Post-Election Seminar With The National Assembly Of The Gambia

Post-Election Seminar With The National Assembly Of The Gambia

Following parliamentary elections on April 9, 2022, The Gambia elected new parliamentary assembly to legislate the second term of President Adama Barrow’s tenure. The Commonwealth parliamentary Association based in the United Kingdom with their partners, the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) is organizing a week long seminar titled postelection seminar for newly elected and returning Members of the National Assembly of The Gambia (NAMs). The programme is introducing the participants to the role and responsibilities of parliamentarians, complementing an initial induction by the National Assembly which took place immediately after they were sworn in as legislators. The event will take place from June 13-15, 2022 at the National Assembly complex in Banjul, the nation’s capital. The National Assembly of the Republic of The Gambia resumed sitting after the Speaker of the House, Honorable Speaker, Fabakary Tombong Jatta returned to the country after visits to Mali and Nigeria. In Nigeria, he prescribed the way to peace and security in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) region by suggesting that the leaders of the region must commit themselves to working together as one block. “If we want to sustain economic prosperity, peace, and stability in our sub region, we must take note that governance must be based on the pillars of justice, accountability, and probity and most importantly, the expressed will of the people must be sought and respected”, he said. Hon Jatta was speaking during the opening of the first regular session 2022 of the Parliament of the ECOWAS on 9th of June at the ECOWAS headquarters in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria. It is expected at the end of the training that Gambian parliamentarians will be well informed and better prepared in attending to legislative matters which would be brought before the august assembly in the coming weeks and months of this new administration

Gulf of Despair Written by Ritah Atuhaire (Part 1)

Whenever we hear about the tribulations that Africans in the diaspora are going through, especially those in the Middle East, our focus immediately goes to the often reported toxic work environment. We tend to forget that most of them actually went there because of problems back at home. Sylvia, a Ugandan living in Dubai, shares her experience of her first few months there and her plight back at home. My name is Ritah Atuhaire; a Ugandan hustler living in Dubai. I have been sharing my experiences in the diaspora under the pseudonym ‘Nsima Nyo’ which means ‘I’m grateful.’ Indeed I am grateful for the life lessons so far, the experiences, and how far God has brought me. We endure a lot more than we get to talk about whenever we leave our countries for greener pastures abroad. Many catch us by surprise because those who came before us never shared their stories. I am glad I broke the chain of silence by writing real-life stories on Vice Versa Global about the tribulations that most African youth living and working in the United Arab Emirates go through. Rita Atuhaire A few days ago, a 24-year-old Ugandan lady jumped off a building in Dubai, dying on the spot. It is believed that she committed suicide because she had no job, food, or even a place to stay, and had overstayed for 90 days. Her reserved persona meant she never shared her troubles with anyone, something which may have exacerbated her depression. Her scenario drew my attention to my reserved friend who came here with ‘the big dream’ only to face the rough realities of being away from home. However, she is unwilling to open up and share her problems with other people, including her family back home. Ascertaining what she is going through is very tough, yet I am the closest person to her at the moment. Sylvia is a 22-year-old girl who couldn’t pursue her education past the ordinary secondary level because her parents couldn’t afford to. She would wake up every morning and watch other teenagers go to school, admiring the advanced secondary level uniform until her stepmother calls her up to do the house chores. As her age mates went to school, she would spend quiet days alone, with no hope of ever going back to school. Her world seemed to have ground to a halt until her aunt came home with the exciting idea of going abroad to make money, instead of just seating at home. Sylvia saw this as the perfect opportunity to save money, which would enable her to go back to school and pursue her dream career of being a nurse. She was to work in Jordan for two years as a maid. Her aunt would cover the travel cost, which she would repay when she starts working. When she landed in Jordan at around 2 pm,

