Back and Next - Back and Next‘Don’t wait for permission - President Jammeh tells cabinet members
Friday, November 28, 2008
Professor Alhaji Yahya Jammeh, president of the Republic of The Gamba, has urged secretaries of state to employ their own initiatives in taking care of their respective departments of state, instead of waiting for permission from the Office of the President, especially when it comes to urgent development projects for the country.
President Jammeh made these remarks, yesterday afternoon, at State House in Banjul, as he presided over the swearing-in ceremony of Dr Mariatou Jallow as the new secretary of state for Health and Social Welfare.
“The fact that you have been appointed as secretaries of state, you are supposed to use your initiatives. You have the authority to take care of your departments of state and if you have a problem, then you contact the president’s office,” President Jammeh told his cabinet members.
He highlighted numerous opportunities that escaped the country’s health sector for lack of proper attention by the relevant authorities at the said department. He cited such scenarior as 3 months back, when they had an offer of some doctors from a friendly country. “All what they wanted was for The Gambia to identiify the key areas of specialisation in the health sector and they would provide us their services for 3 months.
If 3 months was too short, they were going to extend it to 6 months or even up to one year, and all of this was supposed to come free of charge. The only thing we needed to do was to provide transportation and accommodation for them.”
President Jammeh explained that all those people needed was for the SoS for Health and Social Welfare of The Gambia to write to his counterpart, confirming and also specifying the type of medical personnel the country required.
“For one month, this was not done,” he said. And he went on to explain how that minister struggled to get his Gambian counterpart respond positively to the offer, but eventually ended up being unsuceesful.
“So for some of you when I dismiss you, you will say you don’t know what you have done, that you just received your letter. That is why I am trying to explain some of these things,” the Gambian leader remarked.
“In most cases, I have to give a deadline for completion of certain national duties. But why would I have to give a deadline if you are patriotic and loyal to Gambians?” he enquired.
The Gambian leader went on further to warn against sabotage, especially on development projects, citing that in most cases, some senior officials sit on relevant information.
“As from now on,” he stated, “I am sick and tired of warning you.
You either work or you leave. Enough is enough! When I give you the yellow card once, the next one will be a red card. I am sick and tired of working with people who are not sincere yet they still want to gain money. You cannot be paid for services that you have not worked for because some of you work when I am around. And if you think you are working for me, you are making a big mistake,” he stated categorically.
In welcoming Dr Mariatou Jallow as the newly appointed secretary of state for Health and Social Welfare, President Jammeh congratulated her for accepting the challenge in good faith. He described Dr Jallow as a hard working woman who had rendered her service in many national occasions.
He however had a liitle advice for the newly sworn-in Health secretary of state, urging her to execute her duty with sincerity so that Allah would help her. “One thing we will not accept, which I am quite certain about because of my previous experience, is wolf-in -sheep clothing.
If you are not supporting government and you are appointed secretary of state, just decline. But if you accept it, your actions will show that you are against the system and the only reason why you want the system is that you think you can make us fail. We will have no option but to kick you out,”
President Jammeh said, before finally thanking Dr Jallow for accepting the appointment. He further urged her to work hard with the rest of her colleagues, especially at cabinet level. For her part, Dr Mariatou Jallow, after taking the oaths of allegiance, secrecy and office, thanked President Jammeh for the trust and confidence bestowed on her.
She promised to live up to expectation and also solicited the support of her colleagues.
Dr Jallow promised to work hard with her staff at DoSH in order to realise President Jammeh’s dream for the health sector.
She finally expressed appreciation to the Gambian leader for her new appointment and prayed for Allah to guide and protect him, the entire membership of the cabinet and the nation as a whole.
Speaking earlier, SoS Fatou Lamin Faye, secretary of state for Basic and Secondary Education, congratulated president Jammeh for the Professorship award he bagged recently, from the University of Costa Rica. She also congratulated Dr Mariatou Jallow for her new appointment and assured her of the cabinet members’ support.
SoS Yankuba Touray, secretary of state for Fisheries, Water Resources and National Assembly Matters, congratulated Dr Jallow and welcomed her to the cabinet. SoS Touray described Dr Jallow’s appointment as a clear indication of President Jammeh’s commitment to women empowerment and participation in national development. He recognised that President Jammeh have always attached a lot of importance to the health sector since he came to power in 1994.
“In fact deliberate policies have been adopted by President Jammeh, by consistently increasing the budget allocation to the health sector, particularly in the national budget,” SoS Touray remarked.
He also highlighted the president’s personal sacrifices and efforts deployed towards the health sector, citing the treatment of asthma, hypertension, HIV/Aids etc, as examples. He then assured Dr Jallow of the cabinet’s fullest support to the health sector. Abdoulie Sallah, secretary to the cabinet, chaired the ceremony. Also present on the occasion was Mrs Teneng Ba Jaiteh, secretary general and head of the civil service.
Presidential Treatment Programme
In a separate development, president Jammeh also attended to the 4th batch of hypertension and asthmatic patients at State House, later in the afternoon.
In a brief interview with the Daily Observer, later in the day, Dr Tamsir Mbowe, director general of the Presidential Treatment Programme, who also doubles as the director of health Services, disclosed that the Gambian leader had already treated over 439 hypertension patients, and over 235 asthmatic patients, as part of the 4th batch of both treatment sessions.
