General Meeting Minutes - Sunday, May 8, 2016

Participants:

Alh. Saibo Drammeh

Secretary - Amadou Basiru Jallow

Modou Barrow

Kawsu Sillah

Majidi Jallow

Chairman - Momodou B. Krubally

Nuha Touray

Pa  Joof

Ebrima Sey

Date
& Time: 5/8/16 @ 17:00 GMT

Agenda:

·         Welcome and opening prayers

.         Financial Update

.         FoB Office and Scholarship Update

·         Open Discussion/round table

·         Next Executive and General Meeting

Welcome and opening prayers:

The meeting was opened with a prayer by Mr. Modou Barrow while Mr. MB Krubally chaired it.

Financial Update:

Mr. Mamadou Salieu Jallow, the out-going chief financial officer was unable to join the meeting. It was agreed that he will reconcile the association's finances and communicate the report with out-going and incoming executives. 

Transition Process:

The attendees agreed that the new executives will take over responsibility of executing the affairs of the organization (FoB) effective Sunday, May 15, 2016. The necessary handing over of property (Items, electronic access information, financial information, etc) will be done at the individual level. That is the incoming President, Chief Financial Officer, Project Manager and corresponding outgoing officers communicate with one another.

Some of the issues that need clarification or addressing include: reconciliation of the T-Shirt Project, Verification of the status of the Europe Funds that were supposed to be transferred into the Gambia account; the office project funds and supplies. 

Also, Alhagie Saibo Drammeh states that he needs an acknowledgement of receipt of funds he deposited in the E.U account towards the 2015 membership fees for him and others.

FoB Office and Scholarship Update:

Mr. Pa Joof raised question about the future plans of the education committee towards the scholarship project for vocational training. The committee currently does not have a chairperson since Mr. Joof resigned. It was agreed that once the new executive team takes over they should address this issue.

 Unfortunately, the proposed FoB office project has hit another road block. The proposed office space that Mr. Joof and FoB had agreement about is no longer available. It was agreed that instead of trying to point fingers, the incoming executives should try to learn all the possible lessons that compromised this agreement. They can use this new knowledge to help inform them as they continue the search for a new office space.

Open Discussion/Round Table:

One of the issues brought up during the open discussion was the importance of ensuring that paid member names get published on the website as soon as possible. This issue has been one of the challenges that the organization has continued to struggle with. Mr. Bakary Jallow had volunteered to take up this responsibility but is still not trained to carry out this function. Mr. Joof apologized for not being able to train him. He called on Mr. MB Krubally and Mr. Cherno Baba Jallow to help with the raining.

The participants also encourage better communication process. The consensus was that the organization should continue to improve the communication at the executive level as well as the general member level. The general membership should always be kept up-to-date about the organization's welfare. This will demonstrate ownership and encourage participation. This should be the responsibility of the President or his/her representative.

There was question of who exactly is the elected incoming Deputy financial officer? This was clarified at a later time with Mr. Wuyeh Sanyang, a member of the Polling Officers (who was not in attendance).  He states that the spreadsheet he sent out listing the names of the incoming executives is in fact correct. Mr. Abdourahman Barry (the son of the late Basse Alkalo, Alhagie Nasiru Barry) is the incoming Deputy Financial Officer. Mr. Sanyang apologized for the typographical error on the ballot.

Mr. MB Krubally welcomed the incoming executives who were in attendance. He praised them for taking up the leadership responsibility and wished them success.

Next Executive and General Meeting:

The next executive and general meetings will be scheduled. A communication will be sent out as soon as the details are finalized by the incoming Secretary General, Mr. Michael Secka.

The meeting took 1.5 hours and was closed with a prayer.