Executive Meeting - January 23rd, 2011

BA Executive Meeting Minutes
Date of Meeting: January 23rd, 2011

Agenda

Participants
Pa Joof
MB Krubally
Bakary Jallow
Pa Samba Johm
Wuyeh Sanyang
Cherno B. Jallow
Ousainou Krubally
Mutarr Jallow
Mamadou Sellou Jallow

Chairman: Pa Joof
Guest Secretary: Cherno B. Jallow

Details
Wuyeh Sanyang opened the meeting urging the executive to work harder in the new year. He said the Basse Association had seen a successful period since its inception. He said we should keep on encouraging each other, argue on ideas and harness our strength towards the fulfillment of the association's goals. He hoped 2011 would be a better year for the association.

On the state of the association, herewith respective comments:

Samba Johm: He said so far so good. The association has been in the right direction. Feedback has been positive. The town hall meeting was wonderful for bringing people together and to carry the agenda forward. He urged us all to stick to our guns on the association's agenda.

Bakary Jallow: He said the association has been doing pretty good. He urged his fellow members to increase their efforts. He informed the meeting that the BA was no longer an unknown commodity; that the youths and elders of Basse are very much aware of its existence. He lamented the "slacking off" of some members of the executive including himself. He said there needed to be some improvement in terms of communication within the executive. We are all on a learning curve, he said.

Ousainou Krubally: Urged his fellow executives to work harder; that we have slackened our pace. Only a few of us have been active, he chided. He thanked Bakary and Wuyeh for resolving some community issues in Basse during their recent trip. But he lamented that the mosque project had still not been finished. He said he understood everybody was busy but we had to awaken from our inactivity as a group. How many of us are playing our roles effectively, he queried.

Wuyeh Sanyang: Expressed some concern about meeting cancellations. He implored the executive to be firm and forward-thinking. If the executive starts drifting, he warned, it would have an impact on the rest of the association.

Cherno B. Jallow: Acknowledged that some good has been done, although some momentum has been lost, too. He encouraged his colleagues to re-dedicate to the cause of the association; and that it is always easy to start organizations, but the difficulty rests with continuity. Staying the course is important, he said. He urged members to be writing on the website. He said it would be wonderful to read from several of us on the site, and not just from a handful of regulars.

MB Krubally: He said there was always a few of us in the executive who needed to pick up pace. He encouraged everyone to use the new year to retool and show fresh dedication to the association.

Pa Joof: Admitted that we have lost some momentum. He said he hoped this year would be far better than last year. This year we will pick up, he confidently told the meeting.

Mamadou Sellou Jallow: We are at a low point, he decried. He urged his colleagues to work harder to accomplish whatever was started. Let's not chew more than we can bite. Let's go back to the basics. He said the town hall meeting has exposed some concerns some town folks have about the association and issues in general. He urged the BA to look forward towards addressing these matters.

On the ablution project at the Basse central mosque, Wuyeh said he had talked to project manager Dawda Sankareh and that the building and concreting work had been completed. The place has begun to be used. He said to ensure durability, and rather than just having a bare slab of concrete, some broken tiles were needed to ease use of the facility. He said Dawda was going to research on the costs of tiles and accompanying expenses and report on them to the executive. He relayed that Dawda wasn't pleased with the way the facility was built.

Pa Joof, BA president, revealed that he had been working on a number of sub-committees, namely Health, Education, Sports and Finance. But he would concentrate on the first three. He said he wanted these committees to look into various aspects of Basse society and work towards addressing matters in these respective areas. He asked what the meeting thought of his idea.

Ousainou Krubally thought it was a good idea and that having already set up a sports committee in Basse, he has been receiving some feedback here and there on matters related to sports. And this has been giving him an opportunity to be familiar with the issues affecting Basse sports.

Cherno B. Jallow asked what kind of sub-committees: one headed by an executive member and to be administered from abroad or one commissioned in Basse? Mamadou Sellou Jallow wondered how these committees would reconcile with the role of the project manager. Are the roles going to overlap each other?

Pa Joof said these committees would be headed by executive members and the project manager in Basse would help identify members and areas of work for these committees. The project manager would liaise with the people on the ground to implement these projects. Both Samba Johm and Bakary Jallow agreed it was a good idea to have a number of committees targeting Basse. Bakary said the committees have nothing to do with overtaking the job of the project manager. He acknowledged that Dawda has been doing a good job, but he needs help --- he is being overwhelmed with a lot of activities on his plate.

Wuyeh Sanyang suggested having Dawda Sankareh and Michael Secka identify committees. He said it was important to consult with folks on the ground to help in setting up these committees rather than having them imposed from abroad. MB Krubally said it was a great idea, and as with the town hall meeting, we need to empower the people on the ground. He suggested having Dawda identify these committees and have him get back to the executive and then the executive identify the heads.

Pa Joof thought we still could set up the committees abroad and lay out their frames of reference. Samba Johm agreed. He said all the projects have mostly failed on the ground and not from our end. He chided that the folks on the ground can't have anything done. The people are not on the same page. We, as executive leaders, need to make the calls.

Ousainou Krubally disagreed. He said we couldn't just blame the folks on the ground, but we, on the outside, also have to share a part of the blame. We don't make follow-ups on project ideas and implementations.

Bakary Jallow reported that the Basse Health Center was in need of infection control facilities. He said the Center was having problems providing detergent to cleanse the area. And there aren't enough beds in the Center.

Mutarr Jallow said Basse needs a library to not only be a reading place but be a house of computing and Internet services. This will create revenue for the BA and jobs for the folks in Basse. Cherno B. Jallow agreed, saying since this is an expensive undertaking, it may be wise to use existing vacant structures on the Koba Kunda Primary premises for a start-up library.

Actionables
Pa Joof to pay up web site hosting fee to Webnode. The My Basse website was being hosted free but since the site has been generating a lot of traffic lately, its bandwidth has been increasing. The site host had been placing adverts on the site to pay for its costs. Note: the sum of 120 euros have since paid for a two-year membership.

MB Krubally and Cherno B. Jallow to look for advertisements on the website.

Next meetings dates: February 27th for Executive. March 6th for General

Note: A financial update on the Basse Association couldn't be done as the spreadsheets were not available in time for the meeting.

The End.