The news that there is an Adama Barrow Foundation for Inclusive Development (ABFID) is a yet another incidence of political patronage that is seeking to derail this country once more. Not long ago we saw the emergence of Barrow Youth Movement. Well before that we saw Barrow receive 57 vehicles from an anonymous donor. In his very early days a Senegalese businessman gave Barrow some houses yet not declared.
Meanwhile, Barrow has refused to make public the declaration of assets by ministers while he himself has not yet declared his own assets as a president. Yet Barrow want us to believe that he is a man who will fight against corruption and ensure adherence to the rule of law? How is that possible when he continues to perpetuate political patronage by creating personal institutions when he is already a sitting president?
Let Barrow be informed that in a democracy sitting presidents do not create foundations or institutions in their name. This is because the objectives of such a foundation or institution are the same objectives that the State has – that is to promote the socio-economic development of the Gambia, of which Barrow is the head. Where then is the borderline between his foundation and movement with that of the State?
When we elected Barrow, the Gambia people are paying him hundreds of thousands of dalasi every month, tax-free! We are giving him a five-star hotel accommodation facility at State House. He enjoys excellent first class medial attention for himself and his family. These incentives, facilities and services are provided to the president so that he has no other business or issue to involve in or worry about other than focusing on the affairs of the nation. On top of all that we have a huge lifetime retirement package for him for life after the presidency. Hence to now create separate personal institutions to do what we are paying him to do already is a clear case of conflict of interest and an act of blatant corruption and disregard of the rule of law. What does Barrow want now?
Where will this foundation generate funds? Who will donate to this foundation? Who will appoint the board of directors and management of this foundation? How will they be appointed? Will this foundation be submitting itself to the laws of the Gambia such as paying its fair share of tax and abide by the necessary regulations in place? Will public funds be diverted to this foundation as we saw happened with the Jammeh Foundation for Peace? Any minute Barrow spends on this foundation means he is cheating that minute from the State for which he is already being paid fully. These are some of the conflict of interest issues surrounding such institutions when sitting president creates them.
It is clear that when there is a Barrow foundation many individuals, businesses and organizations will patronize the foundation, not because they believe it is a good initiative but because they wish to get favours from Barrow and, indirectly to be seen to in the good books of the Gambia Government. This is how individuals and companies get contracts from corrupt leaders and governments. In this way Barrow would therefore be encouraging corruption, bribery and abuse of office which is a violation of our constitution.
We have seen the controversy that surrounded the Bill Clinton Foundation when Hillary Clinton became the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party in the 2016 US elections. Immediately concerns were raised that the foundation got donations thanks to her former position as Secretary of State and the popularity of former Pres. Bill Clinton. Consequently they were forced to reduce their role in the management of the foundation. Yet this foundation was created well after Bill Clinton left the White House. But now Barrow is in the State House and he wants to set up a foundation; certainly that is a recipe for massive corruption.
Barrow must have legal and ethics advisers in State House to guide him. Let him stop following that Yaya Jammeh path which is the typical practice of bad and corrupt dictators in Africa. By creating a foundation as a sitting president it will lead to the dominance of that foundation over the Gambia Government. Public officials will be constrained to apply the full force of the law on his foundation, as they would do to other CSOs and private companies. This means his foundation will therefore get preferential treatment, which is illegal and criminal on the part of those public officers.
I am utterly shocked and scared that within 12 months Barrow has adopted so many malpractices of Yaya Jammeh and African dictators that I wonder how 24 or 36 or 48 or 60 months would look like with him. The incidences of political patronage are already too many. Political patronage is a cancer that provides the perfect fertile ground for corruption, dictatorship and bad governance. The evidence of that are the APRC Regime and many other regimes across Africa. Why therefore would Barrow repeat the same obnoxious acts of bad guys when he vowed to bring about system change?
