By Omar Sabally
The US-based Niumi Sika native, Mr. Mamina Ibrahima Sonko, who is the founder of a charity called Big Dreams Incorporated-BDI-has cautioned that “no intimidations, defamation of his character or false claims” would stop him from helping Gambian people.
Sonko was strongly reacting to a press release issued by the Ministry of Health and aired over a local radio station countering his earlier interview with the said radio station.
It could be recalled that The Gambia’s Ministry of Health and Social Welfare in 2018 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with International Medical Relief (IMR) and Big Dreams Inc. (BDI) for medical and dental mission to The Gambia.
The agreement, it has been noted, was signed by then Minister of Health Saffie Lowe-Ceesay on behalf of the ministry and since then, IMR and BDI have offered free medical and dental services to thousands of Gambians in almost all regions of The Gambia.
‘The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others,’ Sonko quoted Mahatma Gandhi–{the late lawyer and leader of India’s non-violent independence movement against British rule}.
‘Do something…not because you are paid, but because you have the privilege of doing it,’ Sonko further borrowed a quote, this time from Mr. Henry David Thoreau-{an American essayist, poet and philosopher}.
The Big Dreams founder also quoted Edmund Burke-{an Anglo-Irish statesman and philosopher} who said; ‘No one ever made a mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.’
According to Sonko, these were the type of phrases from which the idea of Gambia medical mission was founded.
“This is why it was disappointing and rather unfortunate to learn that a senior officer at the Ministry of Health, a partner organization fabricated a disgraceful statement and an unfound allegation and called it a “Press Release” from the Ministry of Health while hiding behind the clouds of ignorance”, he fired back.
His message to the author of that “press release” is that, “tarnishing the images of hard working Gambians and our International partners is unacceptable and will not go unchallenged”.
The Niumi native stressed that “as honorable citizens”, they would defend the interests of The Gambia no matter the cost.
The BDI chief also condemned in the strongest term what he termed “the unprofessional behaviour and cyber bulling of their local partners who serve us during the mission with integrity, diligence and sincerity”.
He added: “As a civil servant, the author must bear in mind that his salary is paid by the taxpayers and they have a right to expect that their affairs are dealt with promptly with respect, sincerity, and efficiency”. Sonko, while not mentioning any name, however said of the author of the Health Ministry’s press release, “He should understand his mandate at the ministry, learn his job and respect the well-established protocols”.
He chided that it’s because of people like the author of that release, that the “Vision of Ministry of Health, to provide quality and affordable Health Services for All By 2020 and their Mission to Promote and protect the health of the population through the equitable provision of quality healthcare are proven to be a complete failure”.
“Thanks to incompetency and bad leadership,” Sonko alleged, as he lectured that good leaders pride themselves with honesty and integrity as well as committing themselves to do the right thing even when no one is watching.
“These characteristics are lacking at the Ministry of Health and that’s why this important Healthcare Institution has become the most corrupt and unproductive Ministry in the Gambia”, he fought back with damning allegations.
He underlined that good leaders make good decisions for the greater good not for their own selfish interest, know what it means to be accountable, and most importantly, they are creative and visionaries.
The US-based Gambian concluded by calling on the writer of that press statement to stop, what he Sonko regarded as, “the defamatory allegations and bunch of noise that holds no substance”.
