I think this award that has been awarded to President Jammh should be taken
with a pinch of salt.  My feeling is that this vote was manipulated by Mr
Jammeh himself.  Because we work in a culture of corruption where a simple
exchange of money can buy everything, the result is very dubious.  I would
very much like to know on what basis this award was
made?  IMHO the major  categories should be as follows: vision, adherence to
the principles of human rights,  and economic progress

On vision, leaders like Kwame Nkrumah, Thomas Sankara, Leopold Senghor were
what I would call visionaries.  Kwame, as a Pan Africanist, despised
dependence that Africa had on the West.  He predicted that this would lead to
a culture of dependence that we would not be able to recover from.  This
still holds true today, for we depend on the west for almost everything we
consume. In fact Nkrumah had a vision and plan for the whole of Africa.
Hophuet and Leopold believed in a more balanced relationship with the West
whereby foreign industries should be persuaded to work with us.  Relative to
other countries, this has paid of for countries like Senegal and Cote
D'Ivoire. .  Sankara was also a throwback in the mould of the great Nkrumah.
He also believed in self dependence and reliance.   The fact that Burkina
Faso has one of the most vibrant movie industries in Africa, is testament to
the fact that progress was being made towards his goal.  For this reason, it
is quite unfortunate that he was overthrown and executed by Blaise Campaore.
In respect to Yahya Jammeh, his Vision 2020 plan has become so muddled that
that no one knows what it is about anymore.


In regards, to adherence of human rights, the reports coming out of our
country are pretty disheartening.  There have been repeated attempts to
censor the press through decrees and sometimes outright harassment, women's
rights have been infringed upon by religious figures who are lackeys of the
president, the death penalty has been re-introduced, checkpoints and
harassment of the average gambian citizen by an out of control military have
been the order of the day and political detentions for no rhyme and reason
have been frequent.  in this light, the tenure of the present regime does not
meet the guidelines that have been set forth by the various human right
organizations around the world.  On the other hand, leaders like Nkrumah
tried to adhere to the principles of righteousness and justice.  They did not
hide behind the cloak of religion to confuse their  people.  Nor was the
abuse of human rights the norm.  These men were intellectuals who knew the
difference between right and wrong.

The subject of economic progress is a more diifcult category to assess. But
we can make a comparison based on the figures provided us to by the IMF and
such.  In addition, social welfare of the people is also another important
factor to take into account.  Relative to others, we have one of the poorest
standard of living.  Not that Jammeh is responsible for what happened,for he
inherited a really sad situation, but when we hear and read about reports of
missing loans and a considerable portions of our GNP going towards private
projects such as state house building, it becomes obvious that the best
interest of the people are not being considered.  The fact that even the
provision of elctricity is not a available to half of the population and that
running water is not a viable option for most is really disheartening.  Does
he have any concrete or future plans to remedy this situation?  I think not.
On economic statistics such as growth rates and inflation rates, it is easy
to say that there was an improvement from last year's economic figures.  But
a better indicator would be how the conomy has faired comparatively in blocks
of five years.  Until we compare these numbers, the IMF's reports dont mean
much to me.  The fact that we still depend on handouts and loans is a really
telling factor.


To conclude, I would like to say, that though this is a short synopsis of
some of the factors that should be taken into effect when a vote like this
should be made, it is a slap in the face to every sensible person when a
nomination like this is made.  Yahya Jammeh should decline thiis offer simply
on the basis that he is not worthy.  This award should rightfully go to the
Hon Kwame Nkrumah.

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