All Gambians must stand up against Barrow Youth Movement and Adama Barrow Foundation for Inclusive Development. These are institutions of patronage and corruption that can only promote self-perpetuation in power, self-aggrandizement and tyranny at the expense of the people of the Gambia. They have no good use for our country in anyway. If Barrow truly loves the Gambia as he claims let him disband these corrupt institutions and wait until he leaves office to create his own foundation and movements in support of the Gambia.
For the Gambia, Our Homeland.
Dear Mr. Madi Jobarteh, as always for your strong vigilance for restoration democracy and rule of law in the Gambia. As your article and other realities on the ground show,#Gambia Decided at the Crossroad either for democratic Gambia to be build on strong institution Or the Africa way- back towards dictatorship. I as an African businessman lived in Gambia have great love and respect for the Gambians lovely people deserved for their destiny- power to the people.
As I too lived under Jammeh regime, I will never wish for Gambians such regime any more. As the author put it correctly, any form of Foundation by sitting president is NOT A HEALTHY ONE! As Foundation is the best code for corruption in politico environment it is unfortune for Gambia too at this moment while the country is in transformation.
#Gambia Decided must defend its nobel vision- Democratic Gambia!.
A Barrow youth movement and a Barrow youth movement are conduit to maladministration. We voice opposition to it and must explore our political means to stop it. As Jobarteh rightly and poignantly underscored, there cannot be any other affairs a sitting president should be preoccupied with other than the furtherance of the state’s interest enshrined in duties laid down by law and spirit of the office of the presidency. The Gambian people are already expensively compensating the president and his family for his service to the nation. President Barrow need to honor this privilege and concentrate his energy on the daunting tasks facing the country. Families are going to bed without food; health facilities and /or treatment are beyond the means of many families in the country; countless youths lack prospect for jobs to earn a respectable living. These and many other challenges face the country. Therefore, it is unacceptable for a sitting president waste time and state resources on affairs that immensely corrode the effectiveness expected of him to tackle the issues for which he was elected to office. Our political parties, foremostly the UDP must be expected to weigh-in and ensure that the president adhere to the mandate on which he was elected: the furtherance of Gambia’s interest and total integrity. Nothing else!
Kinteh(Kemo)
Illustrious son of our motherland, truthful, non partisan, patriotic and someone our people can look up to for enlightenment. Constructive criticism is needed and your piece fit the bill.
Keep up the good work.
Kinteh(kemo)/Madi Jobarteh,
You are late in this useless claim to “advise/claim” or may I say, protest against your utterly USELESS administration. I said this earlier in 2017, that this bunch of INCOMPETENT people will destroy. The truth is coming to surface.
The only argument you should give is to make a comparison with whatever President Jammeh did to justify Adama Barrow’s misappropiation of our resources. That’s your usual defence pattern, isn’t it? Come on.
You are naive, not to have envisaged the bad things to come in hiring an UNQUALFIED personality in a responsible position!
The only solution is to come out loud and clear and work vehemently to flush this INCOMPETENT clique out of office. That’s all. Just look at his BELLY, full of HARAAM. It shows the true physical feature of a CORRUPT African leader.
Look at you again, Babu, criticising Barrow for starting a foundation, yet completely mute on the same behaviour by Yaya Jammeh. Least you forget, Jammeh had TWO foundation: Jammeh Foundation For Peace and MYJ Trust Fund, both of which were run by pubic funds.
Bax,
PROLOGUE
As I promised, I will start responding to your list of itemized activities about the 30 years of the Jawara regime in different phases. In seriously going through your chronology of these items, one can only decipher one thing: PLANNING, PLANNING and NO PRODUCTIVITY IN 30 (good/bad) YEARS!
I don’t have to refute the Jawara government’s capacity in planning without production, because I have listened to almost all his parliament opening speeches when he would lay the blue prints of his government’s plans and programmes of the fiscal year. I have also listened to almost all the Finance Ministers’ speeches; from Sherrif Sisay, Sherrif Dibba, BB Darbo…. All their remarks were based on “government intentions” with figures that never came off ground.
To be continued……………..