Mr Sidibeh, thanks for a well narrated true report of the situation in
Gambia today. I am a frequent visitor to the country and your recounting is
just too well familiar. Even for someone who goes back there often, the
rapidity with which things are changing (mainly for the worse), is quite
alarming.

Best of regards.
alaji ndure




>From: Momodou S Sidibeh <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Kanilai Cocktail - II
>Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2005 01:28:49 +0200
>
>...But Gambia's population density is one of the highest in Africa.
>Arable land is small and it is uncontrollably being decommissioned out
>of agricultural production. I raised the issue with a senior government
>official, who simply responded as a matter of fact, that there is no
>planning
>
>LAND GRABBING
>
>Yet it is swathes of fertile farmland that is routinely sized up and cut
>out for dwellings. Amidst all the frenzy, it is one of the commonest
>harbingers of conflict: We are all familiar with the showdown between
>Taff Construction and the people of Brufut. But there are a  myriad of
>others, less publicised conflicts such as the violent showdown that
>resulted with the incarceration of many villagers from Jambangjaly; the
>ongoing(?) court case between the people of Kartong and some Bajo Kunda
>elders in Gunjur, and that between the people of Kiti  and President
>Jammeh. There are fraud cases where land owners sold a particular plot
>to numerous buyers; and instances involving plots that are stolen and
>then resold to the highest bidder by chiefs who turn out to be
>unmitigated crooks. I have heard about cases where fraudsters use
>Microsoft Word to produce exact replicas of Certificates of Ownership
>issued by the area councils. So the Brikama Area Council changed
>tactics, making sure that such certificates are signed in red by a
>supervisor(?) of lands who simultaneously accords each certificate with
>a unique Item number, to be entered in the surveys registry - a kind of
>database that maps a name to a particular Item number and site plan.
>The incredible struggle for land that I witnessed at the Brikama Area
>Council is disturbing, to put it very mildly. A surveyor confirmed that
>there tiny office is always in a state of invasion. It is packed with
>applicants processing site maps to be registered before they obtain a
>certificate of ownership which allows them to begin construction work on
>their plots. So there is a permanent construction boom all over the
>place. Foreign investors, Gambian workers and professionals abroad,
>sarahuli and fula businessmen, "ashobi" mammies (who grew rich through
>import of clothing from China and Dubai or by marketing fish and other
>Gambian consumer goods in the west), property developers, are all
>engaged in the grinding contest for land, to own it, develop it, settle
>on it. Some use it as fixed capital and as a secure source of income.
>Others buy land for pure speculation. They develop it, sell it at 100
>percent profit, and move on to the next piece of real estate, often
>using the services of private agents. In hard times, there are always
>willing sellers, usually desperate farmers who, facing ruin, procure
>capital by selling the last thing they own. The construction industry is
>undoubtedly one of the  most lucrative in the country. Both Gambian and
>foreign-owned construction and property development firms compete for
>contracts: Govinda and Sons, Boto Construction, Gigo Construction ltd.,
>Fams, Kana and Sons Construction, Ocean Properties, Value Engineering,
>Taff Construction and myriads of self-employed contractors, masons, who
>with the advantage of experience and skill negotiate building contracts
>for themselves. But as mentioned, there is little or no planning.
>While a property developer like Taff Construction can negotiate for huge
>chunks of real estate with dwellings, paved roads, school, mosque, and
>utility supplies all planned professionally, land that is developed on
>the outskirts of say, Serrekunda usually add to the uncontrolled
>expansion of the town while overloading further, already inadequate
>water supplies and the available electric grid capacity. From Old
>Jeshwang southwards to Sukuta and eastwards to Tabokoto, one simply
>traverses a single sprawling township covering all of Serrekunda,
>Nemakunku, Wellingara, Sanchaba Sulay Jobe, Kotu, Dippakunda, Kololi,
>Manjai and Bakoteh. Chicago, Monte Carlo, Piccadilly are all labelled
>after particular areas inside Serrekunda or in one of its numerous
>suburbs. Few of the roads to these suburbs from central Serrekunda are
>paved but are mostly wide streets with huge ditches covered in sand and
>uncollected, garbage. Drivers unfamiliar with the territory are easy
>prey for six, seven year old kids who eke a subsistence form the chaos.