He described the treatment as progressive as it involved both Gambians and non-Gambians alike. Presently, Dr Mbowe went on, over 2000 asthmatic and hypertension patients are treated in the 3rd and 4th batches.
President Jammeh made these remarks, yesterday afternoon, at State House in Banjul, as he presided over the swearing-in ceremony of Dr Mariatou Jallow as the new secretary of state for Health and Social Welfare.
“The fact that you have been appointed as secretaries of state, you are supposed to use your initiatives. You have the authority to take care of your departments of state and if you have a problem, then you contact the president’s office,” President Jammeh told his cabinet members.
He highlighted numerous opportunities that escaped the country’s health sector for lack of proper attention by the relevant authorities at the said department. He cited such scenarior as 3 months back, when they had an offer of some doctors from a friendly country. “All what they wanted was for The Gambia to identiify the key areas of specialisation in the health sector and they would provide us their services for 3 months.
If 3 months was too short, they were going to extend it to 6 months or even up to one year, and all of this was supposed to come free of charge. The only thing we needed to do was to provide transportation and accommodation for them.”
President Jammeh explained that all those people needed was for the SoS for Health and Social Welfare of The Gambia to write to his counterpart, confirming and also specifying the type of medical personnel the country required.
“For one month, this was not done,” he said. And he went on to explain how that minister struggled to get his Gambian counterpart respond positively to the offer, but eventually ended up being unsuceesful.
“So for some of you when I dismiss you, you will say you don’t know what you have done, that you just received your letter. That is why I am trying to explain some of these things,” the Gambian leader remarked.
“In most cases, I have to give a deadline for completion of certain national duties. But why would I have to give a deadline if you are patriotic and loyal to Gambians?” he enquired.
The Gambian leader went on further to warn against sabotage, especially on development projects, citing that in most cases, some senior officials sit on relevant information.
“As from now on,” he stated, “I am sick and tired of warning you.
You either work or you leave. Enough is enough! When I give you the yellow card once, the next one will be a red card. I am sick and tired of working with people who are not sincere yet they still want to gain money. You cannot be paid for services that you have not worked for because some of you work when I am around. And if you think you are working for me, you are making a big mistake,” he stated categorically.
In welcoming Dr Mariatou Jallow as the newly appointed secretary of state for Health and Social Welfare, President Jammeh congratulated her for accepting the challenge in good faith. He described Dr Jallow as a hard working woman who had rendered her service in many national occasions.
He however had a liitle advice for the newly sworn-in Health secretary of state, urging her to execute her duty with sincerity so that Allah would help her. “One thing we will not accept, which I am quite certain about because of my previous experience, is wolf-in -sheep clothing.
If you are not supporting government and you are appointed secretary of state, just decline. But if you accept it, your actions will show that you are against the system and the only reason why you want the system is that you think you can make us fail. We will have no option but to kick you out,”
President Jammeh said, before finally thanking Dr Jallow for accepting the appointment. He further urged her to work hard with the rest of her colleagues, especially at cabinet level. For her part, Dr Mariatou Jallow, after taking the oaths of allegiance, secrecy and office, thanked President Jammeh for the trust and confidence bestowed on her.
She promised to live up to expectation and also solicited the support of her colleagues.
Dr Jallow promised to work hard with her staff at DoSH in order to realise President Jammeh’s dream for the health sector.
She finally expressed appreciation to the Gambian leader for her new appointment and prayed for Allah to guide and protect him, the entire membership of the cabinet and the nation as a whole.
Speaking earlier, SoS Fatou Lamin Faye, secretary of state for Basic and Secondary Education, congratulated president Jammeh for the Professorship award he bagged recently, from the University of Costa Rica. She also congratulated Dr Mariatou Jallow for her new appointment and assured her of the cabinet members’ support.
SoS Yankuba Touray, secretary of state for Fisheries, Water Resources and National Assembly Matters, congratulated Dr Jallow and welcomed her to the cabinet. SoS Touray described Dr Jallow’s appointment as a clear indication of President Jammeh’s commitment to women empowerment and participation in national development. He recognised that President Jammeh have always attached a lot of importance to the health sector since he came to power in 1994.
“In fact deliberate policies have been adopted by President Jammeh, by consistently increasing the budget allocation to the health sector, particularly in the national budget,” SoS Touray remarked.
He also highlighted the president’s personal sacrifices and efforts deployed towards the health sector, citing the treatment of asthma, hypertension, HIV/Aids etc, as examples. He then assured Dr Jallow of the cabinet’s fullest support to the health sector. Abdoulie Sallah, secretary to the cabinet, chaired the ceremony. Also present on the occasion was Mrs Teneng Ba Jaiteh, secretary general and head of the civil service.
Presidential Treatment Programme
In a separate development, president Jammeh also attended to the 4th batch of hypertension and asthmatic patients at State House, later in the afternoon.
In a brief interview with the Daily Observer, later in the day, Dr Tamsir Mbowe, director general of the Presidential Treatment Programme, who also doubles as the director of health Services, disclosed that the Gambian leader had already treated over 439 hypertension patients, and over 235 asthmatic patients, as part of the 4th batch of both treatment sessions.
He described the treatment as progressive as it involved both Gambians and non-Gambians alike. Presently, Dr Mbowe went on, over 2000 asthmatic and hypertension patients are treated in the 3rd and 4th batches.
Author: by Assan Sallah
See Also - See Also