STATEMENT BY HALIFA SALLAH
ON THE 1994 COUP AND ITS COMMEMORATION ON 22 JULY 2007
THE FULL VERSION
Compatriots, the empowerment of the people so that they can claim full
ownership of our country and become the architects of a destiny which
assures them
liberty, dignity and prosperity remains our primary and most immediate task.
Since the APRC regime is busy promoting a culture that romanticises a coup d
’
etat which led to the suspension of the sovereign right of the people to
determine their manner of government, i have no option but to use the
occasion
to promote a culture that eschews tyranny and cherishes democracy which is
predicated upon the assertion of the sovereignty of the people.
Compatriots, today is a public holiday. It is designed to commemorate the
July 22nd coup detat. Arches, parks, hospitals, holidays and movements have
been associated with the day to ensure that it remains indelible in the
minds of
the people.
On the other hand, few people even remember or know the significance of
24th
April, 1970 or 16 January 1997. This is because the Gambia is yet to have a
government which truly cherishes the sovereignty of the people.
Compatriots, Section 1 subsection (2) of the Constitution of the Republic
states very clearly in unambiguous terms that
“The sovereignty of the Gambia resides in the people of the Gambia from whom
all organs of government derive their authority and in whose name and for
whose welfare and prosperity the powers of government are to be exercised
in
accordance with this constitution”
Compatriots, in a Republic sovereignty resides in the people. Power belongs
to the people. Organs of government derive their authority from the people.
Representatives are only mandated to exercise that authority to promote the
liberty, prosperity and general welfare of the people.
Suffice it to say, the Gambia became a sovereign Republic on 24th April,
1970. This is the day that is worth commemorating. It is a day that should
be
relied on to take stock on an annual basis whether there is a balance,
surplus
or deficit in the liberty, prosperity and general welfare of the people or
not. This day passes without any commemoration or remembrance.
This confirms that the culture of the sovereignty of the people is yet to
take root in the Gambia. This is why democracy is yet to take firm root.
In short, sovereignty is about rights and powers and democracy is about
decision making powers and choice. Both cannot be exercised without
consciousness. One cannot exercise one’s right to choice if one is ignorant
of one’s
powers or options. Herein lies the importance of awareness.
Compatriots, in another 2 years President Jammeh would have been in office
for 15 years, which is half the number of years ex -President Jawara was in
office. By the time he completes his current term he would have been in
office
for 17 years, that is, two decades minus 3 years. Each of us should
honestly
ask ourselves what has been done during the past 13 years to enhance the li
berty, dignity and prosperity of the people.
When the coup d’etat took place i was 41 years and President Jammeh has
turned 29 and was heading towards his 30th birthday. Today he has celebrated
his
42nd birthday. He is older than I was when they took over in 1994.
Two things were my fundamental concerns when I joined other colleagues to
establish an opposition party 7 years before the July 1994 Coup detat, that
is,
the poverty of the people and the lack of awareness of their sovereign
rights to determine their destiny.
When the coup occurred the constitution was suspended, parliament
dissolved,
the executive abrogated and an Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council
established which became executive and legislative at the same time. All
organs of
government derived their authority from the Council. The sovereignty of the
people was suspended.
Between July and December 1994 Decrees after Decrees were promulgated to
legitimise arbitrary detention and abolish all political activities,
parties and
manifests of political thought.
A determined effort had to be made by Gambians to get the AFPRC to come up
with a transitional programme.
On 16th January 1997 the Second Republic came into being as the President
was sworn in to assume office. Herein lies the importance of 16th January.
It is therefore an irony that instead of commemorating the birth of the
first and second republic which affirm the sovereignty of the people we are
commemorating a day when the sovereignty of the people was suspended and a
quasi
monarchical rule established which legitimised arbitrary rule and impunity.
13 years after the coup d’etat the country is still classified among the
least developed countries and is now labelled as a Highly Indebted Poor
Country.
The fact that a coup d’etat is being commemorated confirms that there is
gross deficit in awareness of what constitutes a sovereign republic and
people.
A CATALOGUE OF FAILED PROMISES
According to Vision 2020 the APRC government aims
“To transform The Gambia into a financial centre, a tourist paradise, a
trading, export oriented agricultural and manufacturing nation, thriving on
free
market policies and vibrant private sector, sustained by a well-educated,
trained, skilled, healthy, self reliant and enterprising population, and
guaranteeing a well-balanced eco-system and a decent standard of living for
one and
all, under a system of government based on the consent of the citizenry.”
