A Technocratic Response to Halifa Sallah: Legacy, Transition, and a Blueprint for The Gambia’s Future
Op-Ed by Dr Lamin K. Janneh- For Immediate Publication
In response to Halifa Sallah’s public reply to my earlier letter, I offer this reflection not as a political figure but as a technocrat committed to the sustainable development of The Gambia. We must urgently bridge the gap between legacy and leadership transition. This letter is not merely a critique; it is a call to action and a proposed blueprint for a better Gambia.
Dear Uncle Halifa Sallah,
You claimed I addressed “the right letter to the wrong man.” Respectfully, I disagree.
I am not responding to you as a youth seeking validation, nor as a sentimental follower or a critic this time; I wrote as a professional with over two decades of national and international experience in development, governance, and strategic communication. My intent was not to provoke, but to challenge assumptions, test ideas, and present an alternative vision rooted in practical experience and global realities.
Your recent indication that you may return to presidential politics, despite previously declaring that your last candidacy would be your final one, warrants scrutiny. It is not your legacy I question, but your consistency. You have often championed political ethics, and it is only fitting that you be held to the same high standards.
Your response, while eloquent and rich in metaphor, evaded this central inconsistency. It offered a philosophical meditation on duty and generational transition, but it failed to directly address the urgent demand for political accountability raised by your own statement.
On Generational Leadership and Readiness
You challenged me to name a young Gambian capable of leading national transformation. Respectfully, the premise of that challenge is flawed. Competence is not bound by age, nor is wisdom monopolised by elders. Today, leadership is defined by vision, execution, adaptability, and moral clarity.
There are many capable Gambians, both at home and in the diaspora, who have led portfolios larger than our national GDP and managed multi-million-dollar projects in health, infrastructure, finance, education, and digital transformation. They serve as senior consultants in international corporations, hold director-level positions at institutions like the African Development Bank and UNDP, act as architects of fintech ecosystems, and lead public health interventions that affect millions globally.
These individuals are not hypothetical; they are proven. Their exclusion from the national leadership discourse is not a reflection of their absence, but of a systemic failure within our political institutions to recognise, nurture, and elevate talent.
If specific names are required, I can furnish plenty. Gambians are already leading in global institutions, within the United Nations system, in continental think tanks, and at international corporations. But the real issue is not a lack of talent; it is the lack of political mechanisms to welcome such individuals into national leadership. Your legacy would be best preserved by opening that door rather than guarding it.
After 35 years of PDOIS’s existence, your inability to identify even a single successor from within your party is not an indictment of the capacity of our youth; it is a profound indictment of your party’s structural failure to mentor and empower new leaders. If an organisation that claims to represent the most enlightened political ideals cannot produce one credible flagbearer in over three decades, then it is the organisation, not the young people, that has failed.
PDOIS and the Question of Internal Democracy
You cited Article 90 and your party’s quorum-based decisions to demonstrate that PDOIS is internally democratic. Yet for over 20 years, you have remained its de facto presidential candidate. This suggests not a democratic rotation of leadership, but a symbolic monopoly.
True democracy is not solely about process, but ultimately about tangible outcomes. If your structures have not yielded new leadership capable of succeeding you, then the system itself must be re-examined. Either there has been no effort to prepare new leaders, or those who emerged were stifled.
In functioning democracies, leadership is not only about service; it is also about preparing successors who can do even better. Leadership that does not evolve becomes a form of intellectual autocracy, no matter how well-intentioned.
Global Competence, Local Relevance
You expressed doubt about the readiness of young people to govern, but global evidence firmly contradicts this view. Consider:
• Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett-Co-led the development of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine before the age of 35.
• Boyan Slat-Founded The Ocean Cleanup before turning 30; his environmental technologies are now deployed or piloted globally.
• Salman Khan-Created Khan Academy, which today provides free education to millions across Africa.
• Vitalik Buterin-Co-founded Ethereum, a platform underpinning much of today’s digital finance infrastructure.
• Jack Dorsey, William Ruto, Jacinda Ardern, Emmanuel Macron, Abiy Ahmed, and Barack Obama-all illustrate that modern leadership is defined by capacity, not by age.
These examples are not merely symbolic; their actions have directly impacted African lives, more significantly, in some cases, than the achievements of our own national leaders.
On Policy and System Change
You invited me to offer an alternative, and I accept. The following brief proposals are not mere slogans; they reflect tested practices from countries that have progressed through technocratic reforms and intergenerational collaboration:
Education
• Align school curricula to labour market realities.
• Integrate digital literacy, vocational training, and entrepreneurship skills from primary through tertiary levels.
Agriculture & Agro-Industrialisation
• Establish regional processing hubs for staples and cash crops (cassava, rice, mangoes, groundnuts).
• Link agricultural value chains to export corridors under the AfCFTA (African Continental Free Trade Area).
Institutional Reform
• Digitise all public services to improve efficiency and transparency.
• Introduce annual government performance scorecards for each ministry.
• Create real-time public budget and audit tracking systems.
Youth Employment:
• Launch a national digital upskilling programme for young people.
• Develop green-economy jobs and provide start-up subsidies for youth-led enterprises.
