OPINION: BUBA JANNEH (STAR) ON CURRENT SITUATION OF GAMBIAN FOOTBALL

I stand with the National Sports Council (NSC) and don't understand why the National Assembly (NA) and AG Chambers were more concerned about the semantics than the substance of NSC's letter.

Buba Janneh (Star) Former Gambia National Team Player

The question is whether both the National Assembly select committee and AG Chambers agree with the Police report on the Alleged Tax Fraud or NOT. NSC's letter cannot be a pretext for the inaction of both NA and AG Chambers.

In any case the reaction of our institutions such as the NA select committee, AG Chambers and the Ministry of Youth and Sports suggest that perceived semantics in NSC's letter was more important than the Alleged Tax Fraud.

This is very troubling given that our nation needs to collect as much tax as possible to pay for the essential social services such as Healthcare, security, education and the much-needed infrastructure. I wonder whether this is the kind of message we should be sending to other individuals and institutions who pay their taxes in accordance with the laws of The Gambia.

What is even more troubling is that in addition to this tax issue it is widely reported in the media that US$33,000 (circa D1.5million) of public funds was spent on toilets and apparently, the state machinery including the ministry of Youth and Sports and NA didn't see the need for a swift investigation into this matter.

Instead the people who are alleged to have misused the funds are being allowed to run for public office prior to investigating these very serious allegations.

In the meantime, the people of impeccable character and unmatched track record in public service nominated for the various executive positions for the forthcoming election by the legitimate members of the Federation have been disqualified for what the Electoral Board called technicalities. Are we serious?

QUESTION. IS THIS WHAT THE NEW GAMBIA HAS TO OFFER FOR THE SPORTS SECTOR ESPECIALLY FOOTBALL?