My Fellow Gambians,

From all the indications, the situation in The Gambia is not only
exceptionally serious, it is also quite disheartening.

Since Jammeh seized power, times in The Gambia have become tougher and
tougher by the year, the month, the week, the day, the hour, the minute, the
second.  Jammeh seized power with a packet of promises, but today these are
not worth the paper they were written on.

The realities of life in The Gambia today, demonstrate only this scoundrel’s
lack of integrity, his dishonesty and his mismanagement of every facet of
Gambian life.

Those who have followed my two debate postings to "Kebba Jobe" will have a
better understanding of my basis for describing Jammeh as an insincere and
lying miscreant.  Everyday, it is possible to talk to Gambians in The Gambia
or to people who have recently visited The Gambia, and they all tell the
same message:  that there is almost unendurable hardship in our country.

In fact, if it were not in the nature of Gambians to look after each other
and to be prepared to share their little with their families and neighbours,
people would have taken to the streets and marched onto the President
demanding he feed them directly.

The fact that Gambians overseas also regularly send money home to family and
friends, also masks the hardships endured by so many at home.  However, the
reality is that not every family has a relative or breadwinner in the West,
and for many of our citizens, daily life is immensely difficult.

The hardship in The Gambia cannot be changed by people sharing the little
that they have, nor by overseas contributions to family budgets at home.
These may ease the symptoms of hardship, but they do not go any way to
solving the underlying causes.  Gambian generosity only temporarily eases
the problems:  with each sunrise, the same problems will raise their ugly
heads, as surely as day follows night.

The only way forward, out of this hardship and despair, is to elect a
president and a government who are responsible, sincere, humble, who will
have the country at heart, who will work tooth and nail to address the needs
and aspirations of the people.

If you look at The Gambia today, the situation is so awful.  It is only
Jammeh and his cronies that are enjoying the fruits of their mismanagement
and dishonesty in government.  Forget what the pro-Jammeh spin doctors on
the Gambia-L might say – do not believe a word of it.  We know what the
realities are.

People’s hard-earned properties have been seized, and Jammeh and his cronies
are occupying them for themselves.  Jammeh and his colleagues are changing
vehicles like clothes.  They are giving scholarships to their cronies and
their relatives.  They are abusing government telephones, government fuel.

They are having medical treatment in the West.  Their wives are delivering
their babies in western hospitals.  Jammeh is dishing out the state’s money
like nobody’s business, taking people to Mecca, claiming to own an aircraft.
  The whole government machinery is intransparent, unaccountable, and
destructive.

Jammeh and his cronies are running The Gambia as if it were their own
property.  Jammeh is now so far from reality, that he truly believes that he
is our king and we are his subjects.  You have only to look at each and
every sector of life in The Gambia, to know the scale of the crisis and
mismanagement.

Projects started are at a standstill because of a lack of funds;  projects
that are finished are fast falling into ruin, like the airport or Arch 22;
the economy is in the doldrums.

The Gambia’s total debt stock is rising by the hour. In fact, The Gambia has
become so indebted domestically and internationally that it has now been
included among the world’s most highly indebted poor countries in order to
benefit from some debt relief.

The Finance Minister himself, Famara Jatta, told us in his Budget Speech of
2001 that The Gambia’s debt burden is "no longer sustainable and is
seriously stifling The Gambia’s poverty reduction efforts" to the extent
that Government "devotes over 30% of its total budget to debt servicing".

This year alone, we are told by Jatta, The Gambia will spend 500 million
Dalasis to service its debts.

Can you imagine that The Gambia’s debt stock which stood at 390 million US
dollars in 1992, has risen to 566 million US dollars by 1999 !!  An increase
of a massive 45% in just seven years !!

The cost of living in The Gambia as we saw in the newspapers recently, is
beginning to spiral out of control:  fuel prices have increased, commodity
prices for soap, candles, rice, sugar etc. have increased;  taxi fares have
gone up significantly.

To appreciate that The Gambia’s economy is unmanageable and is not
expanding, the Finance Minister himself helped us in his budget speech when
he told us that whilst The Gambia’s domestic exports were valued at 239
million Dalasis, The Gambia’s total imports were valued at 2,600 million
Dalasis !  As a result, the trade deficit for The Gambia in 1999 stood at
2.4 billion Dalasis.

This puts our dreadful economic plight into perspective:  we are going
nowhere fast !

Meanwhile, Jammeh and his cronies are paying themselves inflated salaries,
increasing travel and per diem allowances:  they have their mobile and fixed
telephones free of charge;  many of the senior members of government and the
civil service , live rent free in fancy houses.  Because of their exotic
lifestyles, foreign currency is often hard to find, since these people are
also trading in the latter.

Let us not also forget that according to a recent International Labour
Organisation Study in 1998, 60% of Gambians were subsisting below the
poverty line.  By 1999 this figure had risen (in one year alone) to 69%.

Let us also remind ourselves of the findings of the Participatory Poverty
Assessment Report published by the Gambian government in 2000.  According to
this study, in URD 99 per cent of the people subsist below the poverty line
and there is no food security:  in CRD the figure is 94%.  In LRD the figure
is 86%.  In Banjul the figure is 89%.  In Western Division the figure is
94%.  In North Bank, the figure is 90%.

Even access to safe drinking water is elusive to 50% of our entire
population.

The figures for infant and maternal mortality have skyrocketed, despite the
valiant efforts of health workers across the country.  Our health services
are characterised by lack of resources, lack of equipment, lack of trained
personnel, lack of medication.

Our hospitals are in disarray – bed sheets go unchanged for days because
there are too few of them.  Because of Jammeh’s despotic rule, some of the
best brains in the medical sector are leaving for the private sector or
heading west.

