Jobe, I recognize I had promised not to come back to these topics, but I
believe I have to break that promise. It is simply more important to me that
my friends understand my point of view than to look after your welfare. I
decided to reproduce our earlier exchanges and then address the issues
raised because I believe if you have it in front of you, you will be less
confused.
1." Let us look at your 'justifications' today. I hope you realized that
what you have back home is a failed agricultural policy. Gambians are
hungrier now than they were six years ago. And the bottom-line is food in
people's mouths. You claimed that rice production has increased. How come
the price of a bag of rice has not decreased? Economics 101. Supply and
Demand. If Gambians are producing more rice, it means that we need to import
less rice, i.e. demand for imported rice decreases. Why is that decrease in
demand not reflected in the price of a bag of rice?"
Dampha, a failed agricultural policy will not make it a priority to provide
farmers with inputs such as fertilizer, give loans to farmers, provide them
with seeds, provide them with tractors, combine harvesters, watering holes
for their livestock etc. That rice production has gone up siginificantly is
not in doubt. The reason that its impact is not felt, is because of our
increased population. You also know for a fact that rice production
projects under the Jawara regime failed abysmally."
1. My point was and remains, Despite all the things you claimed the
AFPRC/APRC has done, our people are still Hungrier than they were pre-1994.
They are Poorer than they were pre-1994. Rice is More Expensive than it was
pre-1994. You think the problem is not bad agricultural policies but people
should be asked to stop making babies; i.e. we have a population problem
that everyone should tackle. The APRC government is not solely responsible
for the plight of our people when in comes to malnutrition. I think you made
my point that your government CANNOT solve this vital problem. Despite your
policies, we are going backwards and not forward.
2." Ah!! We were busy making babies. If you figured out that problem, why
did you not fix it? The problem is not population growth. Farmers that are
producing the rice cannot even feed themselves let alone provide for the
growing urban population. You see, there is a disconnect between your
policies and claimed 'successes' and the plight of Gambians."
That we were busy making babies is an understatement. How else can you
account for the more than doubling of our population in less than 2 decades?
You see, to fix this problem is our collective responsibility. One way is to
educate our folks about child spacing, refrain from irresponsible sexual
behaviour, early marriage and encourage the education of the girl child.
2. Like all governments without ideas, they try to shift the blame to
defenseless people. If government cannot come up with comprehensive policies
to feed the people, it is the people's fault for having children. Blame the
victim. Can you attribute all our population growth to child-bearing? Where
does immigration feature? But before we shift to a discussion about
population policies, let us address the issue at hand about our agricultural
policies. Can you tell us whether there was a time in post-Independent
Gambia when our farmers were self-sufficient for food; a time when their
families were small enough for the rice they produce in The Gambia to feed
them? This is not about population growth and 'blame the people'. If your
inept government was able to ensure the purchase of other agricultural
products (like groundnut) at competitive prices, our farmers will have
enough money to buy rice and supplement what they already produce. If your
inept government had good economic policies that will strengthen and not
weaken the dalasi, the price of rice and other products (like fuel) will not
go up and hurt our already poor farmers. But I do not expect you to identify
and tackle those problems. It is easier for you to 'blame the victims' your
inept policies already rendered destitute.
3."You are simply not doing things that alleviate the poverty of the average
Gambian. Whenever we make a false step forward, you take us two tangible
steps backwards. Are Gambians not better off when they could purchase a bag
of rice for less than 150 dalasis?"
Poverty alleviation is no easy thing. The Jawara regime did very little to
develop our economy or its mismanagement. This regime is trying to rectify
that by giving our rural folks agricultural inputs, digging them wells,
giving them easy access to education for their children as well as easy
access to medical and health facilities.
3. Here we go again. The Jawara regime. If you guys cannot show how you
significantly did better than the Jawara regime, then who needs you with
your callousness? Who needs a child murderer that will simply remove one
inept government and steal its policies and use a more inept civil service
to implement those policies? If poverty alleviation is too difficult for you
people, then move away and let the real pros do the job. We do NOT need you
with your corruption and callousness.
