From: Jadama Sadibu (Stockholm Sweden)

 RECRUITING YOUR SECRETARIES OF STATE.

Dear President,

First and foremost I'll like to congratulate you on  behalf of the 13^th anniversary of the July 22^nd   and your election to the highest office of   the  dear Republic of  the Gambia the presidency  . I know that at this moment you are thinking about those who are serving as your National Assembly members and the Honourable Sectaries of State as a burden on you to fulfil your obligations to the Gambia as a nation, probably over a bowl of a famous Gambian Benechin, Plasas, Super Kanja or the rich Gambian Mbahal. Please do hesitate to read my letter because I have a solution, which I believe, might interest you. Please take a look at my caption above.

Mr President of Republic nation, I cannot claim to have any special powers but I can foresee the criteria you could use in your choices as to who could become your secretaries of state during your term in office. It might interest you to note that this process will only produced, at best, a handful of competent Secretaries of state in 40 years of post independent trial and error.  Horror could easily replace the last word. As a people, we are either in complete denial or do not want to tailor the system to suit our circumstances. Please, I have a solution that will end this horror story once and for all.

Since Gambia attained her independence in 1965, anytime power changes hands-whether through our popular democratic elections you quickly chooses a group of state sectaries. The basis of his choices of these Secretaries of States could be because they were your friends, sisters, brothers, party faithful, campaign financiers, and extended family members, people you used to play with when you were a kid, classmates or even people revealed to you in a dream. Frankly, looking at the CV's of people who have become Secretaries of States in the past, no one can say, with absolute certainty, that they know how these choices are arrived at. In fact, legally anyone can become a Secretary of State through no fault of effort of his.

Every five years we see our Secretaries of States and National Assembly members fumble and lie blatantly about everything from their level of education to their competence and still end up being confirmed by your office as Secretaries of States and National Assembly Members. This is probably the only job interview that is conducted after they have already got the job. We are just poking fun at ourselves by choosing them this way. We all know how our Secretaries of States have messed up over the years-the system has failed to produce a winning team. We've had Secretaries of States and National Assembly Members with practically no education at all, dating back from the reign of the Sir Dawda Jawara government to highly educated people in the present regime and it has produced the same negative self-destructive result-embarrassment and failure. So our problem is not a question of education or the lack of it thereof.

Mr. President, with my love for you as one of Africa’s young and dynamic leader full of visions, I hope you will agree with me that if one tries something for 43 years and it does not yield any good results then it is time for a change. Probably we are forced to continue this way because we cannot vote for the positions of our Secretaries of States they can be both expensive and misleading. They can be misleading because the electorate will also not have any criteria on which to base their selection. My question is that Mr. President: Is there a better way to select our Secretaries of States
 My President I personally see you as the head of a football team who have to work together with a set of players to create goals and avoid being scored. This team is as strong as its weakest player. In order to be the best team you need to have the best of individual players.

The better the player, the more expensive and competitive he is likely to be. The player is chosen on merit and no on tribe. For example, Mandingos are very nationalistic people and will wish that all eleven players on the Mandingo football team will be Mandinka only but they are smart enough to know that that will amount to foolhardiness.

That is the only reason why ETO and Ronadinho, among others, are resident in Spain. World class teams like Manchester United and Chelsea plan their teams based on this principle. This is the principle that gives Drogba, Mikel and Kalou jobs in a country that very likely might have rejected their applications for work permits if they had not been soccer players.

Please Mr. President, this system has never been tried in any country but our dear Republic of the Gambia is unlike any country in the world. We are a very small and quite very unique country with many natural resources to serve the rest of the population, so we need unique solutions to our problems. For example, Mr. President advertise the position of the Secretaries of States in the, Newspapers and Make the criteria very clear. Just like the Chelsea football team, the age of the Secretary will not matter but his or her winning spirit will. I know that, in my heart of hearts, the common Gambian will rather have a good economy run by a competent Gambian than vice-versa. Poverty does not become bearable because it is being caused by your own countrymen.

The criteria for the very important position of Finance and Economic Planning should include the requirement of previous employment as finance or economic managers in a recognised government institution. This ensures that, unlike most of our Secretaries of States he or she has done it before. Most of our Secretaries of states fail because they are doing a job that was not offered as a course for them. Even people looking for the lowest paying jobs in the world are asked if they have any experience- so why should we think a secretary of States will excel without experience. Our choices should be based on experience on the same job already done.

You cannot have experience in another field and expect to transfer it smoothly to a Secretary of State’s position you are holding for the first time. Mr. President, the beauty of this system is that, since whoever gets the job will not necessarily be your relative you can easily fire him or her without being reprimanded by your parents or family head. Can you imagine how difficult it will be for you to fire your wife if she is incompetent as a Secretary of State? Such a decision will definitely affect the taste of your soup and that will be the least of your marital problems.

The agricultural ministry is one area that can make or break you as a President of the Republic of the Gambia .This  area should be chosen uniquely in order to recruit the most competent and experienced man or woman regardless of tribe of origin.

My President I will leave the details to you.

This system should also be used to choose the Alkalos Chiefs heads of government corporations and heads of government schools. The emphasis should be on competence and not on anything else.
The next question will be "How do we finance this novel system?" As I have already said, this model is based on the soccer model used by world class teams such as Barcelona and Chelsea. John Essen cost Chelsea 30 million pounds but now he is worth twice the amount. Another player on the same team, Wright-Phillips is now only worth half the amount he was bought with. This is the nature of all choices we make; there are always pros and cons. But one thing is clear-our Secretaries of State end up stealing enough Dalasi to pay all the Government expenses in a year.

I have a strong conviction that this uniquely originated system will quickly be copied and used in all the Government institutions.  As President you will be happy to use it because it will be based on merit and not personal, party or family bonds. The whole country will copy a good system no matter the origin. Don't forget Democracy is a native of Greece not Gambia or our neighbouring Senegal. My president, this is my humble contribution to my native land-the Gambia as a diasporan. May God give you the wisdom to rule and the courage to leave when the constitution demands and please never think of changing the constitution so that you can rule forever?

 Yours truly,

Mr. Jadama Sadibu. True son of the Republic of the Gambia.

 e-mail: sjadama@hotmail.com

Editors note:The views of the author do not necessarily reflects the position of the Freedom Newspaper. This paper would not take liability for the content of the author's piece. His views are his views. Period. We thank you for your attention.