By Amadou Jallow
GALGA Program Officer- Communication
During the maiden congress that was held at the Brikama Area Council boardroom, Chief Executive Officer of Basse Area Council Ousman Touray was also elected First Vice President and the Chief Executive Officer of Mansakonko Area Council Seedy K Touray, as Second Vice President.
MAGnet is the network of Chief Executive Officers of Local Government Authorities in Africa who are members of the United Cities and Local Government of Africa (UCLGA). Following demand by its members, UCLG Africa developed four major networks starting with the network of Locally Elected Women of Africa, REFELA. Additional networks were created made up of senior staff in African local government administrations, considered to be the closest advisors to the local government’s political leaders: The network of city managers (Africa MAGNET) was established in 2016; followed by the network of city chief financial officers (Africa FINET) in 2013; the network of city chief technical officers (Africa TECHNET) in 2017and the Network of Young Elected Local Officials (YELO) in 2005.
Members of these networks will benefit from a variety of methods and tools to boost their professionalism, acquire a people-centered service and results-oriented culture and behaviour, and adopt the culture of benchmarking, policies evaluation and performances comparison in terms of service delivery and local administration management. They will also participate in peer review and peer learning activities and be exposed to best practices and sharing of experiences.
The congress is part of the regulation process GALGA is currently going through to place it on the right footing by conducting congresses for all the structures under it that are not regularized.
Addressing the Councils’ chief executive officers, Mr Jonga said he is grateful for the trust bestowed upon him and assured that he and his team will do their best to meet the expectations.
First Vice President Mr Touray appealed to the chief executive officers and Councils not to leave them alone in the responsibility, saying they will do their best to deliver to their ability.
Vice chairman of Brikama Area Council, Ismaila Jallow hailed Local Government Authorities for their proactive commitment in responding to the needs of the populations they represent in recent times. He said the regularization of the structures under GALGA which have international affiliation will expose Gambia’s local government Authorities at global platforms.
Chief Executive Officer of Kuntaur Area Council Momodou Sambou in his vote of thanks commended the CEOs for responding to the call.
He also thanked Brikama Area Council for hosting the congress and for providing much needed support during the process.