Executive Meeting Minutes - Sunday, August 25, 2013

Participants:

Alh. Sellou Jallow

Secretary - Amadou Basiru Jallow

Bakary Jallow

Cherno Baba Jallow

Mamadou Salieu Jallow

Chairman - Momodou B. Krubally

Mutarr Jallow

Ousainou Krubally

Pa Joof

Pa Samba Johm

Wuyeh Yoro Sanyang

Date & Time: 8/25/13 @ 17:00 GMT

Agenda:

·         Welcome and opening prayers

·         Financial Update

·         Basse Transition Update

·         Ramadan Project Update

·         Fundraising

.         Next Project(s) Selection

·         Open Discussion/round table

·         Next Executive and General Meeting

Welcome and opening prayers:

The meeting was opened with a prayer by Mr. Amadou Basiru Jallow while Mr. MB Krubally chaired it.

Financial Update:

The account balances for various jurisdictions are as follows: U.S $3,868.43; U.K £220; Holland €201; and the Gambia D25, 222. The financial update was communicated via e-mail by the chief financial officer, Mr. Mamadou Salieu Jallow, for the United States and United Kingdom accounts, Mr. Mamadou Sellu Jallow for the Holland account, and Mr. Filly Sabally for the Gambia account. As reported in previous meeting minutes, Mr. Ousainou Krubally still has a balance of €100 in his possession. The €70 came from Alh. Saibo Drammeh while the €30 is Mr. Krubally’s membership dues. He promised to transfer the €100 into the Holland account as soon as possible.

Basse Transition Update:

The transition from Mr. Sankareh to Mr. Sillah was discussed. There seem to have been some progress. It was reported that Mr. Sankareh handed a sum of D9, 000 to Friends of Basse, Inc. via Mr. MB Krubally’s mother. This amount has already been deposited in the FoB Gambia account and is included in the account balance reported above.

Mr. Ousainou Krubally, the Sports and Cultural Officer reported that the D9, 000 received from Mr. Sankareh reflected the total amount he believe Mr. Sankareh had in his possession. However, others who were familiar with the exchange of money between Mr. Sankareh and the association believe that Mr. Sankareh had more than that amount. There remain several unanswered questions.

 In order to help close this chapter, the president, Mr. MB Krubally promised to lead a group that will fully investigate this issue and report back to the rest.

Ramadan Project Update:

It was reported that the Ramadan Project was indeed a successful undertaken.  It was implemented as promised. The delay in publishing the detailed report on the association’s website was due to some accounting delays from the ground.  Alh. Sellu apologized for the delay in forwarding his report and promised to do so promptly. The report will be published as soon as all pertinent information is received. It was agreed that the executives owe the general membership a timely and detailed report of the project- the sooner the better. This was the executives’ top priority.

Fundraising:

Mr. MB Krubally raised the issue of fundraising. He said that it was time to look into avenues to raise funds. He suggested reaching out to the general membership. The idea of reaching out to the general membership was not well received. Some thought the general membership might be feeling “donor fatigue”. Others believe it would be unwise to reach out to the general membership before publishing the Ramadan Project report.

In either case, it was agreed that other sources of funding be explored. The membership fees alone will not enable us fulfill our goals.

Next Project(s) Selection:

For the next project, Mr. Bakary Jallow suggested Tree Planting exercise. Mr. Cherno Baba Jallow agreed with the tree planting exercise and added that we should also look into cleaning exercise.  The tree planting and cleaning exercises were favored by the rest of the participants. These two projects were seen as feasible and less tasking.  It was agreed that these suggestions will be forwarded to the project manager, Mr. Kawsu Sillah who will reach out to his team on the ground for consultation. Mr. Wuyeh Sanyang warned that we should consider the season for the implementation of these projects especially for the tree planting exercise. He said the rainy season would be an ideal time for the tree planting exercise.

The Computer Center project was briefly discussed. The implementation delay of this project was said to stem from several factors: the location factor and the magnitude of the project.  

The location factor raised an interesting discussion. Mr. MB Krubally suggested looking into a place that is more centrally located. He gave example of the former Nursery School (Church) by the Standard Chartered Bank. Alh. Sellu reminded the participants that Alhagie Jallow once told him of trying to submit an application for a piece of land to the Area Council on behalf of the association. He gave an example of BYA that was assigned a piece of land. The idea was welcomed. Mr. MB Krubally agreed to reach out to Alhagie Jallow to find out more information.

Open Discussion/round table:

It was agreed that this is a good time to have Mr. Mutarr Jallow audit the association’s finances. He welcomed the idea but said that he would need detail project reports from Mr. Dawda Sankareh to fully audit the association’s finances. The Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Mamadou Salieu Jallow will forward him spreadsheets detailing the association’s financial transactions.

Alh. Sellu suggested that the association looks into working with the Basse Health Center to establish a Pharmacy within the Health Center premises and sell prescription drugs to the patients at discounted prices. He said that the Health Center does not have medications readily available to the patients. Therefore, all patients have to buy their prescription drugs from private Pharmacies in town. According to him, this will ensure that the association fills this important void while at the same time generating funds to maintain the project and fund other important projects. He promised to research further into the possibility of this potential partnership.

Next Executive and General Meeting:

An executive and a general meeting will be scheduled. A communication will be sent out as soon as the details are finalized.

The meeting was closed with a prayer by Mr. Mamadou Salieu Jallow. The meeting lasted a little over 2 hours.