It was great relief and an indication that the Gambia was heading towards system change when Pres. Barrow demanded that his ministers declare their assets. But to the surprise of many not only did some ministers failed to declare their assets, but also those who declared their assets were also not made public. This raises the question as to what therefore was the rationale for the declaration of assets by ministers.
In the first place one must highlight that assets declaration is a growing governance and management issue that is fast gaining momentum worldwide. This is because it is seen as one tool that is effective in combating corruption, bribery and preventing conflict of interest by public officials.
Assets declaration also serves to make the citizens have trust and confidence in the government and public officials. It therefore improves the integrity of public institutions and officials. Assets declaration also helps to dissuade public officials from misconduct simply because there will be noticeable variations in their wealth acquisition. Thus assets declaration saves public officials from unfounded rumours and accusations of corruption.
In light of the above reasons, assets declaration must therefore be made public so that citizens can see and know what is the level of wealth of ministers so that they can track any changes in their wealth. Without being made public, the value and purpose of assets declaration is therefore defeated. This is because at the end of the day, citizens cannot know if a particular minister has increased his or her acquisition of wealth or not during his or her term of office.
In that regard, Pres. Barrow must realize that an assets declaration in the Gambia must be perceived from the point of system change. Since independence, assets declaration has not been a major public policy and governance issue. Because of its absence, it has been one of the reasons why corruption and bribery has been rife in the Gambia for which the country has been ranked among the most corrupt societies in the world. The question is; is Barrow prepared to introduce a new system that will cleanse his government and future governments in the Gambia as his lasting legacy?
In my view, Barrow needs to draft a new assets declaration bill so that in addition to the constitutional provisions, we would also have a substantive law on this issue. In this law, assets declaration must be institutionalized and to expand it to also cover members of the Executive and its departments and agencies including public enterprises, parastatals and local government institutions as well as the Legislature and the Judiciary.
Furthermore officials of statutory bodies such as the IEC, Ombudsman and NCCE are all public officers who must also declare their assets. This is one fundamental measure to cleanse the government and the entire society from corruption and bribery.
A separate institution other than the Ombudsman must also be created to purposely concentrate on assets declaration. The law could also determine at what level or rank should public officers declare, and what kinds of assets are to be declared and made public. If Barrow were able to create such a law and institution, he would have made the Gambia a champion in the fight against corruption in the world.
Furthermore, in creating this law, it is also necessary to create a freedom of information law so as to further empower citizens to demand public information from public institutions. Such a law serves to further curtail corruption and promote the integrity and transparency of public institutions and officials.
Freedom of information law in the context of assets declaration is instrumental in institutionalizing good governance in this country. The current revelations at the Janneh Commission are clear evidence that we need an assets declaration law and institution backed by a freedom of information act.
Since coming to power there have been rumours of corruption and bribery levied against various ministers and top government officials. Mama Kandeh once said that loans contracted by the government are being shared among ministers. He is yet to give any evidence on that.
Others have also said that the Interior Minister had bought a D10 million house. No evidence has yet come out on that too. But the incidence of frequent travels by senior government officials and ministers is rife with the president himself was reported to have taken along more than 50 people to New York for the UN General Assembly meeting.
These rumours and facts all point to the need for a freedom of information law as well as a more serious approach towards assets declaration. We do not wish to see our Government continue to be a free basket where everyone just picks whatever they wish to satisfy their desires.
We do not want to have our public officials use official travels as a means to buy cars and compounds and stash their bank accounts while Gambians die for lack of electricity and good health facilities. Therefore let Barrow tell us how serious he is about assets declaration by stating clearly what was his intention to call for the declaration in the first place. Where does he want to go with this matter?
Public office is a right as well as a duty and also a privilege for all citizens to serve their country. But any citizen who wishes to work in the public sector must be prepared to submit to the laws, regulations and instructions that maintain efficiency, transparency and accountability. It is these values and standards that underpin the checks and balances that restrain the state and its officers from abuse and to confine themselves to the rule of law and service to the nation.
Hence our public service must be clean and fair as well as justly rewarding for those who work in it. The public service should be a work place for the best sons and daughters of our land hence public servants must be individuals with integrity and discipline. To achieve that kind of a clean public service, assets declaration is one fundamental tool for that purpose.
God Bless The Gambia.
Madi Jobarteh,
I closely follow your contributions and I’m gradually getting convinced about your impartiality.
But how many Gambians in the diaspora will agree with what you’ve said or even take it as a serious matter, a matter of national concern? Most of them are NUMBED.
Forget about assets declaration. Their assets will NEVER be declared. Besides, what assets have they got prior to coming to power? This is a cat and mouse game. They’ll hide until they illicitly amass enough money from the taxpayers’ money and then come out to say “I own this, I own that”.
That’s how they can easily fool and persuade our “learned fellows”. As for our unschooled population, they have no business with their dishonesties. The only thing they rely on is the punishment of Allah(SWT)
The per diem emoluments are enough to buy them and families, cars, houses and set up businesses in the name of family membres etc………
Personally, I’m a President Jammeh diehard supporter, a President whose achievements we can all veritably see.
On an equal note, since a Commission of Inquiry has been set up by the INEPT Barrow administration to look into Jammeh’s administration, I reserve all rights as a democrat, to keep silent until a concise report is submitted. That’s what I’ve learnt about democratic dispensation, NOT to judge before judgement!
However, there are many a Gambian who would deliberately turn a blind eye to the callous administration we are seeing today. Their reason is because, it’s the bitty coalition that depossessed Jammeh of power, so they have the onerous right to do whatever they want. Isn’t that thinking, ludicrous?
