Mr.Touray,
Philosophically-speaking your topic is "forum-worthy"because every
regime has a 'post-leader-period'
for the fact that, no condition is permanent.
However,after having thoroughly dissected some of your analysis i thought it
unwise to ignore the porker card u have placed on the table,thus i opted to
engage you further more.
Therefore,if policy-making or policy-analysis is to be brought back on the
scenario...What do you think of a policy or(even a part of the
constitution)that was amended based on feed backs or suggestions that were
"magnetised" from this very forum and other private e-mails that were
despatched to the home-based authorities from Gambian citizens?
A bright example of one of these is:the introduction of the double
citizenship issue.This idea of introducing the double citizenship came from
people in the states there and other destinations(ofcourse from gambian
citizens).
The convincing argument or justifiction given was;that citizens of countries
like Israel,Cuba etc are currently enjoying that status(ie:the double
nationality).
After which some parliamentarians plus gvt.officials thought it necessary to
look into the former.
How would you also view a government that is ready to change its immigration
rules/strategies, (ie:passports,types of visas issued,on how or where to
issue new passports to people who cannot travel to the Gambia because of
financial constraints)based on private and also public complaints from those
affected?
Wasn't it after the july 22nd takeover that commissioners were allowed to be
issuing passports at district level,indeed in collaboration with the
immigration department?
To let you also know,policy analysis and policy making does not only stop at
cabinet level in all given circumstances,sometimes or most of the time these
things are also tabled in other fora or even discussed with donor
agencies,international bodies etc.
The reason why policies,laws etc are usually revisited within the circles of
every gvt.or international body for that matter,is nothing else other than
the fact that EXACTITUDE IS HARD TO ACHIEVE.
My strong believe is that;whether a post jammeh era or not policies are like
living things,they must be looked after,fed,cured(when ill) and then be
brought back on track. Infact policies for that matter are not biblical,
however,they're very useful guides for every operation,be it
political,administrative etc.
The realiabilty of some policies when manouvering in a political arena(in
most cases) is relative.
The realiabilty of policies when experimenting some scienctific method be it
for the social sciences or physical ones depends on the out come of case
studies.
We were taught at school that;science is the observation
and derivation of facts. Here if you allow me Mr.Touray i may add "science
without conscience is no science".
The labarynth in my mind is not the administrative setup that anyone is
ready to inherit and redress,its rather the eroding conscience in some of
our minds.Excuse me but what i am implying here is not directed to you as an
individual but to some of those you meet and discuss this regime's policies
with. I AM NOT APPEASING WITH YOU OR ANYBODY FOR THAT MATTER BUT
SOMETIMES(OBJECTIVITY COUNTS). I TEND TO SEE WHY SOME OF YOU ARE BITTER! You
are far away and depend on the feed backs from people that you meet and
discuss with,and then judge.
Henceforth,whether politically or on other matters,when time allows ME, i
will be participating in such debates,not to castigate you or anybody else
but to give you or anyone who maybe interested, the otherside of the
story.THE FINAL JUDGEMENT depends on how you visualise things
anyway,which(as a democrat) as u do call yourself when replying to some of
my stuff once in a while?NO ONE CAN FORCE U TO ACCEPT!
The question i asked myself vis-a-vis the headmaster you saw is the
following; Was he criticising an extablished policy, that he found
ineffective or the disservice that someone who was charged with the
responsibilty of executing a good policy was doing to the nation and not
Yahya anyway?
Mr.Touray,remember the old adage:Theories(policies for the sake of our
debate) are never totally wrong(relatively-speaking)but the applicants of
such theories or policies may make mistakes or be reluctant to apply them
correctly for reasons they know more than me and you.
So i will not attempt to whitewash the regional education officer but
instead i would thank the headmaster for pointing that gross anomaly
out,which indeed worths rectifying whether now or later!
As far as the criticisms are objective and constructive and ofcourse put in
a matured way,we have no other choice but to respond PROFESSIONALLY AND
PERIOD!
YERO MAMA PULORI GALO HAAWA.
>From: [log in to unmask]
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>Subject: Shaping a post Yahya period
>Date: Sun, 12 Aug 2001 22:45:25 EDT
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>
>When the dust settles and Yahya Jammeh is removed from the scene, Gambians
>will find themselves with a bankrupt shell of a nation with a devastated
>bureaucracy that is functionally dead. The Gambia government as currently
>constituted simply doesn't work. The basic framework the present government
>inherited in 1994 had the same organizational flaws with the now added
>blight
>of incompetence and terrible leadership. Whoever comes in this year would
>also inherit an organizational labyrinth paralyzed by inefficiency and
>rudderlessness that will never succeed in delivering the much needed
>services
>for it's only clients, the Gambian people. Consequently the magnitude and
>scope of change that would be required to recast our government to be
>effective would be so big and difficult that it would demand the wisdom and
>active participation of not only our elected leaders, but every one of us
>determined to change for the better. I recently had occasion to chat with
>two
>people with vastly different backgrounds. Both of them however worked for
>the
>Gambia government. One was a twenty-five year veteran with graduate degrees
>who served as a permanent secretary for years. The other was a trained
>qualified teacher who ended up running a small school in the provinces. In
>their unique ways both gentlemen left me with a very strong and unsettling
>believe that our government is not only structured to fail, but had the
>almost fatal addition of being incapable of self correcting even in the
>face
>of obvious and endemic problems.
