Honestly the interview was just bad! Lack of coherence of ideas. Lack of understanding of global dynamics. Lack of knowledge about China!
Barrow needs technicians:
1. Policy analysts
2. International relations analysts
3. Historians
4. Media and Communications experts
5. International Development and Trade experts
Barrow needs smart and objective advisors who are only interested in his success and the good of The Gambia and not just how much money they can get away with.
Am truly offended that they could abandon Barrow to fend for himself before a young journalist who came to realize the innocence of our president. Her sarcastic interjections and gestures exposed her bewilderment at the unpreparedness of our president.
Where are the institutions under the Office of the President that are expected to provide information and analysis and advice to guide the head of state? Where is the Policy Analysis Unit (PAU)? Where is the Office of Public Relations and Press? Where are the Foreign Ministry officials? Why didn’t they brief Barrow adequately?
Barrow himself needs to ask questions to update himself. For every international visit he must request a full dossier on that country and its leadership, history and political system among others. He must summon his team to do a review of issues well before they leave Banjul.
For any international media interview he must equip himself with facts and figures about The Gambia and the host country and the world. He needs to quote numbers and percentages and periods. That’s how leaders control their interviews command attention and respect from foreign journalists and leaders. He needs to have at least some basic idea about the international system and law in terms of UN declarations and resolutions and instruments.
This interview calls for an urgent debriefing at the Office of the President so that immediate remedies are put in place.
Mr Barrow spoke about.
1. Bilateral relations based on openness and trust
2. He spoke about stability
3. He spoke about strong institutions and consistent policy
Those are precisely what the Chinese need to hear from our President to return and invest in Gambia. Who cares about his delivery, his message was clear.
I find no fault in his objectives and I believe he accomplished his goals. Time will tell.
God Bless The Gambia.
Madi joberteh stop your misinterpretations and misleading articles over the Gambia and our president what type of a human being are you
This is Gambian outsider. I was not going to write about anything until February because there is a lot on my plate right now. I am writing to make a short commentary. I will expand on my commentary in February when I have more free time. So if anyone makes a commentary on what I write here, I won’t be able to comment back. I will make sure that I jot down any points made and when I do write in February I will respond. I agree with Mr. Jobarteh’s observation about Mr. Barrow, however, the remedies he enumerated, unfortunately, will not cure the defect. Mr. Jobarteh seems to assume that some of the things he suggested are not already being done? He does not know that. May be those things are already in place somehow. The fact that Mr. Barrow always looks like a deer in highlights is an indication of some serious issues which have been manifesting themselves since he came to power. Dr. Sarr may think that Mr. Barrow’s delivery is ok but that is missing the points big time. I see Gambians making similar mistakes like they did when dictator Jammeh came to power. A wrong diagnosis rarely cures a sickness or disease. Mr. Jobarteh is not attacking Mr. Barrow personally. Mr. Jobarteh is talking about things that any Gambian who wishes to pull his or her head out of the sand will or can see. Both Jammeh and Barrow are empty barrels. The difference between the two is that one was empty but believed that he was full- Jammeh, and the other is empty and is aware of it-Barrow. Jammeh used to talk a lot because he believed he knew a lot. Barrow does not talk a lot because he is aware that he knows absolutely nothing. Spoon feeding Barrow with what to say will never work. Even if what Barrow is to say is broken down to the most basic, he will more often stumble. Those who are behind the scenes try to shield or protect Barrow but that is not going to work. Does it not seem like others are running things at the Statehouse of in The Gambia? You guys need to look at the whole period Barrow has been in power rather than from episode to episode. I know you guys will think I am crazy, but if Barrow truly loves The Gambia, he needs to resign. He is inebriated with the same spirit like Jammeh and that is bad for Gambia. Besides their different personalities, there is much similarities between Barrow and Jammeh. One of the most obvious similarity between the two apart from being empty is “Love of Human Praise.” The only worse disease than this, as Holy Writ teaches us, is “Pride.” When you see Jammeh you see Pride. I cannot say the same about Barrow. I will get into all these in February. I made this point two months into Barrow’s presidency in one of my badly written articles titled “Jumping Off The Barrow Bandwagon.” I do not see Barrow resigning anytime soon but that is what he needs to do if loves Gambia and is honest with himself. So long and Happy New Year! Sorry for any typos! On the run as always!
