By D. A. Jawo
There is irrefutable evidence that the relationship between local and central government in this country has deteriorated to an unacceptable level, which is definitely not in the interest of anyone; neither the local councils nor the central government itself, or even the very people that they both claim to represent.
For instance, there has recently been the inauguration of two newly appointed district chiefs in the West Coast Region, which ceremonies had been fully covered on GRTS, and there was no sight of the Chairman of the Brikama Area Council Yankuba Darboe. Was he not invited or did he deliberately fail to attend?
Whatever the reason for his apparent absence on both occasions, it is certainly a sign of a bad situation which is a serious indictment of the governance system in this country.
From unimpeachable sources however, Chairman Darboe was not invited to both ceremonies, which is an apparent indication of how low the authorities are ready to stoop just to score a political point. No matter what political differences that may exist between the BAC and the central government, there is absolutely no justification for the Ministry of Regional Governments not to invite such an important personality of the region to what is supposed to be a national event.
A glimpse at the local government structure in this country shows clearly that apart from the Regional Governor, who is appointed and represents the president, the chairman of the Area Council, who is elected by the people, is by all accounts the most important personality in the region and it is therefore a mockery of our governance system for the central government or its agencies to attempt to sideline such a personality simply because he is elected on an opposition ticket. It certainly does not tell well on the Barrow administration, regardless of whatever justification one may attempt to give it.
There is no doubt that those monitoring the Barrow government’s adherence to good governance and the rule of law, which of course includes the donor partners, would certainly not be quite impressed with such a posture.
However, what is going on in the West Coast Region is a replica of what had been happening in several other sectors in this country, with those in authority playing partisan politics virtually at every level. We have seen how members of the opposition are hardly invited to important national events, which certainly makes a mockery of the call by President Adama Barrow at the end of his last Meet the People’s Tour of his readiness to work with the Gambian opposition on national developmental programmes.
During a press conference at the end of the tour, President Barrow was quoted saying; “Basically, the most important thing is we are all Gambians. And if you are Gambian we are all working toward the development of this country. So, I think as a head of state it should be my responsibility and principle to listen to all Gambians, and listening to all Gambians will help in learning from each other.”
However, the actions of his government, especially its dealings with the opposition, are not encouraging