Ousman jallow Bojang, You've mentioned very good points concerning my proposal to lunch an educational project to help the University of The Gambia. Of course,transparency and accountability are great concerns for many people. Most Gambians i talk to recently have already encountered bad experiences participating in such initiatives with other organizations . They have also expressed the general lack of willingness by organizers to complete the project after receiving lot of money from people. Hence the misuse and disappearance of funds. Therefore a lot have welcomed the idea with some reservations. Personally, i think any venture whether profit or non profit should have a solid and reliable control system that will safeguard its assets and enhance a smooth and timely attainment of objectives. It should ensure compliance to our financial procedures and policies. "Kay", are we just afraid to face the challenges or just unable to come out with practical solutions? When we form the The Gambia Association of Seattle, similar sentiments arose which really helps us make a very strong financial policy. For instance, to ensure responsibility of any mismanagement of funds,only the president is allowed to authorize payments. We also have among other things, a bi-monthly financial report, Quarterly audit report and at every general meeting we pass our bank statements around for every member to see. This really boost our image among Gambian folks and now we are proud to have one of the most viable Gambian organisation around Northwest. Infact, the only reason why i think Gambia L management should be involved as a front runner is to ensure transparency. I hope we come out with suggestions to make this project a reality. Ous, Saul and Joe sorry for responding late and thanks for those valuable inputs. Happy independance. Lamin PF Manneh >From: Ousman Bojang <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list ><[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Re: NEXT JULY 4TH, IS A PROJECT POSSIBLE? >Date: Sun, 6 Feb 2000 14:46:47 EST > >lamin Pa, >I think the Gambia L-Managers are able to read your postings as well as we >all do. I certainly hope they do so. >On my suggestion of intending to try to direct the intended achieved funds >directly to the beneficiary is not an easy thing to achieve and yet it is >not >an impossibility. This is because there would be some as you might have >already seen with a lot of such campaigns when only a few people mastermind >things to their own selfish interests. One has to be very careful and well >aware of those. I think if we could come up with a group of people >especially >the Atlanta organizers and let them try to come with a frame that would not >only collect the funds but present it in the hands of the beneficiaries, we >would possibly be free of any political/personal high jacking of our good >intentions. I have seen where even some government officials try to come up >with proposals they read from the L and make it their own in the eyes of >the >Gambians. A typical example is the "Save the Baby" program. >I am happy that the L could be a very good source of gathering ideas, but I >wish the L- could be given some credit for its varsity of good and bad >ideas. >Acknowledging what one borrows is not cowardly but very noble indeed. >Anyway, enough of that. As I told you, I will be more than willing to send >in >my contribution. I am sure there are very good and capable people on the >forum who knows far more better ways to achieve this than you and I. I look >forward to their contribution. >May God bless the Gambia. > >Ousman Bojang. > >---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > >To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L >Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html > >---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------