EBOU AND THE JULY 22nd CELEBRATION (Old mail)
EBOU indicated that that the JULY 22nd anniversary is designed to
commemorate the achievements of the APRC/AFPRC. It may sound ridiculous if
I were to ask; what achievements? Not withstanding this is precisely the
question that Ebou’s comments engineer. Ebou is likely to refer to the
airport, schools, hospitals, roads and the arch. The president used to
claim that he was relying on Allah’s world bank to finance the projects.
The mind penetrates deeper than the naked eye. Many people see projects but
do not know their origin herein lays the difference between experience and
knowledge. Experience enables the person to see reality while knowledge
empowers and explain its essence. In order to unravel the facts behind the
projects I raised the following question at the National Assembly; Could
the Secretary Of state For Finance and Economic Affairs indicate to this
august body how much money has been received from the government of Taiwan
since 1994 and the projects which have been financed from the funds?
The Secretary Of State gave the following reply; Mr. Speaker, since 1994,
Taiwanese assistance has been received and utilized by various sectors of
the domestic economy. Our records show about D1.56 billion that has been
used to finance the Essau-Kerewan ROAD PROJECT,THE NEW AIRPORT TERMINAL
BUILDING,THE ARCH 22,Middle SCHOOLS Project, The BANJUL ICE PLANT, THE
PURCHASE OF TWO GENERATORS plus the rehabilitation of the transmission and
distribution network. Taiwan also provided various grants to the health
and agriculture sectors.’[My point of emphasis is that the government
depends on loans and grants to finance development projects. Infact, the
Cuban doctors are being maintained by funds from Taiwan .Suffice it to say,
projects are generally financed from the development budget .Government’s
contribution to the development budget is only 5.5 percent, 6 percent
comes from the heavily indebted poor countries initiative, The rest comes
from loans and grants. Ebou, APRC has not facilitated the building of the
productive base of the economy to generate revenue locally to finance
development projects. It depends mainly on loans. This is precisely the
reason why the country is more than ever indebted. In 1994 the external
debt of the country stood at D3464.3 Million; the internal debt stood at D
717.8 Million thus giving a total public debt of D4182 Million. In 1994 we
spent D302.3 on Debt Service Charges. Interestingly enough, by 2001
external debt had risen to D8337.9 Million while domestic debt stood at D
2024 Million leaving the country with a total debt of D 10,361.9 Million
.The debt service charges stood at D482.9 Million. It goes without saying
that the national debt now stands at D18, 000 Million. Debt service
charges have increased to D 539Million.What then is there to celebrate?
Which Government exists today that cannot take loans and finance projects?
Abdou Joof‘s government is no more; the same goes for Rawlings’ but loans
are still being received by the new governments.
APRC could have made a difference if the loans and grants were accompanied
by growth in the productive base of the economy to repay the debts and
still ensure sustainable development and general welfare. Abundant facts,
however, reveal that the country is suffering from a growing debt burden
,economic contraction and growing poverty .The annual debt service charges
consume more than thirty percent of the national budget. It is more than
the Education, Health, Agriculture and Works combined .The government is
increasingly serving as a tax collector of its international and national
creditors. Ebou, however, claims that PDOIS will burden the people with
taxation .He even asserted that we are giving a portion of our National
Assembly income to the people to prepare the ground to impose heavy taxes
on them. This is of course a very simplistic notion .In my next posting I
will show that it is the APRC government which has the policy of scraping
the back of the people through skyrocketing taxation just to pay debts and
enrich a few nouveau tycoons at their expense. I will strive to prove that
Ebou’s copious elaboration of what a PDOIS GOVERNMENT would bring is more
informed by fiction than facts. My analysis will speak the language of
facts and not fiction. It will be precise and concise.
In The Service Of The Nation
HALIFA SALLAH
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