The Verdict
The Gambia Gradually Slides Towards The Rocks
By Adama Hawa
It is quite disheartening to contemplate where this country is gradually heading to, particularly when we consider the type of people being put in charge of our public services. It is crystal clear nowadays that people are appointed in the public services purely on the whims and caprices of Yahya Jammeh.
All new appointments are either because they belong to the Jola ethnic group and therefore their loyalty to him is unquestionable, or they clearly manifest their readiness and willingness to serve his interests and not because of their competence.
The latest such appointments is that of Ganye Touray as Governor of the Central River Region, which is yet another indication that we are indeed heading for the rocks and it is just a matter of time before our ship of state is shipwrecked in the rockiest part of the sea.
In the past, Divisional Commissioners (now Governors) used to be seasoned civil servants, quite experienced and apolitical, always administering their Divisions with fairness to all manner of people, regardless of their ethnic or political affiliations. But since the coming into power of the AFPRC/APRC regime, what we get today are nonentities-turned-party agents, most of whom have never even been in charge of a team of labourers let alone possess any experience in Public Administration. They not only unashamedly behave like agents of the APRC, but they also discharge their administrative functions with open political and ethnic bias.
However, even the few Governors who have had some previous administrative experience like Omar Khan of the Upper River Region, have been virtually transformed into APRC agents who are constantly reminded that they have either to tow the party line and do exactly what the party demands of them, including openly campaigning for the party during elections and any other time, or be removed from office. Indeed, they would even be lucky if they are just sacked, in many occasions, they would be arrested on flimsy trumped up charges and detained indefinitely, like the present Governor of the Lower River Region, Momodou Soma Jobe learnt while he was Commissioner of the North Bank Region.
Indeed, becoming a Governor in present day Gambia is the easiest way to alienate oneself from the people as they are seen by almost everyone as mere puppets of the political hegemony who do not deserve any grain of respect. The people see them exactly as what they are; simply as stooges of the APRC whose ultimate responsibility is to represent the party in their regions rather than as the apolitical public administrators they are supposed to be.
It is indeed quite obvious to everyone why a nonentity like Ganye Touray was appointed as Governor. Certainly, we all know that Ganye had never had any administrative experience and as such, he does not possess the qualities of even being a clerk in the Governor's office, let alone the Governor. Therefore, his only qualification for being appointed to the post is that he had the guts to betray his best life long friend Omar Amadou Jallow (OJ), who is seen by Yahya Jammeh as the number one enemy of his regime, and join the APRC. He therefore, had to be compensated for that and there is no better position for him than being appointed Governor. It does not matter to him or his patron whether he serves the people or not, as long as he can adequately represent Yahya Jammeh's interests in the CRR.
This is yet another manifestation of Yahya Jammeh's vindictive nature. As far as he is concerned, everything he does is to show everyone that he has the power to do whatever he wants and no one dares to challenge him. As far as he is concerned, he expects all those he appoints in positions in the public services to carry out his wishes rather than the wishes of the people. It is a shame that there are no shortages of people willing to carry out his wishes rather than serve the people.
What do the people of CRR expect from Ganye Touray? Of course, like his predecessor and all other Governors (Commissioners) before him, all that the people expect from him is to behave like another puppet, ready and willing to operate the Governor's office just like the APRC Regional Bureau for CRR. The people know that if he ever dares to do otherwise, he will be sacked.
Of course, knowing how desperate Ganye Touray was to get any sort of employment, he would be quite willing to do anything Yahya Jammeh wants him to, even at the expense of the people of CRR, just to keep his unmerited position. As far as he and all the other Governors are concerned, satisfying Yahya Jammeh is the paramount objective.
This is no doubt why development of the regions, and indeed the whole country is virtually at a stand still. It is because there is no incentive to make anyone become productive as the regional administrators who are supposed to motivate the other workers are fully occupied with playing politics and hardly doing any other administrative work on behalf of the people.All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this article or any other article or image, or portions thereof, in any form or context without the expressed permission of The Gambia Echo Newspaper.