4."I am glad that you pointed out that most of the success in our
agricultural sector is attributable to natural causes. The rains have
nothing to do withYaya. What Yaya had a hand in, was and still is, a dismal
failure. We thank God that He Blessed us with good rains the past few rainy
seasons. What can we show for God's Great Grace? Rice harvests that cannot
feed farmers all year round. Mountains of groundnuts Yaya could not help
sell. Our farmers are in a precarious position. They had always produced
rice. It is just that the rice they produce cannot feed them year round.
Previously, they would sell their other products (like groundnuts) and buy
rice for the rest of the year. Now they cannot do that."
I never attributed recent improvements in agricultuiral yield to rains. What
I said was that we cannot only depend on farming methods that only rely on
the seasonal rains. This is because we have a huge population and very
limited fertile land. Since our staple food rice and the available swamps to
grow it is limited, we must maximize yield by investing in irrigation
systems.
4. Well, here is the assertion from your piece that I was reacting to when
I said that you attributed some of the successes in the agricultural sector
to natural causes: Kebba Jobe: "Our farming IS mainly dependent on the
seasonal rains even though irrigation, which was introduced in the early 70s
by the Taiwanese, before were booted out of the country, country could have
helped significantly." Emphasis mine. Please note the tense in which you
spoke. Unless you want to tell us that this was a typo on your part, I
cannot see how you can say that I was misquoting you when I said that your
are speaking about the current period.
5."One of the first ill-advised and dubious deals of the AFPRC government
when they took over was to confiscate the rice of businessmen like Charbel
Elhajj and start selling their (AFPRC) own rice from Denton Bridge and other
locations. This was nothing but a dirty ploy AFPRC learnt from their
counterparts in Sierra Leone (Strasser et al). These bandits stole money
from Social Security to finance this dubious project. When it is all
said and done, all these monies will be accounted for. Did that policy have
the effect of reducing the price of rice? Absolutely not. This government
cannot do anything to reduce the price of rice. They are approaching the
problem from the wrong angle. The commitment and the political will is not
there."
I am lost for words. What on earth are you talking about?
5. What I was talking about was: "This government cannot do anything to
reduce the price of rice". They tried selling rice from money they looted
from Social Security and they failed. Now they claimed that they have made
marked improvements in the agricultural sector and they still cannot reduce
the price of rice. I hope you understand me this time. I hope when you are
lost for words next time, you will also have the decency to point out that
your speechlessness is due to the fact that you are trying to defend the
indefensible and NOT because I did not make my point clear.
6."Jobe, have you pondered on the idea whether it is cheaper and more
reliable to import than to produce rice in The Gambia? We have a vision-less
moron leading us and I refuse to give them ideas to move the country
forward. Just keep talking about irrigation and rains we cannot bank on."
The reason imported rice is cheaper is very obvious. We have not been
producing enough, our farming methods are very primitive and we've been very
busy making more and more babies. More over, even if locally grown rice is
more expensive people will still consume it. Whatever amount of rice that is
substituted for imported rice, saves us much needed foreign exchange.
6. I think you totally missed my point here. But that's okay. You always
accuse me of being narrow-minded and insinuate that you look at the bigger
picture. Herein you showed that you are confusing the roles. What is the
point in saving foreign exchange (through importing less rice) just to spend
that money to buy a tractor that will help produce groundnuts we cannot
sell? The big picture I want you to look at and I was addressing the other
day, was whether you pondered that in the larger scheme of things, it might
be more cost effective to import rice than to produce it in Gambia? In other
words, does it make sense to use precious foreign exchange to buy tractors
and irrigation equipment and fertilizer and use precious land and labor to
produce something we can buy cheaper outside? You see my point? Calculate
the opportunity cost of rice production and contrast that with what we can
spend to bring rice to our villagers.
