Gambia-l: Since my original posting, it appears things have grown even worse, even more precarious in The Gambia than I could have imagined within this short period of time. Fuel was not readily available by December 12th as the government promised, and long lines at petrol stations continue. The price of petrol has been raised, and expectedly, taxi fares have been climbing rapidly as well. Here are some of the indicators of harder times to come: Since the Budget Speech, The price of bread ("tapa-lapa") increased from D2 to D3; the cost of going on the Hajj to Mecca is set at D43,000 from just over D20,000; "town trip" within Serrekunda jumped from D15 to D25 or D30; and fees for foreign residents (considered very hardworking by Jammeh compared to the "lazy" Gambian youths) have skyrocketed as well. Devoid of solutions to the economic quagmire the country is in, the APRC regime has decided to tax Gambians and foreign residents heavily as a means to temporarily bring some form of stability to the country's economic well-being. It remains very doubtful that the pill prescribed by Dr. Jammeh would bring about economic salvation. At the least, there is a heightened feeling of relative deprivation and a sense that the nation is heading for even rougher times. I have never witnessed or experienced this type of collective despair before in my life. From drivers and shopkeepers to consumers and party activists, people are now very worried about their ability to weather this new storm unleashed by the APRC. There is even the conviction that Jammeh may finally admit to the regime's many failures and attempt to find new scapegoats in furtherance of his political objectives. Folks, forget about all the theorizing. We are talking about a country sliding downhill at a very alarming rate while those at the helm appear to be indifferent to, or incapable of, arresting the movement. Life is beginning to be quite unbearable for many in this country. The numbers of beggars and common criminals (pick-pockets, for example) are on the rise. Abdoulie Jallow asked a very pertinent question on what could be done by us collectively. I don't have a specific answer, but I am sure there is no shortage of people who may now be reassessing the situation privately with that issue in mind. God save us! Ebrima S. Conteh _________________________________________________________________ The new MSN 8: smart spam protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~