Sabally Inspires Tech Students, Calls on Government to Hive off Communication infrastructure Portfolio from the Ministry of Information. Former S.G and Presidential Affairs Minister Momodou Sabally has called on government to restructure the Ministry of Information and Communication Infrastructure (MOICI) and appoint a technically oriented pragmatist as Minister in charge of ICT. Sabally made this remark during a lecture he delivered at a Tech Summer Camp organized by a youth group on Thursday August 30, 2018.
He lamented that from the former government to the president one, the country's leadership seems to not understand the actual role and importance of that Ministry. He averred that ICT has the potential to transform The Gambia and resolve our youth employment challenges but that the country is underutilizing the potential of this sector and thereby robbing herself of the critical youth dividend that should be the boon of New Gambia.
"From the Jammeh era to the present dispensation the leadership has always treated this Ministry as a Ministry for information and traditional media, thereby successively appointing journalists as ministers. To solve this problem maybe we should hive off the ICT aspect of this ministry and transfer it to the Ministry of Higher Education, Research Science and Technology, (MOHERST); government could create a separate Ministry or super-agency of ICT and appoint an expert in ICT to lead that agency/ministry" Sabally stated. Dilating on the topic of his lecture "Technology and Innovation", Sabally urged the young tech practitioners and students to nurture the habits of intellectual curiosity, personal initiative and persistence in the search for solutions to the current challenges of our times." He further advised them that with the fast evolution of ICT and the availability of knowledge online, the excuses for lack of success in the field of technology are gradually diminishing. He however called on the authorities to create opportunities for young people to exercise their talents and create paths for self-fulfillment. "Projects like the EU-funded Youth Empowerment Project (YEP) are ill-conceived and poorly implemented to the detriment of our youths. How can you give a young person a grant amount that can neither buy a proper computer nor make a standard music video (for those in tech and music industries, for instance), and you expect that young person to excel? To the contrary, you are setting up that youth for failure while providing yourself the avenue to blame them because you could later claim to have given them 'resources'!" He called on government to come up with more serious and pragmatic initiatives that would support and nurture youth empowerment by creating the necessary conducive environment for our young talents to flourish
He concluded by urging the campers to remain persistent and patriotic despite the challenges confronting them: "this is our country and no one will come here to build it for us. It is our duty and responsibility to fully harness our God-given talents to provide services and solutions that would uplift the status of not only our families but our communities and the nation at large."