Culled from The Independent October 18 Will See a New Country - Sidia Jatta The Independent (Banjul) October 5, 2001 Posted to the web October 8, 2001 Lamin Dibba Banjul, the Gambia Mr. Sidia Jatta, presidential nominee of the People's Democratic Organization for Independence and Socialism (PDOIS) has said "October 18th 2001 will be the day when Gambian electorates will throw Gambia in shambles or make a new Gambia for the betterment of every citizen through their ballots. Addressing a mass PDOIS rally at Brikama on Friday Jatta said that the Gambian electorates should this year open their eyes and vote in an efficient political party which will up-lift the hardship Gambians have been going through for the pass thirty-one years. "No matter, we will flush out president Jammeh this year", he asserted. The PDOIS nominee also said that the "dalasis is sinking into a bottomless ocean everyday," and that is why "the prices of every commodity is rising high because the demand for our import is higher than our export." "Two years ago our import and export trade had a lose of two thousand four hundred million dalasis," Mr. Jatta said. The PDOIS presidential nominee also said that the loan around the neck of the Gambia is over eight billion dalasis and that this year four hundred and seventeen million will be taken from the Treasury to pay off loans. Jatta also alleged that "from an eighty-year-old to a newly born baby in The Gambia, each has an eight thousand loan tied around his or her neck and," and that "it is a must that every loan on the Gambia will be paid." "That is why the World Bank and the IMF dictate to the Gambian government to sell some of our major companies that earn us lots of money," Mr. Jatta alleged. "If what is written is not changed Gamtel, GPA, GPTC and others companies will be sold to pay our loans. Sidia Jatta also said; "all the projects that the APRC government have been singing of are all loans with very heavy interests." He cited the Kombo Coastal Road project which he valued at a hundred and twelve million dalasi loan from the Kuwait fund. "The Bwiam hospital thirty million dalasis, the forty-six million dalasis Soma hospital and the hundred and sixty million Mandinaba-West Field Road project are all loans," he said. Mr. Jatta said that if voted in as president this year his first priority will be "to alleviate poverty and improve agriculture which is the back-bone of The Gambia." He said health education and the living standards of Gambians will be improved and "all the clauses in the constitution inimical to democracy will be repealed. "This is a chance for Gambians to either continue the hardship on us or have a relief come October 18," Jatta said. _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp <<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>> To view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html <<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>