Hi!

    This is from the Independent Online. Hope you find it useful.

____________________________________________________________________

INDEPENDENT CRITIC 

'You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time' - Abraham Lincoln 

What is the status of Kanilai? 

Since President Jammeh took the unprecedented step of abandoning State House for his home village of Kanilai at the       end of last year, there has been much debate about the pros and cons of such a decision.  While some people have seen nothing wrong with the idea as long as he is within the country, others question the wisdom of him abandoning the officially-designated residence of the head of state for a small and obscure place somewhere in the bush. 

Prior to his permanent sojourn at Kanilai, the United Democratic Party had accused him of planning to transfer the seat of government from Banjul to Kanilai, which he of course     vehemently denied at the time.  However, the fact that for the       past few months he has been running the country from there    means a de facto transfer of the seat of government, albeit temporarily, which also gives credence to the UDP allegations.       He could have however given the benefit of the doubt if he had   just lived in his own mansion instead of going all out to transform the village into a city over night.  The very fact that he is said to have constructed such facilities like an army barracks and other similar structures, no doubt gives the impression that his intention may be more than just putting up a temporary presidential villa in his home village. 

Recently also, the UDP have alleged that President Jammeh is      with plans to construct an international conference center in Kanilai, alongside allegations in the internet of plans to construct     a big hotel in the village, among other structures.  It was therefore not a surprise when Gamtel publicly disclosed that they were connecting Kanilai to the national fibre optic network, which no doubt must have cost them a lot of money to accomplish.  It has also been alleged that the village is presently enjoying a 24-hour electricity and water supply, in addition to other public utilities,    and that staff of the various public utility bodies are permanently stationed there to run those services, apparently at public     expense. 

If it is indeed true that all those facilities are being provided at the expense of the state and Gambian tax payers, then it is time that some one told President Jammeh that this is grossly unfair to the rest of the country.  Being his home village should definitely not give the residents of Kanilai the right to get much more than their fair share of the national cake.  If indeed 

President Jammeh is interested in the even development of the entire country and not just into transforming his little village into      a model town at the expense of the Gambian tax payers, then he needs to redirect his attention to other parts of the country.  It is unfortunate however that apart from members of the opposition,    no one else seems to have the nerve to point out some of those apparent anomalies to President Jammeh.  Instead, everyone     seems to try to out do each other in singing his praises, giving     him the impression that everything he does or contemplates is perfect and is in the interest of the country.  How on earth would they expect him to realise his faults when even his own colleagues seem to shy away from pointing them out. 

Coming back to connecting Kanilai to the national fibre optic network, it reminds me of the troubles that the Gamtel      management had with one of the commissions of inquiry when    they were accused among other things of connecting a satellite   dish for the former Vice President in the Jawara regime at Gamtel's expense. What difference is that with connecting Kanilai to the  fibre optic network, except may be this one is no doubt much more expensive than connecting the satellite dish? I therefore wonder whether Gamtel and other public utility authorities have enough justifications for all those expenses they are incurring, in case     they are once again called upon to appear before a commission of inquiry to justify them. 

Let them not forget that what goes around comes around and to borrow the Wolof proverb 'the world has a long leg'.