7."Moving to the groundnut sector, try touting APRC agriculture and economic
policies to the farmers that cannot sell their nuts. Try telling us about
the 'success' of your policies when we just learnt that government coughed
up $12 million to compensate Alimenta for illegally booting them out of the
country, thanks to thugs like Baba Jobe. Try talking to those farmers that
still have Hilo promissory notes in their hands."
If you are honest with yourself, the problem of marketing our agricultural
produce did not start with Alimenta problem. The cooperative and GPMB both
failed the Gambian people abysmally. You know it, I know it and even the mad
man in the street knows it.
7. Blame Jawara again. It was not Jawara that used Baba Jobe and his thugs
to boot Alimenta from the country. It was not Jawara that is costing the
Gambian taxpayer $12 million government is paying to Alimenta. Since you are
so good for the country, why did you not solve the mess created by Jawara. I
thought that was what you stole power for. I am honest with myself all
right. It is just that I do not look at the past to justify my present
failures. Does it make sense to you to bring up 'Coops' in this discussion
when the government's major buyers this year (Hilo) is using characters like
Mod Dibba to run the groundnut industry? Again, if all you can do is
rethread PPP people and PPP ideas and policies, then we do not need you to
lead and slaughter defenseless Gambian children.
8."What about groundnut farmers that cannot feed their children two square
meals a day and take them to school and hospital because they have not seen
a single 50 dalasis in the past two months? As Hamjatta and Saul try to
point to you, the reality on the ground does not support your contention
that Yaya is good for us. We are POORER under his watch than we were six
years ago. Price of rice (we need to feed our families) has gone UP.
Price of groundnuts (we need to sell in order to buy rice) has gone DOWN.
The
Dalasi is weak compared to the currencies we use in order to import our
staple foods. In short, what God has given us in terms of good rains, the
Devil (Yaya) has taken away from our farmers in terms of corruption and bad
economic policies that will DEVALUE the money in our pocket (if we are lucky
to sell our groundnuts or get a government job) and INCREASE the price of
food."
Dampha, the hardship faced by the people of this country did not start
today. You know for a fact that the seeds of these hardships were sown and
nurtured by the irresponsible policies of the PPP government that you are
ready to defend at any cost. We are just reaping the harvest.
8. I am not ready to defend the PPP policies at any cost. I have no vested
interest in the PPP record. I am not stupid enough to dwell in the past when
we have a child murderer loose in our midst. Having said that, I will not
allow you to distort the PPP record in order to make Yaya look good and help
him stay in power. If you lie about the PPP record and give Yaya credit he
does not deserve, you will hear from me. When will you quit this whining
about PPP causing all the problems in our society? When you morons knew that
you cannot solve the PPP mess, why did you steal power from a democratically
elected government and would murder innocent Gambians just to stay in power?
9."As far as fisheries is concerned, the industry has also suffered under
Yaya's watch. It is a blatant lie to say that the industry "has never been
given the attention it deserved until now." Do the names NPE, SeaGull, Boto
Manjang, Tanje, Brufut, ColdStore, 'Ganaw Marche, both in Banjul and Bakau
ring a bell to you? Why this selective amnesia when it suits you? Do you
know how many millions of Dalasis the PPP government pumped into NPE via
Commercial Bank? Do you know the incentives the PPP government gave Okran to
bring fisheries from Ghana to Gambia? Do you know the number of trawlers we
had pre-1994? Did you compare the number of people employed in these
trawlers pre-1994 to the current figures? Go and ask real professionals in
the industry about the dismal state of this industry. All you were talking
about again were pending implementation of projects stolen from PPP."
If you agree that investment in the fisheries sector is good, viable and was
strongly supported by the previous government, why did it fail completely?
Where is Seagull? What is in Tanje, Brufut or Ganaw Marche?
9. It failed because Yaya stole power from a democratically elected
government. You said the industry was never given the attention it deserved.
