving under him. At the same time do not hesitate to rectify that person when mistakes happen or  the nation’s interest is at stake.  Also bear in mind that in any political field or episode there is bound to be tension.Usually there are those who “shatter” and those who “water” the flourishing plants of hope. Diplomats are there to stand on the high side therefore,make peace within an impartial perspective.Here is a short and simplistic philosophical springboard that helps a steady cause when one is  given a job to build ie: BUILD BRAKE BUILD.  I am sharing this with you because you have been challenged to serve your nation within a state that is facing so many crying faces and twisted fingers. A state
 is usually collective  and effective when governance's thirst is quenched by concensus. It could  also be paralysed by excessive paranoia and unecessary adverse effects if unilateralism is allowed to whip through whims and caprices from a small corner composed of few or one single mind. Always remember that,States come and go but the people stay. Remember that, you are still near fake or real human feelings because no society is immune to this natural phenomenon. Likewise also remember that you are constantly surrounded by the same or chronic local ideas. In some instances  you come across narrow or myopic feelings that are usually caused by over zealous and amibitious young or old amateurs, in this wild world of challenging international relations. When any feeling resists normalcy please do not hesitate to break that feeling with a merciful and respectful approach. At the same time build something to replace it  with matured methods and technics. Never hesitate to build a base
 that will help any negative thought rise up. Alongside help such minds see beyond the minute googles of Marina Parade, which usually stops within the horizons of our nearest  shores. Federico Mayor of UNESCO (Former DG) said:”War is made within the minds of human beings therefore it is within those very minds that war can also be eliminated”



I am no longer answerable to the hierarchy of the incumbent government however, I am still answerable to the family lineage and to the responsibility of seeing a better Gambia. Neither should any one read my letter and study its contents will a personal feeling or plunge into the person in Essa with readiness to shun without reasoning. Essa is a name and a being that some may like or totally dislike.What should guide a matured intellectual is reason not hidden pre-meditated rancour or competetive gymnastics based on verbous political talk. I am not the least near any culture thats meant to build a frivolous style thus make a cosmetic name in our wild political arena, home and abroad. Your Exellencies,that is absolutely  far from what my real feelings are! I am a son of this beloved country who wants  Dear Gambia to succeed. In the past I was assigned to act on the stage,I did and my perfomance shall be marked by life and time.My believe is that being an intellectual means how
 effective a person is capable of using intelligence.My gut feeling does not recognise full shelves and high marks from a teacher or lecturer when the one being given those marks uses repetetion not innovation. After memorising all those texts that have been shelved, one should not keep on spinning at a single spot like a huge wheel thats stuck in the mud.





I do not hate any person all I hate to see is a disintegrated Gambia because of greed and political fists of fury. Difference in political opinion causes either hazard or change.If the hazard stops at one person’s door to safe many then I am ready to host that hazard. We as the  sons and daughters who saw fathers,mothers, grand fathers and grand mothers fight to safe Africa from colonial domination should bear in mind that  freedom is meant to be conserved but not muddied. Please, let our collective wisdom and the strength of our matured difference help The Gambia  reach its destiny.If that happens and  its people can rejoice by receiving what they as critizens deserve, then happiness will ever be my guide even if I were to live abroad for the rest of my life. However, if failure covers the future of our country because of corruption and uncontrollable greed,negligence or any form of cosmetic class status, then sadness shall ever be my partner even if I were to live as a millionaire
 for the rest of life! Certainly so many Gambians in the diaspora are far from being part of any pan of craps that are suffering within. There is what people call the silent majority,beleive me Your Exellencies success does not lie on wishful thinking,it lies on courage,dedication and the golden rule of silence. The reason why the English carved this saying:"No news is good news" was accurate because good news is so normal that it should be part of our oxygen. Bad news spreads like wild fire because it cannot fit in the huge engine of normal life. When ever this government and Gambians in general rediscover the essence of concensus and the values in recognising merit and telling one another the real truth,God will certainly smile from the heavens in our favour. Truth is indeed not meant to be bargained,neither is freedom for sale or controlled by anyone on earth.



