By: Kemo Kany
The Minister for Information, Media and Broadcasting, Dr.Ismaila Ceesay, has stated that Dr. Mamadou Tangara’s failed bid for the position of secretary-general of the Commonwealth is a loss for the whole Gambia and not him alone.
He went on to say that the loss is only celebrated by unpatriotic Gambians.
It will be recalled that Dr. Mamadou Tangara, the Gambia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation and Gambians Abroad, last week lost his bid for the Commonwealth secretary-general position to Ghana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Shirley Ayorjor Botchwey.
Dr. Ceesay further explained that the President is mandated to serve the people of the country, and those services are delegated by the president to Cabinet ministers, adding that all Cabinet ministers are serving the Gambian people at the behest of the President.
‘’Yes, Tangara has lost but it is not only him, it’s The Gambia that has lost because this was a Gambian project. If Tangara had won, it’s The Gambia that won. Now that he lost, The Gambia lost. It is very unpatriotic seeing Gambians, celebrating that loss. To celebrate Gambia’s loss is very unpatriotic, to be honest,’’ Dr. Ceesay stated in an interviewon Coffee Time With Peter Gomez on Tuesday.
The minister asserted that heading one of the biggest multilateral institutions is a good thing for The Gambia,diplomatically and that it can bring development for the country, stressing that money spent on Dr. Tangara’s campaign is far overweighed by the benefits and prestige to the nation.
‘’If Tangara had become the secretary-general of the Commonwealth, he can use his position to lobby development projects for the country. I have no idea of the monetary value of the campaign. I don’t think that’s relevant because it doesn’t matter how much we spent. This was done for The Gambia,” Dr. Ceesay argued.
“Commonwealth SG position would have been a good thing for the country if added to the ECOWAS Commission presidency and the OIC Chairpersonship. Bringing the monetary value in this, I think is very trivial. How can you try to put monetary value into something which brings so much prestige for Gambians?’’ he further argued.
When questioned on issues of transparency about Tangara’s campaign funds, the minister replied: ‘’I think this government is one of the most transparent administrationssince independence. We don’t hide anything. What we are saying is that these positions are very symbolic and very important. So, we cannot add monetary value to it. Its significance is beyond monetary value.’’
Dr. Ceesay stated that the President did all he could for The Gambia to secure the position, adding that it was an unfair allegation that the President did not do enough during the campaign.