Digital Governance
• Deploy citizen-facing e-government portals (e-tax filing, e-licensing), taking models like Estonia and Rwanda as inspiration.
Energy
• Target 40% of energy generation from renewable sources by 2035.
• Leverage European and Chinese solar technologies to electrify rural Gambia through public-private partnerships.
While funding is a legitimate concern, The Gambia has access to a broad ecosystem of development finance mechanisms that can be strategically leveraged. These include:
• Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs): Structured PPPs can reduce the burden on public budgets while attracting private capital into infrastructure, healthcare, digital services, and agro-industrial ventures. Successful models such as Kenya’s M-Akiba mobile bond initiative and Senegal’s infrastructure financing programmes can be adapted to the Gambian context.
• Development Finance Institutions (DFIs): The African Development Bank, the World Bank, the Islamic Development Bank, and the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development all have financing programmes aligned with priorities like digital transformation, renewable energy, and youth employment-key pillars of this blueprint.
• Blended Finance: The Gambia can utilise blended finance approaches, using concessional funds to de-risk private investment. This is ideal for sectors such as green energy and agricultural value chains.
• Diaspora Bonds and Sovereign Trust Funds: The Gambian diaspora remits over $500 million annually. A structured Diaspora Investment Trust could help redirect a fraction of these remittances into national development bonds.
• Results-Based Financing: Several education and health donors (e.g. the Global Partnership for Education, GAVI, the Global Fund) now offer performance-linked grants. The Gambia can position itself to benefit from such instruments by integrating robust monitoring and accountability systems.
• Phased Implementation: A phased and prioritised implementation strategy, starting with low-cost, high-impact reforms like digitisation and vocational education alignment, will ensure fiscal responsibility and build early public trust.
Public Financial Discipline and Anti-Corruption Framework
No blueprint for national development can succeed without strict financial discipline and institutional integrity. In The Gambia, over the years billions of dalasi have been lost to procurement fraud, ghost projects, inflated contracts, and politically protected embezzlement. This blueprint therefore calls for urgent streamlining of public expenditure to prioritise essentials such as education, healthcare, energy, and productivity-enhancing infrastructure, while eliminating excess bureaucracy and politically motivated spending.
A zero-tolerance stance on corruption must be institutionalised not as political rhetoric but as a legally enforceable governance model. This includes:
• Enforcing the Public Procurement Act without exceptions or political interference.
• Auditing all government contracts above a defined threshold and publishing the results in real time.
• Strengthening the National Audit Office and the Gambia Public Procurement Authority (GPPA) with the power to trigger prosecutions.
• Introducing digital budget-tracking portals accessible to citizens and civil society.
• Establishing conflict-of-interest registries for all public officials and mandating regular asset declarations.
Public confidence in leadership depends on a transparent contract between the government and its people. Fiscal mismanagement is not just a technical failure; it is a betrayal of public trust that fuels poverty and despair. Reforming financial governance is therefore not optional; it is the foundation on which all other reforms must stand.
Health
• Launch a national health insurance scheme through public-private partnerships.
• Digitise health referral systems and incentivise medical professionals to serve in rural areas.
These proposals are realistic, actionable, and grounded in approaches that have been proven to work.
Conclusion: A Starting Point, Not the Final Blueprint
This document is not meant to be a comprehensive national policy; rather, it is a strategic starting point, an outline of fundamental needs and actionable pathways that reflect the lived realities and aspirations of the Gambian people. Its purpose is to provoke serious, evidence-based dialogue about leadership, succession, and national renewal. The ideas proposed herein are grounded in global best practices, but they remain open to refinement through inclusive consultation and institutional analysis.
There is no shortage of expertise within The Gambia or across our diaspora, and there is no lack of willingness to serve. What has been missing is a platform where principled collaboration can replace personality politics. That platform could begin with a National Forum on Political Transition and Institutional Innovation, a meeting of minds, not egos.
From Legacy to Relevance
Mr. Sallah, your contributions to The Gambia’s democratic awakening are part of our collective memory. However, legacy without transition inevitably leads to stagnation.
You have said that you do not intend to seek elective office again, and that is honourable. However, you must not retreat into isolation. Mentorship must replace martyrdom; elders must open space, not just hold court.
Young Gambians are not a threat. We are not waiting to replace you; we are preparing to complement the foundation you have laid, to carry forward what is worthy, and to redesign what is obsolete.
This is not a call for elder‐bashing; it is a call for collaborative nation-building, where wisdom guides and innovation builds.
A Final Proposal
Let us move beyond open letters. I invite you to co-convene a National Forum on Political Transition and Institutional Innovation. Let us bring elder statesmen and younger professionals together, in dialogue, in strategy, in co-creation. Let us make this a blueprint for “Team Gambia 2026” in real terms rather than just rhetorical ones.
Many young Gambian technocrats are ready and capable. They are no longer asking for space; they are creating it themselves.
Respectfully,
Note: I am not pursuing political leadership. I write solely as a concerned Gambian, committed to contributing where I can. Our nation is diverse enough to accommodate various forms of service.
Dr Lamin K. Janneh
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