Congratulations
president-elect, Adama Barrow, Friday 02 December 2016 marked a historical
event in the annals of The Gambia, for nobody expected the defeat of President
Jammeh and were surprised to hear him conceding defeat.
Jammeh
should be commended for that move, which stabilizes the peace and tranquility
of the country. President-elect Barrow who will take office in January 2017 has
a heavy task and challenges before him. Since he is the President-elect, Barrow
should now be given befitting security teams, for both his house and himself.
First,
his tasks are to nurture peace and tranquility, as well as to ensure national
unity and reconciliation among Gambians, restore democracy and respect for
human rights, the rule of law, Gambianise the judiciary, abolish draconian media
laws, promote freedom of expression, ensure the state media promotes divergent
views, restore bilateral cooperation with the EU, donors, and the Commonwealth,
ensure better relations with the neighbouring countries, allow Gambians
especially the Muslims to freely practise their religion without hindrance,
especially for prayer festivities like Eid-ul Fitr, Eid-ul Adha and Yamul
Ashura, when the moon is sighted in The Gambia or neighbouring countries unless
necessary, and The Gambia should be maintained as a secular state, as stated in
the Constitution.
The
Barrow government should discontinue unnecessary and unexpected holidays or
better still inform workers a few days before holidays are declared.
As
regards the national cleansing exercise (Set settal), this could be continued,
but during the day people and commercial vehicles should go ahead with their
business, but those who fail to clean their environments should be penalised.
Also
the new authorities should reintroduce the time of work from Monday to Thursday
8a.m to 4pm and on Friday from 8a.m to 12.30pm.
All
political detainees should be released, including journalists such as Momodou
Sabally, former DG of GRTS, and Bakary Fatty also of GRTS.
Nobody
should be detained for over 72 hours without being charged or released as
stated in the constitution, and long detention without trial as well as torture
should be abolished.
A
commission of enquiry should be set up to investigate if any public servant is
doing business.
There
should also be a commission of enquiry to investigate mysterious deaths that
took place in the previous regime, especially the deaths of Ousman Koro Ceesay,
former Finance Minister, Deyda Hydara in 2004, co-publisher of The Point
newspaper, the disappearance of Chief Manneh of the Daily Observer in 2006, the
killing in broad daylight of Omar Barrow of Sud FM on 14 April 2000 while
reporting the student demonstration which claimed 14 lives, the death of Solo
Sandeng, youth leader of the United Democratic Party, who died in custody in
April 2016, and Ebrima Solo Krummah , who died at the EFSTH hospital, and so
many other allegations of disappearances.
For
all these the culprits should be brought to justice to face the full force of
the law.
With
the new government, prices of basic commodities and taxes should be drastically
reduced; bills of electricity and water supplies should be reduced and
distribution of such essential social amenities as water and electricity should
be increased.
There
should be rehabilitation of streets of the capital city of Banjul as well as
the KMC, especially the feeder roads.
The
ferry services should be improved upon with new ferries and landing fees of
airlines should be reduced to encourage more international airlines, as
presently it is a nightmare to travel by flight from The Gambia to the rest of
the world, especially to our neighbouring countries.
In
terms of sports, the government should endeavour to invest more in it, finance
and develop the country’s sports by training more sports personnel, athletes,
technicians, etc to enhance the game.
Sport
today is a crucial revenue base for any nation, and The Gambia is no exception.
The
government should have meetings with the business community and foreign
exchange bureau dealers and bankers, as well as economists to see the way
forward to boost the economy.
Government
should look into cases of most of the civil servants and officials of
parastatals sacked, and those found faultless and competent should be
reinstated.
The
government should also invest more in agriculture to ensure the country is
self-sufficient in food.
The
government should build more hospitals and health centres, as well as improve
the service delivery of health workers, especially in terms of the availability
of medicines and modern equipment.
The
new government should improve the quality of education in the country from
basic to secondary and tertiary level.
It
should be noted that according to the constitution, Barrow was voted in for a
five-year term. Two-term limit should be
introduced after his tenure.
If
a minister is sacked, the reason should be made known to the public why he has
been sacked.
All
ministries and parastatals should have a public relations officer to facilitate
access to information for the press.
A
director of press should be appointed at State House to ensure all government
press releases are sent to media houses, as well as organise frequent
interviews or press conferences with the president and ministers to facilitate
access to information.
“The
price of greatness is responsibility.”
Winston
Churchill
