Hamjatta, as promised, I am coming back to the subject of our dismal
economy. The vermin have dismembered the economy so much so that the next
government will have a Herculean task in its hands trying to lift our people
up. Needless to say, a government under Yaya has no chance whatsoever in
alleviating the DESTITUTION of our people. We are looking at a government
that is inviting drastic sanctions to our people. The uncouth vermin that
are leading our country are going around alienating all our ‘Development
Partners’ like Britain and the EU. No one talks about the Americans now (the
most powerful country in the world). Hamjatta, if Gambians were to really
know the amount of foreign currency our system lost as a result of the
withdrawal of USAID, that alone will make them boot the moron out of office.

Judging by what they are doing now (deporting a high-ranking British
diplomat and having morons like Joseph Joof and loose-canons like Blaise
making important foreign policy decisions) and the dismal governance issues
in the country, the sanctions our country is going to attract under Yaya,
will only get worse. The same IMF report I quoted you yesterday also
mentioned that “governance and political issues, including the delay in
local elections, the dismissal of key officials, and proposals to amend the
constitution, have cause concern among donors, who have POSTPONED the
roundtable meeting (originally scheduled for mid-2001) until after the
elections which are slated for October 2001 and early 2002”.

Clearly, Yaya CANNOT address these CONCERNS of the donors. So what we are
looking at in 2002 (if God forbid Yaya was to win) is that the donors will
pull out altogether. They would no longer be postponing meetings. They will
just leave our people to rot under Yaya while Yaya and his cohorts charter
private jets and travel the globe to vacation. Why do I think things can
only get worse? Well, just look at what is going on in the country. The
moron is NOT satisfied dismissing his civil servants. Now he is dismissing
high-ranking British diplomats. Another CONCERN the donors have pertains to
the Local Government Elections. No one is even talking about those elections
now. Does this government look like they want Local Elections? Did Joseph
Joof NOT too long ago proposed to do away with such elections altogether and
give Yaya the power to appoint Chiefs? Even though the government LIED to
the donors and told them that our budget made adequate provisions for the
coming elections, did we NOT hear Gabriel Roberts and Yankuba Touray say
that they do NOT want a transparent election because there is no funding?
Gabriel Roberts was visited by the IMF team and he gave them his word. Now
the vermin has been intimidated by Yaya to make a total U-turn. This
government CANNOT take care of the governance issues that the donors have
made a prerequisite for loans and grants.

Another issue that the IMF did NOT mention in their report and which is
going to dog a Yaya-led government is the issue of CORRUPTION. I guess the
IMF figured that they already had too many issues against this illegal
regime that can disqualify us from getting the maximum aid we can get from
the donors. What people have to realize is that other multilateral and
bilateral donors rely on IMF data. IMF might give us a break, but others
like Britain and the EU will NOT spare us if they know that the loose-canon
is at the helm. Clearly, there is rampant corruption in the country. Rest
assured that the next IMF/World Bank mission will look at the Customs
Department closely in light of the government’s own admission that the
Department has registered a dismal performance during the first half of this
year. Does this government have the political will and integrity to clean
house at the Customs? Obviously NOT. Baabaa Jobe is the king of Customs. The
July 22 Movement thugs are his servants at the Customs Department. This is
going to be the donors’ next reason NOT to give us loans and grants. Just
like we predicted for them the repercussions of the Alimenta debacle last
year, I am serving them notice again.

Later on I will get into more detail how the poor Gambian farmers and the
general population are still suffering from the Alimenta debacle despite
that the EU gave us close to a $12 million grant to take care of that
problem.

One might ask why the Alliance should go through the trouble of explaining
to the Gambians the impact five more years of these vermin will have on our
relations with our ‘Development Partners’. Well the answer is simple. The
reality on the ground is that 90% of our development budget is funded
through loans and grants. Not from Allah’s Bank. Not from Yaya’s pocket. Not
from money stolen from Sani Abacha. Not from money from Cuba and Libya (that
have their own problems). If I wanted to list the projects funded by the
AfDB for instance during the last eleven years, that will comprise of a G_L
posting by itself. Apart from goofy projects like the Arch at Independence
Drive (funded from stolen money from Taiwan) ALL the development projects in
the country were funded by the donors. The roads, the schools, the airport,
the clinics, the markets, the stadiums, the horticultural gardens, you name
it. Most of the proposals to attract the funding of these projects were
developed during the Jawara regime. What the vermin did, was just ride on
people’s coat tails and tell LIES upon LIES about ridiculous and childish
stories like “Allah’s Bank”. They knew if they explained the genesis of
these projects Gambians will realize that the vermin were IRRELEVANT
vis-à-vis our ‘development’ aspirations. What can High School drop-outs like
Yaya and Yankuba Touray bring to the table to attract funding of development
projects? Absolutely nothing. On the other hand, the vermin will alienate
our ‘Development Partners’ and steal the little that comes to the country in
order to open private Swiss Bank Accounts. Instead of adding, they were
subtracting.

We need to explain to our people where the money for the projects comes
from. We then need to tell the people that Darboe is the best person to
attract those funds. Darboe will put in place a formidable team that can
draw stellar proposals to attract the funding. We will also have in place a
professional civil service (different from the dismembered one where thugs
like Baabaa Jobe and July 22 Movement people rule). This civil service will
implement the development policies of the country and address all the
CONCERNS of the donors, including governance issues. We will even address
issues they did NOT raise with the vermin: CORRUTPION. Yaya’s plane will be
seized and his Swiss Bank Accounts, frozen.
KB


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