Well said Abdoulaye.  Please read on.


Visiting Professor Unimpressed With Rule Since Coup


The Independent (Banjul)

June 16, 2003
Posted to the web June 16, 2003

Pk Jarju
Banjul

A visiting Gambian academic based at the Miami University in the US state of
Ohio has said anybody with an objective study of the current Gambian
situation would be unimpressed by nine years of President leadership, which
has presided over nothing but economic and political anomalies that have
grown far worse than what used to obtain before 1994.

In an exclusive interview with The Independent recently Professor Abdoulie
Saine expressed reservations over the reasons for the July 22, 1994 military
coup, which swept Sir Dawda Jawara and his PPP government from power.

Professor Saine who is the deputy head of the political science department
of Miami University expressed concern over what he called the "deplorable"
economic and political situation in The Gambia, which he said has
discredited whatever justifications were advanced for the takeover. He
claimed that it was evident to even him after spending years abroad that the
socio-economic and political conditions Gambians are living have only the
military coup to blame for their aggravation.

He said within a short span of nine years living in The Gambia has been
transformed into a sordid state of affair, which seriously denies credence
to the idea of toppling the regime that preceded the Jammeh administration.

He admitted that there has been some insfrastructural development but he
added that this success story has been largely compromised by the trying
economic and political situation, which he described as a "stalemate" going
by the level of inflation, the unchecked depreciation of the Dalasi against
foreign currencies, conditions of service and the poor living conditions for
the people unknown to the political elite.

According to Professor Saine the Jammeh regime has compromised the
principles under which it seized power thanks to the application of
tendencies with which the PPP were accused of mismanaging the affairs of the
country. For instance, he said during its 30-year leadership the PPP was
only involved in one alleged crude oil saga while the Jammeh regime has been
involved in two after just nine years in power. He further added that the
level of corruption alleged in the PPP era is higher today, which is
epitomized by higher deprivation, human rights abuses among others.

Saine noted that based on what he has seen in the country for the past eight
years, The Gambia under Jammeh would get increasingly difficult for the
ordinary man to live in.

He predicted more trying times ahead at which time the local currency would
be "a scrap paper".

He believes that in order to avoid this bleak future, there is a need for
peaceful change of government in the 2006 elections. He said Gambian lives
have not improved under President Jammeh's leadership, making it all the
more urgent to change the status quo and usher in a leadership that can
reverse the trend and improve the standard of living of people living in the
country.

"I am not saying all these because I am opposed to Jammeh. This is based on
my eight years of research and observations since then," he said.

Professor Saine who wrote a series of articles about the country politics
since the 1994 coup stated that there are some slight similarities between
the APRC and PPP government "to which Jammeh to a large extent is a
by-product of". According to him, both the PPP and the APRC in other ways
were faced by economic and political constraints. He added that the foreign
policy of the two governments were almost the similar and the major
priorities of the two is to bring into the country as much resources as they
can to support themselves primarily and to improve the living conditions of
the people secondarily.

He also observed that despite this similitude the APRC is a far cry from the
PPP days because there is current heavy-handedness, unproven human rights,
lack of openness, lack of respect for the rule of law and free capitalist
economy. He noted that even though the PPP government had not improved it
was the hard working and enterprising nature of ordinary Gambians, which
provided the congenial atmosphere under which they live.

Professor Saine also believes that it is up to the opposition parties and
the Gambian people to reorganize themselves and put up a strong challenge to
the current order, which has secured a strangulating grip on power in spite
of its lack of ideas to improve living conditions.

"The country belongs to all of us. We all have a stake in its
administration, thus my concern for the welfare of the people who cannot
enjoy economic prosperity and political accomplishment under the sterile
leadership we have in The Gambia today" he pointed out.

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