Bantaba
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BANTABA
Sidia Jatta, PDOIS
By Omar Bah
Dec 7, 2003, 15:47

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The Author
In this edition of Bantaba, Sidia Jatta of PDOIS, a writer, thinker and a
man of letters and languages, talks about the state of the country today,
PDOIS and other things.

Bantaba: Tell us about your days at the Curriculum Development Centre?
Sidia Jatta: My work there had to do with Gambian languages. I succeeded in
designing an autography for the transcription of Gambian languages. We
developed materials for the teaching of Gambian languages. We even embarked
on experimenting the teaching of Gambian languages in primary schools.
Eventually, it failed because Government didn’t provide any money for the
printing of the materials. Since government wasn’t seriously committed to
the promotion of national languages, I decided to leave.
I had already had an international appointment in London with the
International African Institute. I rejected it and came to The Gambia hoping
that I would be given the opportunity to help develop these languages but
government was not willing, so I went back to London and the institute as
part of a research team on all the African languages including Arabic. At
the end of it, I came back to The Gambia again in 1982, and this time, I
came to collect data for my doctoral thesis but no sooner I arrived, the
same Curriculum Development Centre, the government, wanted me to occupy my
position when I left, even though they said they had dismissed me.



Sidia
Did you go back?
When I went back again, the same problem persisted.

And you left?
I decided to leave - that was in 1986 - to form a political party because I
saw that there was a fundamental need to change the whole system in this
country. So we joined hands and formed a political party. That’s how I found
myself in politics.

The former Government was very popular and changing it through the ballot
box would have been hard, how confident were you that one day you would
change the status quo through elections?
If the former government was popular, they wouldn’t have been thrown away
just cheaply one early morning on Friday and nothing else happened. Popular
things don’t just go away like that. The role of a political party was to
sensitise people about what it intends to do for them. So, it depends on the
popularity of whatever programme you are presenting to the people. The
winning or not winning of any party depends on the programme you present to
the people.

Currently, what do you think needed to be done to solve the country’s
economic problems?
There has to be a change of policy; the policies that were here in the First
Republic are the same policies that are still prevailing.

What do you mean?
Policies that were responsible for bringing about the Economic Recovery
Programme (ERP) and all the rest being followed are the same policies. The
economic situation as it is, is as a result of what has been happening and
the same practices continue under the Second Republic.

In your own view, what do you think is the way forward in tackling the
economy?
Fundamentally, the economic policies have to be changed. You know, a poor
country like The Gambia, if you talk about a free liberal economy and you
don’t produce anything, it means you are just simply opening up your country
to the industrialised countries which have been using your country as a
colony and as a market. And they will continue to use you even in the
post-independence period because you are producing nothing and import
everything. You have no technological capacity even to transform the raw
materials you have produced into value-added products.

Many analysts have argued that the business community is responsible for the
high prices of commodities, do you subscribe to that view?
This is ridiculous! You as a journalist, if you are saying that type of
thing, it means you are also not informed. How can the business community be
responsible for what is happening in the country now? This is ridiculous!
There is no price control. That’s the fundamental policy of the government
since 1985 and there has been no change. So, how can you just get up and say
you can control prices? They cannot control prices. As long as the policy
remains the same, the programmes they are executing in the country stipulate
that there cannot be price control. These programmes are designed not by
them, but by the IMF and World Bank. That’s why they talk about Gambian
commodities. Why don’t they talk about the imported items? You sell Gambian
products to buy imported items. If the imported items remain expensive,
naturally Gambian items will go up.

Do you think President Jammeh’s ‘Operation No Compromise’ can salvage the
Gambian economy?
Don’t you read newspapers, don’t you read Foroyaa, don’t you read what we
have been saying? Listen, you don’t ask things that you already know. We
have written thousand times on ‘Operation No Compromise’. It is a
meaningless slogan. Have they succeeded in controlling prices? No, so it is
ridiculous, so ‘Operation No Compromise’ is a meaningless slogan which is
earning nothing.

Don’t you think the groundnut season will improve the situation?
How can that improve the situation of everybody, is everybody a farmer in
this country? The ordinary farmers produce but they have no market for their
products.

But the government has announced on-the-spot-buying. Don’t you think that
will improve things?
Look, you are telling me what they say, but you know what has happened last
year and the year before last. It’s empty talk. They have always said that
and they will say it again. But you know the groundnut trade season is
always fundamentally characterised by credit buying. Government stopped
buying groundnuts since 1985, the inception of this Economic Recovery
Programme and all its successor programmes.

So who buys?
Anybody can pretend to be a buyer whether he or she has money. That’s what
brought about this credit buying. Is this a system which can help any
farmer?

What is your take on the taking of loans from IMF and World Bank?
How can they stop it? Everything you see happening in this country is almost
a loan.

