BY; GAMBISARA:
Department of State for Youth and Sports
The
Department of State for Youth and Sports is responsible for The
National Youth Council. Its Secretary of State reports directly to the
President of the Republic. Therefore, that being the case, one cannot
mention the NYC without Omar Faye. Faye, “Nafiyoo”. The
National Youth Council came as a result of the National Youth Policy
which paved the way for the enactment of a National Youth Council Act.
I think its aim (the Act) is to co-ordinate all youth-related
programmes across the country. Fortunately, the Council came into being
in the middle of 2000 under the tutelage of Mr. Raymond T. Gibba. The
Council was envisaged “to
play a critical advocacy role in the implementation of all youth
related programmes particularly those run by State Departments. The
Council will also serve as the main advisory body to Government on all
matters relating to youth development in the country. At the same time
The Council will serve as a channel of communication for all issues,
including Government policy and programmes to all affiliated youth
organisations”. It went further to state that “the
National Youth Council would be an autonomous and non-partisan body to
allow for the representation of the interests of all young men and
women irrespective of their ethnic, political or religious affiliation,
to enable it work effectively towards the foal of empowering young
Gambia men and women. The National Youth Council shall establish
technical committees selected among its members to facilitate,
initiate, review and monitor the youth programmes in specific sectors”.
Since
the establishment of the The National Youth Council, lot of water has
passed under the bridge. The Young People have witnessed the tenures of
Mr. Gibba, Mr. Kebba Lang Sanneh and now the controversial Mr. Pa Malik
Ceesay. It’s important to mention that Mr. Gassama was briefly the
Executive Secretary in acting capacity. Mr.
Ceesay is a gentleman who has never let his predecessors do the job
they were entrusted with. He used to be a big time rival of Mr. Gibba,
moderate on Kebba and is now very mad with Gassama. He used to accuse
Mr. Gibba of favoring Lend A Hand Society. How can a father ditch his
loved child? If this is easily so, then Mr.
Gibba would ditch LAHS. Though during the tenure of Mr. Gibba, Abdul
Salaam Jammeh was the chairperson. It was only when he traveled to Canada,
when Ms. Nkai Kanyi took over as Chairperson. Both persons were not in
positions of authority in any organisation; Ms. Kanyi was not in BAFROW
at the time but with the MRC.
On
the contrary, the Young People are witnessing something different at
the National Youth Council. Mr. Alhagie Kebbeh a Founder member and the
current Director of NaYAFS is the Chairperson of the National Youth
Council. Interestingly, NaYAFS is an affiliated member of the NYC. Can
Mr. Ceesay now tell his boss to be neutral in favoring his office
(NaYAFS)? Gambisara think the worse mistake the former SoS Samba Faal
made during his tenure was to endorse the appointments of Mr. Alhagie
Kebbeh and Mr. Ceesay to the Positions of Chairperson and Executive
Secretary respectively. Gambisara think SoS Omar Faye is watching
keenly with an objective to rectifying the situation for the future.
Gambisara do not have anything against either person, they have the
right to serve their country, but I don’t think they are suitable for
the jobs. Gambisara likes them as individuals. For Kebbeh, he is over
loaded with NaYAFS and should have given the office proper attention
than dividing the maximum attention required of him. Gambisara feels
that there are competent people who are better suitable for these
positions, among them Malang Jassey, Sutay Jawo, Mawdo Jallow, Ousainou
Dambell, Lamin Camara, etc. In the case of Mr. Ceesay, I suppose the
former SoS was acting in revenge to the former NYC executive Council
headed by the dynamic Mustapha Kebbeh because of the unceremonious
departure of Kebba Lang Sanneh. Gambisara
believes he got it wrong and did not consult his subordinates for
professional advice and made a headhunt and ended up making the wrong
choice. Square pegs in round holes continue. Gambisara cannot
understand operations at the Council as Pa looks a bit switched off.
It’s hardly possible to see this guy in his office not even catching
him on the office phone. He takes himself like King Yaya Jammeh. Know
that you are a Youth leader; young people are watching your movements.
You are being too unethical. With
these case scenarios by getting square pegs in round holes, Gambisara
wonder how the desired objectives of the Youth Policy and Programme of
Action will be attained. Gambisara is constantly asking this question
because the Policy was projected to run through from 1998 to 2008. And
its only 876 days away to getting to that date, December 31st, 2008. Gambisara thinks people should be honest and bold enough to say NO
they cannot do a particular job, but accepting a position without
delivering is the worst crime one can do in the service of his/her
nation. The UN system and other good offices in Banjul are investing a huge amount of resources (financial and material) towards the activities of the council, including travels,
both local and foreign. Please do not abuse these offices they are doing their corporate responsibilities. Despite the Gambia is a member of the UN family and contributes its dues, it should NOT
be abused, their funds should be dispensed in an acceptable way.
