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Are Family members of Heads of State Public Officers?
One of the greatest challenges facing the continent and many countries in the world is where to draw the line between personal and state matters and how to separate party matters from state matters.
In actual fact, families of heads of states are not elected to govern. Their residences in official quarters are just linked to the Public functions of elected representatives. This should be very clear to Gambians who have witnessed the rapid pace of sacking of public servants and members of the disciplined force and the eviction of their families from official quarters. Hence, husbands, wives and children of heads of state should not in anyway be seen as public servants. Such people are private citizens and should enjoy private lives which should not be focused on in the public space.
It is interesting that in many countries where women had been elected to become heads of state their husbands were not referred to as first gentlemen. Their families have not been referred to as first families. The husbands do not form first gentlemen organizations to promote public issues.
Somehow the monarchical concept of leadership has been transported into our republican existence and instead of seeing our heads of state as public trustees we see them as royalties. This is why their family members are not free to move about as ordinary citizens who are not given the mandate to receive public funds or carry out public duties. The media practitioners also perpetuate such myths of first families and family members and thus consolidate the notion in the public space and thus give the term common usage. We hope in struggling for the liberation of the minds of the people those who are interested in making the people sovereign will re-educate the people to see our leaders as mere public trustees who will serve us today and walk side by side with us in the street tomorrow as common citizens like our very selves.
Foroyaa will be following the case of the human right defender to find out how the daughter of the President became involved in the case. The Attorney General is the Principal adviser of the state. We hope she will guide the Presidency to separate state functions from family functions so that what features in the Press will not be detrimental to an innocent child who is just by chance the daughter of a President.
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