Mr. Ceesay:

I want to commend you for your recent posting.  You have raised critical
issues that the next republic needs to pursue.

I want to emphasize that without affordable medication and proper healthcare
system, we will be unable to sustain leverage in education, women issues,
culture and sports.  Our number one priority is to embark on a public
campaign on the prevention of deadly decease, especially aids.  This issue
has helped in reducing the cost of healthcare and aids in many countries.

Education cannot improve if our country lacks the vision of economic
development.  With the limited resources we have, the government should
aggressively seek investments from foreign entities.  The culprit of
skepticism on the part of foreign investment in The Gambia is the moron of
Kaninlai, who lacks an understanding of a free and democratic Gambia in
sustaining economic growth.  I advocate for no corporate tax.  We must
aggressively seek to make The Gambia the Mexico of corporate America.
Shareholders will be sensitive to our business strategy.  A tax free Gambia
will make the Board Rooms of corporate America blink and ask where is The
Gambia?

It is appalling that the government of the Gambia, including Sir Dawda's
democratic institution relied heavily on foreign educators.  Sir Dawda and
dictator yahya did not set the same standards for foreign educators as they
have done for Gambians.  Who knows if these so-called foreign teachers
actually graduated from college?

In the area of population control enough emphasis has not been made on family
planning.  The policy of polygamy needs to be revisited.  Can a man of 40
years of age continue to marry more than one wife?  Who will assume the
responsibility of taking care of his children if he unfortunately dies.  This
is a very touchy subject, especially among the Moslem population.  Is it in
the Holy Quran to marry more than one wife?  Is it fair to the first wife who
is eventually replaced by the new wife?  Is this against the doctrine of
Islam in mistreating a wife?  Can we go in-depth in the Quran to ask whether
this has been proclaimed by Prophet Muhammad?

Culture is very important in every society.  Why should we have to study the
English language and other foreign languages when we cannot enforce our
students to study our own native Gambian languages?  By studying our Gambian
languages, we will become more sensitive to other cultures and appreciative
of them.

The NGOs are important in every developing country, but to what extent?  We
want to make sure we recruit organizations that play emphasis on economic
development.
We should provide a sustainable environment in recruiting NGOs that are
interested in planning for a less dependent society.

Foreign trade is another subject that the next government needs to tackle.
There should be less dependent on tariffs as a source of revenue for our
country.  I believe that the government should have tariff free zone so that
the unit costs of products can be cheaper.

Every Gambian should have the right to engage in trade.  The government
should not set barriers for any aspiring Gambian businessperson who wants to
import goods and services into our country.  The same principle should be set
in our export category.

There should be a direct overhaul in our agricultural sector.  We should
abandon total reliance on groundnuts and concentrate on other tropical
products.  Some of these products are cotton, cassava, tomatoes, apples,
cucumbers, carrots, oranges, strawberries, and many others.  We should
encourage our farmers to grow plants, especially plants that generate glue
and other byproducts.  We should invest in desalting our abandon water from
the River Gambia.

With proper vision and respect for The Gambian farmer, businessperson, civil
servant, student and the teacher, our next republic will be the envy of the
world.

Naphiyo,

Comrade ML Jassey-Conteh

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