Nick
Maurice, the founder of Gunjur Marlborough Link and former director of BUILD, a
Commonwealth organisation, has expressed his commitment and willingness to help
the new Gambia government to return the country to the Commonwealth of Nations.
Speaking
in an interview with this reporter, Nick Maurice said:
“In
2002, I set up a coalition of development agencies called BUILD (Building
Understanding though International Links for Development) based on the Gunjur
Marlborough Link and its underlying ethos.
“The
formation of the coalition was an attempt to globally spread the message of
what Gunjur Marlborough Link was doing in order to get many more towns,
schools, hospitals, faith-based organisations, local authorities, sports clubs,
youth organisations, etc to form global partnerships for mutual learning geared
towards bringing peace, prosperity and justice to the world.
“BUILD
is a Commonwealth accredited organisation and in that capacity I have attended
many of the Commonwealth People’s Forums (CPF) which usually take place prior
to the Commonwealth Heads of Government meetings in different parts of the
world.
“The
CPF is a great forum for representatives of civil societies across the globe to
come together to discuss the grassroots issues that they see as fundamental to
their wellbeing, be it climate change,
small arms proliferation, drug abuse, lack of access to healthcare,
education, transport, etc. From the CPF,
a paper is developed which is presented to the Heads of Government stating
those issues that ‘the people of the Commonwealth feel that the Heads of
Government should be addressing’.”
“As
a result of this work, I do have connections in the Commonwealth Secretariat,
the Commonwealth Foundation and the Royal Commonwealth Society and if the
Gambian president wishes, I will certainly use those connections to encourage
and lobby for the acceptance of The Gambia back into the Commonwealth family at
the next Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting which is to take place in the
UK in Spring of 2018.
“Rejoining
the Commonwealth family of nations will bring with the new Gambia government
new opportunities for engagement with and investment from other Commonwealth
countries and opportunities for young Gambians to study with the help of
Commonwealth scholarships.”
Nick
Maurice further exhorted Gambians to render full support to the new government
under the leadership of Adama Barrow for the attainment of its development
goals.
He
said: “I hope that once the dust
settled, the Gambian people both in The Gambia and in the US, UK and Europe and
indeed globally will get behind the new government under President Barrow and
support his expressed desire to do everything possible for the development of
the country.
“I
am sure President Barrow would be the first to agree that his government cannot
succeed in bringing real prosperity to The Gambia all by its own. We all have a responsibility to support his
government in whatever way we can; the international community, including the
bilateral and multilateral agencies, has a role to play in the development of
the country.”