On Tourism
Government statistics reveal that the estimated value of travel income
stands at 1.5 billion in 2005 and 1.8 billion in 2006.
For 15 years government has not been able to articulate policies that
create
a linkage between the tourism sector and the other productive sectors of
the
Gambian economy. Tourism can only enhance the eradication of poverty
through
the consumption pattern of the tourists. If over one hundred thousand
tourists consume beverages, fish, meat, poultry and vegetables and utilise
soap,
towels etc that are locally produced they would help to boost local light
scale
industries and small scale agricultural production. This is not case at the
moment. In fact, what the APRC is doing is to build up its security
machinery
in the name of protecting tourists from bumsters or beggars but had not
provided adequate alternative schemes for the young people to live
productive and
contributive lives.
In his address to the Nation the president praised the girls for not
venturing to scale the high seas to go to Europe. He lamented over the
dangers faced
by the young people. It is important for the President to bear in mind that
his government has acknowledged that “tourism and private remittances by
Gambians living and working abroad continue to be a major source of foreign
exchange for the Gambian economy.” Remittances are estimated at 1.7 billion
in
2005 and 1.8 billion in 2006.
This is more than the estimated value of foreign Direct Investment. Many
homes in the Gambia are maintained by such remittances. The semblance of
prosperity which exists in some quarters is not due to earnings from wages
or
salaries provided by government. There is no doubt that the salary of a
qualified
teachers or nurse which is approximately 1500 dalasis a month cannot enable
a
person to buy cement at 300 dalasis per bag or rice at D600 per bag, meat
at
D85 per kilo and then live a middle income life style.
The movement of Gambians to Europe is out of desperation and more
constructive approaches are needed to handle the crisis of youth employment.
Young
girls are facing the same crisis which is leading to the rampant sex trade.
They
are being arrested and detained like never before. Hence both the boys and
girls are in the same boat.
On Agriculture
The Gambia Cooperative Union used to purchase and sell 80% of the
groundnuts
processed by GMPB
By 1993 the Cooperative Union went into the red by 20 million dalasis. The
GPMB was privatised. When the APRC took over the purchasing of groundnuts
was
carried by the GGC/Alimenta In 1999 a dispute arose which led to
international arbitration and a settlement amounting to 11.4 million
dollars. As for the
Cooperative Union, a press release was issued in 1998 that it had a
liability
of 209.5 million dalasis and assets of 25.9 million dalasis, thus leaving
it
with a deficit of approximately 183 million dalasis. It was therefore
liquidated. Since then the groundnut sector has depended largely on credit
buying
and farmers continued to experience growing hardship as prices of essential
commodities increase and receipts for sale of groundnuts are delayed. As
for
the cotton sector farmers are still cling to the arms of hope
Today, the price of fertiliser is 650 dalasis per bag. One needs about five
bags to farm 1 hectare of land. How many farmers can produce 3200 dalasis
to
purchase fertiliser?
The Solutions
In 1995 it was on record that the Assets Management and Recovery
Corporation
claimed to have recovered 50 million dalasis in cash and 100 million
dalasis
in assets. The sum continues to increase year after year. However, the
budget speech of the Secretary of State for Finance in 2006 did not
indicate the
sum total of cash and assets recovered.
Notwithstanding , we have recommended over and over again that the cash and
assets of this corporation should be transformed into the cash and assets
of
an agricultural development bank to promote crop financing and agricultural
production but to no avail.
Despite numerous promises of mechanisation the interests of the managers of
the farming implements as well as share cost have militated against the
achievement of goals.
Hence, today Gambia is still not self-reliant in food production.
Foreign Assistance
There is claim by the president that some foreign governments are imposing
conditionalities on them instead of giving aid. However, the same
government
tells us that the European Union financed the study and design for the
reconstruction of the Barra-Amdalai Road, Trans Gambia Highway, the
Basse-Sabi Road,
Soma-Basse Highway and the resurfacing of the Mandinaba-Seleti Road. There
is absolutely no doubt that The Gambia has received substantial assistance
and
loans. The Rural Electrification Project of course costs 19 million dollars
and is mainly funded by the African Development Fund, the Islamic
Development
Bank, the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa. Libya financed the
hospital in Bwiam to the tune of 30 million dalasis. The Kombo Coastal Road
was financed by Kuwait and the Arab bank to the tune of 112 million dalasis
Taiwan has also provided billions of dalasis, which led to the building of
the
Kerewan Road and Bridge.