I debunked that by giving you examples of cases where government actively
encouraged the industry and I showed you that we had a thriving fishing
industry. Why did you not say that I was lying about my examples and state
your case? For instance, did NPE not exist during the Jawara regime? Did
Seagull not come to Gambia during the Jawara regime? Was Albert Market and
Bakau Market short of fish supplies during the Jawara regime? Was Brufut and
Tanje short of fish supplies during the Jawara regime? These were the points
I was making. Address these in light of your assertion that the PPP regime
neglected this industry. When you do your analysis, give us statistics about
the number of trawlers and the number of Gambians earning foreign exchange
as a result of working on those trawlers. Address concrete issues and quit
dodging the issues and blaming everything on PPP.
10."I hope you do not expect the PPP people or the current Opposition to get
loans from Taiwan and implement these projects. Yaya stole power from them.
If his government does not implement these projects, who do you want to
implement them? Currently, we have less Gambians earning foreign exchange
because they are fishing in trawlers belonging to Senegalese and Nigerians
and Ghanaians."
The PPP people did not implement the projects, the opposition cannot
implement them because they not in office, so the APRC government, in
office, is implementing them. I have no problems with that. Do you?
10. What I have a problem with is you blaming people for APRC failures.
They are implementing policies wrongly or implementing the wrong policies.
When they fail, you try to blame PPP or the current Opposition. That is why
I told you that it was the duty of APRC to build roads and schools and
hospitals and feed our people. It is not for Jawara to ensure that our
farmers' groundnuts are bought seven years after power was stolen from him
by Yaya and his cohorts. I have to remind you of that fact if you try to
blame Jawara for APRC failure in the groundnut industry. If you also want to
disqualify the current Opposition from office because Yaya built some
schools, I have to remind you that Ousainou Darboe, Sidia Jatta and Hamat
Bah, are not in a position to build schools in the country. The criteria to
judge them from would be, had they been in Yaya's position, would they be
able to build more schools? I have a problem with how you dishonestly take
credit for some projects and cowardly shift responsibility for the failure
of other projects. When the going is good, you say that Yaya is implementing
all these projects, he deserves all the credit and he deserves to continue
to lead because Darboe is not implementing projects. When the going gets
tough, you say it is Jawara's fault. Be a man and accept responsibility.
11."We have always had a healthy supply of fish. We exported fish even
during the Jawara regime. Remember? "
So what? Doesn't it make any sence to you that improving the productive
sector of our economy is still a necessity?
11. You see this is partly why I said that you perhaps did not understand
the points I was making against your 'justifications'. When I made the above
statement, I was pointing out to you how ridiculous your contention was that
Yaya is saving us foreign currency through his 'fisheries policies'. You
remember your argument? I was trying to show you that we have always
EXPORTED fish. We are not saving any significant amount of foreign currency
because of Yaya's policies. I challenged you earlier on to give us figures
and not just empty rhetoric and speculation. Do you see how absurd your
response is when looked at in light of what I was saying? What make you
think that I do not think that improving our productive sectors is a good
thing? Certainly not the piece you quoted. The piece you quoted was
debunking a lie you told that because of the improvements Yaya made, we are
spending less money importing protein-based foods. I explained to you that
we were not importing fish. We were exporting it. That does not mean that we
should not endeavor to export more. It is your bogus justification that I
had a problem with.
12"As far as the energy sector is concerned, the facts on the ground speak
for themselves. It is already pitch-black. Putting wool over people's eyes
will have no effect in blinding people. The moron has made several promises
and failed. So long as he has his generator at the state house and there is
electricity in Kanilai, he does not care about the rest of the
country. You are darn right when you noticed that energy is very important
in economic
development. Ask the hotels how much money they spend buying fuel for their
generators. Ask the Gambian families that lost their appliances and their
houses because of your despicable power supply. Again, your government does
not have the political will and the wherewithal to solve our energy problem.
So long as we have thugs like Yaya, Baba Jobe, Tarik Musa, Amadou Samba
lining up to fatten their bank accounts, our energy problem will not be
solved. The importation of heavy equipment like electricity
generators is Yaya's golden chance to receive bribes."
Here you go again. Who pitched us in this darkness in the first place? Do
you remember OJ's short stint as finance minister, I believe it was in
1990/91? Does K1 generator from Japan ring a bell?
