Welcome to the Smiling Coast of Africa, country in which when it comes to applying job in the public service "who sends you" matters more than the level of qualifications you’ve obtained. There’s little or no hope for the younger generation coming up. You can graduate with whatever degree, the chances of you working in Public offices depend on the circle of the So-called “ Elites” you know.
Problems
On my last visit to The Gambia, I was at a photocopy shop in Brikama Market where I met with a young lady. She is a holder of Bsc. Hons. In Accounting from a university in Kenya. I saw her transcript; most of her grades were either A or B. But guess what, she was complaining that she had applied in almost all the ministries but was never offered a job. This broke my heart! At the same printing shop, there was a man who works in the the Public Service . He told her "you can’t be serious" and he offered a help by directing her to different offices and yes she has to use the “ Maslaha” routine. He told her to say to “ Mr. Tapalapa asked me to come “ . That’s all you need to say for you to be offered a job in a public office; an approval from some guy, not a good grade you have obtained from your various universities.
This habit of "Maslaha" is always complemented by corruption, nepotism and bad leadership. Yes, let’s say for instance, the example I have given above. This lady, no matter what office she holds, will always owe this guy a favour in return. And then normalisations of corruption at the highest level is the order of the day. Young people been chased on the streets for stealing things less than a thousand dollar while we keep celebrating chief arm robbers. Yes, this is the funny reality that none is talking about because of the so-called “ Maslaha” syndrome . This is pathetic! Everyone in our country is related to another person that is why no one is talking about this issue.
Solutions
✓ Increase in human capital could be of great help in the building and the realization of a country free from corruption and nepotism. The veteran Politician and Socialist Hon. Salah sated that we need a behavioural change before we can realize the new Gambia. An educated person is ought to have ethics and instinct that would never betray his country but rather he would take bullet to safe his country.
✓ To build strong institutions of government in which whenever a misconduct happened, we can easily address it and to make sure every citizen desist from such practices.
Let Justice guide our actions for The Gambia ever true.
Written by Salifu Sonko
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