It is estimated that the country’s debt burden stands at 22,000 million
dalasis requiring debt repayment and servicing amounting to 1500 million
dalasis
annually. This is why Gambia is labeled as a heavily indebted poor country.
We are indeed repaying the loans and interests. For example, the amount
involved in loan repayment to Taiwan in 2005, 2006 and 2007 are 71 million
dalasis,
63 million dalasis and 66 million dalasis respectively. The amounts
involved
in interest payments are 41 million dalasis, 55 million dalasis and 65
millions dalasis respectively.
The Objectives of Loans and Grants
Development projects under the APRC depend mainly on loans and grants to be
financed. This comes along with the danger of indebtedness if the
productive
base of the economy fails to grow in a balanced and proportionate manner.
In
short, if the productive base does not grow the tax base will be narrow and
dividends will not increase to enable government to boost up revenue to
finance the repayment of loans. In the absence of expanding revenue base,
government must engage in schemes such as the privatisation of public
enterprises,
retrenching workers, imposition of cost recovery programmes for services,
such
as the Bamako initiative in Health and the removal of any form of subsidy
to
promote agricultural production. That is why there is a power purchase
agreement between Global Electrical Group (GEC) and NAWEC for the
management of the
Brikama Power Station. This is why the cost of electricity increased by
30%.
Such cost recovery schemes will increase. The divestiture programme of
government is now focused on GPTC, GIA and MSA. Sector studies are also
being done
on GAMTEL – GAMCEL and NAWEC.
Hence after 13 years the APRC regime has not been able to manage public
enterprises to expand their productive base. Such public enterprises could
have
paid dividends on an annual basis which could be reinvested to sustain and
develop them or promote the development of public services in a
sustainable,
balanced and proportionate manner. Instead public enterprises are becoming
a
liability because of poor directives on how to manage their resources in
between
financial years. In short, in 2005, two hundred million dalasis had to be
withdrawn from government coffers to service the external loans of public
enterprises but government could only recover 56 million from such
enterprises.
Hence it is clear that the public sector has not registered any impressive
growth that could generate significant employment in the past 13 years.
Instead many enterprises such as the GPTC experienced economic contraction
and are
heading towards privatisation.
On the other hand, the private sector has not been faring better. High
interest rates on burrowing have militated against local private sector
investment. There is evidence that money is available in the country, for
example the
total purchases and sales of foreign currencies in the Inter Bank market
totaled D23.9 billion dalasis. Banks have been benefiting more from
investing in
treasury bills than giving credit to the private sector.
Deepening Crisis
We have repeatedly drawn the attention of the government to the lack of
submission of Audit reports on the financial statement of central
government and
public enterprises. Year in year out the national assembly would pass
Appropriation Bills( Budgets) which contain miscellaneous allocations which
are
designed to repay confirmed outstanding debts. No enquiry was done on how
those
debts were incurred. It is when the pressure intensified that it was
revealed
that some officials do take commodities from enterprises without having the
funds to purchase them. Consequently, such enterprises turn to government
for
payments. Such debts according to SoS Finance amounted to 500 million
dalasis
and would have to feature in subsequent budgets in bits until they are
cleared.
Central government statement of accounts and that of public enterprises are
required by law to be subjected to audit in accordance with international
auditing standards and guidelines to ensure all assets, liabilities,
surpluses
and deficits are recorded, and that statements reflect what obtains in
books
and records of accounts. In this way one can determine whether financial
transactions are in line with the dictates of financial rules and
regulations.
Auditors enhance financial discipline by expression of opinions after
subjecting
statements of accounts and financial practices to compliance reviews,
economy and efficiency appraisals as well as effectiveness reviews. It was
in 1998
that the first auditor general under the second Republic expressed her
opinion that financial statements were not presented to her for auditing
and that
she could not form an opinion on the accounts of government from 1991 to
1997.
