"He was in uniform and we are very happy that he has a foresight. When we told him about the plans we have to build those stations, he welcomed the idea and for the stations he said well.. in Janjangbureh you can get mould blocks and make sure they run with solar energy. We tried to convince him by then we didn't know what he was talking about, but he insisted on it and we are enjoying the fruit of that labour. (Applause...)

And it is the same day he told us that the forest management would have to change. He gave us three months to come up with a forest policy..... that is the Policy that won an international award. This was in the presence of the whole world during the General Assembly of the United Nations and Gambia won the Policy because of the foresight of our President". (Applause...)

"Rwanda took first and Gambia took second with applause because we competed the second position with the United States of America". (Applause…)

"Imagine with all the resources, with all the man-power, with all the intellectuals, one intellectual young Gambian got this foresight that a day will come this policy will be internationally recognized." (Applause...)

"We all did remember, those of us who were in New York of course, when H.E. the President, the Ministry of Forestry and the Environment, and all key players in the environment were commended under the dynamic leadership of course of H.E. Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr. Yahya AJJ Jammeh for being environment friendly, for having the best community forestry programmes in Africa and beyond; you have already been told we competed with the United States of America, they have all the resources to win any competition, they have all the resources to do research in forest and forest products, they have all the resources to be involved in eco-tourism and you've been told about Rwanda as well.

But despite the small land area we have in The Gambia, since 1994 because of the foresight of H.E. the President who is the chairman of course of the National Environment Management Council so he's leading the way, he is determining the policies, he is giving direction and guidance in the area of forestry and environmental management in general. He is not only giving direction but he has shown examples."

"As am talking to you now we know how The Gambia is revered internationally, globally. Any time we talk about examples of good leadership, a new breed of African leaders will look up to The Gambia and that tells us something. But as I said that has to resonate in all levels, it cannot be just at the level of the President. The President alone cannot do much, he requires the support of people who have a similar attitude, similar commitment, a similar sense of direction and love for their country.

He is the captain like Dr. Bah has said but in a ship you require the crew as well. You require those people to make it happen, the engine room requires somebody. Of course the captain leads us to safer shores on condition that everybody plays their role and when I am saying playing our roles, is not only us Ministers here, who are the political heads of those Ministries and give policy direction as given to us by H.E. the President, but indeed we are talking about beyond Cabinet. We also have our Permanent Secretaries who are the administrative heads of our Ministries and in fact we need them more than ever before because now we have a challenge and time cannot wait. We are behind schedule and we have to be on time to reach the development objectives and aspirations of H.E. the President as the main visionary."

"As we have come to the end of yet another national policy and operations forum, preceded by the launch of the new national development blueprint that is the Programme for Accelerated Growth and Employment here in Kanilai on the heels of this recent historic electoral victory for H.E. the President, it is important to stress that henceforth it will never be business as usual".