Auditing is not only about financial matters, but goes further to
measuring performance in which daily management and other
administration policies are required to be looked at. Unfortunately in
the Gambia,
we concentrate more on financial aspects when auditing where
discrepancies arise, the NIA Banjul phone goes ringing, shouting,
please help!
The
National Youth Policy was described to play a major effort to
mainstreaming youth development within the National Development
Framework and thus highlighting youth issues as concrete input into the
National Development Agenda during the 9-year period. It further states
that among the conclusions reached into the Policy are “that
the youth are an integral of the national decision-making processes and
procedures and enjoy the same rights, privileges and duties as adults;
that sustained livelihood is as pertinent to youths as other segments
of the population; that youth development is as critical a viable to
national development as all other variables”. It went further to state priority areas such as education and training, youth employment, micro-credit delivery, Land and
Housing, Youth Justice and Rehabilitation, etc.
It
is amazing to make attempts to analyse these points. Gambisara wants to
be fair to the drafters of the Youth Policy, as they had good
intentions, but little did they know the level of seriousness of the
Government. Gambisara is not in the position to state how much
budgetary allocation has been made to the Department of State for
responsible for Youth matters. Gambisara can bet that, it’s a fraction
of what is allocated to the Department of State for Defense, not
talking about Presidential Affairs. Because Gambisara believes that the
SoS for Finance does not know the salary of President Jammeh. The
Government can go round saying that they have created the University of
the Gambia, NYSS, SDF, etc. Lets be honest, the NYSS was initiated as a skills
training venture pioneered by the Federal republic Of Nigeria
through the big brother programme and Mr. Alonge was then brought in as
Administrator while Amina Faal-Sonko was his Secretary of State.
Everything was going well until when Sheriff Gomez took over as the
Administrator and Yankuba Touray became his Secretary of State. For the
University of the Gambia,
it’s a very good investment for towards developing tertiary education
in the country. Gambisara have the feeling that it’s a big mistake for
the regime to use it as an avenue for partisan politics. Talking of
Youth employment, Gambisara always wonder how that can be defended.
Gambisara was amazed to discover that there is no national migration
policy. Gambisara came to a conclusion after a numerous attempt to get
a copy from the Population Secretariat to no avail. If one does not
know the rate of net migration, how can you plan effectively for the
citizenry? Gambisara is sorry to say this which some will find
insulting, but we Gambians are only interested in Per diems and
exaggerating figures to make them look nice whiles in the actual fact,
most of them are cooked. In short enriching ourselves at the expenses
of the masses.
The Policy went further to say “The
pivotal role allocated to all stake holders in the realisation of the
implementation of the policy identifies the key players in each
sectoral component but also takes into consideration that donor inputs
that will be extremely critical to the success of this policy being
cognizant of the limited resource endowments of the country”. It even identified the following and referred to them as the particularly vulnerable group: Out of
School Youth, The girl child/Youth Women, Unemployed Youth People,
Rural Youth, Youth with Disabilities, Youth Tourist guides, and Youth,
Men and Women Living with HIV/Aids.
As
stated earlier, lofty ideas but on the contrary bogus projections.
Bogus in the sense that Gambisara do not see any rational in stating
them. Travel to the interior of the country; you will want to commit
suicide. The massive unemployment rate is too practical. Gambisara
wonders if the President cannot meet the People in Fatoto, how he can
know exactly how they feel. If farmers cannot be paid their nuts, how
can they buy seeds and fertilizer for the forthcoming farming season?
If the economy is in chaos, how can the desired employment
opportunities be created for the young people? These are fundamental
questions that require fundamental answers and they should not be taken
to be personal attacks or scoring political points. Gambisara is not a
politician by trade, but a nice village in the Basse region.
Gambian
Young People should open their eyes and avoid being used for political
gains of any party. They should understand that what is happening in
the country now is that as Senegal is progressively ascending, we in the Gambia are
rapidly descending. Gambisara will not talk of the other side of the Atlantic, as is only a dreamer will compare Banjul to Washington, London or Tehran, Yaya Jammeh’s next home from the 23rd September 2006.
Next week Gambisara will continue its attempt to analysing the Youth Policy as this is the executive summary.