Hi guys,
I typed this earlier but lost it when I was timed-out from Gambia-post
without noticing. What follows, are extracts from a very long speech that
Jammeh gave on the occasion of the swearing in of Mr. Momodou M. Sallah,
the newly appointed SOS for Trade, Industry and employment and Mr. Alieu
Ngum Secretary General and head of the civil service. My sincere apologies
for any typos and grammatical errors that may inadvertently creep in. It
was culled from The Gambia Daily and Momodou Trawally wrote the article.
Have a good day, Gassa.
JAMMEH DECLARES ZERO TOLERANCE FOR MASLAHA
President Yahya Jammeh has asked members of his cabinet to work hard and
deliver or resign. After congratulating the new Secretary of State for
Trade, Industry and Employment Momodou M. Sallah and the Secretary General
Alieu Ngum after being sworn in on Tuesday at State House, Jammeh said each
time there is a swearing in ceremony, “you know there was a swearing out
ceremony before.”
Declaring that, “it is not a pleasure for me to preside over a swearing out
ceremony, but that is a responsibility I will gladly carry out to make sure
that cabinet ministers perform.”
“What I expect of every Gambian is a sense of loyalty to your country
first. And a sense of dedication and a sense of purpose. That is what is
expected of every Gambian. What is expected of every member of cabinet is a
sense of self-less service to the country first, loyalty to the country
first and then loyalty to your self. We must put the nation’s interest
above our personal interests,” he added. The president declared that the
country’s interest is paramount. “There is no way that anybody can develop
this country single-handedly”, adding that there is no president who can
run a government where he runs every ministry. “This is out of the
question. This is not practically possible.”
He said that what we need at this stage as Gambians is to love
ourselves. “If we love ourselves, we will love our country. If we love our
country, then there will be no need for anyone to ask us to be honest and
be dedicated to what we do.” Reminding his cabinet colleagues that, “we are
still a developing country.” Jammeh said he has come to the conclusion that
the only way to make things work in this country is to have an iron broom,
which is electrified. “That is the only way things would work in this
country, and there’ll be no compromise.”
”In as much as I hate swearing out ceremonies, I would not hesitate to
preside over them, because that is my responsibility. We must all make it a
point of duty to work for our country. Nobody is working for me.”
Jammeh also said he expects his ministers “to take responsibility,
collective responsibility, because this is a government. This is one
government. If all of you have to wait for me to intervene in your areas,
because you think that it would carry more weight, then if you are
weightless, you better leave before I show you a red card.
If you do not want to be blamed for what you are responsible for, the most
honourable thing to do is to resign. What is unacceptable is that you are
capable of solving the problem, and you know the problem, but you do not
want to do it simply because you are working for Yahya Jammeh – there will
be no compromise this time. We are in a new millennium.”
People, he said, think there is a difference between the transition period
and now, because they think now there is democracy. “But if you are
democratically-minded you will be more responsible. Because you will know
that democracy is give and take. People repose their confidence in you, and
you must reciprocate by providing services that are required of you, with
honesty, sincerity and dedication.
That is democracy! Any definition other than that is not democratic,” he
asserted, further pointing out that democracy is a two-way stream – you are
given and are expected to give back to those who gave you. So if you fail
to perform what is expected of you, I can assure you that you will not miss
the next swearing out ceremony. I am sick and tired of talking.”
“For those of you who are coming,” he went on, I have no doubt that you
will be able to perform. I have no doubt in your ability to perform and
deliver. This is a small country that we can, with a little honesty and
dedication, develop very rapidly.”
President Jammeh lamented the fact that there are those who work when he is
around, and does nothing (or indulge in the type of activities they are
involved in) when he is not around.
Declaring that, “you are not working for me”. Jammeh recalled his meeting
in September with ministers and other senior government officers of the
administration saying, “ if you have forgotten what we discussed, I have
not forgotten, and this is just phase one of what I promised you to come.
Unless you change, I have 1.4 million Gambians to choose from. Nobody is
indispensable. The only indispensable one is the one who is ready to work
and sacrifice for this country.
If you do not want to deliver, you will go,” he said. If you want to work
and you make a mistake – we all make mistakes, we will understand. But let
us be sincere. Where there is no sincerity, the types of mistakes that are
there are unacceptable. Because they are deliberate mistakes. In fact, they
are not even mistakes.”
