YANKUBA REBUTS JUWARA’S CLAIMS
Written by Pa Malick Faye
Monday, 09 January 2006
Yankuba Touray, the Secretary of State for Agriculture and APRC national
mobiliser, has described comments made by Waa Juwara against him,
President Jammeh and the APRC, as baseless and out of context.

In a recent press interview with a local newspaper, Waa Juwara condemned
the re-appointment of SoS Touray, saying that Touray was ineligible for a
public office, as he had been indicted by the Paul Commission.

Juwara maintained that Vision 2020 was put in place to enrich President
Jammeh and his cronies and make Gambians poorer. He added that the Jammeh
administration is swindling farmers by engaging in credit buying of
groundnuts.

In a strong rebuttal, SoS Touray said that he had not been indicted by the
Paul Commission as the process was yet to end.

According to him, the Commission’s powers stopped at reccommendation and
it was the President who had the constititional powers to accept or reject
the recommendations of the Commission and unless that was done the process
was not yet over.  “I refer him to the relevent sections of the
Constitution,” he said.

He said: “If Waa had really followed the proceedings of the Commission, he
would have known that I fully cooperated with it and in the final analysis
I was  not accused of embezzling or mismanaging a butut from the public
funds. I can stand high and say the Commission did not find me guilty of
mismanagement or abuse of office for personal ends. I declared all my
assets and those of  my wife, as demanded by the Commission and there is
no document I and my wife failed  to produce to back our testimonies. I
made available to the Commission my wife and she too provided valid
documents to back her hard-earned assets and there is nothing we were
asked to produce that we did not. I challenge Juwara to say whether I have
been found culpable by the Commission, and let him provide evidence.”

Touray explained: “All what the Commission is asking me to pay for, were
the assets of my wife which were legally acquired. Ironic, isnt it?
Everyone who knows my wife knows that she is deeply engaged in business in
and outside the country and all the loans she acquired to kickstart her
business. Evidence to that effect was laid before the Commission and I am
proud to say that there was nothing we had that we did not declare.”

He added that throughout his ten-year service in government, the only
property he has is his Kotu compound which was allocated to him in 2001 by
the government and was built by a loan from home finance company.
“Presently, that compound is under mortgage until I finish the payment of
the loan in a decade’s time. I have managed projects, especially during
the transition, worth millions of dollars  and no one can point fingers at
me and say a butut went missing or was mismanaged. As a public officer, I
am mindful of my responsibilities and that’s why I am where I am today,”
he said.

On his removal from government earlier, he said there was a plot by
certain individuals in governmernt to distance him from the leadership. He
said: “I was accused of a number of things and upon investigation the
truth was known and they {the plotters} suffer the consequences of their
evil deeds. It is Juwara who cannot hold a public office, as he has been
convicted by a court of law for six months. Therefore, in term of decency,
I am not his match. Let Juwara engage himself in making responsible and
substantial political remarks. I once again challenge Juwara to come up
with evidence.”

Farmers plight
Touray asserted that Juwara’s claim that the government is swindling
farmers by engaging in credit buying of groundnuts as untrue. “It is
disheartening to hear the likes of Juwara talking about farmers plight
when he was part of a regime that plunged the agricultural sector into
chaos as a result of their failed privatisation of the GPMB,” he said.
He added that there was credit buying in the days of the PPP regime and in
any business such things were unavoidable.
But he was quick to add that this year’s trade season is progressing well,
compared to the previous years, and that it is private sector activity.
“The buying of nuts is not government’s responsibility as it is more of a
regulatory body. In fact, government is now working on a lasting solution
to the problems of marketing agricultural produce, particularly
groundnut.Waa cannot pretend to be ignorant of the fact that the farmers
are on top of the government’s agenda. We are not the government that goes
to the extent of uprooting houses of poor farmers because of loans.
Instead President Jammeh is giving them a lot of facilities free of
charge,” he said.

Oil  discovery
According to him,  President Jammeh is fulfilling the promise he made on
the discovery of oil by putting in mechanism to have The Gambia benefit
from the resources to avoid a replica of the situation in most
oil-producing countries on the continent, where it has become more of a
curse than a blessing to its people.

He added that progress had been made towards the drilling of the oil,
citing the recently signed agreement between goverment and a Canadian firm
for exploration.
“Waa should understand that the President is on track on the oil  issue
and that there are processes before oil is drilled and this is what the
President is doing. Discovering oil and realising its benefits is not a
one time event.”

On Vision 2020, SoS Touray said: “In contrast to what Juwara is saying,
Vision 2020 is for the advancement of all Gambians as it is all about
making the country a better place for all.”

Last Updated ( Monday, 09 January 2006 )
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