The Gambian leader, His Excellency Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr Yahya Jammeh, continues to make more surprise visits to different installations within the Greater Banjul Area and beyond.

The latest visits took the president to the first Infantry Battalion in Yundum on Thursday and the Fajara Barracks on Saturday. At the Yundum Barracks, the president, who is the Commander-in-Chief of The Gambia Armed Forces, inspected various units of the installation, but was however greeted with greater disappointment of the prevailing conditions at the first Infantry Battalion. As far as President Jammeh is concerned, the conditions at Yundum have been too far from expectations; thus expressing disappointment with the state of the barracks.

The president observed that things have turned for the worse at the said barracks since his last visit and that the deplorable situation has left much to be desired. He stressed that the army has a budget and that whatever is requested for is included in the budget; thus unhappy at the unacceptable conditions. "Every year whatever is budgeted for the army it is provided," reveals President Jammeh. "Things have gone worse compared to the last time I came and that is the reality. In terms of infrastructure, furniture, everything continues to deteriorate. That is what I have noticed," remarked the president, who has since been concerned about the welfare of the military.

The president has ever been demonstrated his concern over  the living conditions of the public servants more so the army, whom he said put their lives at risk for us to be able to sleep. "I do not want a soldier to sleep on a bed that I would not even allow my son to sit on. That is not acceptable. I want to make sure that anything a soldier can sleep on, anybody's son can sleep on. So I want to make sure that things start to improve on," stated the president, while announcing that there are funds available to fix all these problems. Known for his generosity and concern for the welfare of the masses, the president has pledged to stabilize the prize of sugar in the various military units.

Fajara Barracks
President Jammeh continued his tour on Saturday evening to the Fajara Barracks, where he also inspected various units of the installation. Speaking shortly after the end of the visit, the president said he always aim for the best, but observed that this effort is sometimes undermined by some people. "Is just that some people decided to make sure that it does not happen. But this time around it will happen or heads will roll. And this time I am going to supervise it personally.

We have new team of army leadership that is dedicated and are professional soldiers. And so they know what it takes to have a modern army. I want all our camps to be the best," said the president. "Look at the storey building in Yundum," he went on, "we spent almost US$12 million in Yundum but unfortunately the other US$4 million was spent very badly. Officers were stealing the cement and those who were assigned to make sure that they supervise the construction ended up befriending the contractor - he was giving them cement and rods and that is why those buildings are in a very poor condition," stressed the Gambian leader.

This time around, according to him, once they start building the Fajara Barracks, he will have direct control of the construction itself so that nobody cheats. "Of course, I want the best for the army and in fact we have the best army in West Africa. So they have to have the best barracks too," President Jammeh point out.