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The Independent (Banjul)
COLUMN
March 8, 2004
Posted to the web March 8, 2004
Khadija
Banjul
NAWEC
Formerly called the National Water and Electricity Company, this important
utility service provider is now known as No Available Water and Electricity
Company. According to some of the Grapes, this company needs not advertise to
customers its new name. The wretchedness of the entire electricity and water
situation in the country says it all.
But wait, water or no water, light or no light, the bills stay outrageously
high; they keep going up every month. Why that? Research done by the Grapes
indicate that the on and off nature of the power situation makes the meters jump
high every time NAWEC suddenly switches on their erratic power supply thus
cheating customers.
There is whispering that though the broom cannot sweep itself owing to the
fact that NAWEC falls under the Office of the President, President Jammeh is
nonetheless determined to sweep all dirt from under the carpet as soon as the
reconnaissance work currently being carried out on the No Water and Electricity
Company is concluded. Gambians want to know what has happened to all this talk
of electrifying the whole country!
Gamtel Calendar
Whoever did Gamtel's 2004 calendar has a big reference to clear.
Tobaski (Eid ul adha) which fell in February this year was not indicated on
that calendar. Tamharit (Muslim new year) another important holiday which fell
in March this year was also excluded. Why are these important Muslim feasts
not included on those calendars? At least someone at Gamtel should have been
professional enough to see these anomalies if not the quack calendar designer.
Last year (2003) First International Bank (FIB) made history with their
calendar when it read September 31 and February 30 or so. The calendar contract
must have been given to someone who was determined to add more days to the year
and perhaps make more money.
Companies should entrust sensitive issues like calendar designing and
production to qualified bidders, not friends. The public is interested purely in the
services offered by these companies opting for calendars and not big
photographs of company executives showing off their new suits and Rolex watches.
Forex Bureaux and Banks
The jabbering in town these days centers on Foreign Exchange Bureaux and
banks.
Do you know that the Central Bank of Gambia has raised the license fee for
bureaux from D300,000 to a whooping D1million? Well, check out the papers for
confirmation.
The burning question now is do we expect artificial inflation to abate if we
overtax business concerns? The bureaux will surely get their money back and
that is going to be through innocent people who are going to get fleeced. If the
bureaux should close down as a result of high tariff where else would people
change money apart from the banks?
Now that the black markets are no more, we all go to the banks these days.
But go there and say you want to buy a thousand dollars. The answer you are most
likely to receive is the amount allocated for the day is finished or they
wont sell that much to one individual.
Understood! But you tell them you want to sell a thousand or more Forex to
the bank or say transfer the said amount to a bank in America, the cashier will
say to you the bank has a limitation on both purchase and sale of Forex. Not
understood!
How can banks in dire need of Forex put a limitation on the purchase of Forex
from private individuals willing to sell?
Does this mean there is not enough dalasis and Forex in this country to do
normal business?
Lest we forget, Mr. Carvalho of SCB is urged to work on a new project of
installing more teller machines at the Serrekunda branch now that the customers
are increasing daily.
Please keep them constantly in order and functioning to ease the long queues!
Current Crisis Do you know that a once popular beach bar on Fajara Beach, El
Mundo, has been demolished and in its place a very large three-story beach bar
has been built? The Grapes say the owner is a very popular guy who is mostly
in the news these days. The imposing structure looks completely out of
character with other structures around it.
Not even the two-story hotel next to it matches its grandeur. Those who are
responsible for giving planning permission must have must have changed the
rules to accommodate this huge edifice part of which juts out onto the beach
itself.
Are you also aware of an exposed high voltage cable lying right at the U-turn
in front of Ice Man on the Banjul-Serrekunda highway?
The police are always at that spot checking for faulty vehicles. They should
have reported the dangerous situation to NAWEC. By the way, how come all those
light poles before Kanifing Police Station look as if they have been
vandalized by thieves? They would look more beautiful with florescence light bulbs on
them Mr. Station Officer.
The Grapes also say they are very impressed with KMC's effort in clearing the
Banjul high way of dirt after years of accumulation and neglect. Our roads
look quite narrow because of the sand. We hope this work falls under the routine
schedule of the council and not another bogus short-term money-driven project.
Do you also know that several ghetto beach bars made with corrugated iron
sheets without toilet and water facilities are springing up fast at BB? Three
years back, a massive demolition campaign was launched along our beaches and a
new standard of cement block beach bars worth D200,000 each was set by the
tourism authority. Today that rule has been broken and somehow someone somewhere is
somewhat responsible for this breach.
Fearful gossip from Lamin Village says some money-minded Mauritanian business
men (Narrs) at NTC Junction are selling a bag of rice at D500.
One of the grapes was forced to buy a bag at this cutthroat price because his
family was starving. This is cheating in broad daylight.
These Narrs should be investigated.
Sex Tourism Again
The Grapes have been receiving countless complaints from tourists that they
are being sexually harassed by sex-craving bumsters. The old bumster problem is
slowly returning!
The tourists say the hotels are hassle-free but that just five yards from
their hotels, bumsters harass them for sex.
Obscenities like "Do you want to ride my big bike," "I have a marvelously big
and sweet African banana you may want to try," or "Do you need hot sex, I can
provide you with one," and "I eat special food which gives me endurance and
high sexual performance," are what these bumsters take as greetings for female
tourists. The bumstresses would say, "Hello Toubab, do you need some
massaging, I have golden fingers you know?"
There is no hiding now. The bums are menacingly daring in their stalking.
Tourists who refuse their indecent approaches are called racists and told to go
to hell or back to countries they came from; often with the remarks, "You don't
want to try a strong, young Gambian man while you are on holiday."
The Grapes say there is not enough police patrol on the beaches and in the
Tourist Development Area. The few policemen on patrol want bicycles and horses
for their job to be properly done.
Fingerprinting Foreigners
There is a vicious rumour circulating in town that the Department of
Immigration has refused to commence the issuing of documents to foreigners this year
because the department wants to have all foreigners including diplomats
fingerprinted and subjected to marathon interviews to ascertain their true identities.
The gossip is that The Gambia is trying to upgrade its security situation to
match countries like the US in order to forestall any Al Qaida attacks.
But is there really such impending danger as anticipated and would this
fingerprinting thing not be too expensive and time consuming for our meagre
resources? The Grapes think it is an over-ambitious project.
"The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are
evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it."
- Albert Einstein
"
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change
the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has."
- Margaret Mead
"When the government fears the people, you have liberty. When the people fear
the government, you have tyranny."
- Thomas Jefferson
"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing"
- Edmund Burke
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