Why are IMF conditions and terms so oppressive?
It is not IMF who are oppressive, it is the government who are oppressive to
themselves. You have to activate the productive sectors of your economy to
the extent that it caters to your needs by what you generate.
When ‘Operation No Compromise’ started, money-changers were rounded-up and
their trade eventually banned in the country. That surely was the right
thing to do?
I don’t see where they [money changers] have contributed to the economic
problems. It was government who issued licences to them. All of them had
bought licences. Government is just making them scapegoats.

In view of the foregoing, can’t the opposition join government for the sake
of helping the Gambian masses?
Oppositions have always been doing what they can to bring about development
in the country. It is ridiculous to say, join hands with government. Where
are we? Are we not in this country? We are all working.

No, I mean, to take up office in government?
Then what is the essential of being a opposition? Do you think I’m in
politics because I want position? I’m not in politics because I want to be a
minister or a president. I’m in politics because I want to bring about
fundamental changes.

What of if that’s the only way out to help the people?
I’m in politics as an opposition with a different party because in my view,
the options of all other parties cannot solve the problems of this country.
So, if I join them, it means I’m negating my position. I’m somebody with
alternative measures and policies. How can that bring about change? This is
a ridiculous talk! If we have different agendas, policies and programmes, if
I leave that and join you, then what am I telling the public? Am I not
telling them that my party and their options and policies are not necessary?
You are not talking about coalition, you are talking about joining.

Would PDOIS be prepared to join a future coalition?
It depends on what type of coalition. If it’s a coalition based on the
people’s agenda, yes. But coalition for coalition sake, no.

Will you enter into a coalition with other opposition parties in 2006 taking
into consideration the simple majority system for presidential elections
now?
Because people want to win elections we come together? No! I’m saying that a
coalition must be the people’s agenda, people-oriented. If it doesn’t
address that fundamental need, it’s a useless coalition.
It can’t work. You could just come together because you want to win
elections. If you win elections and so what? What next? You win elections
for the sake of winning elections, you win to do better than what preceded.
If you can’t do that, then there is no need to win. Any political party that
wins is the party whose programmes and policies appeal more to the people.

Are you saying the programmes and policies of the other parties appealed
more to the people than that of PDOIS, since PDOIS always comes last in the
polls?
I’m not saying that! When you talk about elections, there are several
factors. So, I’m not saying that in fact, that’s very ridiculous.

Why do you like the word ‘ridiculous’?
It means it is fury, ludicrous, laughable. Because if you just say that,
it’s like a clown...how can that be?

Okay, let’s go back to my question?
Have you been following elections in this country?

Yes.
Are you satisfied with the way they have been conducted? Are you convinced
that they were conducted fairly and freely? Are you convinced that the
people who cast their votes were informed? I’m asking you, as a journalist
tell me.”

You know...
You cannot ask me any other question unless you answer my question.

I’ve never seen people’s hands being held back to stop them from casting
their votes.
I’m saying before going into the polling booth, is it free? Who is free? If
you are not informed, you do not even know the essence of elections.

Who should inform the people, is it not the parties?
Yes, you are in The Gambia, I’m not going to go into that discussion.

Do you think PDOIS stands a chance of ever winning a presidential election
in this country?
That depends on the people, I cannot say yes, I cannot say no.

But you won’t give up?
Give up what? You don’t understand anything! Give up what? I’m here to work!
I’m not here to look for positions, I’m here to work. What I’m doing is a
fundamental work. Don’t you see that? So, you want to tell me to leave my
work? This is the contribution I can make towards the development of my
country, you are telling me you leave it, because I’m not what? So you
cannot do anything in your country unless you are president, or Member of
Parliament? That’s what you are telling me? These are very ludicrous
conceptions.

How would you react to critics’ assertions that PDOIS’ concepts are very
difficult to fathom?
I’m not coming to that, people have talked about it million times. You are
very backward.

But you know...
(Cuts in) listen, let’s end this interview, because that is not relevant.

Thank you sir
Don’t call me sir. I’m not sir. Because if you tell me thank you sir, then
in your view, sir belongs to me because of my position. But if I tell you
sir, you would think you don’t deserve it. I don’t deserve it. So you want
to tell me you don’t deserve respect? Respect belongs to every human entity.
I’m happy when people just call me by my name. That’s why I’m Sidia.

People say PDOIS politics is so sophisticated for Gambians to understand?
No, PDOIS politics is sophisticated for so-called Gambian intellectuals. But
the ordinary person in this country understands PDOIS politics more than the
so-called intellectuals. PDOIS politics is based on the language the people
speak. You know you are funny. We are the first party in this country which
has been conducting everything in the language of the people.

© Copyright 2003 by Observer Company

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