Well said Abdoulaye. Please read on. Visiting Professor Unimpressed With Rule Since Coup The Independent (Banjul) June 16, 2003 Posted to the web June 16, 2003 Pk Jarju Banjul A visiting Gambian academic based at the Miami University in the US state of Ohio has said anybody with an objective study of the current Gambian situation would be unimpressed by nine years of President leadership, which has presided over nothing but economic and political anomalies that have grown far worse than what used to obtain before 1994. In an exclusive interview with The Independent recently Professor Abdoulie Saine expressed reservations over the reasons for the July 22, 1994 military coup, which swept Sir Dawda Jawara and his PPP government from power. Professor Saine who is the deputy head of the political science department of Miami University expressed concern over what he called the "deplorable" economic and political situation in The Gambia, which he said has discredited whatever justifications were advanced for the takeover. He claimed that it was evident to even him after spending years abroad that the socio-economic and political conditions Gambians are living have only the military coup to blame for their aggravation. He said within a short span of nine years living in The Gambia has been transformed into a sordid state of affair, which seriously denies credence to the idea of toppling the regime that preceded the Jammeh administration. He admitted that there has been some insfrastructural development but he added that this success story has been largely compromised by the trying economic and political situation, which he described as a "stalemate" going by the level of inflation, the unchecked depreciation of the Dalasi against foreign currencies, conditions of service and the poor living conditions for the people unknown to the political elite. According to Professor Saine the Jammeh regime has compromised the principles under which it seized power thanks to the application of tendencies with which the PPP were accused of mismanaging the affairs of the country. For instance, he said during its 30-year leadership the PPP was only involved in one alleged crude oil saga while the Jammeh regime has been involved in two after just nine years in power. He further added that the level of corruption alleged in the PPP era is higher today, which is epitomized by higher deprivation, human rights abuses among others. Saine noted that based on what he has seen in the country for the past eight years, The Gambia under Jammeh would get increasingly difficult for the ordinary man to live in. He predicted more trying times ahead at which time the local currency would be "a scrap paper". He believes that in order to avoid this bleak future, there is a need for peaceful change of government in the 2006 elections. He said Gambian lives have not improved under President Jammeh's leadership, making it all the more urgent to change the status quo and usher in a leadership that can reverse the trend and improve the standard of living of people living in the country. "I am not saying all these because I am opposed to Jammeh. This is based on my eight years of research and observations since then," he said. Professor Saine who wrote a series of articles about the country politics since the 1994 coup stated that there are some slight similarities between the APRC and PPP government "to which Jammeh to a large extent is a by-product of". According to him, both the PPP and the APRC in other ways were faced by economic and political constraints. He added that the foreign policy of the two governments were almost the similar and the major priorities of the two is to bring into the country as much resources as they can to support themselves primarily and to improve the living conditions of the people secondarily. He also observed that despite this similitude the APRC is a far cry from the PPP days because there is current heavy-handedness, unproven human rights, lack of openness, lack of respect for the rule of law and free capitalist economy. He noted that even though the PPP government had not improved it was the hard working and enterprising nature of ordinary Gambians, which provided the congenial atmosphere under which they live. Professor Saine also believes that it is up to the opposition parties and the Gambian people to reorganize themselves and put up a strong challenge to the current order, which has secured a strangulating grip on power in spite of its lack of ideas to improve living conditions. "The country belongs to all of us. We all have a stake in its administration, thus my concern for the welfare of the people who cannot enjoy economic prosperity and political accomplishment under the sterile leadership we have in The Gambia today" he pointed out. _________________________________________________________________ Tired of spam? 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