Postscript
Sir Dawda Jawara is currently criss-crossing the United States, meeting
Gambians and venting spleen on the APRC government. I wish he had stopped by
in Detroit;I would have sought an exclusive interview with him. Thankfully,
I am getting some snippets of Jawara's meetings through the Gambia-L.
Talking about Jawara's presidency and its consequences, I herewith reproduce
an article I wrote on Jawara's legacy, which was published in the Daily
Observer, March 16, 1995. I wrote this article with a youngish mind, fired
with youthful idealism and limited in the knowledge of politics and
governance. So I claim full ownership over every lop-sided analysis,
ambiguous comment, factual misrepresentation, selective judgementalism, and,
oh yes, grammatical error, contained in this article. But I hope you enjoy
reading it.
Jawara's Legacy
If there is any Gambian at this moment in time who remembers the event of
July 22, 1994 with infinite shudder, it is deposed president, Sir Dawda
Jawara. Like a roving international salesman, Sir Dawda had been traipsing
around the world in frantic efforts to cajole the international community
into restoring him to power. He visited France; no success. West Africa; no
success.
Recently in the United States, Sir Dawda had been urging US government
officials to come to his rescue. But his failure to obtain conspicuous
support from the US government;and the cold reception he is reportedly said
to have had, made Sir Dawda realise bitterly, that his boisterous
international campaign agianst Gambia's new political dispensation has been
a total wash-out.
His only lethal weapon against the AFPRC government and Gambians was the
blameworthy British travel advice, which has left in its trail, gargantuan
havoc to our national economy, political order and social establishment, and
which he is widely suspected of having masterminded, and which happily, has
now been favourably amended by the British Foreign Office.
But as Sir Dawda remains dogged that he must be returned his lost
presidency, it is pertinent once again to put his 30-year administration
under microscope; and see whether the vistas of his rule make him a serious
contender for the presidency again.
Peace and Stability
Fairness requires that Sir Dawda's achievements be made known. During his
tenure of office, peace and stability reached a crescendo. While other
African countries, near and distant, got embroiled in persistent political
crises, The Gambia came away largely unflappable.
Unlike Banda, Moi, Eyadema and a host of others, ex-president Jawara did not
embark upon any vicious attempts to persecute political opponents;nor did he
harass or kill journalists. Human rights were largely untampered with. Sir
Dawda also helped nurture in the minds of Gambians the idea of multiparty
politics and democracy. Whilst our fellow Africans in most parts of the
continent clamoured endlessly for multi-party politics in their countries,
Gambians gad become ingrained in the niceties of the system.
Spurious democracy
But Jawara's achievements were wafer-thin as compared to his grave failures.
30 years of ppp rule saw Gambians descend into Stygian depths of
despondency, helplessly submitting themselves to the fatalities that came
with Jawara-ism. The democracy that was put in place was a hoax, not a
proper one. As I argued in the U.K-based New African magazine, the democracy
that was prevalent in The Gambia was one that largely thrived on the
people's illiteracy and poverty. It was one that openly flouted the
principles of accountability and transparency.
The holding of regular elections does not in its entirety represent true
democracy. Democracy also entails alternatives. Here, not only the PPP, but
even the opposition, failed. The PPP program was ineffective and wrong,
fine. But the other side of the grass wasn't green either. The programs of
most members of the opposition were no viable replacements. One of the
glaring defects of democracy as encouraging the unfit and ignorant to rule
was put in trenchant tones during Sir Dawda's time.
For the ruling party as well as the opposition, democacy was simply to be
exploited for ego-centric reasons. Policies that would benefit the people
were hardly thought-out.
Basket-size economy and dependency syndrome
The Gambia under Sir Dawda had a basket-size economy which, save for
tourism, was tethered to the umbilical cords of international donor aid, and
the importation and re-exportation of commercial goods across our borders.
We were made to rely heavily on foreign aid which increasingly became the
engine for our economic growth. The revenue accrued through importation and
re-exportation of goods was in itself not reliable in its overall
performance. The vagaries of international economic realities did not
ensure the reliable revenue needed for the effective functioning of the
national economy.
When Senegal closed its borders sometime ago, blocking the free-flow of
goods from and to The Gambia, it occasioned catastrophe for the Gambian
economy, as our coffers were getting impecunious. The crux of the matter was
the PPP regime of Sir Dawda had created no home-grown productive capacity
for an upswing in the economy, when foreign aid was not forthcoming, or when
our international trade with other countries was in the doldrums.
What was called enonomic success was predicated upon under-done World Bank
and IMF text-book prescriptions that were whimsically accepted as having
redounded to our economic development. The reality of the situation was that
Sir Dawda's ERP and SAP economic programmes simply sapped the majority of
Gambians, whilst few people, visibly unscathed by these programmes, had the
enviable chance to live in the lap of luxury.
Unbriddled Corruption
For the past 30 years, Gambians experienced unmitigated corruption in every
nook and cranny of our society. Some top government civil servants and
ministers took advantage of the laxity of rules and regulations to engage in
as much graft and shady deals as they could. No area of government activity
under Sir Dawda, escaped wanton corruption.
In 1993 alone, 60 million dalasis went missing at the Gambia Co-operative
Union;D700,000 at the Basse Commissioner's office;D535,940 at the
Agriculture Ministry; and D350,000 at the Women-In-Development project.
Enough of it all to give us the sharp haemorrhage of Gambian corruption
during Sir Dawda's time. What was even more unacceptable was the way
corruption was condoned and allowed to take firm root. Alleged squanderers
were either allowed to go scot-free or given more prestigious government
positions, thus allowing more graft in government circles.
The appointment of the kleptomaniac Saihou Sabally to the vice-presidency
inspite of newspaper evidence implicating him in fraud and corruption, was
one of the gravest blunders Sir Dawda ever made. The destruction that caused
to his personality, on the already faltering PPP, and the general conscience
of the Gambian people was equal to the simultaneous explosion of 40 hand
grenades!
Unholy crude oil contract
Under Sir Dawda, Gambians were wilfully milked millions of dollars through
the Crude Oil Contract that was supposedly meant to ginger up our diminshing
foreign reserves at the time. The Crude oil scandal has opened a can of
worms. It has shown how ineptitude and short-sightedness of leaders could
land their followers in serious trouble.
Here was a contract signed between The Gambia and Nigeria from 1984 to 1987.
During this period, The Gambia lifted over 17m barrels of crude oil from
Nigeria. But how dumbfounded have Gambians been now! For over 17m barrels of
crude oil lifted, The Gambia received an infinitesimal 2.8m instead of an
attractive 44.6m dollars. How much development could this amount have done
for The Gambia?
The acquiescence of the PPP to the swindling machinations of Jamil Sahid
Mahmoud in denying The Gambia its rightful dues in the crude oil
transaction, adds up to a discontentedly, bad legacy of Sir Dawda.
He hung onto power for an ungraciously long time, making him seemingly
believe that The Gambia was his own private hacienda. His party's
monopolistic dominance of politics in this country over the past 30 years
made The Gambia a symbolic one-party state.
For Gambians, and even the international community, Sir Dawda is now a
political has-been. With his PPP regime now laid in the morgue, Sir Dawda
has only one option at his disposal: to keep quiet.
Cherno Baba Jallow
WSU
Detroit, MI
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