Since then another Audit report did not emerge until 2005 when the Auditor
General submitted audited financial statements for the period 30th June
1992 –
31 December 1999. He indicated that the accounts for the years 1991 – 92 to
1996 – 97 and 1998 to 1999 were not submitted for audit until May and
September 2001 respectively. He complained of the lack of institutional
memory,
missing documents, staff changes that militated against the preparation of
good
quality financial statements. Commissions of enquiry were blamed for
missing
documents and 800 million dalasis could not be properly accounted for and
the
open balance for each financial year is rendered inaccurate until the
Department of Treasury and the Department of State for Finance have the
2006
statement audited before the end of 2007,It is then and only then that all
the
unaccounted sums could be substantiated to facilitate any write off that
the
government may wish to do to come up with a legitimate opening balance for
its
accounts.
It is therefore no surprise that the Poverty Reduction Growth Facility
programme was suspended by the IMF in 2003 and thus undermined the
availability of
resources to implement the poverty reduction strategy paper. This also led
to the suspension of the 115 million dollars fund pledged by donors during
the
2002 Geneva Round. Less than 40 % of the programmes undertaken under the
Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper were implemented.
It is in 2006 that the government had started to implement a managed
programme so that it can reach heavily indebted poor countries’ completion
point to
have the possibility of debt relief.
This is what the president should tell the people as they commemorate the
13th year of the coup; that we are indebted to our forehead and cannot be
classified as the economic superpower of Africa.
Foreign Policy
In his interview and statement regarding the anniversary the president
lamented over the marginalisation of African leaders, dismissed the AU
Summit in
Accra and NEPAD and questioned the viability of the Africa Peer Review
Mechanism. It is therefore necessary to throw light on all these issues.
The African Union Summit Was A Success
The African Union Summit was a success. The objective of the summit was to
engage in a grand debate on the feasibility of establishing an African
Union
Government and the founding of United States of Africa. This was a debate.
A
head of state could even give reasons why a union government and a United
States of Africa are unachievable. The Gambia had the study prepared in May
2006
entitled, Study on an African Union Government: Toward The United States of
Africa. It was the duty of the APRC Government to review the document,
formulate a position and present it in Ghana. A government has no moral
authority to
criticise the proposal of others unless it presents alternative proposals
that it considers to be more viable.
If the Gambia government does not have a position paper it should set up a
multi disciplinary force to formulate one before the next AU Summit;
otherwise
it will be left behind. African unity is an idea whose time has come. We
must unite or perish individually. This was true yesterday but it is more
so
today than ever before. Even President Jammeh acknowledged that African
leaders
are not given the importance they deserve. Nkrumah predicted this 50 years
ago.
He has stated in no uncertain terms that no African micro state has a
future
outside of a United States of Africa. In his book entitled Rhodesia File,
he
documented his speech at the opening of the OAU Summit held in Accra on 21
October 1965. The relevance of quoting the lessons he drew at the summit is
because of the fact that it was the first summit attended by the head of
state
of a newly independent Gambia. I was only 12 years old and president Jammeh
was only few months old when Kwame was drawing the attention of the leaders
of
the continent to the impossibility of total emancipation of the continent
without Unity. The relevant portions of Kwame’s speech read:
Let me take this opportunity to welcome into our midst Brother Dawda
Jawara,
Prime Minister of the Gambia, who takes his seat among us for the first
time. Gambia’s accession to independence is of great significance to us
because
her indepen­dence closes the chapter of British and French colonialism
in
this part of our continent. Among us here also in the capacity of observers
are the representatives of our courageous freedom fighters in the remaining
territories of Africa still under the yoke of colonial rule……………………………
As long as political boundaries persist in Africa, boundaries which we have
inherited at independence and were drawn arbitrarily, with no heed to the
ethnic, economic, and social realities of Africa, so long shall we be
plagued by
the political refugee problem. The political refugee problem is a social
and
political problem, and its only solution lies in an all-African Union
Government within which our present boundaries will become links instead of
barriers.
In the national Constitution of Ghana, we have provision for the full or
partial surrender of our sovereignty to an all-African Union. No member
state
should or can be expected to surrender its sovereignty for any lesser cause.
We can delay no longer in taking the economic destiny of Africa into our
own
hands. Since the founding of the Organisa­tion of African Unity at
Addis
Ababa, world trade has moved further and faster into the channels prepared
by neo-colonialism. The increased productivity of our wealthy continent has
bene­fited not us, but the industrial nations. By depressing the prices
of
our raw materials and metals, they have stunted our economic progress. By
raising the prices of their manufactured goods they have drained away any
surpluses we might have acquired. The deliberate policy of neo-colonialism
emerges, not only to rob us of our wealth, but to prevent us from acquiring
capital
for our own development.
