Foroyaa sent a reporter to ascertain when the OIC summit is scheduled to be held in The Gambia so that they could properly assess the state of preparedness for the meeting. If the media is to hold the government accountable to the public the government must be transparent in all its undertaking.
The OIC summit was to have been hosted by Gambia in 2019 but it announced that it was deferring the hosting of the 2019 Summit to give itself more time to successfully host it. Hence by now if it is to be held at all in 2022 the date for the meeting should have been fixed. The concrete infrastructural development that should take place before its holding should have been identified; the dates for the completion of the projects should have been noted.
In that way, the completion of each project would signify preparedness for hosting the summit.
When we got the information that the Secretary General of the OIC is to visit The Gambia we assumed that he was here to gather information on the state of preparedness to hold the summit. One expected that he would hold a press conference to tell the media how far they have gone in their preparation of the meeting. Unfortunately he left without even attending the press conference yesterday.
In an open society public matter cannot be kept as a secret. A matter of public interest must communicate to the media for onward transmission to the general public. As it stands rumours will continue since the facts are still a matter of secrecy. Citizens will continue guessing and second guessing without being able to know or contribute to the state of preparedness of the country for such a mega meeting.
