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The Independent (Banjul)
COLUMN
March 8, 2004 
Posted to the web March 8, 2004 
Khadija
Banjul 
NAWEC 
Formerly called the National Water and Electricity Company, this important 
utility service provider is now known as No Available Water and Electricity 
Company. According to some of the Grapes, this company needs not advertise to 
customers its new name. The wretchedness of the entire electricity and water 
situation in the country says it all.
  
But wait, water or no water, light or no light, the bills stay outrageously 
high; they keep going up every month. Why that? Research done by the Grapes 
indicate that the on and off nature of the power situation makes the meters jump 
high every time NAWEC suddenly switches on their erratic power supply thus 
cheating customers.
There is whispering that though the broom cannot sweep itself owing to the 
fact that NAWEC falls under the Office of the President, President Jammeh is 
nonetheless determined to sweep all dirt from under the carpet as soon as the 
reconnaissance work currently being carried out on the No Water and Electricity 
Company is concluded. Gambians want to know what has happened to all this talk 
of electrifying the whole country!
Gamtel Calendar
Whoever did Gamtel's 2004 calendar has a big reference to clear.
Tobaski (Eid ul adha) which fell in February this year was not indicated on 
that calendar. Tamharit (Muslim new year) another important holiday which fell 
in March this year was also excluded. Why are these important Muslim feasts 
not included on those calendars? At least someone at Gamtel should have been 
professional enough to see these anomalies if not the quack calendar designer.
Last year (2003) First International Bank (FIB) made history with their 
calendar when it read September 31 and February 30 or so. The calendar contract 
must have been given to someone who was determined to add more days to the year 
and perhaps make more money.
Companies should entrust sensitive issues like calendar designing and 
production to qualified bidders, not friends. The public is interested purely in the 
services offered by these companies opting for calendars and not big 
photographs of company executives showing off their new suits and Rolex watches.
Forex Bureaux and Banks
The jabbering in town these days centers on Foreign Exchange Bureaux and 
banks.
Do you know that the Central Bank of Gambia has raised the license fee for 
bureaux from D300,000 to a whooping D1million? Well, check out the papers for 
confirmation.
The burning question now is do we expect artificial inflation to abate if we 
overtax business concerns? The bureaux will surely get their money back and 
that is going to be through innocent people who are going to get fleeced. If the 
bureaux should close down as a result of high tariff where else would people 
change money apart from the banks?
Now that the black markets are no more, we all go to the banks these days. 
But go there and say you want to buy a thousand dollars. The answer you are most 
likely to receive is the amount allocated for the day is finished or they 
wont sell that much to one individual.
Understood! But you tell them you want to sell a thousand or more Forex to 
the bank or say transfer the said amount to a bank in America, the cashier will 
say to you the bank has a limitation on both purchase and sale of Forex. Not 
understood!
How can banks in dire need of Forex put a limitation on the purchase of Forex 
from private individuals willing to sell?
Does this mean there is not enough dalasis and Forex in this country to do 
normal business?
Lest we forget, Mr. Carvalho of SCB is urged to work on a new project of 
installing more teller machines at the Serrekunda branch now that the customers 
are increasing daily.
Please keep them constantly in order and functioning to ease the long queues!
Current Crisis Do you know that a once popular beach bar on Fajara Beach, El 
Mundo, has been demolished and in its place a very large three-story beach bar 
has been built? The Grapes say the owner is a very popular guy who is mostly 
in the news these days. The imposing structure looks completely out of 
character with other structures around it.
Not even the two-story hotel next to it matches its grandeur. Those who are 
responsible for giving planning permission must have must have changed the 
rules to accommodate this huge edifice part of which juts out onto the beach 
itself.
Are you also aware of an exposed high voltage cable lying right at the U-turn 
in front of Ice Man on the Banjul-Serrekunda highway?
The police are always at that spot checking for faulty vehicles. They should 
have reported the dangerous situation to NAWEC. By the way, how come all those 
light poles before Kanifing Police Station look as if they have been 
vandalized by thieves? They would look more beautiful with florescence light bulbs on 
them Mr. Station Officer.
The Grapes also say they are very impressed with KMC's effort in clearing the 
Banjul high way of dirt after years of accumulation and neglect. Our roads 
look quite narrow because of the sand. We hope this work falls under the routine 
schedule of the council and not another bogus short-term money-driven project.
Do you also know that several ghetto beach bars made with corrugated iron 
sheets without toilet and water facilities are springing up fast at BB? Three 
years back, a massive demolition campaign was launched along our beaches and a 
new standard of cement block beach bars worth D200,000 each was set by the 
tourism authority. Today that rule has been broken and somehow someone somewhere is 
somewhat responsible for this breach.
Fearful gossip from Lamin Village says some money-minded Mauritanian business 
men (Narrs) at NTC Junction are selling a bag of rice at D500.
One of the grapes was forced to buy a bag at this cutthroat price because his 
family was starving. This is cheating in broad daylight.
These Narrs should be investigated.
Sex Tourism Again
The Grapes have been receiving countless complaints from tourists that they 
are being sexually harassed by sex-craving bumsters. The old bumster problem is 
slowly returning!
The tourists say the hotels are hassle-free but that just five yards from 
their hotels, bumsters harass them for sex.
Obscenities like "Do you want to ride my big bike," "I have a marvelously big 
and sweet African banana you may want to try," or "Do you need hot sex, I can 
provide you with one," and "I eat special food which gives me endurance and 
high sexual performance," are what these bumsters take as greetings for female 
tourists. The bumstresses would say, "Hello Toubab, do you need some 
massaging, I have golden fingers you know?"
There is no hiding now. The bums are menacingly daring in their stalking. 
Tourists who refuse their indecent approaches are called racists and told to go 
to hell or back to countries they came from; often with the remarks, "You don't 
want to try a strong, young Gambian man while you are on holiday."
The Grapes say there is not enough police patrol on the beaches and in the 
Tourist Development Area. The few policemen on patrol want bicycles and horses 
for their job to be properly done.
Fingerprinting Foreigners
There is a vicious rumour circulating in town that the Department of 
Immigration has refused to commence the issuing of documents to foreigners this year 
because the department wants to have all foreigners including diplomats 
fingerprinted and subjected to marathon interviews to ascertain their true identities.

The gossip is that The Gambia is trying to upgrade its security situation to 
match countries like the US in order to forestall any Al Qaida attacks.
But is there really such impending danger as anticipated and would this 
fingerprinting thing not be too expensive and time consuming for our meagre 
resources? The Grapes think it is an over-ambitious project.

"The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are 
evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it."
 - Albert Einstein 
"
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change 
the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has."
- Margaret Mead 

"When the government fears the people, you have liberty. When the people fear 
the government, you have tyranny." 
- Thomas Jefferson

"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing" 
- Edmund Burke

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