The Gambia’s minister of Tourism and Culture has lambasted those civil servants obsessed with their laptops and mobile phones during working hours and called for change of attitude towards work.

Hamat Bah was speaking during a press conference held at the Gambia Hotel School in Kanifing.

“We have to do more than what we are supposed to do. You cannot be a civil servants come to work at 9:00, you start looking at your laptops and mobile phone games and then by 3:00 you disappear and want that government to deliver,” Mr Bah said.

He said the country cannot be developed if people don’t change their attitude towards work, adding that work shouldn’t be about money only but that it should be “how much can an individual give to the country.”

He added that: “it is not possible; we have to change our work ethics.  We have to work for the good of the country, it is not about salary is about how much we can archive to give our country.”

Mr. Bah called for discipline among Gambians to developing the country saying “no one will come to develop the country other than Gambians.”

However, he commended his staff for the hard work they are rendering to the ministry, adding that he is strict with them for the progress of the country.

“We owe it to our nation to do little more than we can … but the way people work in this country…I can assure you that people need to change,” adding that he does send some of his staff  for national duty without per diems.

Reporting by Adama Makasuba