“Let
us stand firm and support our young people. I don’t believe in the sky is the
limit, I believe in infinity,” says newly appointed Youth and Sports Minister
Henry Gomez.
“There
are so many youths out there who feel they have been left alone and they need
our support. We have to fight for them as a matter of must and in this we
cannot fail,” he told his staff during his tour of institutions under his
purview, on Thursday a day after he was sworn in.
Hon.
Minister’s visits took him to the National Youth Council (NYC), National
Enterprise Development Initiative (NEDI), Directorate of Planning, National
Sports Council (NSC) and other satellite institutions.
The
tour was meant to familiarize himself with staff members of the various
offices, seek their full support and also disclose his plans for the ministry
and the development of youth and sports.
“I
am for the youth by the youth; I have come to youth and sports to teach youth
how to fish, but not to give them fish,”
Hon. Gomez said.
“I
would want to build skill centres across the country to support youth to have
livelihood skills that they can use to earn income,” he said.
He
challenged the staff members of his ministry and satellite institutions to
change their attitude and work together as one family.
“I
don’t come to this ministry as a witch hunt against anybody; all of you are my
brothers and sisters. My doors are open and also open to constructive
criticism,” he told his staff.
“We
have to fight and minimize irregular migration (back-way migration) and drug
abuse among young people in the country. These people are our future leaders
and they need to be supported and empowered,” he said.
The
sports minister said one of his aims is to seek for donors and partners to
renovate or even build a new stadium and decentralize football taking it to
rural Gambia.
“We
have to take this country to the next Africa Cup of Nations and even World
Cup,” he said. “If we can work together and remove a dangerous dictator like
Yahya Jammeh without any bloodshed I do not see any reason why we cannot
achieve this,” he said.
The
minister reported to the office a day after he was sworn in to meet with staff,
boost their morals, encourage them and plan with them the way forward.
“Since
he reported he wasted no time to engage us and also start conducted tour of the
other offices under him,” said Youth and Sports Ministry permanent secretary
Muhammed Lamin Ceesay.
“He
conducted a meeting with us at the ministry and put to us his plan and we
assured him of our unconditional support and I am seeking the same from all of
you,” the PS told staff of satellite institutions under MoYS.
He
added: “You are blessed with a pool of human resources who are ready to work
and help you achieve your goals.”
PS
Ceesay challenged all staff of the ministry to work hand in hand with the new
minister and support him and the ministry.
Mr
Landing B. Sanneh, general manager of National Enterprise Development
Initiative (NEDI), congratulated the new minister and assured him of their
unconditional support.
“We
are very much committed to working with you in helping you achieve your goals
of youth empowerment and development of sports in The Gambia,” he assured
Minister Hon. Gomez.
Mr
Sanneh gave the minister a brief background of the institution and highlighted
some of their intervention areas.
Musa
Mbye, director of Directorate of Planning, highlighted some of their mandates
and assured him of their full support to see a successful ministry achieving
its goals and objectives.