You can come up with your ideologies in February, but make sure with senses,because how I don’t know how on earth will compare barrow and jammed,look let’s be honest here jammed killed our brothers,sister,fathers mothers you telling me there’s a similarity between barrow and jammeh, as you said before through your comment some might think you must be crazy, yes i say if you dont lost your mind,then you almost be at the boiling point,criticism is ok,but I think it’s too early for the new government to be under attack.thanks
Thank you Samba for your honest commentary. You have not been honest to only yourself but to all the Gambians at large. Your observation about President Barrow is very correct. In fact it is not much different from the one I had when Barrow was elected as the coalition candidate in that hall at the Kairaba Beach Hotel. Unlike his co-contestants he could not address the crowd without reading from a paper; before and after the election and even that was a problem for him. This was noticed by even the UDP delegates who were there which was the reason why there was a big uproar from their side when the idea of questions and answers was proposed because they knew that was going to expose him more and make the delegates to think well about him before the votes. It is from there that I knew the type of president we are going to have. After his election as the coalition candidate I personally did a lot of talking to convince many of those who wanted Jammeh out but have no confidence in barrow’s ability as a leader to steak to the coalition and vote for him . No amount of coaching as suggested will make him to perform to the expectation of those like my brother Madi and you Samba. And if we are not careful about the way we relate with him, after tasting the sweets of power and acquiring the desire to cling to it due to the promptings of sycophants far and around him, to cover up his deficiencies he could turn to be very aggressive like his predecessor Yahya Jammeh. That will be disastrous for the country and himself. Hence the best thing is for him to be encouraged by all who wish well for this country and are ready to put it before self to acknowledge and honor the agreement he has with his colleagues and resign after a transition period of three years. Our time as a nation have been wasted for the past five decades and that should not happen any more.
Bla bla bla
Barrow is a continuation of the old order in its many manifestations. This gigantic failure emanates from administrations of old; in that nearly nothing is conducted based on proven scientific knowledge.
Most unfortunate of all the traits of this government is it’s continuous reluctance to heed good counsel. A government that is reactionary instead of anticipating situations that arise out of its decisions will always find someone to blame. This was the case in Kanilai, Busumbala and of recent Sukuta.
The diplomatic flippancy is as a result of putting square pegs in round holes. Yet, we witnessed how the foreign ministry is over financed to the detriment of much more crucial areas such as education, health and agriculture.
All the while, political sycophancy is taking the place of efficiency.
It’s time for someone to summon the president to the NA to answer pertinent questions from his first year at the helm of state affairs.
In the service of The Gambia and Africa, I remain.
I, for example, wouldn’t exactly categorise the Barrow administration as a continuation of the old systems but do agree to claims he is inarticulate, especially during important state functions. He perhaps needs to do some jawbone, vocal and tongue exercising. This is not to say he needs a personality transformation but to perfect his communication skills as head of state of The Republic of the Gambia. I like it was put in a comment somewhere earlier on that; Barrow knows he needs to learn. I think that’s a really good thing. The worst thing about his predecessors, precisely Jammeh, was that, the latter always thinks he knows everything when indeed he seems to have very little idea of what goes about his own bedroom. He was prying, blood-thirstily callous, lousy and unintelligent. He was a national nightmare. The Barrow administration however, like every other administrative body, should be careful not to be oblivious, with respect to what citizens’ opinions are, even as forthright as some of those opinions may be.
There are clear parallels between Dawda and Yaya, and between Adama and the two former disasters of a president. Why? I numerate below:
1) All three of them claim to adapt a liberal market economy. Sad reality is, they don’t know what that is. So they make us poorer by the minute.
