FOROYAA NEWSPAPER

Issue No. 2/ 2004, 5-7 December, 2004

Editorial

Free Education for Which Girls?

The President and his Cabinet are causing great confusion by insisting that
there is universal free education for girls in the Gambia. Some families who
have relatives abroad who are sponsoring their daughters are being subjected
under great pressure when they demand money for the education of their
daughters. The same thing goes for benevolent nationals of other countries
who wish to sponsor the education of girls.

Let the President know that there are many girls who are finding it very
difficult to finance their educational career. Let us take the case of this
young girl enrolled at Kotu Senior Secondary School. She is required to pay
2,450 Dalasis; she is currently a Grade 10 student. She is to pay D950 as
fees and D1,500 for books. The father is a driver who has been unemployed
for sometime. Father and child are desperately roaming about in search of
sponsors. If the President is ready to finance the education of such girls
let the state department for education issue a press release urging all
parents not to pay any money in any school to educate their girl children.

Infact, as we go to press a parent who heard the President’s interview with
GRTS came to report that he was asked to pay 450 Dalasis by a particular
school. When he went to find out why such a sum of money had to be paid for
primary education was told that it was meant for the purchase of books and
contribution to the development fund. The children however were being
pressurized to pay or be sent home. This meant that the payment is
compulsory.

It is therefore important for the President to stop claiming that there is
universal free education. It is true that attempts have been made to reduce
the cost of education for girls in government schools. However not all girls
can find places in such schools. Suffice it to say that other costs are also
being imposed on parents. Foroyaa will do a comprehensive study of all the
costs and publish it so that the authorities will know what is on the
ground. A leader should not lose touch with the people. To do so is to build
castles in the air while the people live in slums and hardship on the
ground.

Sectoral Review of the Presidents Interview on Gambian Investments

The President claimed that if Gambians had been responsible for the building
of roads billions would have been kept in the Gambia to facilitate her
development. However, his government has been in office for Ten Years. It
also claims that the private sector is the engine of growth. The government
however has not come up with a policy or programme to back its declarations.
To build roads requires capacity, equipment and materials needed for
construction.

The government has managed to recover over 150 Million in cash or kind under
the Asset Management and Recovery Corporation. What prevent the government
from purchasing road-making equipment and transform it into a pool that
could be hired by national road construction companies. This could have
encouraged a team of engineers to come together to form companies even if
the government did not want to do the road construction on a public basis.

It is wishful thinking to expect Gambians to come up with road construction
companies’ overnight and purchase all the equipment desired. Few banks would
provide funds for such enterprises. The facts revealed have shown how
indebted Boto Construction has been to the defunct Continent Bank. It owed
up to 12 Million Dalasis. The government should not blame the Gambian people
for its lack of foresight and initiative to be a catalyst for enterprising
venture by Gambians.

The persons who has money and wants to make more would simply invest where
maximum profit could be made. The easiest way to make money was the retail
trade. This is why the Youth Development Enterprise invested in the retail
trade. The retail trade has been the honeycomb for investors. The banks have
also been investing in the distributive trade so that they can get interest
with speed.

Suffice it to say that it is government, which has been principally
responsible for the rise in interest rate for example, the treasury bills
discount rates rose to 31 percent. The banks are now changing interest of up
to 36%. How can any investor make wealth by borrowing huge sums of money to
buy equipment to prepare for contracts that may come later?

On Road Construction and Communication Policy

A fundamental question was raised as to what government intended to do by
way of road construction. The President simply said that it was his
intention to build all roads in the country. He also mentioned the plan to
introduce trains in the Gambia.

This again confirms how the President formulates policy. Clearly, no
President in the World who relies on the advice of experts would simply have
an aim that is as broad as the President has. For Ten Years the President’s
government has been unable to finish a road network that stretches on the
South or North bank so that Gambians can move from East to West without any
difficulty.

Suffice it to say that any government, which aims to open up the country,
would aim to build two major trunk roads on the North and South banks
stretching from East to West to ensure smooth road transport.

Suffice it to say that the second task of any government, which aims to open
up the country, is to connect such roads to the major exit points of the
country to the sub region. Such as Transgambia routes would open up the
country to cross border movement of people and goods.

Suffice it to say that any government, which aims to reduce pollution,
promote hinterland trade, tourism and ease congestion and accidents, would
develop river transport before considering a rail network. The fact of the
matter is that the government is still personalized. The President is the
center of everything, all material things, which come from the HIPC projects
or other sources are presented as gifts from the President. This attitude
robs the APRC of an integrated system of planning and programming. This is
why the President could not elaborate on a well thought out road policy.

On Precious Minerals, From a Recipient to a Donor Country

One of the most thought provoking comments made by the President is that
within Three Years Gambia will move from being an AID Recipient Country to a
DONOR Country. This led the interviewer to further ask what minerals have
been discovered in the Gambia. The President only said that he would say
that in Three Months time to avoid attracting criminals and other
non-Gambians.

This again shows President Jammeh’s style of leadership. Natural resources
do not belong to President’s; they exist irrespective of who is President.
They do not exist because the President is good or bad. Nigeria has one of
the best qualities of oil in the World, Angola is an oil producing country,
the same goes for Sudan, and Equatorial Guinea is an oil producing country.
It is the quality of a leadership, which determines whether minerals will
benefit a people or not. There are over 11 producing countries in Africa.
However, bad leadership has prevented these countries from escaping the
shackles of under development. Look at Sierra Leone and its Diamonds.
Announcing that the Gambia has this or that mineral resources will not
automatically transform Gambia into a Donor country.

