The apex body of the Gambia private
sector has seen the exit of several of its presidents who have worked very hard
to take the chamber to higher levels in its over 40-year existence. The seventh
in that trend is Bai Matarr Drammeh, who served the chamber for six years (2006
- 2012). In this interview, the astute
economist and private investor, who has served at senior capacity in many
institutions in The Gambia and beyond, speaks to MatketPlace Business newspaper
on his tenure as President of the Gambia Chamber of Commerce and Industry
(GCCI).
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| Bai Matarr Drammeh |
Having
served the private sector of The Gambia for six years as president of the GCCI,
how would you explain your term of service?
It was eventful; I will say that I am very pleased
because if you were at the annual general meeting [held
on 5 October 2012] you would see the interest members have in the Chamber
now.
During the AGM in 2006, when I was
elected as the president, I said that I was coming in for two
reasons: one, to make sure that the Chamber has a head office, and secondly to
increase the number and quality of members.
These were my mission and I have been able to achieve them.
There
were other things you could have chosen to be your mission as the president,
why did you choose these particular ones?
I realised that for over 40 years of existence of
the GCCI, we were renting, could not identify a place for our own property, our
own home. If an organization is to be
looked upon as a very serious organization it should have something to be
identified with, your own office and there was nothing the Chamber had to show
to the public that is worth emulating. So
when I realised that, I said to myself somebody got to do it. I was the seventh president, so before me
there were six presidents and my immediate predecessor, [Abdoulie Baks Touray]
often told me that ‘What you have done is what I wanted to do and is what all
the previous presidents of the Chamber wanted to do, but God has allowed you to
get it done so we should all be happy; you are the one who has been able to do what
we could not do’.
What
were your strengths as the president of the Chamber?
My strength was the fact that I am a very patient
guy, I used to be calm in doing things - I am very calm and understanding. That aside, I am a very good listener. All these together gave me an easy ride. In difficult moments or in moments of
misunderstanding I will be strong enough to say ‘no!’ I will say ‘no this is where I am going, if
you are with me we go this way; if you are not with me I still go the way I was
going’.
I have had good times with the board members and
rough times with some of them who had other agenda, who wanted to do other
things different from what I wanted but then I have stayed on course and I got
up to where we are now and at the end they are all happy about it.
Sometimes it’s not very easy though, but we got
things done, because I had very good board members who were sincere, committed,
and open and if they were convinced something was good, or was in the interest
of the Chamber they would go along.
And I was particularly pleased with the female board
members because they are very, very loyal and supportive. I can tell you that the female members of any
organization are always the best members of the organization – they are always
loyal and dedicated.
What
were some of your weaknesses?
Indeed I have weakness; some people in the end call
it virtue, but I think it was a weakness, it was a weakness in that I over controlled
my temperament. There were moments when I could have said awful things to my
people because of the way they reacted but I was able to keep calm and in the
end I would blame myself for not having done so – get angry and say things that
may not be nice. So, that I thought was
a weakness but others tell me ‘no it is a virtue, it’s wisdom and it comes with
maturity’ but I thought it as a weakness. I think that is my only weakness.
I
am sure you may have had some things you wanted to accomplish during your
tenure but could not for one thing or the other. Can you share these with us?
Yes, yes absolutely that is true. I really, really wanted to get a trade fair
complex for the Chamber. The government
has been kind enough to allocate a piece of land for that purpose and it’s
located near the Sukuta Women’s Garden, in Sukuta. I have started talking to some outside
partners to get the place constructed.
We were on the verge of getting a suitable plan as to how the place
should be built but I have every confidence that the new president will take it
up because when I was the president he was my trade fair manager, so he knows
everything that is important to know about the trade fair and I think he will
dedicate some time in making sure that the complex is built.
