Please be informed that many
countries in the world are affected by this tricky disease called corruption as
it destroys the quality and standard of the good and services and it also ruins
and wrecks the life of the common man. Political parties who vowed to stop and
take steps to eradicate corruption have being voted for power are now the
architect of corruption as far beyond any human
imagination.
The last time I checked culture
allows, and even encourages corruption. The belief in The Gambia is that if you
are in government, department, agency or institution, you must make money like Bill
Gates. If you don’t use your position to amass wealth, your friends and family
members think of you as a fool or worse being to live on the state of nature.
They never cease to remind you of this or that fellow who got a big job like
yours, and already has two or three Mansions.
I submit to you that those who
amass ill-gotten wealth tend to be the ones people worship and respect. The
unwritten rule is that the only job worth doing, is the one that puts money in
your pocket. If in the process some public good comes out of it, so be it. But
that’s not the primary objective. The practice cuts both ways. You’ll find
various opposition leaders slamming governments for various acts of corruption,
and vowing to clean house if elected. But don’t believe it. It is all
posturing. If you look closely, you’ll find that when the opposition were in
power, they indulged in similar practice. And you can bet that if they ever get
in again, they’ll do the same, or even worse.
Corruption in The Gambia is an
obstacle that restricts citizens on a daily basis in their enjoyment of human
rights and fundamental freedoms, contributing to the perpetuation of poverty
and hindering economic opportunity. The collective recognition of the
challenges posed by rampant corruption has led to political turmoil.
The Gambia is an Africa country
where corruption is one of the benefactors for a long time. Corruption in this
country is experienced in many sectors, both in private and public offices. In
politics, corruption is heavy swimming like a canoe in the Atlantic Ocean as
average politicians cannot do without indulging in one corrupt practice to
another before they win in any election. In fact, the less connected citizens
of The Gambia are the one that suffers as wealth which is to be evenly
distributed are being utilized by the top politicians alone.
Transparency International have
not failed in giving updates on the nations that have stained their hands by
indulging in massive corrupt practices. According to the organization,
corruption still remains rampant in public sector.
Currently, we can concretely say that
corruption in Gambia is not just a mere perception but inherently pervasive in
the country as evidenced by the recent expose in the ongoing Janneh commission
of enquiry.
Corruption is a manmade thing as
it is not a natural phenomenon therefor we can kick it out in the smiling coast
of Africa as far beyond Jupiter. As such will make our country the last place
of hope on earth.
There is an urgent need for
institutional reforms that will focus on improving financial management and
strengthening the role of auditing agencies as such will make The Gambia a free
zone of corruption. Also strengthening citizen’s demand for anti-corruption and
empowering them to hold government accountable is a sustainable approach that will
helps to build mutual trust between citizens and government.
The Ministry of Finance need to
formulate a strategy for the system to improve and ensure the effective and
efficiency collection of taxes from taxpayers, especially from politicians, we
have to upgrade our tax system, make registrations, tax declarations, and
payments online, and eliminate unnecessary regulations that only make our
system more complicated and monotonous.
It is a clear testimony that
being a politician or a public official is one of the greatest profession in
the world. It requires a lot of leadership skills and knowledge in law,
economy, ethics, humanity and others. To make sure our government officials,
legislators, mayors, governors, etc. are currently capable in doing their
respective job, they should be required to have a minimum credit units of
continuing professional education every year. If they can’t comply, then they
should be fired out from their positions.
We have public institutions that
have board and management teams, which we can hold directly responsible for
corrupt practices rather than quickly politicizing every act of corruption even
in semi-autonomous public agencies. However, the President must lead the way
and show commitment in the fight against corruption in the public institutions.
It should not be too difficult to fire and hire at the same time to instill
discipline in public service.
To be continued…………
By: Saidina Alieu Jarjou
Blogger/Activist
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