President Jammeh was speaking Tuesday afternoon at State House in Banjul, during a meeting he held with the senior management of the National Water and Electricity Company (Nawec) and the Gambia Ports Authority (GPA). The meeting was convened to address the current unimpressive service delivery of these two parastatals. It came hard on the heels of erratic electricity supply experienced in recent times by the citizens, as well as the poor ferry services at the GPA.  

Nawec

The president expressed his dissatisfaction with the attitude of some Nawec staff towards work, saying it is "unacceptable to say the least". "We all know how difficult it is in the month of Ramadan that people that used to have a regular supply of electricity to now go for 12 hours without electricity. It is common knowledge and it is not that the capacity is not there, but some people neglected their duties as a result of which the transmission system and other vital instruments to make sure that electricity is transmitted from generator to the network were burnt down due to negligence.

"We had a fire outbreak and it started with Farafenni, which was purely due to sabotage. I have always been making it very clear that if you are a regional director of any thing, you are responsible for all the installations in that region. All these stations have people that are responsible. Now if a generator develops a leak to the point where the whole engine block is flooded with liquids, you are inviting a fire. This did not develop just within 24 hours and it was something that could have been detected a long time ago if people that were entrusted with the care and the responsibility did their job. They decided to let it go and this is tantamount to economic sabotage," he stated.

The Gambian leader decried a situation when people are made to suffer unnecessarily as a result of a few "wicked" individuals. He continued: "The reason why there is this outage is because we have 10 megawatts out of the system and so they have to ration what is available. The generators do not have a problem but they cannot transmit to the transmission lines. The power generated cannot be put on the transmission line because of that component that was burnt,

"If you think that by doing this the managing director would lose his or her position, you are making a great mistake. Be it in the army, the drug enforcement agency, the immigration, police or anywhere else, if a junior decides to do sabotage thinking that the head would go, his head would go and not the head of the institution." To this end, President Jammeh reiterated the need for attitudinal change and a responsible behavior towards national development. The Gambia, he added, can only be developed by its citizens and no outsider.

"Let me make one thing very clear, Yahya Jammeh does not own The Gambia, and none of you also owns this country. The best thing is, if you don't want to work for the development of this country, you better leave. You would be committing suicide if you stay in the system and think that you can sabotage. You either work or go home but if you want to sabotage the development of this country, you would be committing suicide," he warned.

He stressed that as from henceforth sabotage would not be entertained in this country, saying, "if you don't want the government, leave because we have 1.6 million Gambians to choose from". He added: "You should know that you should carry your responsibilities with honesty, because at the end of the day,it is not the salary you receive but what Allah pays you for what you have done. You can hate the government but you have no right to destroy the developments that we bring to this country."

The president went on to disclose that they are putting laws in place to ensure that saboteurs would not have peace in this country. He also observed that the two generators that were bought have not been in operation since 2007. "What type of Gambians do we have? Did we bring generators just to decorate power stations? No! We bought the generators in other to generate electricity and you have two generators since 2007 that have never been operated and none of you told me this," he queried.

GPA

The president also expressed his dissatisfaction with the GPA, notably its ferry services."This is the only country where the life span of the ferry is 15 months. Here the maximum life span of a new ferry is 15 months. Why? Do we have a toxic river? No! But the average life span of a new ferry in this country is 15 months. If you use anything without caring, it would die," he stated.

He pointed out that the average life span of any new ferry anywhere in the world is 15 years, but stressed that this is not the case here. He noted that it is the GPA officials [engineers] who certified the ferries as good when they were bought, adding that the government has never bought a ferry put up for sale, but those that were built according to the specification of the Ports Authority. He further noted that it is the GPA officials that go to witness the laying of the ferry block up to the time that they start testing it.

"So if the ferry is not good then you have done something wrong. Now why would a ferry last less than 20 months in this country? Logically, it is not possible for a fery to last less than 15 years," the president stated. He attributed the problems the ferries are having to lack of maintenance and carelessness on the side of the GPA officials. He said: "How can you take one part from one new ferry to make an old ferry work? You are turning both of them into old ferries. How many ferries did we buy from 1994 to date??

Drug

The Gambian leader also reiterated his "all out war" on drug trafficking and related activities in the country, saying, "you would be committing suicide if you involve in drugs." He warned that the laws of the country would be applied to the letter. "You service heads better go back and warn your people that they would be committing suicide if they get involve in drugs," he further warned. The president pointed out that drug is a "red zone" in this country, expressing his resolve to wipe out this menace by the end of this year. He stressed that he is determined to take extra measures to combat this negative menace in the country, promising that the country would become the cleanliest in the sub-region in terms of drugs.

"All of you are warned. Drugs, sabotage, engaging in violent crimes and making Gambians to suffer will not be condoned," he concluded. The minister of Youth and Sports, Sheriff Gomez, described GPA and Nawec as two critical institutions in the country, while also raising concern on the drug menace. Mustapha Colley, the board chairman of Nawec and GPA , assured the president that the concerns would be looked into, while outlining some constraints as contributing factors to the problems.

He raised the issue of arrears owed to Nawec by the general public, and the lack of shipyard at the GPA as among the problems. He however promised the president that they would renew their commitment towards leaving up to his expectations, while stressing that the staff would be warned against sabotage-related activities. The managing directors of Nawec and GPA, Momodou Jallow, and Momodou Lamin Gibba respectively, both expressed their resolve to put things in order for the advancement of their institutions and the development of the country at large. Both men also highlighted numerous constraints confronting their various institutions. Abdou Jobe, energy adviser to government also expressed similar sentiments.

At the end of the meeting, the president urged the GPA officials to look into the feasibility study and design with a view of putting in place a shipyard to ease the problems, while also announcing that it is part of government's plan to create a company for river transport that would take ferry services out of GPA control. For the reactions of the service chiefs on drugs at the same meeting, see our Thursday edition.