>They would dig large holes in the sand, create sporadic dunes around
>them and gleefully watch unsuspecting drivers get stuck. You would
>disembark your car, beg for help and they would  rush to your rescue.
>You will be so grateful that you would compensate them with a ten dalasi
>note. That is enough for a whole "taapa laapa", which is sliced in the
>middle and stuffed with mayonnaise, potatoes, and a greasy kind of
>chocolate cream. This is the popular lunch or supper for urban kids in
>Gambia.
>
>As mentioned earlier, driving from Sukuta to Serrekunda is a nightmare
>of a safari ride. At the Sukuta junction from Brusubi, the road assumes
>a 100% degradation of quality. The road here is almost exclusively used
>by "gele-gele", large minivans so old and rusty they ought to have been
>commissioned out of traffic but are fiercely maintained on the roads by
>their owners. Every one dalasi counts. The gele-gele deposits you at
>Tippa garage, just across the Bakoteh bridge. The notorious garbage dump
>is just a stone throw away, and it is constantly smouldering. Smoke from
>it is not dense, but it settles over the entire suburb as a huge
>blanket, poisoning the air and irritating lungs and eyes.
>
>RELIGIOUS REVIVAL
>One thing that is impossible to miss is the preponderance of mosques and
>churches all over the entire municipality of Kanifing, though the latter
>are much less numerous than the former. Muslim/Arabic schools have
>multiplied and girls and young women with head dresses (hijab) are a
>pretty common sight. But I also observed that many young men seem to
>have become more religious than they previously were, and most of the
>mosques are equipped with loudspeaker systems to better summon believers
>to prayer. The stentorian calls of the muezzin, especially for the early
>morning (fajr) prayer is an obvious inconvenience to non-muslims (and to
>many muslims as well) but no one hardly complains. Not openly, at any
>rate, except for one European settler. According to my cousin, Buba,
>this middle-aged westerner found the frequent loud calls to prayer so
>disturbing that he walked to the mosque and begged the Imam to instruct
>the muezzin to lower the output volume from the speakers. He complained
>that he is forced to wake up from his sleep as early as 5 a.m everyday.
>Well, the imam did not take his plea into consideration but explained to
>him that the louder the system, the better for the faithful!  To
>everyone's amazement, every time the afternoon prayer is called, the man
>would march to the street corner, place his hands on top of his head and
>begin weeping and wailing at the top of his voice. People laughed
>themselves to tears in disbelief!
>Many muslims complain that Sunday mass and other services from some
>churches (where the congregation is mostly nigerian and other immigrant
>groups) are even noisier. The services always end in drumming and
>singing, on very high decibels.
>[I learnt that some three ramadans ago, eid -el-fitr fell on a Sunday.
>While muslims were at the prayer ground they felt genuinely disturbed by
>the drumming and singing from a nearby church. In spite of numerous
>appeals for a calmer service to the priest, a compromise could not be
>reached. So the muslims went to attack members of the congregation.
>Fortunately, by the time they reached the church, the entire
>congregation had melted away in fear].
>  But what I found as a matter of interest, is the wave of muslim
>missionaries from the middle east or north Africa that make house to
>house calls to recruit young muslims into more militant participation in
>the religion. They are called the "maraca", and most of them are thought
>to come from Morocco. They come as "missionaries", present their
>credentials to local imams and live practically in the mosque. They can
>be seen in groups going from one compound to the next. I have also met
>young Gambians who dream of nothing other than receiving religious
>instruction in Pakistan. All of these social tendencies perhaps are
>matters of grave concern given that most Gambians would stick to a
>moderate form of Islam that upholds religious tolerance as a basic
>principle of cultural life. There are many reasons that one can advance
>as the causes of the upsurge of religious interest amongst Gambians. One
>is simply that material depravation compels people to seek refuge in
>spiritualism. And the present government has failed to lighten the
>burden of depravation for the great majority of the population. Poverty
>might make people pray harder, but it also forces people to abdicate
>their moral responsibilities towards the rest of society. The levels of
>violent crime, rampant dishonesty, spectacular forms of robbery, armies
>of pickpockets (at ferry terminals, they say) have all become legion.