An African Common Market of three hundred million producers and consumers
should have a productivity, a purchasing and bargaining power equal to any
of
those trading and currency blocs which now rule the commerce of the world.
Who is there to oppose or frustrate us, if we only have the courage to form
an all-African Union Government? Can the industrialised nations do without
our copper, our uranium, our iron ore, our bauxite, our coffee, cocoa,
cotton,
groundnuts, palm oil — or will they come running to us, as we have been
running to them for trade on equitable terms? It is courage that we lack,
not
wealth.
It is true that we have made half-hearted attempts at economic
co-operation,
but without the drive and authority which can only come from political
action. In this connection, let me quote the words of Brother Nyerere of
Tanzania:
‘For Africa, the lesson of our East African experience is that although
economic co-operation can go a long way without political integration,
there
comes a point when movement must be either forward or backward — forward
into,
political decision or backward into reduced economic co-operati0n.’
The OAU must face such a choice now — we can either move forward to
progress
through an effective African Union or step backward into stagnation,
instability and confusion — an easy prey for foreign intervention,
interferences and
subversion.
We have a market which can absorb the produce of modern giant enterprises.
We have already through the efforts of the United Nations established an
African Development Bank. There are recommendations adopted by the Addis
Ababa
summit conference as well as by the ECA concerning the estab­lishment
of a
common monetary zone. What is left now is to create a Union Central Bank to
back our individual currencies. The decision to create a Central Bank for
Africa is a political one. Why is it that we are finding it difficult to
take this
decision in spite of so many resolutions, declarations and attempts? If
Africa had one political front, a central machinery, such a decision would
not be
difficult to take and achieve.
What people like Nkrumah realised when independent African states were
taking their first faltering steps is what has been realised in different
degrees
by the present African leaders. There is no single African leader who is
not
being subjected to some form of conditionality
The President alluded that some heads of state want to be emperors. The
institutions of the African Union comprise an Assembly of Heads of State, a
Pan
African Parliament and an African Court of Justice among others. The trend
is
towards a state structure that promotes the separation of powers.
My reading of the working document does not give any indication that a
Union
Government will be under the control of an executive president. The
recommendation regarding the presidency in the study should have generated
an intense
debate. The paragraph reads:
“The Assembly of the Union “composed of Heads of State and Government or
their duly accredited representatives” should retain its present structure.
Therefore, it should continue to exercise its current functions as the
highest
decision making organ. Under the Union Government, the main responsibility
of
the Assembly would be to review the state of the Union in the strategic
areas
of focus. Special sessions may be needed to discuss issues arising from
emergency situations.”
“In addition, in view of the imposing demand on the Union Government, there
may be need to consider allowing a longer tenure (about 3 years for
example)
for the President of the Assembly. The functions of the President of the
Assembly will be to promote and facilitate the establishment and
consolidation of
the Union Government, and to coordinate the work of the Assembly with the
Commission. The President of the Assembly would also be the unique
spokesperson
of the Union at world or other special summits. In that regard, it would be
desirable that the function of President be on a full time basis and could
be
assigned to a Former Head of State.” The powers of an Emperor are clearly
not envisaged. A United Africa can only be in the form of a Federation
which
gives some powers to the Union Government while reserving certain powers to
National Governments. This is why a task force was established to look into
such
matters The SOS for Foreign Affairs should call a press conference and
release the communiqué issued at the end of the summit. This communiqué
will
confirm my conclusions on the summit. If the President or the SoS for
Foreign
Affairs maintain that the Summit was a failure they should then accept my
open
invitation to a debate involving themselves or their representatives and
any
other professor from the University of the Gambia who share their view. The
debate should be covered by GRTS
On NEPAD
NEPAD cannot be written off as some heads of state are trying to do. The
institutions implementing and governing it needs to be transformed and
democratised so that all can claim ownership. The problem with many African
Governments is that they monopolise information and do not share it with the
people. It
is therefore necessary to throw light on NEPAD. The New Partnership for
Africa’s Development deals with issues such as the historical impoverishment
of
the continent, the realities and impact of globalisation, the political
will
of African leaders, the strategy for achieving sustainable development, the
issue of peace, security, democracy, political governance, corporate
governance, sub regional and regional approaches to development, issues
pertaining to
infrastructure, information and communication technology, energy transport,
water and sanitation, poverty reduction, education, the brain, drain,
health,
agriculture, environmental initiative, science and technology platforms,
mobilising resources, debt relief, ODA reform, private capital flows,
market
access initiative, diversification of production, mining, tourism services,
non
tariff barriers and a new global partnership. The document deals with
general
concepts and contains valuable ideals. It can be utilised for brain
storming
on Africa’s problems.