12. Like I said before, you can say whatever you want about the PPP, I do
not hold brief for them. I will not tire reiterating my point that when you
vermin knew you could not supply the electricity PPP messed up, why did you
steal power from PPP and continue to harass and murder Gambians to remain in
power? Instead of addressing the current corruption in the country; instead
of addressing Yaya's failed promises in this sector; instead of addressing
the heavy-armed tactics of dubious Gambians like Amadou Samba and Baba Jobe
in this industry, you decided to dwell in the past. Rather than talk about
AFPRC/APRC's lack of wherewithal and political will to solve the problems in
this industry; rather than talk about the bribes changing hands in this
industry as we speak, you want to smear OJ. Be my guest. I am just glad that
OJ is not running for office. Gambians are smart enough to figure that you
cannot hide behind the PPP record. Be men and defend your record.
13."Finally I want to also take issue with your assertion that our economy
has been predominantly tax-based. As I understand it, what our governments
collect from taxation is lot less than what we receive in terms of loans and
grants. Just this year Famara Jatta revealed that a staggering 90% of the
financing of his poverty alleviation program was coming from loans and
grants; not from taxes. So I do not understand your claim. Granted, the
government makes a lot of money taxing fuel and farmers, but the money
received from taxation is less than the money we get from both
internal(treasury bills) and external loans and grants. Please give us the
figures on where the government gets the money to finance its projects;
taxation, loans and grants."
If you don't agree that our economy has been predominantly tax-based, let me
rephrase it this way. Our economy has been predominantly tax and
begging-based. How about that?
13. That is better. Don't lie about the source of the finance for our
projects. It is very important that Gambians know where the money comes
from. That way, they can decide who the best person is that can get Gambia
the money. You see why unlike you I would not just casually brush that issue
aside. The source of these funds is one of the single most important issues
facing our nation. APRC cronies know that. The moron himself knows that. Why
do you think he tries to confuse the issue by bringing in phony concepts
such as 'Allah's Bank'? He knows that if Gambians figure that he is not the
best person to attract funds for us, they will get rid of him. We all know
we are not self-sufficient. We need to beg and borrow. That is the reality.
Question then arises, is Yaya the best beggar and borrower? Absolutely not.
For starters, the little we get, he always tries to get his cut. If he gets
a $35 million from Taiwan for The Gambia, he sends his cohorts to
Switzerland to deposit $3 million in his personal bank account. Who needs
that type of borrower? Who also needs a beggar that goes around alienating
the most powerful countries in the world? It is very important that Gambians
understand that 90% of the financing for our poverty alleviation program
comes from loans and grants. We need a smart and an honest borrower (that
will not steal from us) and a polite beggar (that will not threaten to bury
his citizens six feet deep and slaughter innocent children and attract the
imposition of sanctions from civilized nations). We do not need an uncouth,
semi-literate moron that only knows how to steal from the poor citizens and
open Swiss Bank accounts.
14."As far as the re-export trade is concerned, I would be interested to see
your exhaustive analysis. You just mentioned it in passing. I hope you are
not insinuating that it picked up during APRC. My reading is that since 1994
there are less vehicles plying between Gambia and Mauritania,
Senegal,Bissau, Conakry, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Mali, Burkina, Ghana and
even as far as Nigeria. Please enlighten us when you tackle this
vital sector of our economy. Show us how Yaya improved this sector."
Check it out. It has been dealt with.
14. Well, I will check it out. I hope I will see where you told us that
over the years, we have re-exported more than we used to during the Jawara
era. Everything I have seen so far suggests that we were re-exporting MORE
during the Jawara era.