He asked them to make the work of the new Secretary General and head of
civil service easier by taking their responsibilities seriously. “If you
can control people under you, you make the running of the civil service
very smooth. But where you do not want to assert your authority and be
responsible for the people under you to work, this is where the problem in
the running of the civil service is. Nobody wants to take responsibility to
maintain discipline in your respective areas.”
He also decried the tendency to give the impression the president is only
too happy to fire people, by telling people that it was not their
responsibility, that they were not even informed about it. “We have come to
the crossroads. Either you take care of what you are responsible for, or we
will take care of it for you, including yourself. “I am sick and tired of
maslaha with anybody, and I have zero tolerance for that anymore.
As from now, there will be no tolerance. You either deliver or you go. And
you can go in one of two ways – either tell us bye or we kiss you good-bye.
There’ll no compromise. We either serve our country or we don’t serve our
country. There is no neutral position – either you are in for progress or
you are against progress. If you cannot deliver for reasons best known to
you, just be honourable enough to say, I cannot really do this. Then we
will look for someone else.
But what is unacceptable is double standards. Cat and mouse games are over.
If you take care of your area of responsibility, you will sleep peacefully.
Be irresponsible and know that you can be called at anytime to a swearing
out ceremony. This is the last time I am going to warn anybody.”
Jammeh reiterated that, “if you know that you are working hard and honestly
for your country, do what is right and fear nobody.”
Turning to his cabinet colleagues, he told them they are supposed to work
as one family – meaning collective responsibility. “We should work together
as a team, and help each other and advise each other, so that we move
forward as one country, one government and one family.”
He declared that the days of camps in the government are over. “If anybody
wants to set up a camp, this is not the place. We should work together as a
family. Cabinet should speak with one voice and one action. And we should
bear responsibility for the collective action of the government and
cabinet – not try to blame it on some other members of the cabinet.”
“There is nothing you say in this country that I would not hear. But I have
heard enough. Now is time for me to act. And surely I will act to make sure
that this country moves forward. In the process if you are sworn out, don’t
blame anybody, blame yourself. We will no longer follow any department of
state to ask what is going on, or what are you doing about this or that. We
will no longer write,” he said, and warned that delays of projects in a
sector will not be accepted.
He said he is put in a funny position, when he goes round the world seeking
for aid for this country, and there are projects and funding. “And then
some of us deliberately delay those projects, for whatever reason, I don’t
know. But technicalities would no longer be an excuse for delaying projects
for which funding is already available. We will set up a mechanism to
monitor the progress of every project.” He further advised his colleagues
to tighten their belts, “because there will be no compromise for delaying
tactics.”
In fact, he said, “there is no tolerance, since my capacity for tolerance
is already lost. Eight years ago today, we should have done more than we
have done. But everything is the president; if the president does not say
it…this is not a dictatorship, this is a democratic government of
collective responsibility. Why do you need me to come to your and do
something so that people would be serious enough to work. Why do you want
me to do it? Why must I do your job for you? Each of us has a
responsibility! Why do I have to tell you what is wrong in your department?
Then there must be something very wrong with you.
The bottom line is – as from today, it is for all of you to decide whether
you want to work and deliver or you want to go home. And if you decide to
go home, the honourable thing to do is to let me know that you do not want
to work. Otherwise, I would be obliged to let you go home or tell you to go
home.”
.
.
.
.
He assured all that he has no favorite in his cabinet. “The only person who
is my friend is the one who is honest and working honestly for the
development of this country. Those who would do things for the country and
not for themselves. People who would do things without ulterior motives….If
you work hard, you are my friend; if you don’t work hard, you are not my
friend.
“From here, you decide whether you want to work and continue your
responsibility or you do not want to work and want to go home; then you
tell us good-bye. We will not accept anymore this cat and mouse game or
playing hide and seek.”
The president went on to lament the present state of things in the country.
It is necessary, he said, to figure out how we solve this problem, noting
that with an abundance of raw materials, “we are not even producing
matches, then how do you expect we would not have foreign exchange
problems. We are not exporting anything, because we are not manufacturing
anything. And how long do we want this status quo to continue? There should
be some other sources of foreign exchange….”
--
There is a time in the life of every problem when it is big enough to see,
yet small enough to solve (Mike Leavitt)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
