Mai Fatty, Secretary General and Party Leader of Gambia Moral Congress (GMC)
By Buba Gagigo
Mai Ahmed Fatty, Secretary General and Party Leader of the Gambia Moral Congress (GMC) has claimed that the current civil service needs a total revamp in order to fight against corruption in the Gambia.
Speaking during his press conference on Tuesday, the GMC leader said Gambia needs to totally revamp its civil service otherwise the fight against corruption will not work;
“This civil service needs total revamp. We need to revamp the total civil service otherwise the fight against corruption will not work. That’s what I need to say. We need a serious reform in some civil service, serious reform. But I’m convinced that the setup and structure of the current civil service is not up for fighting corruption. We need real civil service reform and real political will and courage to see this war through. Because when you fight corruption, corruption fights you back. So you must be willing and have strong enough, political will to do so. I know I will be able to fight corruption in this country. If given the opportunity,” he said.
The GMC leader also welcomes the development of passing the anti-corruption bill by the National Assembly and commends the government for the move;
“I would say there has been a new development (against fighting corruption), which I will applaud. We now have the anti-corruption bill passed by Parliament. I think in terms of policy, this is an indication of some commitment and seriousness toward fighting corruption. Now at least there is a law under which we can pursue corruption and corrupt practices. So I would say all that has been said and done. At least finally, we are seeing some serious effort towards battling corruption with a law. I think, is in the right direction,” he said.
The Former Minister of Interior however says the Gambia has a problem implementing laws;
“The issue is implementation. The Gambia has some of the best laws in the world, the best laws in the whole world and we also have some of the best policies. They don’t work. Do you know why? because we are not committed to implementing them. Gambians are very intelligent. The Gambian civil service is one of the best when you want to produce any document. They can but let me tell you, this is not the civil service I want to rely on with all due respect to the good ones there,” he said.
Mai Ahmed Fatty is the Secretary-General and Party Leader of Gambia Moral Congress (GMC), former Interior minister under President Adama Barrow, and former presidential adviser under the same regime.