Open Letter to The Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs. Mr. Amadou Sanneh. (Part.1)

Dear Minister,

Please be informed that your hands lies in great power. If I may be so bold as to speak truth to that power, I am going to present you with a heartfelt appeal to you to become a minister who will go down in history as a great man.

I write this letter to you, not because I am trying to hunt, introduce an Idea or put my idea against the current ideas, strategies and policies being formulated by the ministry. I am not against anything or for it. I am more worried with only facts and actualities. As far as my slender ability allows I will not concern you with anything less than a matter of great importance in this letter. I wish to emphasize that I intend no disrespect either to the Barrow lead administration, to the ministry, to professionals, or to you personally. All we want to see is a better Gambia that will be the last place of hope on earth.

Personally I believe that corruption is what transforms a leader into a common criminal beyond all human imagination. In The Gambia, we have a large quantity corrupt individuals operating as politicians, and in our government too. Transparency International said that corruption over all was on the rise in The Gambia. The last time I checked The Gambia was ranked 145 out of 175 countries in its perception of corruption index.

You, in your position, hold the keys to our state’s coffers. Those keys are all that stands between the present and the future of the Gambia youth. Therefore those keys should be kept in a safe place where even the air will not touch neither to have access to enter. It is true that corruption fuelled by poverty often occurs when the basic need of the common man has not been met.

Corruption is one of the biggest threat to the well-being of a society. It degrades the quality of the services and also ruins the life of the common man. Many countries in the world are affected by this disease called corruption.

I am fairly certain that you will receive tempting offers and bribes to make it easier to support projects that are not beneficial to the state. I believe that good lies in all of us, and I hope that you are an honorable man. If there comes such a time that you are presenting with a financial reward for your service to your leader and his backers, I hope that you will allow your conscience to speak for you and that you will find the strength and courage to allow it to say no.

Be reminded that your ministry is a pivotal organ that need to lead by example in eradicating corruption in the smiling coast of Africa, Gambia. Our future will depend on our actions of today therefore there is a need to work as per the international standard of ethics and professionalism.

You should not allow neither to watch for the dignitaries to drive our country to ruin it in pursuit of their personal gain and interest, and as the head of the ministry of our national coffers you should not be one of the architects and the engineers of the destruction of The Gambia economy.

I submit to you that The Gambia has no independent detective agency which can investigate with full power and freedom to expose the corrupt individuals beyond mountain Everest. Hence anyone who commits offense on corruption will not be as afraid of the investigation as they can escape from it by taking help of ruling political party.

I do not tender this to give advice or self-aggrandize as one is apt to do or normal in our society, where every “self-respecting” citizen is a know it all. I allow myself to draw your attention to several facts that demand immediate attention, and do not require legislative action or other time-consuming procedures. In my humble opinion, it will not require any special effort in order to transcend this shameful worship of ideas which breeds ignorance, and halt corruption in the true sense of the word

In The Gambia anyone can establish a political party. So there are many political parties in Gambia. If the political party wins, then the members in it will desire to expand the party to all over the country. To do so, they need enough financial reserves. For this, once they come into power, they opt for corrupt means to make the wealth needed to expand the party.

I am quite sure that by implementing a different paradigm in policy making, corruption may be reduced. I also believe that politics is much more complex than any industry, because reason doesn’t always play as big a role as it should, and as it does in other industries.

Therefore by having a startup mentality towards policy making our political leaders can give average citizens the power to propose policies and become involved in the implementation process, something I believe that it will bring more transparency, efficiency, and accountability to the political process.

Prevention and eradication of corruption is an absolute requirement for better public life. This corruption takes an interesting turn in such a way that everyone becomes corrupt in some other sort if situation permits.

 In every ATM there are camera to keep a watch on the public taking their money. Then why not government offices have cameras to have a watch on the employ performance. Even there are many employees who openly take bribe in presence of common men. This public bribery is due to confidence that public wants their work more than the amount they are paying to them as bribes.

Sincerely,

Saidina Alieu Jarjou

Activist/Blogger