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Gambia: How Government Should Function

We are concerned after our interview with a professional at the environment agency on the oil spill that government has sufficient information on the causes and the impact and should be in a position to come up with a cabinet position on the disaster. The public is waiting for answers and solutions. They need to know how they are to participate in handling such a situation.

Government should provide the lead. What is expected is for the agencies to provide all the facts necessary for policy making and cabinet will take these facts and graft the appropriate policy with speed that would energise inter-ministerial and interagency actions and involve the population to prevent or promote action that would contribute to solutions to major problems.

It is therefore significant for Foroyaa to publish the information so far gathered on the oil spill and advocate further for a cabinet position on the matter. A disaster is a disaster. It cannot be called otherwise. If it can be handled within a short period of time then it does not become an emergency. However, if its destructive effect and impact continue to grow then it becomes an emergency, which should be acknowledged by government and declared as such.

This is how government works and any departure from such a trend would be a manifestation of ineffectiveness and inefficiency. We hope that the government will take note that it is not on top of the oil spill. The problem persists but there is a gap in leadership on how to address the it with immediacy as a matter of urgency.

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