The heads of state created a secretariat which is independent of the AU
commission and a heads of state implementation committee was created to
supervise
implementation. This of course can cause friction. This governance
structure
re requires changes. Any mature government could have come up with
proposals
that are acceptable to all. That is how a government earn integrity in
international relations. What they are discovering is that NEPAD contains
pledges.
What is significant is how to transform the pledges into programmes. At the
moment the NEPAD Secretariat is busy developing short term action plans
which
are receiving funding from the World Bank, The African Development bank and
other financial institutions. Many projects are already in the pipeline
such
as the plans to lay fibre optic submarine cables on the east coast and the
e
school projects covering about 23 countries which had accepted to be part
of
the Peer Review Mechanism. The World Bank accepted to spend 570 million
dollars to support NEPAD’s short term action plans. The African Development
Bank
undertakes to spend 580 million dollars It has also mobilised 1.6 billion
dollars through co-financing arrangement. In short The GAMBIA should have a
focal
point for NEPAD so that we can follow all developments and make proposals
on
how to make NEPAD relevant and beneficial to the country. In my view the
scope of NEPAD is not comprehensive enough requiresIf it is to help Africa
to
achieve its goals it must undertake a comprehensive study of the
development
needs of all African countries and identify areas of complimentality which
require continental programmes and projects to facilitate development. This
is
why I propose the formulation of a comprehensive economic and social
development programme for Africa based on a comprehensive inventory of the
realities
of each country. The NEPAD Secretariat should therefore become a
specialised
technical committee of the AU responsible for programmes and projects that
could promote African unity. There is no need to write it off. What is
needed is
its restructuring and reorientation so that it will be under the Assembly
and commission rather than a special group of heads of state.
On The African Peer Review Mechanism
President Jammeh indicated in his interview that anybody who asks Bachir of
Sudan and Deby of Chad to subject each other to review is asking for
trouble.
He added that despite a promise of billion dollars in aid if Africa accepts
to implement the peer review mechanism, nothing is forthcoming. He lamented
that instead of giving his government assistance the donors would criticise
him for keeping coup makers behind bars while they keep innocent migrants
in
jail for long periods without trial. One may now ask: What is the African
peer
review mechanism? The mechanism is a collective self monitoring mechanism
which is acceded to voluntarily by member states.
First and foremost, a member state must agree to conform to the values,
codes and standards established in the declaration on democracy, political,
economic and corporate governance. There is absolutely no doubt that there
can be
no unity unless we share common values and notions regarding what
constitutes
standards of best practice in governance. The review is not done by heads
of
state. It goes through five stages.
Stage one involves a study of available information from National, Sub
regional, regional and international institutions regarding the political,
economic, corporate governance and development environment in the country
subjected
to review.
Stage two involves the visit by a multi disciplinary review team which is
allowed to conduct the widest possible range of consultation with the
government, officials, political parties, parliamentarians,
representatives of civil
society organisations (including the media, academia trade unions, business
and professional bodies).
The third stage is the preparation of a report by the team which is
forwarded to a government for reflection.
The forth stage is to forward the report to the participating heads of
state
for review
The fifth stage is to table the report at the Pan African Parliament, the
African commission on Human and People Rights, the Peace and Security
Council
and the Economic, Social and Cultural council. This constitutes the end of
the
review process.
It is envisaged that through the review exercise a government can see its
strengths and weaknesses and rectify its errors. It is therefore difficult
to
comprehend President Jammeh objections to the Africa Peer Review Mechanism
when Rwanda, Kenya Ghana had all gone through the process. Their reports
were
tabled and discussed at the Pan African Parliament in 2006.Furthemore the
following countries have accepted to be part of the scheme: Algeria,
Angola,
Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon,
Ghana,
Kenya, Lesotho, Mali, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal,
South
Africa and Uganda. Why wouldn’t Sudan, Chad or Gambia take part. Gambia
will
soon be left behind if the APRC government fails to join the mechanism?
