By: Nyima Sillah
In the recent bubble burst of the Gambians’ Diplomatic scandal in the United States, the UDP Campaign Manager, MomodouSabally said the scandal has damaged the country’s reputation.
In an interview with him by this medium, Mr. Sabally said “This will surely hurt our relations with other countries, especially the West. Our key allies in the developed world will always view our diplomats with suspicion”
He added that the whole malaise is a symptom of the poor and bankrupt leadership that the people of this nation are suffering from, noting that, no legal measure will be sufficient to cure this illness. “Perhaps a first step could be the prosecution of the alleged culprits as a possible deterrent,” he suggested.
He stressed that this should be a red flag warranting any serious government to thoroughly investigate and aim at cleaning the Foreign Service, though, he added, they (the government) will not learn anything from this.
“Recent appointments of some political allies of the ruling party into top positions in some embassies are likely to create even worse scandals than this due to the questionable character of some of these appointees. So the worst is yet to come,” he reasoned.
Mr. Sabally, however, said a system where the occupants of higher offices like ministers have worse character traits and records, how can they question these lower ranks?
He stated that any serious investigation into this matter will reveal the fact that foreign ministry officials of higher ranks than these alleged culprits are guilty of similar crimes.
Meanwhile, Mr. Sabally said he does not have any message for a government that does not care about standards, merit, and probity. A government that retains a minister who admitted to stealing State funds and allegedly returns those funds can never be advised about doing right.
“A government whose health minister leads a ministry that caused the reckless death of 66 children and yet takes no action to punish culprits that government will not listen to any message aimed at doing the right things,” he articulated.