15."Jobe, I forgive you for your gullibility in regurgitating these IMF and
World Bank figures and thinking that all is good because the Washington
Economists say so. If you were here last year you would have seen what me
and Hamjatta had to say about these figures and how to analyze them. If you
understood how this data is collected and also understand the time frame
within which IMF officials work when they visit Gambia to work on these
figures, you will know how meaningless these figures are to the poor
farmer in Kiang or the taxi driver in Serrekunda. IMF and World Bank accept
any garbage they are fed by the Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance,
respectively. Most of these Washington officials care less about how our
economies are performing. All they care about is the size of their debt
portfolios and whether they can travel to these so-called Third World
countries and live in fancy hotels. For the consumption of my dear Dr.
Jones, I am saying most, not all IMF and World Bank economists."
Dampha am glad that the word bank and IMF are so gullible that we can feed
them garbage and receive loans in return. And if the loan repayment becomes
unsustainable, get debt relieve. But why didn't the PPP figure this out? I
have learnt a lot. Thank you.
15. PPP figure what out? That IMF and World Bank swallow any garbage they
are fed by our government? PPP again. Do you know anything about these
consultations with these Bretton Woods Institutions? The PPP regime was very
successful with these institutions. They got loans from them. What are you
talking about? Do you not know that the same Central Bank officials that
used to go to IMF during the Jawara regime are still going to IMF during
this regime? See why I tell you that you do not know what you are talking
about? Nothing changed apart from the murders and callous corruption. Same
civil service if not worse. You missed my point totally. I gave you tangible
examples of garbage the IMF bought from our government about the April
Massacre. If you want to debunk the point I was making, you should vouch for
the authenticity of those figures our government supplies to IMF. But how
can you if you do not understand how the figures are compiled? Tackle the
point I made about the reporting of the April Massacre. Was that not
garbage from our country? Did IMF query the garbage? That is how you debunk
what I was saying. Don't veer off to PPP again. They are history.
16."Jobe, unlike you, I know how the game is played. I know where these
figures come from. As I keep saying, my war is with Yaya. I do not seek to
destroy innocent civil servants that do not work actively to propagate Yaya.
I will let them continue to enjoy their cozy jobs and per diems. It is Yaya
and people like you that actively support child murderers that I am after."
Me? Not a chance.
16. We will see about that, won't we? Time is the best arbiter here.
17."Moving on to the sectors you want to discuss today, I noticed that you
have shifted from your earlier posture of trying to make the Jawara record
an issue. That is an improvement."
Dampha, the Gambian economy of yesteryears and today are inextricably
linked. Jawara put us in this mess in first place and there is nothing that
you can say to convince me otherwise.
17. Link the economies all you want. But again, do not dishonestly claim
credit for Jawara projects and cowardly blame Jawara for your failures. Make
an honest comparative analysis.
18."I realized you did not have much to credit the AFPRC/APRC with in our
Financial sector. The figures you gave us about deposit levels are
irrelevant to the AFPRC/APRC record. Your analysis spanned from 1985-1995."
On the contrary, I give much credit to the AFPRC/APRC for arresting the
worsening condition of our economy. My analysis spanned from 1983-1999.
18. I guess I addressed this point earlier on. You missed what I was
saying. But herein you also told another lie. Our economy worsened as a
result of the takeover, not the other way round. Let me give you a clue and
refer you to our debt burden over the years. AFPRC/APRC borrowed billions of
dollars on our behalf and have little to show for it. Also look at the
deteriorating dalasi. The dalasi is weaker than it was in 1994. Also look at
the employment figures. Government employs less Gambians than it used to.
Also look at the earnings of the farmers (bulk of our people). Farmers are
earning less now than they used to earn pre-1994. Also look at the price of
rice. It is more expensive than it used to be. Fuel is more expensive than
it used to be. List goes on. After looking at these few areas, come back and
argue that Yaya fixed what Jawara messed up.
19."So it is conceivable that savings continue to go up in 1995. But this
was mainly stolen money. The real money that was saved during the Jawara era
and the money that made up the bulk of the figure you cited, came mainly
from aid agencies (like USAID) that were operating in the country. Ask your
sources at Standard Bank. Some of the domestic savings also came from
parastatals like Gamtel, Social Security and Ports.
These legitimate savings went down and not up during Yaya's watch. Those are
the
figures we are interested in. Don't ride on PPP's record."
