NCP Leader Addresses First Meeting



The Independent (Banjul)

DOCUMENT
September 7, 2001
Posted to the web September 7, 2001

Banjul, the Gambia

With just six weeks to the elections, campaign rhetorics are being sent back
and forth. To catch a feel of the whole electioneering climate The
Independent from this edition will be bringing you regular features of
Gambian political personalities and the words they breath out to the
electorate. We will be using this column as a forum to present the ma
nifestoes of the different parties.

On Saturday, 1st September, the Hon. S.M. Dibba, Secretary-General of the
National Convention Party addressed the first meeting in the 2001 and
parliamentary electoral campaign. Excerpts:




On Re-launching of NCP

It is with great pride and pleasure that I stand before you today as we
re-launch our party after the repeal of decree 89, and to start our campaign
towards the 2001 presidential and parliamentary elections. Your presence
here this afternoon in such large numbers is eloquent testimony to the fact
that a people determined to be free can never be intimidated into
submission. You have been firm and steadfast in the face of a vicious
climate of fear and general insecurity unprece- dented in the history of our
country as a sovereign nation. Today our party, the National Convention
Party is much stronger that it had been when it was illegally banned seven
years ago.

On July 22 1994

Fellow Gambians the past seven years can be described as the darkest period
in the socio-political development of the Gambia. The illegal and
unconstitutional seizure of state power by the military in July 1994 has
meant that the protection of fundamental Human Rights as enshrined in the
constitutional, due process and the rule of law have become the exception
rather than the norm in our everybody lives.

Arbitrary arrests and detentions without the benefit of habeas corpus have
become so preva- lent that every single family in the country except for
those of the ruling junta is affected. The public service is in disarray and
made important by the constant fear of summary dismissal hanging over the
heads of all public servants.

On the Economy

Our economy is in the doldrums Investors shy away from the Gambia because of
their understandable lack of confidence in the stability of the country.

On the Gambia's foreign policy

The recent expulsion of the deputy British High Commissioner has given
proof; if indeed proof is needed, that our foreign policy is being driven by
emotion rather than by national considerations of the national interest.

On the Judiciary

Never before in the history of the Gambia as a sovereign nation has there
been such sustained assaults on the hallowed institution of the Judiciary as
during the past seven years. The sacking of Judges and Magistrates for
delivering judgments deemed inimical to the present government is a stain on
the national conscience.

Where a government sworn to uphold the law is itself a lawbreaker, the
citizenry has reason to cower in fear.

On APRC Policies and leadership

The Gambia must break away, once and for all, from the failed policies of
the APRC and its leadership. The National Convention Party is the only party
that can provide the nation with a new style of leadership that is
disciplined and capable of moving the nation forward towards a more
meaningful economic, social and human resources development. We therefore
call on the Gambian electorates to reject the APRC and all it stands for
vigorously and decisively during the forthcoming presidential and
parliamentary elections.

On the NCP Pledge

In the likely event that the National Convention Party is mandated to
manager the affairs of this nation at the forthcoming presidential and
parliamentary elections, we pledge to provide the people with a more
efficient, effective and fair-minded government committed to the creation
and nurturing of a more just society in which the evils of corruption,
nepotism and tribalism are rooted out.

We shall relentlessly pursue the implementation of policies that impact
favourably on the lives of the citizenry.

On Agriculture

We have repeatedly emphasized the need for a comprehensive and sustainable
policy as a major pillar of our rural type economy and for the need to
intensify offers at diversification, given the volatile nature of rain-fed
agriculture. In view of the fact that the Gambia has no known mineral
resources worthy of commercial exploitation, agriculture will continue, for
the foreseeable future, to play a dominant role in the economy. In this
regard therefore, a major policy aimed at making the Gambia self-sufficient
in food production will be launched within the first five years of an NCP
government.

A price stabilization fund for all commercial agriculture commodities will
be established to protect the farmers from the vagaries of the international
markets. Firm measures will also be put in place to ensure that farmers do
not ever again find themselves in the absurd situation of not being able
sell their produce, or being given credit notes for them instead of being
paid in cash.

On Health

Our party is very much concerned about the acute and perennial shortage of
drugs in our hospitals and other medical centers.

Measures will be taken to remove this undesirable state of affairs. Other
measures will include strengthening the immunization programmes and
promoting subsidized nutrition projects to stem the high incidence of
malnutrition in the rural areas.

In the field of education

An NCP Government will undertake a review of the system of pedagogy with
strict insistence on relevance for the beneficiaries. Educational
development is a vital component of national development and the system
needs a thorough review both in terms of quality and relevance to other
actors, especially vocational skills requirements. It is counter-productive
to churn out high school and college graduates every year without the
necessary skills to stand on their own.

The Energy Crisis

For almost a quarter of a century, the Gambia has been in the throes of a
seemingly endless energy crisis. Power outrages have become the norm in the
everybody lives of the citizenry, not to mention the fact that the Gambia
has the highest energy cost in the whole sub-region. Needless to say,
without sustainable and affordable energy supplies, no meaningful industrial
development of any kind can take place in the country. We are convinced that
the energy crisis cannot be solved on an ad-hoc basis, as it is the tendency
at present. A holistic approach to the problem is the only answer. An NCP
government will relentlessly pursue a national electrification policy and
affordable energy supplies particularly in the growth centers in the
provinces. This would attract investment in light industry, among other
enterprises, thereby creating employment and, thus, help in stemming the
exodus from the rural areas.

On the tourism industry

We will re-examine comprehensively the tourist industry to ensure that it
offers maximum opportunities to Gambians and that the industry achieves the
position of net foreign exchange earner on a substantial scale for the
country.

On the women

It is an article of faith in the National Convention Party that the
development of our motherland cannot be complete or sustainable unless the
generality of our women folk is involved fully and on an equal basis in all
spheres of the national endeavors. Thus the NCP will commit itself
unswervingly to policies and programmes in this direction.

The youths

The tragic events of April 10, 11, 2000 have demonstrated in horrible detail
the consequences of shelving the hopes and aspirations of the nations
younger citizens. We firmly believe that the youths, as leaders of tomorrow,
should be assisted and encouraged into activities that would be of positive
benefit to them and the nation in the future. An NCP government will
therefore initiate a youth development policy that would not be in name
only.

ECOWAS

We shall support the Economic Community of Western States (ECOWAS) and
cooperate with the African Union (AU) in all its areas of operations,
especially where regional and sub-regional cooperation among Africa
countries is concerned. We shall support the United Nations and its
specialized agencies for the maintenance of international peace and security
and for rapid socio-economic development of the Third World.




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