Sanusi, Thanks, I'm getting much better. You wrote: "The National Assembly should pass a Act entitled; Civil and Public Service Act of the Gambia. This Act should stipulate the circumstances upon which an individual could be sacked. The Act should make provision for situations where Disciplinary Action should be taken and the penalties to be imposed. Under this area, Civil servants should be given the right to challenge any action of unfairness; the setting up of a Civil and Public Servants Disciplinary Board. Finally, this Act should reinforce the principle that Civil Servants should be politically impartial and that their tenure of service should be secured." Sanusi, I do not think that the President is intervening in the civil service or Departments of State for lack of clear-cut guidelines as to how issues of incompetence or otherwise can be dealt with. Remember we have the PMO, PSC, the Police etc,. The giudelines are there and are as clear today as anytime before. What I think is the problem is the fact that some would rather die than discipline their subordinates. Please read again what the president had to say about the asserting one's authority and being responsible for your people. SOME EXTRACTS "Declaring that, it is not a pleasure for me to preside over a swearing out ceremony, but that is a responsibility I will gladly carry out to make sure that cabinet ministers perform. . . . In as much as I hate swearing out ceremonies, I would not hesitate to preside over them, because that is my responsibility. We must all make it a point of duty to work for our country. Nobody is working for me. . . . "If all of you have to wait for me to intervene in your areas, because you think that it would carry more weight, then if you are weightless, you better leave before I show you a red card. If you do not want to be blamed for what you are responsible for, the most honourable thing to do is to resign. What is unacceptable is that you are capable of solving the problem, and you know the problem, but you do not want to do it simply because you are working for Yahya Jammeh there will be no compromise this time. We are in a new millennium. . . . "If you can control people under you, you make the running of the civil service very smooth. But where you do not want to assert your authority and be responsible for the people under you to work, this is where the problem in the running of the civil service is. Nobody wants to take responsibility to maintain discipline in your respective areas. He also DECRIED THE TENDENCY TO GIVE THE IMPRESSION that the president is ONLY TOO HAPPY TO FIRE PEOPLE, by telling people that it was NOT their responsibility, that they were NOT EVEN INFORMED about it. We have come to the crossroads. EITHER YOU TAKE CARE OF WHAT YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR, OR WE WILL TAKE CARE OF IT FOR YOU, INCLUDING YOURSELF. I am sick and tired of MASLAHA with anybody, and I have zero tolerance for that anymore." (Emphasis, mine). Have a good day, Gassa. -- There is a time in the life of every problem when it is big enough to see, yet small enough to solve (Mike Leavitt) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~