Why can't you, for once be honest and accept some facts when they are
glaringly clear? The PPP record on the economy is nothing to boast about.
19. I don't know what facts you are asking me to accept. Well, the same
people that were running the Central Bank are still running it. They had
better praises from IMF during the Jawara regime than this regime. I suggest
you talk to them and tell them that they did a dismal job for Jawara. I hope
you are not suggesting that these people that ran the economy pre-1994
(Famara Jatta included, although he was not at the Central Bank) suddenly
became smarter and less corrupt because of their association with the moron.
Deal with the current issues and quit trying to score cheap points on the
old regime; points you cannot even back up. I just showed you how the
ordinary Gambian got worse off under Yaya's economy despite all your talks
about 'projects'.
20a."When you said that there never existed any commercial courts or
arbitration office, I can only conclude that you are either engaged in
semantics or you are exhibiting a deep ignorance of what you are talking
about. What do you understand a commercial court or an arbitration office to
mean? A building called a commercial court or an arbitration office? Do you
know that even in the U.S. most arbitration proceedings are conducted at the
offices of private lawyers. There are certain entities like the World Bank's
ICSID and the American Arbitrators' Association that have offices that they
rent out to private litigants that want to use the rules of these
arbitration bodies to govern the resolution of a dispute. There is no such
thing as an arbitration office per se. You can conduct an arbitration
anywhere the arbitrators and the litigants want. Most of the commercial
disputes that arise in Gambia are governed by arbitration rules of bodies
that are outside
Gambia. The arbitrators of those bodies also live outside Gambia. Almost
invariably, the parties to these disputes even if they are Gambian would
have chosen a forum other than Gambia to arbitrate their dispute. Take the
government's case against Alimenta. ICSID rules were used to settle that
dispute. The arbitrators were not Gambian. One of the parties was not
Gambian. How would an 'arbitration office' in Gambia feature in this
equation?"
You have answered yourself below. Please read on.
20b."'Commercial Courts' are also courts that hear commercial disputes. You
see how ignorant your statement is? Gambian courts hear commercial disputes
everyday. We do not need a special court house with the sign 'commercial
court' written at the door. I hope that is not what you meant. If you mean
that we need judges specialized in just adjudicating commercial disputes,
that is perhaps understandable. Then again, the commercial docket in The
Gambia is not that big to warrant specialist judges."
Dampha, that we are signatories to the International Centre for the
Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICID), the Multilateral Investment
Guarantee Agency (MIGA) and the Islamic Cooperation for the Insurance of
Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC) are not news to me. But since you want
more clarification on the matter, I'll give it. What I meant was government
will ensure that a "comprehensive judiciary system that gurantees a fair and
expeditious settlement of disputes" is put in place. In other words
tribunals that only deal with commercial issues will be introduced in our
judiciary.
20. I am glad that you shifted from your earlier position that there never
existed commercial courts or arbitration offices in the country. Now what
you are talking about is that we need a specialist court that will ONLY
handle commercial disputes. So I at least got you to quit pretending that
there were no commercial courts in the country and Yaya is going to
introduce them to us. We have always had commercial courts; i.e. our judges
hear commercial cases. Why did you not address the substantive point of the
discussion after wriggling out of the semantics? Address the issue of
whether we need a specialized judge to oversee a relatively small docket
when compared to the criminal docket and the plight of the prisoners without
trial languishing at Mile 2. Is it wise for us to pull away a judge from
deciding on the liberty of our people to go and decide commercial disputes?
Our problem in this arena has more to do with the general lawlessness in the
society than whether the commercial docket is moving fast enough. What use
is a fast docket to Alimenta if Baba Jobe will move in with thugs to run
them out of the country? What use is a fast docket to ordinary Gambian
litigants if those foreign judges are busy accepting bribes and refusing to
rule against the government in important cases? Let us talk about the
substantive issues. And I don't know what MIGA has to do with arbitration.