BILLIONS of unaccounted dalasis have been squandered since January 2017 and our “learned Barrow supporters” are slavishly keeping silent about that.
They have talked about policy blue prints which no Gambian has read/learnt about.
To set the records right, we have to put these people on track or we’ll be doomed. There is no accountability and transparency, which cannot be blamed on what President Jammeh did in the past.
Ex-President Jammeh, you mean? He has definitely left his mark: butchered hundreds, disappeared tens and probably squandered billions of Dalasis of state funds. The “development” he brought becomes insignificant when viewed within this context.
We question the management of our resources by this government, but we don’t know yet if they have squandered any monies. Have you got any proves to support your claims?
Brother Madi has, once again, touched a very important issue that should be part and parcel of the reform Agenda to improve the governance environment in new Gambia, by putting administrative and legal tools in place, that would minimise and discourage, if not totally eradicate, corruption and graft in Public Office. Assets declaration, BEFORE and AFTER assumption to public office, is a great tool to discourage illegal amassing of wealth, but its effectiveness is undermined, if the declared assets are kept secret. Moreover, the information contained in the declaration forms can easily be altered by corrupt officials to hide their corruption at the end of their terms, if the declaration at the time it was made, is not public knowledge.
The Government, if it is serious about combatting corruption and graft, must ensure that the full effectiveness of tools employed is guaranteed to achieve desired results, otherwise, it will be guilty of paying only lip service to fighting corruption and graft.
In my view, to strengthen our hand to fight corruption and the illegal accumulation of assets, ALL officials in government must be required to provide the sources of their funds, if they want to acquire new assets. For example, as part of registering a new car or building/buying a new house, the applicant must be required to indicate how they wish to fund their project before approval can be granted. In that way, a car registration certificate, or a building permit or an asset transfer certificate will not be issued by the relevant body, until this requirement is fully met and the information supplied is verified. And this must include relatives of state officials to plug the loophole, where relatives are used to hide corrupt activities.
Bax,
President Jammeh’s also left his excellent legacies of building our non-existent roads on both banks of the River Gambia, the TV station, the airport, hundreds of primary schools, seconadary schools, The UTG, rural electrification, portable water supplies in the provinces, enhanced agricultural production, the Minimiyang Bolong bridge, the Sankulay Kunda bridge, women empowerment, free education for girls, scholarships to all and sundry in and outside of The Gambia………..
And what about your defunct dysfunctional PPP regime he inherited from which killed over 800 innocent Gambians in 1981, never bulit a single secondary school in 30 years, never built a TV in 30 years, never constructed a durable road, corrupted our resources, left the agricultural sector in ruins…….?
You must be untruthful to say the developments President Jammeh brought about are insignificant when you still continue to live on the sources of what he did. You are just biased!
The facts about the Barrow administration’s squandering are exposed in their lavish expenditure sprees:
1) in hiring a hotel for his office where 1 million dalasis a day was spent,
2) his useless trips to Dakar, his wife’s useless trip to Dakar, his trips to Congo Brazzaville, France, the UN/G.Assembly with 53 delegates,
3) the useless independence inauguration
4) the unaccounted use of expensive government vehicles that consume a lot of fuel
5) the useless appointment of buddies to foreign office positions that has no good bearing on our meagre resources
6) Ramzia Diab’s millions to refurbish Barrow’s office/residence at Fajara
7) DABA NANI construction company’s millions to refurbish the State House
8) The millions spent to purchase vehicles for NAMs
These and many more are the unaccounted BILLIONS of dalasis they have so far wasted from our coffers since January.
You must be numbed to ask me about proofs. Madi Jobarteh, the erstwhile supporter and on-line contributor has already asked them to account for these wasteful expenditures and illicit amassing of wealth by covert and dubious means.
But as a numbed conformist you can’t see the light through the tunnel yet stress on the fact that we have to strenghten our hands to fight corruption and illegal accumulation of wealth.
Without flushing an inefficient bunch of corrupt elements out of power what mechanism can we employ to eradicate corruption, the menacing vice to our development?
Never fool yourself to believe that your Barrow government will set the standards to eradicate corruption when he and his administration are bloated with corruptible elements. REMEMBER HE RECEIVED A GIFT FROM A SENEGALESE BUSINESS TYCOON!
When will Ousainou Darbo pay the tax arrears he still owes? When will Mai Fatty refund the stolen money from the Gambian Norwegian Association?
The only solution is to start another political undertone that will immediately depose this bunch of corrupt, tribalist, nepotic, antiquated, influence peddling, inept administrators from office with a better cadre of sincere, talented, patriotic, incorruptible women and men. Otherwise the future will remain bleak, at least for the children of the POOR.
Babu, the significance of what development Jammeh achieved, and whether it was value for money, will only be established if we know how much was put in the national coffers during his term in office. We are beginning to have an insight into what transpired under him.
I don’t hold brief for Jawara and his PPP, but he was not a known killer, like your man Jammeh, and no serious person would hold him responsible for all the deaths in 1981. The man was not even in control when all that killing and destruction was taking place.
As for the Barrow Administration, be fair to it and give it time. You don’t build roads, bridges and schools in 8months, especially when confronted with so much issues left by your predecessor. I was only echoing the need to put tools in place that will help fight corruption.
It appears that we have two Baxes on this forum. The well read one and the …….?
So will the real Bax please stand up!
Andrew, this is the “original” Bax. Still here. Copy cat “Bax” posted once, and hasn’t come back since. Hope s/he accepts my suggestion.