The Public Relations Association of The Gambia (PRAG) joins numerous well-meaning Gambians and friends of The Gambia in recognizing and commending His Excellency Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr Yahya AJJ Jammeh, Babili Mansa, for exercising his prerogative of mercy resulting in a Presidential pardon of hundreds of prisoners on Wednesday 22 July 2015. May God continue to guide his actions towards justice for the common good.
As an association responsible for encouraging good Public Relations (PR) with members from all sectors of the economy, PRA welcomes and is encouraged by His Excellency’s action. Such positive action, in our opinion, can only be beneficial towards “mending bridges and not burning them”. We at PRAG therefore see it as our professional responsibility and an action of accountability for posterity, to support and encourage any approach from all sections of our society that engenders forgiveness and reconciliation, one way of encouraging development through peace whilst nurturing and cementing good PR. We also believe that encouraging good PR through effective relationship management from a strong basis to build a resilient platform that allows for closure to any challenges we may have within and among us.
In this year of The Gambia’s 50th Independence Anniversary, His Excellency the President’s 50th birthday and 21 years of his leadership, this is a very important milestone in our history which could well define the future of our peace loving and religious tolerant nation. In celebrating the release of hundreds of prisoners to the joy of their relatives, loved ones and friends, PRAG encourage all to focus on the positive outcomes of the situation at hand and use this as the bridge for reconstruction and constructive dialogue.
A turning point and great opportunity presents itself for us to encourage a new dawn of nation building through demonstrable statesmanship. Against this background and principally in this light, PRAG sincerely and highly welcomes His Excellency’s act of mercy.
God Bless The Gambia, God Bless The President.
Raymond A.K. Njai
President of PRAG