What Next After A Great Speech at the UNITED General Assembly?

The dust has settled after a resounding acceptance of President Barrow's debut address at the Unites Nation General Assembly by Gambians the world over.

President Barrow made pledges, pronouncements and declarations that are noble and worthy of execution. How ever, they still remain mere words until they are transformed into concrete actions. The transformative process will only come to fruition when the president constitute an adhoc Monitoring and Evaluation outfit to ensure that his pronouncements come to light. I do believe that he brings forth glad tidings and genuine intent to do good but by virtue of his limited bureaucratic and administrative exposure, he is at the mercy of ministers who are too occupied jet setting rather than fulfilling the policy aspirations of the president. The speech had a multi sectoral dimension and that warrants a focal body to ensure its execution. The primary role of Government Ministers are to diligently execute and champion government policy. The delegation of responsibilities will reduce the incidence of the frequent travelling of our Senior Government officials. Yes they do have international obligations but their primary obligation is to effectively serve the people of the Gambia in situ. Take for instance the Ministry of Trade with the most sensitive portfolio in the country (unemployment). The custodian of that Ministry is yet to have a summit or a forum to chart a way forward as it relates to the malaise of unemployment. Governance is interactive and to date most of the custodians of our vital sectors are yet to engage the polity. I also expect the Minister of Education to engage the polity on how to over turn the appalling failing grades of our school going children. Gambia is in a crisis as it relates to education, health, the economy and unemployment and the respective custodians of these sectors are yet to communicate with the polity. The new approach to public management is participatory and bottom up. Mr. President with all due respect and humility, I implore in your good office to activate a participatory approach to governance by decentralising your scheduled cabinet meetings to the administrative regions of the country thereby feeling the pulse of the Gambian. We have devised a #BarrowMeter and don't be shocked when we start giving you the readings. Finally, the role of the Ambassadors at Large must be clearly defined in order to avert the duplication of efforts and redundancy of our permanent secretaries. Ambassador at Large are mere salesmen and once they make a successful pitch it is the role of the relevant sector specialist to consolidate and finalise the transaction. The presence of this new nomenclature in our bureaucratic dispensation has created a blurred line that breeds encroachment. Time for a serious rethink as Gambia is not a pie to shared but a going concern for the benefit of the greater good.

For the Gambia, I remain ever true.

Nyang Njie