My point was, all the offices of the private lawyers back home can serve as
arbitration offices. The Chamber of Commerce can rent out space for the
conduct of arbitration proceedings. Help me to understand what you mean by
Yaya is going to introduce an 'arbitration office'. What does that have to
do with Gambia being a member of ICSID or MIGA? Again, what I was
challenging was your use of vague language to pretend that Yaya was going to
introduce in the country something that is vital but NEVER existed in the
country.
21."As far as the increased number of commercial banks are concerned, I
would only point out to you that the banks you mentioned did not first come
to Gambia after 1994. Some of these banks were in the works long before
1994. The Islamic Bank did not just appear in the scene in 1994/95. Ask your
sources of information to tell you about the application process of these
banks. Their commission have very little to do with Yaya and his cohorts."
Dampha, how about the First International Bank (FIB) or the Gurantee Trust
Bank Gambia limited (GTB). Were they also in the pipeline before 1994?
21. I am not in a position to tell you that. You are the government insider
that is touting those 'projects' as Yaya inventions. Pick up the phone and
call Central Bank and ask your sources. I trust you will have the integrity
to report to us whether those banks were in the pipeline pre-1994. I would
have thought that you will make the necessary inquiries to avoid giving us a
false impression. But if you insist, I can also pick up the phone and call
Banjul to find out.
22."What can I say about the re-export trade and tourism? No amount of spin
can cover the obvious. Why did you not discuss why the British had that
travel advisory? It was because a bunch of bandits hijacked our country. You
seriously believe people will buy this garbage about the 'foot and mouth'
disease? When did that happen? It is the lawlessness in the country and
silly tax and tariff regime that killed the tourist industry and the
re-export trade. Mental midgets like Yankuba Touray cannot do a thing about
that. They can jail 'bumsters' all they want, but that will not wipe out the
lawlessness in the country."
Some of the issues you raised here are irrelevant to what was saying. All I
attempted to do was to highlight how volatile the industry is.
22. You also attempted to attribute false reasons to the failures of those
industries. For instance you think our tourism problem was partly caused by
the 'foot and mouth' disease outbreak in Britain. You just expect us to
swallow that garbage and not point out that the coup was the major cause of
our problems?
23."Finally, I will just point out that because Yaya stole money from the
people and bought a Mercedes SUV and drives it in Kanilai, does not mean
that people in Kanilai are not poor. Because Famara Jatta cooks up bogus
trips to go abroad and earn per diem and drive a government owned vehicle to
so to grocery stores, does not mean that Gambians are not poor. You might
set your eyes to these token and silly 'luxuries', but we are more
concerned by the fact that there are people in Kiang that do not see a
single 50 dalasi note in two months."
Thank you for this invaluable piece of information
23. I am glad I made you to become more sensitive to the plight of our most
vulnerable people (the poor farmers that cannot sell their crops or are
selling them at prices lower than previous years'). Jobe, if we recognize
that these people need our help, Gambia will be a better place. It is better
than focusing on shallow things like Famara Jatta driving a government
vehicle to go to a supermarket and Yaya riding on a Mercedes SUV. The fact
that people are stealing money and living large in the urban area, is
nothing to brag about. You brag about that, you just breed hostility. Ask
your boy Yaya about what these mirages you were propagating do to weak
minded Gambians like the moron himself. It makes some people to turn out to
be hateful and jealous individuals suffering from an acute inferiority
complex. People like you should have learnt from the PPP era and not flaunt
ill-gotten gains. But what did we have? You boasting about the fancy
vehicles and the supermarkets. Do you know the message you send to your
children when you boast about Yaya and your kid later finds out that the
moron did not get what he got through hard work? The moron stole power from
us. Did not finish school. Never paid his debt back to society. Never puts
in an honest day's work. Do you know the lesson we teach our children when
we tell them that child murderers are better than us? We must also consider
the message we send our folks when we boast about Famara Jatta's mansion
when we know for a fact that his honest salary cannot build him that house.
I am glad you got the message. I hope you practice it by instilling good
values in your children.
KB
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