Vice president Alieu Badara Joof has urged the new cabinet to work as a team in order to fulfil the expectation of Gambians.
“Let’s work as a team to move the development agenda of this country. To fulfil the expectation of the person who appointed us to these positions. And by extension to fulfil the expectation of Gambian people. They expected us to develop the country,” VP Joof told the cabinet members at State House.
According to him, their appointment to the cabinet is a privileged one, but added that: “it is not driven by privileges.
“It is and should be driven by performance, by results, by delivery and by development. To do that we have to work as a team and to work as a team, we need to consult, we need to coordinate, we need to cooperate, we need to have dialogue. So, it is important that we work as a team, we work as a group hence the name cabinet that’s what it is a family he added.
According to him, the recent election is a watershed in Gambian history saying “we cannot afford to fail. There are some pressing challenges that are facing us recently.”
“One is the crisis of rising cost of living and I would challenge the minister of finance, the governor of Central Bank, incoming minister of trade, the GRA [Gambia Revenue Authority] people to come together [and] work with Chamber of Commerce and business community to see how we could mitigate this difficult time,” he said.
He urged the new cabinet to honestly work together through collaboration and consultation in order to bring development.
Meanwhile, he said: “There are some pressing challenges that are facing us recently. One is the crisis of the rising cost of living. And I would challenge the Minister of Finance, the Governor of the Central Bank, the incoming Minister of Trade, the GRA to come together, work with the Chamber of Commerce and the business community to see how we could mitigate this difficult time,” Vice President said.
He said addressing those ‘pressing challenges’ would make the country safe for everybody, safe for investment, and safe for tourism.