Dear Ebrima,

The respond to your last mail on the situation at home seems to btriggering
another interesting discussion,some of us are still not able to wait for the
second part.However a similar discussion was taking up here sometime back and
some of us were insisting that when dealing with certain statistic one should
be very critical,especially economic statistics because they  normally dont
correspond to the realities on  the ground and if I understand Saul this is
what he was trying to say,by insisting that the economic realities of the
average Gambians did not change since the coup.This is a reality that cant be
be disputed.
However  I believed that without taking consideration of the realities on the
ground one might just end up with figures that do not explain much.You are for
example right to say that ground nut production have increased due to among
other things enough rain,but the other side of this reality is the fact that
peasants were having much hell to  do away with their products .We  know who
was blamed for this mess,the consequences were never discussed.
On the question of the health sector.it is true that Gambia have to some
extend a better primary health care services,compared to the rest of the
region,this is not accidental,giving the political crisis in the sub
region.But you should understand that even the PPP could claimed this as part
of their achievements during their 30 years of rule.There was much talk by
then also as to how great our primary health care was and that infant
mortality was going down.I never disputed the fact that much work was done in
this field,but to be claimed by the PPP,as the APRC is also doing now,that
this should be credited to them is unfounded.There were other factors and
actors,like the Gambia Family Planning association,the ordinary Gambian people
who must be credited for this development.Take for example the local
intervention against an epidermic out break that Tony Ceesay mention in one of
the discussions here,it was the local people who were trained to handle this
issue with simple method of mixing among other things sugar and water,this
epidemic out break was brought under control saving the lives of many
children.
We need hospitals,but some of us have always argued that upgrading the
hospitals we have and invest more in primary health care would have cost our
nation less and it will be more effective.Previous practices ,as the one
mention above,have proved this and I see no reason why it should not be given
a priority rather than building hospitals without medication and doctors.Lets
take diabetes,which is now a growing problem in the country,a simple
intervention at local level will have helped those with this sickness to live
with it for the rest of their lives.Clean drinking water should not have been
a problem in the Gambia,if the government is not able to provide it,the people
could be taught to do so on their own.
In short,the  money that is been used to build these hospitals,if use to
educate more nurses and build more and better health centers the results would
have by now been there for all to see. 
I  dont think,as Mr Bojang is insisting that you should venture into certain
statistics,for example the issue of unemployment,there exist no such accurate
statistic,any thing will just be speculations.Even statistics on infant
mortality rate is much of speculations, the amount of children who died
without coming into contacts with health institutions is unknown.It is only an
efficient and expanded health care services that can help to solve such
problems and give an accurate picture of infant mortality rate.
Even if Jones figures are correct that 97 % of Gambian children under the age
of 12 have undergone the immunization programme,which is very doubting,might
be based on the fact that our estimated population is just 1.5 million,many
times less than that of Lagos.If we even based our arguments on these figures
it will mean  that almost every Gambian child  under the age of 12 have been
in contact with the health service in the country,which is very doubting.I am
not arguing against these figures just for the sake of saying something ,as
said earlier these figures  could even be claim by the PPP as part of their
achievements.But to accept these figures will be a great danger to the health
policy of our nation,because they can simply blind us to the realities of the
Gambiant Children.They lack facts and I have my doubts  that  all the children
in Badibu Mandory  or Kerr Mama who before the age of 12 have been in contact
with health centers.
But I agreed with Mr Bojang that certain comparison should be made,this is
statistics that existed during the PPP era and statistics of the present
day,this will help us to see better the differences.Mr Jones is also right to
say that with what you have presented us,there are all proofs that we are
confronted with serious issues as far as national development is concern,thus
some of us insist that nation building needs serious sacrifice beyond personal
interest.
Just some observations whiles awaiting for your second part
For Freedom

Saiks















Mr. text=text=text=Bojangtext=text=text=,

I agree w/ you in that real comparative figures from the two periods
(text=text=text=Pretext=text= %26#037;26
Post Coup d'etat,) would have provided a more helpful picture. I like to
believe that text=text=Ceesay'stext=text= analysis is merely an overview of
text=text=Gambiantext=text= reality as
oppose to what the text=text=govttext=text= boasts of. The Health and
Education sectors
especially have clearly improved since the coup. Empty schools and hospitals
are better than none. At least someday, we can fill them appropriately. The
inflation rates, and even the economy's growth rate


















 are both impressive too.
So, the text=text=Yayatext=text= text=text=Jammehtext=text= text=govttext=
needs to be given credit for these successes if you
want to call them that.

However, what we all need to be cognizant of is that, these "successes"
haven't necessarily translate into a higher living standard for the average
text=Gambiantext=. The average text=Gambiantext= is no better off today than
he/she was six
years ago. So, some of us really wonder what the hoopla is all about when we
read of text=Yayatext= text=Jammehtext= and his supporters bragging about how
they've
"developed" the Gambia since 1994. Yes, several things have changed for the
better, but much remains to be done even by Developing Countries' standards.
I see text=Ceesay'stext= paper as an overview exposing Appearance V. Reality.
I'm not
speaking for text=Ceesaytext=. He can do that. This is my opinion from what
I've read
from his piece.

But to assess your comments in one sentence: you're right about
text=Ceesaytext= not
doing a real comparatively analysis. I'm not sure you'll like some of the
figures he'll come up with, but that would have helped.

Peace.

Saul.


>From: text=LaminLamstext= text=Bojangtext=
<[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Assessing text=Jammeh'stext= 5 years in Office (Part 1)
>Date: Thu, 9 Dec 1999 10:04:05 %26#043;0100
>
>Hello text=Ebrimatext=,
>Your initiative of making an assessment of the 5 year of the
text=Jammehtext=`s rule
>in the Gambia is  very good, but there is  a lot to be included to help us
>analyze the report and make our conclusions.
>Your assessment of the text=Jammehtext=´s five year  rule has not given me
any
>evidence of either a failure or a success . You stated that said you are
>going to asses a five year period but gave us a report of 1998/99
>You did not give us any background of the different sectors you have
>treated in you report, so that we could compared the figures before the
>coup and  figures  from the report you presented. You have not given us
>any figures of unemployment, GNP , to be compared to the present figure to
>make our conclusion.
>In you report you did not take into consideration  the 2 year period of
>the military rule and the last 3 years of the democratic  elected
>government comprising of all  other parties.
>You mention schools and lack of teachers, but did not mention the increase
>in human capital the Gambia will achieve in the future by creating more
>educated  students .You mentioned the hospital but did not give any
>information about what  the better health condition of the population can
>do for the country.
>You compared the income per capita but , that does not say a lot about a
>country´s development,  you know there are a lot of disparities in
>comparing countries by their peer capita income. Your comparison will be
>more helpful if you use figures from the 1994 rather average of the
>developing countries. These countries are of the same category but have a
>many different economies and possibilities to growth and development.
>You mentioned the investment in the infrastructure which have be paid on
>interest , but you did not mention any advantages of the a good
>infrastructure of a country. These loans should be use careful, because a
>failure with these projects  will put a heavy debt burden on us and the
>future generations. You mentioned  many other sectors but never stated
>what government investment have been carried out after 1994, did they
>failed or succeeded etc?
>I hope you will give us some more information in your part two to enable
>us make an evaluation and a conclusion
>text=Lamstext=
>
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