May Allah (SWT) grant him eternal peace. Amen!
Bailo
Malanding Jaiteh <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
FYI
Courtesy of
http://www.thegambiajournal.com/artman/publish/article_1533.shtml
Malanding
MOMODOU LAMIN SANNEH : A LIFE OF SPECTACULAR ACCOMPLISHMENTS.
By KABBA M.O. NYANGADO
Dec 10, 2007, 03:36
When I learned about the demise of Lamin Sanneh, my heart sank to the
lowest depth of despondence in inverse proportionality to the numbness
of my spirits. The incredible sorrow and unfathomable sadness
concomitant with Lamin's departure can only be understood , if one has a
modicum of insight into the life of this man, husband, father and public
figure.
Born in Brikama , to parents from Kaiaf; Kiang East in the Lower
River Division of The Gambia, Lamin was raised by a father employed as
an interpreter in the judicial service of colonial Gambia. Following his
graduation from Armitage and Gambia High Schools , imbued with a passion
to study civil engineering and a propensity to serve his country, Lamin
began his career in the civi service as a Works Superintendent at the
then Public Works Department(PWD). After a brief stint in the foregoing
position , he won a scholarship to study civil engineering in the United
Kingdom. It is noteworthy, that as an undergradute civil engineering
intern, he participated in a monumental structural engineering project
in Sweden and his subsequent phenomenal performance in that undertaking
earned him an additional fellowship to pursue further professional
engineering studies in the United Kingdom.
Upon completion of his studies in the U.K, Brikama as he was
affably refered to by contemporaries, was appointed Divisional Engineer
Eastern ( DEE) , with jurisdiction over all infrastructural projects in
the eastern half of the country, i.e , from Mansakonko to Basse. During
his tenure in that position, he oversaw the planning, design and
construction of the Soma- Basse highway which became one of the most, if
not the most significant infrastructural endeavour in post colonial
Gambia. One son of our beloved country who has earned what he got by
dint of expertise, experience, sense of industry and seriousness of
purpose is Lamin Sanneh. His unquestionable brilliance and unassailable
integrity may not have endeared him to all , but it left no one indifferent.
Murphy, as he was affectionately called by his Armitage School
mates, put the service to his country to the frontburner against a
multiplicity of odds and adverse circumstances. By July 1994, Lamin was
already the Director of Technical Services, following the dissolution of
PWD as part of a restructuring of the public service mandated by the
Structural Readjustment Programme of the IMF in the 1980's. Shortly
after the rape on our democracy on July 22nd 1994 , he was dismissed,
arrested and detained on charges of sabotage and subsequently released
and reinstated. Family, friends and well wishers admonished this
technocrat of unalloyed credentials to accept jobs he'd been offered
while in detention by IDB and BADEA , to no avail. True to his
convictions, Lamin felt that he owes his country so much, for it is the
Gambian taxpayers who educated him from Kaiaf Primary School through
Armitage to the best schools of engineering in the United Kingdom and
that they deserve better than putting the acquired knowledge and
expertise to just his personal aggrandisement. What a man of conscience!
Truth be told, how many half baked educated, briefcase totting
bereaucrats across the quadrangle would decline an international
appointment for a salary of the Gambia Integrated Pay Scale.
In 2004, Lamin was confirmed by the Board of World Bank as
Director- General of Gamworks. In less than twenty four months in that
capacity, he was recalled by our Government of academically deficient
and intellectually inadequate miscreants to run the Department of state
for Infrastructure as Permanent Secretary. It is true that no one is
more equipped, experienced and prepared to discharge the duties of that
office than Lamin Sanneh. But the underlying intentions of such a recall
were far more sinister. As Director- General of Gamworks, he may be
beyond the reach of the wicked arms of Gambia Government and so it made
sense for them to cajole this engineer of a superlative calibre and
public servant of distinction to return to the inner core of the civil
service in order to be toyed and played with, at will. All of a sudden
, sometime last year , he was arrested and detained for an inordinate
period of time, only for the charges against him to be dropped by the
state. Lamin has succumbed to the wickedness, apathy and callousness of
a despotic tyrant and a kleptocratic machinery. However, he died a man
of fairness, impeccable decency and unblemished integrity with decades
of service to his country with a high place in its history.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, I have lost a loving brother and a true
friend. On a broader level, The Gambia has lost not just a public
servant or technocrat of substance, but a rare son of integrity, purpose
and a mission .And a mission , Lamin has indeed fulfilled with honour
and distinction.
May his soul rest in eternal and perfect peace. Ameen!
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