2) Both men live extravagant lives, stealing and misusing our monies to enrich themselves.
3) Both inherited colonial laws and institutions with promises to reform and reclaim. All of them then rely on same laws and institutions to entrench their wills and consolidate their grips on the steering wheels of power.
4) If you bother to go through archival photo and video materials, you will see how their way of dressing shifted from humble cotton and kaki attires, to more elaborate expensive clothing that symbolizes a mystical and religious aura. All that adorned with skull caps and prayer beads for added effect that were not there before.
5) Espousing the importance of peace and tranquility to keep them in power, when we know that peace is not only the absence of war. In fact the past fifty two years of Gambia’s existence is marred by all kinds of economic and socio-cultural violence sustained by a docile “God fearing” populace and an elite class lacking any moral or ideological compass.
6) Dawda, Yaya and Adama are both at one time or the other married to two wives whom we have to feed, cloth and shelter without any legal basis in our constitution or other law books.
7) They all parasitically exploited our ethnolinguistic diversity to deflect our attention from far more important aspects of our existence as a people. Such as universal health care FOR ALL, free and compulsory education, expansion of the economic base to include processing, manufacturing and export of our goods and services.
8) Add your own here…….
Eloquency does not change unpalatable living conditions. That takes knowledge, dedication and a dogged persistence to get things done.
As always……
Yours in the service of The Gambia and Africa.
Man, only Yayah among the three kept burying people around the country in unmarked graves and even inside gardens of his mafia hideouts. Man, Yayah is a coldblooded armed-robber. He’s covetous of private citizen’s achievement and violently ethnocentric. While all three may be substandard quality leaders, Yayah’s cancerous callousness contrasted with Dawda’s and Adama’s humane natures. To compare him to either his predecessor or his successor is a trick to justify his by-day and by-night killing sprees of innocent citizens of the country. Man, come on! Gambia has had its bad leadership that failed in delivering the people politically though, but Yayah played mercilessly with the very lives of brothers and sisters, whose bloods has stained his flowing white gowns and hands. Man, the guy had gone altogether out of his mind. But that is, if he’s ever got some at all. He, his jungulars and clique always seemed coked up. They were obviously on very dangerous substances.
The brutality and impunity of Yaya aside, the parallels could not have been better pointed out.
The problem with these three is that the power they sought and gained became an end in itself, and since power was sought and gained for its sake, continuing and maintaining what has been inherited became the norm: palatial official residences, red carpet treatment, fat salaries and allowances, privileged living for self, family and close cohorts (all in the midst of mass poverty), monopoly of political arena and domination of electoral process, all in the guise of democracy, etc.
Power, for the genuine leader, is only a means to an end, rather than an end in itself. Thus, for such a person, power is not a means to riches, affluence and privileged living, but only a means to reorganize society and transition it into a fairer and prosperous one for its members.
The Gambia is blessed with people who can provide that type of leadership but we are yet to demonstrate that we are worthy and deserving of such selfless leadership. So the circus goes on.
Jack I admit the angle you are coming from has a lot of substance to it. But that was not my point of argument. I know we are still to comprehend Yaya’s mindset and psyche to unravel what led a human being like him to commit such heinous brutalities on innocent people. The nation might never recover from the psychological trauma inflicted by the twenty year misrule of Yaya and all who helped him kill and maim human beings at will. Talk less of the billions he steal and misused.
Take Yaya’s brutality out of the equation and the picture becomes clearer or should I say bleaker if am to talk about our political and economic prospects as a nation.
The alleged humane nature of Dawda and Adama can’t put food in the pot for starving families. It can’t provide farmers with equipment for successful planting and harvesting of farm produce. Or medicines for cancer patients in our hospitals.
In fact they did not come to power to be or not to be humane. That’s an immeasurable tangent in the grand scale of things. They came to power on contract. They all failed woefully to deliver on the agreement. So I will call them out in that for eternity, regardless of all other considerations.
In the service of The Gambia and Africa, I remain.