In an exclusive phone conversation with The Point from the campus of India’s prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) over the weekend, Mr. Sankareh confirmed this development to be “entirely accurate and consistent with my dogged determination to complete my doctorate degree that I suspended, to help President Barrow’s new Government consolidate democracy, promote openness, respect for the rule of law and freedom of speech.”
Asked how he felt leaving, Mr Sankareh said, it is never easy especially, considering the trust, confidence and chemistry built over the years, and the modest gains accomplished through team work particularly, with my dear brother and former Information Minister, Hon Ebrima Sillah with whom I worked under very difficult and challenging circumstances to consolidate the new dispensation as it were. Deputy Permanent Secretary Amadou Nyang and Mrs. Aisha Davies, Director of Information Services, were equally supportive of the newly created office.
Looking back however, Sankareh notes, “it is humbling that one was able to start an office that didn’t previously exist and transformed it to a success story that in the end, every sector of Government and non-Government saw the significance of openness and the concomitant values of strategic communication as an indispensable nexus between the people and their Government.
“One achievement I find particularly gratifying” he says, is the spot in Peter Gomez's two-hour Tuesday Coffee Time show allocated to the Government for clarification or discussion of issues related to governance. Despite a flurry of initial complaints about how much information was openly and candidly shared through this weekly platform and behind-the-scene machinations to stop me from this show, he recalls, I'm glad President Barrow respected and believed me to continue as planned. In the end, the prophets of doom and gloom who maliciously denigrated me for pioneering this now remarkable slot, are its biggest fans today. It is most humbling if one looks back, a radio show I helped pioneer against all odds, is everyone's baby today. Prior to its debut, Civil Servants were almost always reluctant to be interviewed by private radio, but now, thanks to my humble initiative blessed by President Barrow, ministers and senior government officials are now eager to be heard on the show. By extension, the popularity of the show, is also a tribute to Adama Barrow’s impeccable democratic credentials as a leader who accepts criticism, far more tolerant and democratic than the simpletons who thought otherwise.
Asked what his future plans were, Spokesperson Sankareh said, I’m still a bonafide employee of President Barrow’s Government, and a doctoral degree specializing in Literature will certainly add significant value to my work as a communicator for the Government, the country, the President and necessarily for my humble self. In the end, he argues, whether in or out of Government, solid academic grounding is a sine-qua-non to one’s own personal development given the intrinsic value of education itself. Besides, upon successfully defending my thesis on the Gambian icon—Lenrie Peters, a surgeon, poet, novelist, broadcaster and essayist, a project expected to be a seminal contribution to African and particularly, Gambian Literature, one has a variety of options to explore.
