Gassa,
I have wanted to respond to yours and everyone else’s contributions to the
budget speech and subsequent issues but had very little time in my hands to
do so. This will in effect serve as my response to the many issues ranging
from the current diplomatic dilemma to the economic situation depicted by
Famara Jatta’s budget speech.
 Gassa, it is an illusion in itself to assume that there is/was an
illusion “that, without western aid we will not survive…” among Gambians of
today. What many conscientious Gambians and friends of Gambia, including
the expelled diplomats, are crying for are a remedy for discomfort and
embarrassment in the global diplomatic and economic scene. Instead, Jammeh
and his advisers want to use the excuse and claim of undue interference
in “domestic affairs” to further plunge the nation into the abyss.
Gassa, the truth - which the likes of you are trying so hard to avoid - is
that the high level of corruption in the country and the misguided national
and international policies that have and are continuing to plunge the
country into poverty is turning us into an international pariah. The Gambia
is too small and weak to assume the status of a pariah state: the growing
economic constraints render us totally incapable of withstanding outright
international isolation.
Amidst the threat of such misguided policies, what every well-meaning
citizen must do is to urge the government to explore every available avenue
in order to avert the current situation from degenerating any further.
Government should not overlook the possibility of the threats of sanctions
or assume that it had survived some mild forms of sanctions before by
pretending that all is calm and cozy. Rather we all should realize that
economic progress in our country is inextricably bound to the economic
progress and basic well being of the individual Gambian household as well
as the sub-region at large.
Our domestic policies appear to be focused at creating only two major
classes: the affluent and the impoverished. Any such policies that deprave
the vast majority of employment and other opportunities are a recipe for
division. We should all urge for the assurance by government to create new
jobs for hundreds of youth that cannot find employment.
The resilience of Gambians against the backdrop or growing economic
mismanagement and the recalcitrant extravagant life styles of a minute
segment of our society cannot be overemphasized. The spiraling pomposity of
those who continue to live, conceitedly, within the arrogance and falsehood
of supremacy and indispensability over their compatriots primarily because
of heir ready access to nation’s wealth must be discouraged.
The mature handling of potentially explosive situations is required in
order not to plunge Gambia back into another round of a state of economic
desperation. We must all refuse to join the bandwagon of those who are
blindly avoiding the truth. The problems in The Gambia today are due to the
government’s failure to formulate distinctively pragmatic, domestic and
foreign policies that will be patterned after the principles of
nationalism – which they seem to adore so much but have very understanding
of in the context of the current global economic environment. Sadly enough,
both our domestic and foreign policies have been ambiguous, to say the
least, and at present it is imperceptible which posture Gambia has adopted
as a vital member of the global community. Indeed a sad state of affairs
which cannot be avoided by expelling and threatening the expulsion of
western diplomats.

Abdoulie A. Jallow
(BambaLaye)
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter"
-M.L King Jr.

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