she was taken aback by the hot unpleasant weather. She had never imagined that a place could ever be that hot, having grown up in the cool equatorial Ugandan weather. A lady who introduced herself as Habiba, her boss, was already waiting for her at the airport. On their way home, Sylvia’s eyes were firmly fixed on the car window as she admired the beautiful city. ‘I will read you my house rules for maids before you get there. So, pay attention and make sure you understand them properly to avoid any retribution in the future,’ her boss broke the silence. ‘The most important rule is to take care of my mother’s needs. It doesn’t matter what she asks for, you must obey and fulfill,’ she said. ‘You cannot sit on the house furniture, it is for family only. No sleeping when my mother is awake…,’ she continued reading the house rules, making Sylvia more anxious. When they finally got home, Sylvia didn’t believe she was going to be staying in such a beautiful mansion. However, she was still uneasy. She couldn’t sit down for fear of breaking the rules. So, when they entered the living room, she opted to stand by the door. An old lady in her 60s walked into the living room and burst into laughter on seeing Sylvia standing by the door, nervous. Habiba laughed along. ‘My daughter is the biggest bully on earth. She must have scared you with her fake house rules. Relax, she just makes it up to see a new person’s reaction.’ Habiba apologized and asked her to feel at home, relieving the tension that Sylvia felt. The chores were manageable and everything was moving on smoothly. When she received her first salary of UgShs800,000 ($210) after a month, she sent the whole amount to her aunt to repay the travel cost debt faster. She did this for the first five months without fail, with her aunt urging her to continue. Concerned, she asked her aunt exactly how much money she was supposed to pay back in total and when she would complete repaying it. In Africa, it is considered disrespectful to question older people so her aunt did not take her concern lightly. She demanded that Sylvia keeps on sending the money until she tells her to stop. Her mother also got sick and needed around UgShs300,000 ($80) for treatment, while her dad asked her to lend him money to take her little brother back to school. She decided to send her sixth salary to her parents and would continue sending money to her aunt the following month, something the latter wasn’t happy about. The fact that she had worked for half a year without even saving a penny from her salary started getting to her. The Covid pandemic affected Habiba’s job and she wasn’t able to pay Sylvia’s salary for about three months but promised to pay it all together when her workplace reopens. During this period, her aunt never believed that she wasn’t receiving her salary, accusing her of refusing to pay the remaining balance. This was too much pressure for the young girl to bear so she started wishing she could go back home. When she asked her boss whether she could go home, she was informed that this would only be possible once she repays the money that had been used to take her there. This was when it dawned on Sylvia that her aunt had been lying to her all along, in reality, it was her employer who had incurred the travel expenses. It was such a disappointment. From then, she refused to send any more money to her aunt, and boldly confronted her with the revelation. That’s when Sylvia and her aunt became enemies. It’s also when she started saving her money and paying school fees for her little brother. At the end of her two-year contract, she finally went back home through the money she had managed to save wasn’t enough to help her go back to school and support her brother’s education at the same time. She thought of an

idea: use the money and go to Dubai, get a better job and save more. She went to the same travel agency in Kampala that I used and that’s how we met. We met when we had to wait for a couple of months as the agency claimed they were still processing our travels. We were both frustrated about what was going on since we were both eager to start a new life elsewhere. Eventually, we did leave and that is when the real diaspora hustle started. This is the first article on Sylvia’s story. Her unbelievable experience in Dubai shall be revealed in the second and third articles on the “Gulf of Despair” saga.

Nigerian Christians under persecution HELPUS PLEASE.......

Unleashing the Leader in you, everyone is a Leader: Lead to Develop

Written by Emmanuel Addo

Leadership is a highly distinctive form of human behavior that calls for character integration, knowledge, and experience. So, what can you do if you procedurally unleash the leadership potential in you? Change the world! Many people think that they cannot make good leaders when everyone is in fact a leader. Leaders learn the art of leading, and thus great leaders are learners. So, everyone can make a great leader with a great understanding of oneself. Look at the mother back home nurturing the family, the father who confidently takes responsibility or the steward who delivers his services with excellence. They are all leaders. Have a scope of leadership from that perspective. It is what it takes to be a leader. Leaders lead from the front by confidently taking responsibility. For the triumph, they spread fame while for the failures, they take the blame. A person can be born with the innate abilities of a leader, while another can master the skills to be a good leader at work. The bottom line is regardless of whether you are born a leader or not, everyone has the room to learn new skills and ultimately advance in leadership competency. True leaders ensure they continue to develop their skills throughout their careers through continuous learning and development activities and materials. Apprehending your leadership style & skills At some point in your career, you may take on a leadership role. Whether it is a team, a project, an entire department, or it’s even a meeting you are leading, you might consider identifying with a defined leadership style. Community Project There is no doubt that while there are right and wrong ways to lead, we cannot point to any specific style that suits everyone. The only mechanism by which you identify what type of Leader you are is through your personality assessment. You closely examine the key aspects of your personality and pay attention to how they manifest in a work, family, or friendship environment. Think about most attributes ascribed to you by your colleagues and friends. Evaluating your character in these settings is vital to understanding how to lead a team. Think about what drives your choices, and know your values, strengths, weaknesses, and feedback by taking leadership personality quizzes. Block by block, you will gain a deeper

