By Mustapha Jarju
Momodou Sabally, former Secretary-General and Head of Civil Servants has stated that the Gambia government will spend D135million for the fourteen (14) newly appointed diplomats to settle down in their designated countries.
Speaking through audio obtained by The Voice newspaper, he explained that to appoint a diplomat for the Deputy Head of Mission position which is not even an ambassador, for example, if you appointed a person to a country like China, what will be spent on that person for his warm clothing and installation allowance is D1.3million to D1.5million to go to China or Russia for a mission.
“What benefit will this bring to the Gambia people, how will this benefit the Taxpayers, a government that said they cannot reduc e the price of fertilizer for farmers who voted them and pay their taxes,” Sabally questioned.
“This is sad,” he expressed and said what made him unhappy with the appointment is the damage it will cause to the country’s economy and the damage it will cause to the budget, “but what Barrow is doing is based on his own political interest not for the nation`s interest.”
Sabally said, he has this belief that the newly appointed Minister of Finance will advise Barrow not to do this kind of appointment because the country doesn’t have the resources, and the damage it will cause inflation and even instability in the country which we don’t need that.
He recollected that during former President Jammeh’s whenever there is a reshuffle of people from one Embassy to another or a new appointment of Diplomats, “by then I was working at the Ministry of Finance we go to Yahya Jammeh and beg him because it would reflect on the country`s economic budget and cause negative implications.” Sometimes he said Jammeh will agree with them.