In actual fact, no leader should make any finding of mineral resources a
secret. Suffice it to say, President Jammeh will not tell any enlightened
Gambian anything new. Gambia does have mineral resources.

Infact, the failure to develop any of these resources for ten years shows
the laxity of the government. History teaches us that Titanium Core Deposits
were discovered in the Gambia as far back as 1953. 20,000 tonnes were mined
in 1957 alone; in 1959 the mines were abandoned by the Colonialists without
any explanation.

Suffice it to say that for years it is known that Gambia possesses Good
Quality Geological and Geographical Data on possible petroleum prospects.
Before the Coup d’etat the People’s Republic of China, the Canadian
government and the Kuwaiti Petroleum Corporation had shown interest in
providing support in the petroleum sector. Infact, a Commissioner for
Petroleum Exploration was appointed.

After the coup d’etat, work continued to gather additional Seismic Data on
the offshore and onshore areas. In the year 1999 government had an agreement
with "West Oil Australia for a period of 6-year programme to engage in
Seismic Surveys." It also signed a Reconnaisance License with a Geophysical
Company Veritas DGC Ltd, for acquisition of geophysical data through seismic
test line survey 2000 to 3000 kilometres were subjected to survey. All this
is public information. Infact, since 1997 government should not have entered
into any international agreement without ratification by the National
Assembly. May be what the President has in his sleeves is that the
availability of Petroleum is confirmed.

This of course would be good news. However, it does not change the fact that
Gambians are more interested in the quality of his leadership than the
existence of resources, which belong to all of us. It is the quality of the
leadership of the government, which will determined whether the people would
enjoy prosperity in liberty or the opposite.

The Budget Analysis Part II

Agriculture

We have looked at the decline in agricultural production in 2002. We
emphasized that even though the President did not ban Nawetaan Football
matches in 2001 under the pretext that the action would motivate the youths
to go to the farms the farmers produced over 151,000 tonnes. The problem was
mainly marketing.

Suffice it to say, even though there is claim that there is bumper harvest
in 2003, no arrangement has been made for proper purchasing of the nuts.
Infact, the Private Companies intending to buy the groundnuts cannot gain
credits from the Commercial Banks. According to the SoS for Finance,
government is contemplating Central Bank financing of the purchasing of 2003
crops.

We therefore, consider the President’s back to the land call as misplaced.
The fact that the people could produce 151,000 tonnes of groundnuts in
particular and 349,000 metric tonnes of crops in general in 2001 confirms
that there are enough people on the land. These farmers are plagued with
growing soil infertility and inability to purchase fertilizer, replace aging
agricultural implements and the lack of buyers for their harvest.

These are the problems. Suffice it to that say the mistaken policies of the
government have aggravated the problem. One may now ask what are those
policies?

The Mistaken Policies of the Government

When the government took over in 1994, the Cooperative Union was the middle
agent for the purchasing of the groundnut crop. They established seccos or
buying points in strategic locations to ensure accessibility to farmers.
Gambia Produce Marketing Board (GPMB) had already been sold; Gambia
Groundnut Company (GGC) was responsible for crop financings. The GPMB was
bought for 20 Million and payment was by installment of not more than D7
Million per annum.

The task before the government was to set up a task force to look at all the
stakeholders in the trade prior to the 1994/95 trade season with a view to
determining the best possible relation between the Cooperative Union as
Middle Agent, the GGC as Crop Financer and the Farming Community as
Producers. An experienced and foresighted government would have the
fundamental objective of putting a functioning groundnut purchasing and
exportation system in place.

Needless to say, all the elements were in place to make that possible. The
Cooperative Union had both human and infrastructural capacity to purchase
groundnuts. GGC had financial capacity; the Farmers also needed better
prices.

Once the best possible price was negotiated a system of crop purchasing
would have been in place. One could then have studied the shortcomings and
work to improve the system either by opening up the market for more
competition while the Cooperative Union awaits to serve as middle person to
the company that can offer more to the farmers or provides access to the
public financing of the Union to purchase and export.

In short, the transitional phase was to stabilize a system and study how to
replace the system in place with a better one. However, just like all
adventurist and populist change over of regimes the immediate action had
always been to dismantle systems without any clear perspective of how to
replace them with better ones. The AFPRC regime was no exception.

A fleeting glance of the final state of the groundnut industry a month
before the July 22nd 1994 take over would be necessary. In June 1994 the
previous government revealed the following: " Government, in July 1993, sold
the Gambia Oilseeds Processing and Marketing Company, GOPMAC for 20 Million.
An initial payment of D6 Million was made on the signing of the Sale
Agreement, the balance will be paid in two equal installments with the first
installment expected to be paid in January 1995."

The estimated quantity of groundnut produced increased from 54,280 tonnes in
1992/93 to 76,730 tonnes in 1993/94.

The new government indicated that in 1994/95 groundnut production was 81,000
metric tonnes. However, in 1995/96 seasons it reduced to 75,000 metric
tonnes. Inadequate seed nuts and limited access to fertilizer and farm
inputs were given as part of the reasons for the decline.

The government gave the impression that it could use militarist means to
twist the arm of GGC to purchase groundnuts at prices determined by it
instead of putting a system in place where prices would rise by simply
providing an alternative arrangement. Consequently, while the purchasing of
groundnuts amounted to 25,000 tonnes in 1995/96 it fell to 15,000 tonnes in
1996/97. Total groundnut production also decline from 75,000 metric tonnes
in 1995/96 to 45,000 tonnes in 1996/97. To be continued.

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