From http://www.observer.gm

Opinion
There are more urgent needs
By Salieu EH John
Jul 28, 2004, 10:51


The burning issue of the day is the deteriorating economic climate in the
country. This is the main subject for discussion among the youth, adults,
civil servants, businessmen and women, housewives, in short all and sundry.

It has been widely speculated and rumoured that government had set aside
between D50 and D80 million to spend on celebrating the tenth anniversary
of the July 22nd military takeover. Whether the celebration is necessary in
the first place is actually not my worry. What worries me is how the
alleged sums could be spent on such celebrations at this period of time
when our economy is in such a bad shape and reaching an almost epic
proportion. This decision doesn’t portray the Jammeh administration in any
positive light at all.

On the contrary, it shows how insensitive the regime is to the plight of
the masses; the hunger and abject poverty which ten years ago Jammeh
promised us he and his cohorts came to improve.

A newspaper recently published an article reporting that there is shortage
of drugs at the RVTH. Some say the paediatric wing at the hospital lacks
incubators and that premature babies could not be saved. Is President
Jammeh aware of this situation at the hospital ? Is he aware that some of
our schools, particularly those in the provinces, are merely existing and
not functioning? That science, art and craft, woodwork and metal work
equipment, materials and tools are in acute shortage in most of our schools
throughout the country? That the computers that have been supplied to some
schools in the provinces are simply sitting there as white elephants
collecting dust - the worst enemies of machines because they cannot be used
due to either dead battery cells which cannot be replaced or stolen solar
panels?

Look at the electricity situation in the country. It has worsened and it is
continuing to worsen despite desperate efforts to improve the situation.
The Daily Observer of June 22 quoted Nawec chairman, Amigo Jeng, as saying
that an estimated D45 million would be needed to procure spareparts to
repair and put generators 6 and 11 on the run again. This contradicts
previous announcements by the senior management of Nawec that the current
load-shedding being experienced was due to the delay in arrival of fuel and
the limited fuel in stock which has to be controlled.

The same paper in the same issue quoted Amigo Jeng as saying that in order
to raise the money to procure the necessary spareparts for generators 6 and
11, Nawec was going to review its tariff upwards. It is therefore
tantalising to learn that Nawec has donated millions to government as its
contribution to the celebrations. If this is true, how fair is Nawec to its
consumers? Isn’t Nawec guilty of exploiting the Gambian people and of
increasing their hardship? It reasons that a better way to have raised the
money to pay for the spareparts required to get engines 6 and 11 working
again was to get all debtors owing Nawec to pay up - government,
parastatals, industries, supermarkets and even private individuals who owe
Nawec huge amounts of money in arrears. By allegedly donating millions of
dalasis to government to celebrate the July 22 takeover, Nawec has clearly
answered the lingering question: What is wrong with Nawec?

on the part of government, it is unfortunate that it has chosen to let the
celebration of July 22 take precedence over desperate need such as
electricity. The importance of an efficient, competent and reliable
electricity supply network cannot be overemphasised. In the absence of the
latter, we cannot talk of development as everything hinges on electricity.
We now live in an era in which electricity is a sine qua non. Government
machinery cannot function and homes, institutions, computers, fax machines,
fridges, cell phones, televisions and many other things need electricity to
function.

Gambians are really living in abject poverty and we should not wait until
we see our people drop dead in the streets because of poverty and hunger
before we believe they are poor and hungry. The evidence that our people
are hungry is not far-fetched. These days Gambians get angry very easily,
sometimes over very trivial matters. Why? Because of stress. The stress of
survival. “A hungry man is an angry man” (Bob Marley). Pass by the rubbish
dump at Bakoteh and you would find humans among vultures scavenging not for
food like the vultures but to collect empty bottles, tins and other
recyclable items of all shapes and sizes which they will sell, all in their
desperate fight for survival. So, to neglect the plight of the people for
the celebration of July 22 does not reflect concern for the welfare and
livelihood of the people. On the contrary, it is an absolute disregard and
disrespect of the Gambian people.

I don’t know whether Jammeh has advisers. If he does, it’s either that they
are not giving him the right advice or he is not listening. One would have
thought that considering the poor state of the country’s economy,
government would have adopted what our neighbours, Senegal, did a few years
ago; just observe the national day in a very low-key manner because their
economy was in a bad shape.

Hardly does a week go by and we do not read in the Daily Observer about
child A or B asking for assistance either to further his/her education or
to undergo medical treatment abroad. If all these monies that were being
lavished on the celebrations were put together, we could have established a
charity like ‘Save the Children, Gambia’. If there is ‘Save the Children
UK’, ‘Save the children USA’, why not ‘Save the Children, Gambia’? After
all, it is not how much money you have that matters but how well you manage
the little you have.

© Copyright 2003 by Observer Company

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