A New Approach to Foreign Policy
Finally, it my conviction that African governments in particular and
governments of developing countries in general should go though a paradigm
shift in
their relations with developed countries. The era of the cold war when some
governments in developed countries believed that they could sustain their
sources of raw materials and markets by maintaining corrupt puppet regimes
which
keep those countries underdeveloped, has passed. Now it is clear that poor
countries cannot sustain the payment of debts or the purchase of
manufactured
goods. The repositioning of China and India has reduced the role of ideology
in
economic relations. Even North Korea is repositioning itself. Hence if
leaders of developing countries like Chavez are to have impact in shaping a
new
international economic and political order they must be able to lead their
countries to build the highest standards of democratic participation of the
people and formulate the best policies and initiatives to eradicate poverty.
The
developing countries can easily win the hearts and minds of the people in
developed countries who can help to stage a new world by electing the right
type
of leaders. This however is inconceivable without being a model in promoting
the liberty and prosperity in their countries.. This is how a leader in a
developing country can acquire the moral authority to demand for a new
international economic and political order. I, as minority leader and
member of the
Pan African Parliament was arrested and detained in a maximum security
wing. I
was not a Coup plotter. Where in the Western World with the worst violation
of human rights can a leader of a parliamentary opposition be detained in
prison for even saying the most unpalatable of statements? Even the Burmese
authorities put their political opponents under house arrest. Where is
Councillor
Jatta? The government should learn to accept criticism. This is the only
way
to rectify mistakes and build integrity
Conclusion
Compatriots all the signs are there to confirm that the APRC government has
reached the pinnacle of what it can do for The Gambia. It can only build a
heavily indebted poor country characterised by serious deficits in liberty
and
democracy. There are mature people in the country who are encouraging the
people to engage in a mature discourse regarding a way forward for the
country.
However these views are quickly swept under the carpet because of political
expediency. People give more focus on militaristic discourse that
democratic
discourse. If we are to move forward we must focus on issues and forgo
personalities. We must empower ourselves and take charge of our country and
destiny
We need to engage in a grand debate regarding the future of the country and
focus only on positive ideas that can give us clarity and move us forward.
I
am ready to engage all positive compatriots who are ready to move forward
in
this direction.
Some people claim that the opposition has failed and should call it quits.
In my view there are two types of failures in politics, that is, system
failure and personal failure. A leader who loses the confidence of the
people
because of corruption and malpractice needs to disappear from public view.
However
a leader who earns the confidence of the people because of his/her honesty
and humility should take centre stage to inspire the Nation.
To say that the opposition has failed to provide the necessary alternative
is half the truth. The whole truth is that the system itself has failed.
Let
us look at the statistics of the last presidential election. Out of 670,336
voters only 264,404 voters voted for president Jammeh. 405,932, registered
voters did not vote for him.
On the other hand 542,055 voters out of 610,336 registered voters did not
vote for the opposition. The ruling party has failed. The opposition has
failed. Gambian democracy has failed.
The important task now is for the people to be enlightened to take charge
of
their destiny. President Jammeh on one hand and the opposition or the other
hand can give Gambia a new start. Throughout the sub region with the
exception of Guinea and Gambia all heads of state are to be in office for
two terms.
This is the situation in Senegal, Mali, Sierra Leone Ghana, Nigeria, and
Guinea Bissau. President Jammeh can say that 17 years at the helm is
enough,
spend the rest of his term to expand the democratic space and establish a
two
term system and leave Gambians to decide who should guide their destiny in
2011.
The opposition leaders may also facilitate change by eliminating the
monarchical tradition of maintaining one person as a presidential candidate
for
eternity. This will not encourage those with greater potential to head
parties to
victory .To lead is a duty and not a right. In between elections every
potential leader should be encouraged to perform to their optimum. When the
time
comes to select a candidate person of integrity who the people want should
be
selected
If all of us subscribe to the view that leadership should not be an
ambition
but a duty which one should always be ready to perform whenever duty calls
we shall have no power hungry leaders.
To conclude I want to reassure the people what I have always promised that
I
will never preside over a cabinet that will prolong the servitude and
poverty of the people; that I will never take part in any cabinet which
preside
over the oppression and poverty of the people; that I will never
participate in
bringing into office any person who will preside over the subjugation and
impoverishment of the people. This is the dictate of justice and conscience
and
it is irrevocable.
The end
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