Barrow Urges Stakeholders To Increase Efforts To Achieve Diaspora Voting

By Landing Ceesay

President-elect Adama Barrow has urged stakeholders and development partners to redouble their efforts to make Diaspora voting a reality.

 “As is to be expected, the Diaspora contributed time, resources and ideas to the work and campaigns of the different political parties and groupings in the presidential elections. However, the fact remains that they were not able to vote, and be more engaged in the festival of democracy we witnessed as a nation. We acknowledge the technical collaboration between the MSDG Project and the Independent Electoral Commission, and the contribution of other stakeholders on the issue of Diaspora voting. With humility and purposefulness, I urge all institutions of government and state, and all stakeholders and development partners to redouble efforts to make Diaspora voting a reality,” Barrow said in a statement read on his behalf by Badara Joof, Minister for Higher Education.

 The Gambian President said in the past year, the Gambian Diaspora and Migration Directorate (GDMD) within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs became operational, while congratulating the ministry on what he described as “their progress.”

 “As the Directorate leads the review and updating of the Gambian Diaspora Strategy in 2022, I urge all institutions to put more emphasis on timely and effective implementation of the commitments we make in our policy and strategy documents and plans. In many instances, our shortcomings are not due to the absence of good policies and plans, but the absence of effective implementation. The need for operational effectiveness is of paramount importance for all Ministries, Departments and Agencies, as well as the State Owned Enterprises,” he said.

The Minister of Higher Education, Research Science and Technology, Badara Joof, made these remarks in a statement on behalf of Barrow at the Migration and Sustainable Development in the Gambia (MSDG) Fifth Stake of the Nation Forum held on Saturday at the Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara International Conference Centre.