In the education sector, we lack qualified teachers, we lack suitable books,
we lack equipment and materials.  Students have to attend school on a shift
system.  Schools have been built but remain empty and unfurnished, without
qualified staff.

Electricity remains elusive and the fluctuations and load shedding continue
unabated. Jammeh promised that by July 2001, 99% of the country would have
been electrified:  well July is just around the corner, and The Gambia will
mostly remain in the dark !

Transportation in the rural areas remains a problem.  The roads are in a
dreadful condition, and although some roads have received a cosmetic
treatment, the first rains will bring chaos again.

Tourism is in a dire state:  despite the hardworking efforts of those
engaged in the industry, without good government direction, the situation
can only worsen, particularly with the onset of the summer "low season".

Agriculture is not improving – and what point is there for farmers to expend
all their efforts, when they are still not paid for their crops.  A
promissory note from government does not buy food, clothes or education.

This government is so inefficient that it cannot even manage the
environment.  Coastal erosion is a constant and increasing problem, and the
sea is seriously eating into our coastal areas.  Our forests are depleted,
and there is no national policy for tree replacement.

Our wildlife and park management compared to that elsewhere in the
sub-region, is disappointing to say the least.  We are fast losing our
beautiful and diverse species of flora and fauna because of a lack of
prioritisation or policy by government.

Customs revenue continues to decrease, and there is no accountability or
transparency in the activities of the Central Bank.  We reliably hear that
Baba Jobe for example, may go to the Bank and have as much foreign currency
as he wishes, without accounting to anyone.

Really, we are dealing with a criminal government.

In this posting, I have not touched on the plight of the Judiciary or on
Human Rights violations.  These are areas to be explored in further
postings.

Jammeh and his cronies can no longer fool their own shadows anymore, so we
should not be allowing them to fool us, The Gambian people.

It is clear, based on their actions yesterday, today and tomorrow, that they
do not have what it takes to "deliver the goods".  They lack commitment.
They lack experience.  They lack integrity.  They lack sincerity.  They lack
dedication.  They lack innovation.  They just do not have what it takes.

My Fellow Gambians !

Really, the message is as clear as a bright noon day.  We know we are in a
bleak situation, but we CAN get out of it we are determined and have the
will.

HOW ??( I'll touch on it briefly, but will elaborate in my next posting)

Well, here is the million dollar question, and the answer lies in the will
of the Gambian people.

If we all agree that there is hardship in our nation, that Jammeh’s rule
means nothing but doom for the people, that his regime is incompetent and
corrupt, then we have to take action NOW.

The elections are coming, and they should be taken seriously.  We agree that
Jammeh cannot solve our problems:  he has had seven long years to prove
himself, and he has met with dismal failure and worse

WE HAVE TO EXERCISE OUR INALIENABLE RIGHTS AS VOTERS AND SEE THE BACK OF HIM
AND HIS REGIME THROUGH THE BALLOT BOX.

Since we do not want violent confrontation to change the fate of our
country, we have to use every peaceful means at our disposal to get rid of
the tyrant and his gang of criminals.

We have seen what has happened in Kiang recently, and we should not allow
this to happen again.  People should not sell their voter’s cards:  they
have to use these and vote for a president and representatives who are
responsible, who can solve their problems, who can enhance their well-being.

The Jammeh people have been spending money to buy votes, but the plight of
the people in Kiang, or my home village of Njau, or in Banjul will remain
the same.  Individuals may receive money for an APRC vote, but at the macro
level, the problem will remain.

Selling your vote may be a short term solution to getting a little money,
but in the longer term this incompetent government will lead to even greater
financial hardship for all of us.  In a week, your money will be gone but
the essential problems facing us all under Jammeh will remain.  The problem
with The Gambia is bigger than a 25 Dalasis purchase of your vote.

The problem is one of bad governance.  It is about putting in place a
government that can manage our few resources efficiently and honestly, and
can formulate and implement policies which will uplift Gambians and their
country.

Now that we agree that the problem cannot be tackled piecemeal, nor by the
purchase of votes, we should be clear about what we can, as individuals, do.

The Gambian people should be prepared and ready to make change happen.

The opposition parties and concerned Gambians overseas would encourage the
people at home to exercise their civil rights, but it is the people
themselves who have to get up, go out and VOTE for the party of their
choice, without unfair inducement from any side.

If we do not act, the problem will never go away.  It will merely get worse.

Let The Gambian people give their votes to candidates and political parties
who can bring about the necessary change for The Gambia.

In my next Message to All Gambians, I shall go into the detail of HOW we may
all work together to facilitate political change in our country.  I shall be
touching on:


1. A fair and level playing field for the forthcoming elections

2. Resistance of financial inducements in the elections

3. The need for proper and effective monitoring of the electoral process and
elections

4. The need for a tactical alliance of the opposition parties

5. The need for political education of our people, especially in the
provinces. etc, etc.




God help our country.


Ebrima Ceesay,
Birmingham, UK

PS: "Kebba Jobe": I’ll get back to you by tommorow!

Brother Kabir: Yes, we can find consolation in the fact that the Valencia
goal was scored by John Carew, whose father is Gambian. And we, the Gunners,
also have the FA cup finals pending! Hopefully, we can clinch it by beating
Liverpool.

I just watched the Manchester United/Bayern Munich game, and Manchester
United are also eliminated. So Leeds United are the only English left in the
competition. In the Semi-finals, Leeds will definitely miss South African
defender Lucas Radebe, whose season is already over, because of a knee
injury. I believe that the defensive partnership between Rio Ferdinand and
Dominic Matteo is yet to be tested! Again, Kabir, it is always good to hear
from you and my regards to Brother Omar Drammeh.

Momodou Mboge: Thanks for the useful posting. I enjoyed reading it.

Kebba Dampha: Great job! Just keep it up!


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