>Added to these is the shameless stealing of public funds, the vicious
>corruption in public and business life, the open begging by even
>security personnel at the airport. People are desperately poor, yet they
>would do almost anything to pretend otherwise. Some go about town with a
>spoon in their pocket, just in case good fortune guides them to a naming
>ceremony or a funeral - where there is free food. In contrast, ceremony
>organisers are increasingly soliciting the services of catering
>companies because most of the meat and condiments are stolen by cooks,
>if the preparations are done at home. The neighbours must not know that
>you have nothing to cook today, so you light upt a fire under your
>cooking pot anyway, even if all you are boiling is water! If you hang
>your laundry to dry you have to sit and watch unless you want them to
>slowly disappear over the fence. People will steal your bricks(!) unless
>you have somebody watch them. Some even dare still from the President!
>While in Gambia in April, a comic strip was in heavy rotation all over
>town. Just before Tobaski, the president, provided a large number of
>salesmen with hundreds of sheep to be sold at cut down prices as a way
>of mitigating the financial burden on many Moslem families. One such
>salesman quickly sold all is herd of more than twenty sheep, packed a
>bag, and took off with the President's money! Feeling himself as victim
>of a rude scam, Mr. President went on national television to deliver a
>stern warning to the fugitive, who had by then apparently disappeared
>from Gambian soil].
>
>The mobile revolution has taken Gambia by storm. Even grandmothers now
>would ask for a cell phone, even where they have problems paying the
>electricity and water bill. If you have one, you are a princess. But if
>you have two, you show everybody that you are the local queen (or king
>for that matter). Cell phone theft is an epidemic, now earning thieves
>stiff sentences in jail.
>[My banker friend thought he mysteriously lost his cell phone. When he
>eventually called the number a voice simply explained to him that he had
>been looking for a phone for over a year, until finally god provided him
>with one, and that he obviously would not get his phone back. When he
>called again, the voice warned him, "bu ma yabb!"].
>Worse is that the mobile telephone operators skim huge profits from the
>pockets of Africans. This is one reason why investments in Africa give
>the greatest returns in profits than anywhere else on earth. Africell
>pre-paid cards, for instance are valid for only two months. It simply
>means that you HAVE TO use your credit (and buy another again) within
>that period or forfeit it. In Sweden prepaid credits have a validity of
>one year. Added to that, its network is often jammed for most of the day
>(from 14.00 - 23.00), so that one is forced to place calls in the
>mornings or late at night. Despite the lousy service, the company has
>the temerity to apologise every time your call fails to get through.
>Network extension work is the culprit, they say. But they would not
>imagine extending the life span of the credit card as compensation! This
>is the sort of unethical exploitation consumers must organise against.
>But in Gambia, they do not exist(?). Similarly, even the middle classes
>complain about unpayable electricity and water bills. But most of them
>simply buy their own generators from MP Trading, an Indian(?) owned
>hardware superstore on Kairaba Avenue. The poor do not have that option,
>and are too busy being hungry to think of organising a consumer boycott
>of Nawec, as a way to force down prices.
>
>THE POWER ELITE
>
>So everyone is busy, like worker termites, to make ends meets even when
>there are no ends in the first place. There is a constant debilitating
>class struggle, that some economist will tell you, drives the engine of
>growth. But in Gambia, this engine grinds to rubble the dreams and
>dignity of much of the population. The wheels keep spinning primarily
>because it has been legitimised by a power elite, whose representation
>of public hopes, whose very existence as symbols of class and power, the
>people see as the ultimate reflection of their own aspirations. There is
>thus a general absence of outrage, especially when there is an endless
>supply willing executioners of every plot or policy hatched at State
>House or Kanilai. Because most of the ministers are nominated
>technocrats, President Jammeh hardly incurs any political backlash from
>any constituency when these ministers are sent packing like failed
>students. And they keep on coming, pulled in by the allure of office and
>the spoils of power.