In that regard I think it is reasonable for Gambians in general  to bow down and stay away from absolute pessimism but never should we also believe that we are immune to social challenges as a country.If everyone is a gladiator at home,a fake heart in the street and a rat in the office then then the wheels will keep on spinning endlessly. For the time being,some of us are far away and being treated very well by life.That natural gift is what God has reserved for us therefore we are observing you very closely with keen interest. Time will help  us see the end result. Am no Machveli political animal,however,accepting the wise side of his teachings is not a bda idea either.He therefore said:"It is the end result that matters,not the process".Can we ever have any good results with a process that is full of miscalculations? Absolutely not! You are the new machine of Gambia’s diplomatic engine home and abroad. At the end truth will be there to welcome us the ones who were there before and
 you the ones running the show at the moment. Certainly any day of judgement leaves no stone unturned because God does not judge people's actions through what prohphets did.He judges everyone through his or her actions.The leading and the led are not free from God's scales when this era of Gambia's population is no more.

I am hopeful that those within the country will respect your wisdom and the wisdom of the constructive critics home and abroad thus help change our international gears to a more reasonable speed. Your duties are not for any party to use they are duties that should bear fruits which are to be used in a wise way thus feed all Gambians irrespective of one’s political affiliation or feelings. I might not have spoken in this impartial manner when I was growing through this current political field at an early stage,however,growth happens through mistakes and rectifications.No garden can be without weed,but no garden can survive if the weed is left within to destroy the crops. Our mistakes are the grass and the rectifications are the hoes or spades. My only fear is that we have some within the leading elite now who think that once at the top,mistakes are not for them. Thats the danger we should avoid because facing the Gambians with tearful faces apologising at one's own free will is much
 better than apologising them when one is shackled of buried with a bloody will.

Power belongs to the people so power is too big to be put in pockets or kept under one tongue.



Had it not been that you did reserve some past professional achievements, The president would not have hired your services because there is always a long line of blind loyalists behind him being the one hiring. Therefore your talents and education are the assets God  helped you achieve a couple of years back,when most of us were kids at school. Use those talents to help Gambia climb the ladder please. Do not ever think of using them to help yourselves or someone else’s personal interest climb above Gambia’s.



Some development partners and good friends of the The Gambia are still left on the periphery because of harsh remarks and picky diplomatic styles stemming from  the past. No regime is immune to mistakes but leaving them frozen for a long time may cause uncontrollable avalanches and that is not what we need in this wild world of today. There are Gambians who are on asylum, others are loitering as hustlers in the wilderness because feasts of fury were being smeared with bad blood. I am not the least ready to try exempting myself from the past history of this very regime because I was part and parcel of it. At the same time whispers and excessive tensions between the state  and our people are still tearing relations  within Small Gambia at an alarming rate,this has to stop forthwith if we need God's mercy in our land.

Even the Prophet of Islam was one time an asylee,a traveler and a trader and many other great men  and women before our time came. Therefore your attempt to reach out and consult with Gambians in the diaspora could help steer the wheel towards wisdom. Our land needs to knit relations and help save our future from the Chinese proverb of Kungfu experts: REVENGE IS SWEET. Where a country’s future is at stake because of hatred,negligence,corruption and endless internal killer tactics,I believe Revenge may not be sweet if started. So let us think about the bitter part of any fermented revenge as at now thus help melt it before any devil blows its trumpet.

Now the ball is in your court to help  sell The Gambia within and without. If the latter fails then history’s slate is still not full. More can be recorded for our future generations to see. As I am writing with conviction and responsibility towards my country please  keep this very copy for the records.



Yours Sincerely,

Essa Bokarr Sey.







My intension is not to create a debate on this contents of this letter,I was only sending an opinion for the records because our country is thirsty,it needs ideas to quench that thirst. That being the case at the end of this letter, I will continue working on the community development projects I have been assigned to handle else therefore, keep on watching as events unfold in our beloved country.

Please accept the assurances of my highest regards as a concerned citizen of The Gambia.















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