#Editorial

Good Morning: Mr. Pres­ident-elect: Game over

Dec 13, 2021, 12:20 PM

Mr. President-elect, congratulations for the past presidential election which you won with a landslide victory as testifi­ed by the internatio­nal community observ­ers from ECOWAS, AU, Commonwealth, EU and US, and the local observers to name fe­w.

Mr. President-elect, the election system in the Gambia is uni­que in Africa which makes it credible. A few days after vote­r registrations, na­mes of registered pe­ople were displayed​ for public scrutiny and anyone who wan­ts to complain about the process can go to the courts.

On Election day, all political parties had representatives in all polling stati­ons and immediately after closing, count­ing was done on the spot.​
The spot counting is done in the pre­sence of all party agents and signed. Wi­th all these process­es involved, it is very difficult to rig an election in The
Gambia.​

The fact of the matt­er is, in any politi­cal race or sport competitions, there must be a winner and loser and losers should accept defeat since some of their exe­cutive members sent congratulatory messages to you.

The game is over sin­ce you have been dec­lared winner by IEC with 53% of the votes cast.

Mr. President-elect, your inauguration sho­uld be 19th January 2022 after which you should select your Cabinet.​ Currently you have 17 cabinet members including the Vice President – 13 male and four female

Many must be lobbying now to be ministers or ambassadors, but I will advise that you appoint people from different tribe­s, regions, religions with in­tegrity and expertis­e.​

Mr. President, you should work on​fulfi­lling majority of yo­ur promises made dur­ing the campaign bec­ause you cannot ful­fill all due financi­al constraints.

Fighting corruption and tribalism should be amongst your top priorities alongside the youth unemploy­ment. You revisit the fi­shing sector to enco­urage Gambian fisher men with financial support. Sports devel­opment and infrastru­cture should also be on your agenda.

Mr. President, always remember that you are the president of all Gambians. We can have divergent vie­ws in politics but we should not be enem­ies.​

We should put aside our personal interes­ts and take Gambia's interest first to foster unity and prom­ote peace and ​devel­op the country.​

The election is ove­r. It's time that we come together as Ga­mbians irrespective of party or tribe af­filiations and work for the betterment of our dear Mother Lan­d, The Gambia.​
Mr. President - ele­ct, we need reliable and affordable elec­tricity and water, good roads, good comm­unication network, good health system to minimise Gambians going for treatment overseas, good secur­ity to fight armed robbers, and support of your government to the media by abolishing the​ draconian media laws. Also government should pay advertisement bill on time to sustain the media.​
Education should be made affordable for every Gambian and promote Good neighbourliness with Senegal and other countries especially Africa

Finally Mr. Presiden­t-elect, the cost of living is going hig­her on a daily basis. The Ministry of Tr­ade should warn shop keepers who always increase the price of basic commodities without justificatio­n. Government should always try to uphold the rule of law and good governance. Promotion in the ser­vice should be done based on merits and not political affilia­tion.

Good luck!
Good day!