Mr.Jawo:

You are one honest person, and you have acurately identify the cancer that will kill
whatever good intention anybody has.

Musa Jeng

Joe Sambou wrote:

> D. A. Jawo, you're right on the money.  Who are we kidding, but our selves.
>
> Read on:
>
> The Cabinet Palaver Rages On
>
> The Independent (Banjul)
>
> COLUMN
> March 18, 2002
> Posted to the web March 18, 2002
>
> D.A. Jawo
> Banjul
>
> There is No More Miserable Human Being Than One in Whom Nothing is Habitual
> But Indecision - W. James
>
> It is now five months since President Jammeh was re-elected for a second
> term as head of state, (hopefully his last), and it is three months now
> since his flamboyant inauguration, and he has still not appointed a new
> cabinet, contrary to everyone's expectations. It seems to have gone against
> all the grains of people's expectations that it has now become the hottest
> topic of discussion in town.
>
> However, I am not quite sure that Section 71 (4) (a) that some people are
> quoting has really compelled the president to appoint a new cabinet after
> being sworn in. They seem to misinterpret that section, which simply says
> that "The office of secretary of state shall become vacant (a) on the
> assumption by a person of the office of president". As far as my limited
> knowledge of the law goes, the provision simply refers to a serving and not
> to the president - elect assuming office. Therefore, as far as I know, there
> is no specific provision in the 1997 Constitution, which compels the
> president to appoint a new cabinet on assuming office.
>
> Even though there may not exist such a provision in the constitution
> (apparently part of the deliberate omissions in the constitution), it is
> still the most logical thing everyone expects a president - elect to do
> immediately on assuming office. It does not really matter whether or not he
> would re-appoint the out-going cabinet members but people still expect him
> to form a new government.
>
> As it is often the case in a society like ours where there is very little
> flow of information between the government and the governed, there is
> certainly bound to be quite a lot of rumours and speculations as to what may
> be responsible for such an unconventional situation.
>
> Therefore, if the government is not prepared to involve the people in the
> decision making process, then the people themselves would reserve the right
> to give their own interpretations to the actions and omissions of the
> government.
>
> There are indications that the unprecedented delay in the appointment of a
> new cabinet is caused by President Jammeh's apparent inability to still
> determine whom to include in his new cabinet and whom to drop from among the
> out-going cabinet. There are rumours that the out-going vice president does
> not want to continue in the next cabinet and as a result, there is intense
> struggle among the anointed few as to who would succeed her. While everyone
> had assumed that the out-going secretary of state for Works, Communications
> and Information to be the 'national' successor to that position, there are
> rumours that someone else within the inner cabinet is tipped to be next vice
> president and that has engineered a lot of horse-trading within the 'kabudu'
> which may also be a factor in the delay of a new cabinet.
>
> However, it is also possible that the delay could have been caused by
> President Jammeh being bombarded by all sorts of lobbying from people who
> feel that both he and the APRC owe them a lot of obligations and they should
> be compensated to cabinet positions.
>
> There are also rumours that he has been presented with a long list of
> possible appointees by certain self-appointed king makers who want their own
> boy-boys and cronies to be appointed secretaries of state.
>
> It appears that President Jammeh is beginning to be confronted with the
> reality that it is not easy to run a government through the use of political
> patronage, as it seems to have been the practice in his administration.
> While he may be the richest head of state in the sub-region, he has to
> realise that the running of a government is much more than the frequent
> dishing out of money and material gifts as well as the distribution of
> public service positions to party loyalists and praise singers. Such a
> situation is not only expensive and unsustainable but there are not also
> enough public service positions to go round to all those who kow-tow after
> him. Therefore, the only reasonable thing to do is to appoint the right
> people in the right places, regardless of their political affiliation or
> social status.The frequent sacking of public service employees, apparently
> for being suspected of sympathising with the opposition is no doubt part of
> the scheme to create more jobs for the party loyalists and praise-singers.
>
> That in itself is not only unsustainable but is also having a negative
> impact on productivity within the public service. The situation is so bad
> that the public service is now less than half as productive as it had been
> before the coup in 1994. One possible reason for that is because most of the
> seasoned professionals within the public service have been replaced by
> mediocres whose most important qualifications had been their loyalty to
> President Jammeh and the APRC.
>
> While President Jammeh may have the best intentions for the progress of this
> country and the 'sky is the limit' for his intention to make this country
> into a model in Africa, but unless he gets the right calibre of people to
> man the various sectors of his administration and help him implement his
> Vision 2020 dream, he cannot make a headway. Therefore, it is time that he
> realised the futility of encouraging political patronage and instead start
> to encourage every well meaning Gambian with the necessary talents and
> skills to participate in nation building, regardless of their political
> inclinations. He should therefore disregard all the bad advices he had been
> receiving from his praise-singers and cronies, most of whom are only
> interested in their own personal aggrandizement.
>
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