YANKUBA REBUTS JUWARA’S CLAIMS Written by Pa Malick Faye Monday, 09 January 2006 Yankuba Touray, the Secretary of State for Agriculture and APRC national mobiliser, has described comments made by Waa Juwara against him, President Jammeh and the APRC, as baseless and out of context.
In a recent press interview with a local newspaper, Waa Juwara condemned the re-appointment of SoS Touray, saying that Touray was ineligible for a public office, as he had been indicted by the Paul Commission.
Juwara maintained that Vision 2020 was put in place to enrich President Jammeh and his cronies and make Gambians poorer. He added that the Jammeh administration is swindling farmers by engaging in credit buying of groundnuts.
In a strong rebuttal, SoS Touray said that he had not been indicted by the Paul Commission as the process was yet to end.
According to him, the Commission’s powers stopped at reccommendation and it was the President who had the constititional powers to accept or reject the recommendations of the Commission and unless that was done the process was not yet over. “I refer him to the relevent sections of the Constitution,” he said.
He said: “If Waa had really followed the proceedings of the Commission, he would have known that I fully cooperated with it and in the final analysis I was not accused of embezzling or mismanaging a butut from the public funds. I can stand high and say the Commission did not find me guilty of mismanagement or abuse of office for personal ends. I declared all my assets and those of my wife, as demanded by the Commission and there is no document I and my wife failed to produce to back our testimonies. I made available to the Commission my wife and she too provided valid documents to back her hard-earned assets and there is nothing we were asked to produce that we did not. I challenge Juwara to say whether I have been found culpable by the Commission, and let him provide evidence.”
Touray explained: “All what the Commission is asking me to pay for, were the assets of my wife which were legally acquired. Ironic, isnt it? Everyone who knows my wife knows that she is deeply engaged in business in and outside the country and all the loans she acquired to kickstart her business. Evidence to that effect was laid before the Commission and I am proud to say that there was nothing we had that we did not declare.”
He added that throughout his ten-year service in government, the only property he has is his Kotu compound which was allocated to him in 2001 by the government and was built by a loan from home finance company. “Presently, that compound is under mortgage until I finish the payment of the loan in a decade’s time. I have managed projects, especially during the transition, worth millions of dollars and no one can point fingers at me and say a butut went missing or was mismanaged. As a public officer, I am mindful of my responsibilities and that’s why I am where I am today,” he said.
On his removal from government earlier, he said there was a plot by certain individuals in governmernt to distance him from the leadership. He said: “I was accused of a number of things and upon investigation the truth was known and they {the plotters} suffer the consequences of their evil deeds. It is Juwara who cannot hold a public office, as he has been convicted by a court of law for six months. Therefore, in term of decency, I am not his match. Let Juwara engage himself in making responsible and substantial political remarks. I once again challenge Juwara to come up with evidence.”
Farmers plight
Touray asserted that Juwara’s claim that the government is swindling farmers by engaging in credit buying of groundnuts as untrue. “It is disheartening to hear the likes of Juwara talking about farmers plight when he was part of a regime that plunged the agricultural sector into chaos as a result of their failed privatisation of the GPMB,” he said.
He added that there was credit buying in the days of the PPP regime and in any business such things were unavoidable.
But he was quick to add that this year’s trade season is progressing well, compared to the previous years, and that it is private sector activity. “The buying of nuts is not government’s responsibility as it is more of a regulatory body. In fact, government is now working on a lasting solution to the problems of marketing agricultural produce, particularly groundnut.Waa cannot pretend to be ignorant of the fact that the farmers are on top of the government’s agenda. We are not the government that goes to the extent of uprooting houses of poor farmers because of loans. Instead President Jammeh is giving them a lot of facilities free of charge,” he said.
Oil discovery
According to him, President Jammeh is fulfilling the promise he made on the discovery of oil by putting in mechanism to have The Gambia benefit from the resources to avoid a replica of the situation in most oil-producing countries on the continent, where it has become more of a curse than a blessing to its people.
He added that progress had been made towards the drilling of the oil, citing the recently signed agreement between goverment and a Canadian firm for exploration.
“Waa should understand that the President is on track on the oil issue and that there are processes before oil is drilled and this is what the President is doing. Discovering oil and realising its benefits is not a one time event.”
On Vision 2020, SoS Touray said: “In contrast to what Juwara is saying, Vision 2020 is for the advancement of all Gambians as it is all about making the country a better place for all.”
Last Updated ( Monday, 09 January 2006 ) < Prev Next > More...
Latriya Medical Post receives donation
Kunkujang Keitaya gets football field
NAM urges Ecowas protocols implementation
Kayai Island dispute resolved
Dr Touray calls for anti-bird flu measures
Farmers urged to strive for food self-sufficiency
Immigration department gets inspectory machine
BLBS gets poultry farm
Shell marketing donates sporting gears to police
CUSTOMS HITS D130M JACKPOT
AMRC boss explains lack of Tobaski loan
...list of all related contents...
Select Home News Editorial Essay Religion Opinion Bantaba Sports Entertainment Classifieds
Observer.gm Homepage
Make Observer.gm Homepage | Bookmark this Page
Observer Company | Contact us | Jobs & Careers | FAQs | Help & Info
Site map | [log in to unmask] | Advertise with us
Privacy Statement | Terms of Use
© 2005 Observer Company Ltd.
All Rights Reserved
Powered and Administered by: elfasoft
---------------------------------
To help you stay safe and secure online, we've developed the all new Yahoo! Security Centre.
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
|