> I began with the permanent secretary by asking him what his role was
>within
>the bureaucracy. He said the P.S was the ministries principal policy maker
>who oversaw a core group of technocrats and administrators in formulating
>and
>executing government policies. That got me into asking a seemingly simple
>but
>profound question of how policy is made in the Gambia government. In a
>nutshell he said the P. S would summon his senior staff within the ministry
>and essentially brainstorm. They would ultimately formulate a policy with
>all
>the technical details and hand it over to the minister who almost always
>goes
>along with whatever is entailed in the paper. The minister then takes the
>policy proposal to the Cabinet where it would be discussed as part of the
>overall agenda of the nation within a specified period. Once the cabinet
>approves it, the policy would be promulgated and the ministry with the
>jurisdiction which is the one that formulated it in the first place would
>now
>be charged with executing it. My first question was with an almost non
>existent civic or other non governmental organizations lobbying on behalf
>of
>the people specific policies are going to affect, do departments get the
>kinds of input necessary to measure the value or effectiveness of policie
>they formulate? I was told they may call in the principal nurse at RVH if
>this a substantial health policy to get her input. But she too falls under
>the same bureaucracy overseen by the P.S who is the principal formulator of
>the policy. This is especially relevant in a governmental set up that does
>not reward or even condone descent. As a result it is a save bet that the
>nurse in the example would see his or her role as only being cooperation
>because she is not independent or vested with any clout. She can't
>determine
>her own budget. My conclusion is that ideas that go into making policy that
>are by design not diverse and even if you have the world's smartest people
>hunkering down in these offices to hammer out ideas, you will end up a
>monolithic thought process that would not always work to best interest of
>the
>nation. The President who has ultimate responsibility for policies of his
>administration relies on the bureaucracy to formulate and execute ideas
>within the broad framework of his agenda. But neither his office nor the
>Cabinet that approves or decline proposals is equipped to fully examine
>them
>as they make their way up the chain. There is no substantial policy office
>that the President or the cabinet can rely on to score, evaluate and advice
>on proposals or to measure their effectiveness once the President signs off
>on it. Such an outfit if it ever exists can be at the forefront of policy
>planning living the rest of the bureaucracy to focus much more on execution
>leaving ample room and time to correct policies that have not worked as
>foreseen. The President can hence have something of a balance between
>planners and executioners making him more aware of the general direction of
>his administration and helping recognize priorities. It would foster
>innovation by stoking the creative minds of talented people into thinking
>and
>exploring better ideas. I believe the best ideas emanate from vigorous
>debate amongst all participants in a transparent and professional manner.
>Our
>current system rewards ineffectiveness and leaves a spectacular trail of
>one
>bad idea after another.
> My encounter with my second friend leaves me heart broken about an
>education bureaucracy with more than a half dozen directors that is
>presiding
>over a near catastrophe especially for small isolated schools in the heart
>of
>the provinces. My friend was the headmaster of a 200 pupil primary school
>with 8 teachers half of whom need a lot of teaching themselves. With no
>operating funds and nestled in an isolated dusty patch, running his school
>is
>a daily nightmare of trying to persuade poor and destitute parents from
>yanking their kids from school to help them in the fields they rely on to
>stave off hunger. He must also contend with an aloof bureaucracy called a
>regional education office with vehicles and staff who require him to pedal
>or
>work a dozen miles every month to file a single page report about his
>school.
>When he comes to the office, he is told to leave it with the first layer of
>bureaucrats and then come back some other day to discuss the contents of
>his
>report with the real officer in charge. Another 12 mile trek for the poor
>headmaster to discuss an utterly useless report that brings his ramshackle
>school and suffering kids zero relief. The government provides a few text
>books and he is told they must be rented out to the kids for D20 in a
>village
>where most people can hardly feed themselves. His sad conclusion is that
>more
>than half of these poor kids would never make it past the primary grades
>because they will not have the required number of qualified or motivated
>teachers or the books to forge ahead. Like their parents they would succumb
>to depravities of a hard village life coupled with an education bureaucracy
>that would never succeed in creating a conducive learning environment. The
>tragedy is the system would protect incredibly heartless and awful leaders
>and consign another generation of Gambians to illiteracy and a vicious
>cycle
>of poverty. The next government must reform the education bureaucracy so
>that
>all these bogus and nonfunctioning administrative layers of countless
>directors and regional offices are removed. They must increase and target
>the
>funding to ensure that at least 80% of appropriations go directly into
>classroom in the form well trained and well paid teachers, books and other
>learning resources. That is the only way we can begin to help all of our
>people. As it stands the 200 pupils of my friends school can't count on
>their
>M.P, their local government and certainly not their central government. No
>one cares about them.
> We must all roll up our sleeves and do what we can to reform our
>institutions once a new government comes in. We can do it from anywhere in
>the world by engaging the politicians, the budding civic society and our
>respective communities. If we don't, we would be saddled with serious and
>endemic problems that may overwhelm even a well meaning successor
>government.
>We've got to quickly transition from very understandable and justifiable
>anger and frustration to a sustained effort at actually working for change.
>I
>am optimistic we can.
>Karamba
>
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