>To be addressed as minister, to travel first class, to hold council with
>the President, to be part of his numerous entourages, to have a personal
>chauffeur at your behest, to represent and radiate power with all its
>mysteries is not a petty, negligible vocation. Most men and women will
>kill for it. And indeed many will abandon more lucrative executive
>positions just for a momentary bask in the floodlights of official
>power. The very call from the president is intoxicating. Few will eschew
>any second thoughts, and all doubts and moments of indecision vanish at
>a wink. Opportunism sets in, like rigor mortis, numbing every bit of
>sense that was once so deeply repulsive to corrupt behaviour. They
>persuade themselves that this must be destiny fulfilled, the answer to
>all secret prayers, the highpoint of eclipsing jealous, and now
>insignificant rivals; becoming minister is the ultimate job in the land,
>the office they were born to occupy. A power perspective holds sway over
>their representation of themselves, and this facilitates the
>rationalisation of ones conduct. You convince yourself that this was
>what the revolution was all about, that you must have exceptional
>qualities (else, why would you have been called in the first place) and
>therefore capable of affecting historical processes; that you can indeed
>make significant contributions and even cure all that is diseased in the
>party's policy and the president's outlook; that history would prove you
>right. One convinces oneself that the call to official duty overrides
>everything else; that one must not only answer up when called but it is
>in fact a national duty to do so; the mission of a minister is foremost
>to serve the nation and in an environment where almost everything is
>going wrong, it becomes a mission to save the country. That is a job
>more important than what Barclays or ADB will ever pay you for. All
>those ideas and theories scooped up through years of university training
>take instant flight; escaping into the esoteric world of books.
>Ensconced in the virtues of office, they seldom imagine the perils of
>office, and like true decadent servants one routinely hears
>well-educated ministers echoing so much ego-driven nonsense over Gambian
>television. From the murder of Ousman Koro Ceesay through the April 2000
>massacre to the gangsterist elimination of Deyda Hydara, it has always
>been some secretary of state who appeals for calm, who supplicates the
>public for information, who questions the logic of obvious government
>complicity before the President's poorly veiled insults, masked as moral
>indignation over these crimes, crackles over the airwaves.
>
>All rational calculations, obvious reconnections with reality that the
>present government is not serving the national interest, that the job of
>minister has been transformed into a mere anecdote, that his regime
>presided over the murder of more than a dozen Gambian youth, that all
>his ministers past and present have in the course of their tenure of
>office become pathological cowards, without a mind of their own, all
>these facts escape the calculations of the man called upon to become the
>next power broker. Oh, indeed there are exceptions!
>In the public psyche the president has become synonymous with the state.
>He buys buses for schools, funds pilgrims to Mecca, openly buys votes,
>spreads largesse to footballers, personally intervenes in the economy to
>effect prices - our own ubiquitous George Soros, denies oppositional
>constituencies access to development aid and publicly financed projects,
>calls our most respected political leaders donkeys, fires and hires
>senior government officials and ministers as often as Imelda Marcus
>changed shoes (she had three thousand pairs), has his fingers and toes
>in every lucrative business in the land: construction, transport, land
>speculation, sand-mining, import-and export of rice, tourism, currency
>speculation (he owns a mountain of treasury bonds), and farming! In
>spite of all his Billahi Wallahi Tallahi, all he could imagine to fight
>corruption is to send some of his ministers to a commission.
>
>Under such circumstances, not to support NADD in its drive to defeat the
>APRC regime, is a betrayal more severe than the tyranny it seeks to
>unseat.
>
>
>Cheers
>Sidibeh.
>
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