Momodou (Kartong):
The Great City of Gunjur plans to annex Kartong anyway. So don't bother. Here
is what I sent to GambiaPost today. It was in response to Haruna Darbo and
Prince O'brien-Coker.
[ This e-mail is posted to Gambia|Post e-Gathering by "Ahmad Scattred"
<[log in to unmask]> ]
Haruna, Prince:
I will resume my contributions to cyberspace when time permits, addressing my
areas of concern "comme d'habitude." In the meantime, I am sending excerpts
from "The Independent," AfricaOnline, and Momodou Sidibeh for you to consider.
Oh, and the principle of freedom of association!
Amadou SJ
Independent View
The best of Jammeh
President Jammeh has delivered …his best speech to the nation and to the
world yet. At last he is beginning to sound tactful, measured and
presidential. He was applauded by many who said it marks the positive change
in a man who was good in making opponents and detractors because of his hard
line stance on many issues that tact, diplomacy and innocuous cajoling could
have taken care of with ease and without incident.
He harped on the need to look beyond the limited and parochial confines of
politics and rally to the call of building The Gambia. The speech is
remarkable for three reasons. Firstly asking for forgiveness for past wrongs
helps to remind the nation that Jammeh is after all human and therefore
prone to self-borne mistakes and sometimes manipulation from the zealot lot
of his followers who had tried to mystify him and render him indisposed to
Gambians...
Moreover the past seven years have not been a particularly cheerful chapter
of Jammeh with the economy nose-diving, the Dalasi plummeting, human rights
record reaching a rock bottom, political divisions assuming a vicious turn
for the worse and Gambia’s image in international standing diminishing
because of the confrontational and paranoia style of the regime. The absence
of a press-friendly environment, visits, arrests and detention by the NIA
and the climate of intolerance of dissent made Jawara’s days a nostalgic
past. Recent sacking of civil servants, which went unexplained to a
stupefied populace, also gave ammunition to critics and skeptics of the
regime to pummel Jammeh with a blizzard of criticisms for his ways. But
today all that may be consigned to history since his speech compelling as it
were should be given the benefit of the doubt. If he is not to be taken at
face value, Jammeh has propounded a fresh new beginning - a beginning for
compromise, cooperation, patriotism, understanding and resolve to augment
the common cause.
Although skeptics say the leopard can never change its spots, words can
still suffice as evidence of a changed heart, provided they are followed by
actions pregnant with resolve, commitment and understanding. Although Jammeh
is on record for saying one good thing and acting differently later, he may
well be excused for his plea for forgiveness for the wrongs he knows his
regime has committed against innocent people. Unconditional amnesty for Sir
Dawda may also have come late, but it was always far better than not having
it at all. It is a good start to the reconciliation the regime frequently
harps on while it follows policies that can potentially divide the country.
In the intervening months and years Jammeh’s actions would be judged
according to those words that has endeared him to many who were sworn
critics of his rule.
From AFRICAONLINE
...Eduardo Aninat of the IMF earlier commented that the Gambian authorities
had achieved "a broadly encouraging economic performance under their previous
Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) arrangement, including sustained
real GDP and per capita income growth, and low inflation." These achievements
were important to approve the new PRSP...
Notable achievements had included the reforms in the financial sector, the
substantial reduction and rationalization of external tariffs, the settlement
of the property dispute with Alimenta, and the preparation of a comprehensive
PRSP, Aninat said. "However, fiscal slippages in 2001 and continuing through
the first quarter of 2002 have partly undermined these positive achievements."
http://www.afrol.com/News2002/gam004_poverty_prog.htm
The Gambia
The Gambia said to experience a favourable economic development
afrol.com, 5 February - The International Monetary Foundation today released
its assessment of the economic developments in The Gambia, leading to the
decision of granting the HIPC dept relief in December. The conclusion is that
things are going well in The Gambia, although inequity and poverty seem to be
on the rise.
GDP growth has been averaging about 5 percent during 1997-99 5 compared with
an average of about 1 percent during 1993/94-1995/96. The key objectives of
the IMF/Gambian policy are further "to accelerate real GDP growth".
Favourable weather in this Sahelian country "contributed to the rebound in
agricultural growth, and tourist arrivals increased substantially,
contributing to a significant growth in tourism and related services,"
according to the IMF assessment. Regarding structural reforms, the authorities
liberalized and reduced external tariffs, lowering the top rate from 90
percent in 1998 to 18 percent in 2000.
Privatisation and regulatory legislation was drafted and advanced toward
submission to parliament, with a view to encouraging private sector growth.
According to the IMF, there were, however, "some missteps, notably the January
1999 government's seizure of the property of The Gambia Groundnut Corporation
(GGC) - a private marketing monopoly - and the flawed introduction of the
preshipment import inspection scheme in October 1999."
According to the report, the government has been "taking steps to address a
number of weaknesses in the area of governance and transparency. An agreement
was reached in October 2000, through bilateral negotiations, to resolve the
governance issue arising from the seizure of the assets of the GGC, which
should help restore investor confidence."
http://www.afrol.com/News2001/gam001_econ_poverty.htm
MOMODOU SIDIBEH (Kartong/Stockholm) wrote:
"At a personal level, I do not think any aspect of debate on APRC rule and
politics has been as poorly conducted as that which pertained to the
development projects governments of the said party carried out. Well before
the October elections and months after it Gambia-L pundits invariably
addressed this issue with intellectually fraudulent and blowzy doublespeak.
It was easy to see that much of the debate, precisely because it was
polluted with politics, turned out to be nothing more than clunky
anti-Jammeh propaganda. What seemed unestablished at the onset was that
irrespective of economic policies, development can hardly take place in the
absence of a functioning infrastructure. There must be a reasonably
nation-wide and quality road network, telecommunications facilities,
adequate utility supply (water and electricity), adequate primary health
care, and above all an educational system geared towards producing a skilled
workforce. In spite of all its shortcomings, the Jammeh regime invested
heavily and seriously in all these, producing under the circumstances,
highly satisfactory results! Yet serious, well-meaning, well-schooled
Gambians cannot bring themselves to say so!
... Perhaps many reasoned that commending the APRC government for a
job well done was equivalent to depriving the UDP or the coalition of
propaganda scores. So it took our friend Mr. Asbjorn Nordam to remind us
that the successful development projects do not belong to Jammeh or the APRC
but to Gambia! And now dear reader, my point is: if overseas based,
educated, well fed, economically secure, active cyber dwelling Gambians
cannot see the difference between what belongs to Jammeh and what belongs to
Gambia, how will hungry, poor, spiritually drained, pained, exhausted, and
illiterate Gambians such as I described earlier, see the same difference?
How?"
The late ALEX HALEY's motto: "Find the Good and Praise It."
"Whatever you vividly imagine, ardently desire, sincerely believe, and enthusiastically act upon...must inevitably come to pass" (J. Meyers).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
