OUTGOING SIERRA LEONEAN HIGH COMMISSIONER SENDS A MESSAGE OF
GRATITUDE TO PRESIDENT JAMMEH

25th August, 2008

Text of the Message

 

"Your Excellency,

With the utmost humility, it is with great honor and pride that I take this opportunity on behalf of the Government and people of Sierra Leone, my family and myself to very heartily express my gratitude to you personally and your family, the Government and People of The Gambia for the warm and brotherly reception you gave to me on the very first day I presented my Letters of Credence to you as High Commissioner of Sierra Leone to The Gambia. I do remember the memorable statement you made to me on that day that "I should take The Gambia as my home away from home" during the tenure of my diplomatic assignment.

 

Your Excellency, I must say that during the almost four years of my sojourn in The Gambia as High Commissioner, The Gambia has not only become a home to me but has now made me to become a member of the Gambian family.

 

Your Excellency, I also wish to thank you in abundance for all the support you gave to me personally in The Gambia that made my work easy and smooth sailing, and continue to give to the Government and people of Sierra Leone both at the bilateral and multilateral levels, which has gone a long way in cementing the political, economic, social and cultural ties that has existed between our two countries over the years. I hope and pray that the Almighty Allah will continue to give you wisdom and understanding and guide and protect you in your leadership role in championing the development aspiration of the Gambian people and Africa as a whole.

You Excellency, on a very personal note, I feel highly honoured and privileged to have been decorated by Your Excellency in your capacity as Commander in Chief of The Gambian Armed Forces with a Medal of Honour from The Gambian Armed Forces during the July 22nd 2008 Anniversary. Let me also express on behalf of my family and myself the high level of my appreciation to you particularly for the gesture you made to me during my last visit to your home town of Kanilai on Thursday, 14th August 2008 to bid you farewell and take formal leave of The Gambia.

Your Excellency, you have actually accomplished my dream of becoming a farmer when I return back home by all the farming tools and seedlings that you generously gave to me. Your vision to make The Gambia self sufficient in food production has inspired me to make farming my own career hereafter, and I am looking forward to a day when I will have the opportunity of shipping to The Gambia the products of what you have given to me to show that your effort and labour has not gone in vain.

Let me once again assure you, Your Excellency that The Gambia shall always be my second home and I shall always be coming to The Gambia in a private capacity to still continue to build on the bond of friendship that I have established.

While wishing you and your family, The Government and people of The Gambia Allah's richest blessings, please accept the assurances of my highest consideration and esteem."

Yours sincerely

MOHAMMED FODAY YUMKELLA
HIGH COMMISSIONER