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. > > _________________________________________________________________ > MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: > http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > 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 contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: > [log in to unmask] > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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 contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~