This is dedicated to Momodou Olly-Mboge and Kebba Dampha.

 Justifying some of the APRC Projects.

I could not just help changing the subject of this piece after reading Abdel Kabir's response to Ousman Jallow Bojang. Fish out of water? Very appropriate.

The motivation to write this piece mainly comes from my desire to counter many of the irresponsible allegations from certain quarters that corruption is rampant in the country, that President Jammeh and his colleagues are pilfering the nations coffers, that we the Gambians living here are hostage to the APRC government, that we are a people under siege and living in fear, that the government has not got its priorities right and finally to confine some of this nonsense where it belongs, the garbage/trash bin.

I have no doubt that some of the people peddling this garbage are not ill informed nor do I doubt their intelligence. Some of these people are only doing this out of hatred of Jammeh. Some of these people are really finding it hard to come to terms with the realities on the ground and that the first republic is truly dead. To those people, I say lets move on.

Having said that, I will try to justify some of the APRC projects and how they may help us out of our misery if we work together honestly for the benefit of our peoples.

ARCH 22.

Arch 22, an edifice of immense importance and significance right at the entrance of our capital city Banjul, has been castigated by many as irrelevant and a waste of money. Nothing can be farther from the truth.

Arch 22 is a beautiful and very functional monument that is as important to us, Gambians, as any other national monument. The arch, as it is commonly called, has a Museum and art gallery, a souvenir shop as well as a restaurant. Standing 37.5 Metres tall, it is the tallest and most beautiful structure in Banjul. From it, the entire area around Banjul is visible. It attracts hundreds of visitors, mostly tourists daily, each paying D10.00 while students on excursions pay 30 Bututs to go up it. It employs 28 Gambians including management staff, security personnel, cleaners and gardeners. It has also added a lot of beauty to the area as well as increased the property value of the area.

THE APRC NETWORK OF ROADS

Any right thinking Gambian knows that the most sustainable and efficient transport system for a country like The Gambia is river transport. Unfortunately the previous government totally vandalized this sector. We used to have a flotilla of tugboats and barges for the transportation of goods up and down the country. We used to have steamers for the transportation of goods and people up and down the country as well as ocean going vessels for the transportation of goods and people around the sub-region and beyond. The previous government again pillaged these.

The limited secondary roads we had were all in a very terrible state of repair for the best part of the twenty years preceding the coming to power of the AFPRC/APRC.

It is no secret also that whereas in other countries one can live in an area over a hundred kilometers from your place of work and yet commute to work daily, this was virtually impossible in The Gambia. People who hail from places such as Jambamjelly, Tujereng, Brufut, Sanyang, Gunjur, Berending, Kartong etc who could have lived comfortably in their homes and yet commute to work were all forced to rent accommodation in Banjul, Sere Kunda or Bakau in order to be near their places of work. Those who reluctantly stayed in these villages risked arriving at work very late or even absent from work particularly during the rainy season. These fishing towns, which are absolutely vital to The Gambian economy, were totally isolated from their markets in Sere Kunda, Banjul and Bakau.

One of the first projects that the APRC embarked upon was to solve this problem. The Kombo Coastal network of roads allows one to travel from Sere Kunda to Bijilo, Sanyang, Gunjur and Kartong in minutes any time of the year.

Those who cannot see the significance of the construction of this network of roads therefore have no right to condemn them as white elephant projects. They are absolutely essential for our economy.

In a recent TV broadcast on GRTS, a villager in the Niumis, in trying to explain his happiness over the construction of the Essau to Kerewan road and bridge over Miniminyang bolong (the longest bridge in the country) has this to say: “I am so delighted about the road that it is difficult to explain my feelings in words”. After a short pause, he continued “you see, before the construction this road, if I had to visit my son in Banjul, I used to put on dirty clothes until I reach Barra. In Barra I would go to a compound and ask for water to wash before changing into my clean clothes. Sometimes some would give me water to wash but sometimes I am refused water. Then I try elsewhere. When I am going back home, I do the reverse”. If the above story does not make anyone see the significant of the Essau/Kerewan road, then I do not know what would.

In the light of the two cases above, need I justify the Westfield to Mandinaba road, the Mandinaba to Soma road, the Fara Feni to Lamin Koto road, the Trans-Gambia road, the Basse to Fatoto road as well as the numerous other roads and bridges throughout the country? I guess not.

THE HOSPITALS AND CLINICS

Prior to the coming to power of the AFPRC/APRC, Gambia had only two referral hospitals throughout the country. One is located in Banjul and the other in Bansang some three hundred kilometers away and both built during colonial times.

The network of roads being as bad as could be and river transport virtually non-existent, sick people requiring referral facilities had to trek for hours to get to one of them. Under such circumstances, who would question the wisdom or justification of building a hospital in Fara Feni, Bwiam or Sere Kunda?

Prior to the coupe, there had no more than 30 Doctors throughout the country. Now that the APRC have negotiated and posted hundreds of Egyptian, Nigerian and Cuban doctors to all major health centers, you still have people questioning the wisdom of it. Where in the world, in God’s name, can one see a doctor, obtain a prescription and receive medication for only D5.00?

What pisses me off even more is when people, without any iota of evidence, tell us here that our hospitals are not equipped and that the hospitals have no medication or fully trained staff. Are some of these people for real?

Some would try to justify this rubbish by telling us that if health facilities were ok in the country then president Jammeh’s wife would not have gone to the States to deliver. To those people I ask, how many Gambians go to the States or England to deliver every year? If others have done it, are continuing to do it, why not his wife?

Anybody who has been to any of the hospitals these years would tell you that the level of hygiene in our health facilities are second to none in the whole world. The hospitals and clinics are routinely cleaned and all sorts of hospital equipment installed. There are incubators, ultra-sound scanners, fixed and mobile X-ray equipment and other equipment that I am not familiar with. How this investment in the health sector has impacted on our lives is been adequately dealt with in President Jammeh’s address to the newly elected/nominated National assembly members. This speech would be posted here after the statehouse website, which is being re-constructed, posts a transcript of the speech.

Other parts would follow later.

 Have a good day, Gassa.