comprehension and leadership skills through habits and processes. What it entails to be a good leader. 1 Self-awareness and personal development. As Goode posits, good leaders emphasize developing their emotional intelligence. Leaders focused on refining this quality is more adaptive, resilient, good listeners, open to feedback, and change-oriented. To acquire this, it is imperative to set and prioritize goals while taking responsibility for accomplishing them. Retain awareness of your strength and weaknesses and potential biases that may impact decision-making. 2 They encourage innovation, Strategic thinking, and action.

As a leader of an organization, you have to look forward. You have to keep in mind where the organization is going. Leaders must have flexible mindsets which are conscious of real-time developments. A leader encourages creativity and innovation through exercises such as brainstorming and prototyping and aligns the organization to technology advancement when making strategic decisions. Good leaders are vision-oriented and consider SMART reasonable goals for the team or organization. 3 They hold dear effective cross-cultural communication. Good and respected leaders express themselves clearly to individuals, organizational units, external stakeholders, and the organization. They are therefore good listeners and open to feedback. As a leader, you must learn the nuances of communicating on both print and online platforms. 4. Openness to feedback and constructive criticism. We all aspire to hear the positive and how great we are doing. But think of it differently. Would you like to get better at your job? In fact, constructive negative feedback with helpful intentions can be a golden opportunity to learn and grow. Emmanuel Addo As a leader, you should authentically ask for feedback often and ask for clarification, examples, and constructive recommendations for improvement and develop a sound plan to address your shortfalls. In addition, you should be

able to differentiate constructive criticism from destructive one, which you should treat as a distraction. Road mark to proactive leadership. Proactiveness is the key to productiveness. Being proactive prepares you for something before it happens. Unlike reactiveness, where a leader waits for something to happen, proactiveness helps one determine how events unfold. It prepares a leader for challenges noting that they are inevitable. To become proactive, a leader must; think long-term, seek advice, have a calm demeanor, advance his/her problem-solving skills, be a great communicator, have integrity, and inspire others. Imposter syndrome and leadership

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Many leaders experience fear and imposter syndrome, and its impacts can indeed have far-reaching consequences. As a leader, if you experience phoniness and feel like an imposter, don’t be dismayed. It is pretty common in high achievers and leaders. This feeling arises from the fear that people under you expect you to know more than you do. To overcome, be honest with yourself about what you know and don’t know. Speak with colleagues and share this knowledge. Admittance that you don’t have all answers don’t turn you into a fraud but rather makes you human. Above all, perceive development as a series of experiments and start with one of your weaknesses, and finally, change will knock. Finally, to be a great leader, you should work for satisfaction but not recognition. Remember that recognition is a byproduct, while satisfaction is the end product. Be passionate while also remembering setbacks are inevitable and should not worry you. Be a continuous learner and be open to feedback.

Emmanuel Addo is the founder and president of the Young African Leaders Summit (YALS); a platform for crosscountry idea sharing and assimilation, with the goal of bridging the identity gap that is commonly perceived to exist amongst Africa’s youth.

References Dare to lead hub. (2021, November 1). Brené Brown. https://brenebrown.com/hubs/dare-to-lead/ Moral leadership: Goode, Francis K.: 9780557363025: Books – Amazon. (n.d.). Amazon.com. Spend less. Smile more. https://www.amazon.com/Moral-LeadershipFrancis-K-Goode/dp/0557363020