Musa

Good to read your piece, I shall also be making my own
analysis of the whole situation after spending 6 weeks
in the Gambia.

Chi jaama

Sanusi Owens

--- Musa Jeng <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > As the
Tourist flight taxied off the runway at the
> Banjul International, there was a feeling of sadness
> of living the country I loved, but also a mix
> feeling of delight- having to return back to my
> three year old whom I missed a lot during my two
> weeks vacation to The Gambia.
> As the flight took off, I tried to put this two-week
> vacation to answer some of the questions I have
> always had about the Presidential elections, and the
> political reality on the ground as it relates to the
> future of our country. With the exception of air
> turbulence which always got me off my trend of
> thoughts, I spent the six hours of flight time to
> London and another eight hours of flight time to
> Atlanta to try to analyze whether this trip has
> gotten me any closer to the real truth to the
> socio-economic and political future of The Gambia.
>
> While most of us Gambians living in the Diaspora put
> a lot of stock to governance, rule of law and the
> protection of civil liberties, the average Gambians
> I spoke with cannot see the utmost importance of
> these issues to their economic survival. Some will
> admit, and these are usually educated Gambians, that
> there are obviously excesses in these areas, but the
> government of the day’s commitment to development
> overshadows the Achilles’ heel of these
> shortcomings. They will flatly tell you that
> Jammeh’s firing of these civil servants are purely
> political and indefensible, but some of the more
> extreme supporters will justify it by saying that
> most of these guys are saboteurs who are hell bent
> in destroying what the man is trying to build. What
> is very clear is that, the Jamme’s government
> commitment to delivering the goods in the area of
> health, Agriculture, communication, education and
> road development is the political nectar behind his
> support. The APRC stalwarts and supporters will not
> hesitate to condemn us, especially Gambians living
> in the USA for having it completely wrong in regards
> to the Jammeh government. Jammeh Gii Lanka, one of
> the accolades they like to call him, and they would
> heap praises on how he is committed to road
> construction, building of first class hospitals,
> free education for girls, university education and
> the energy crisis that would soon be the thing of
> the past. Even his critiques cannot mince on some of
> these realities, myself included. I know that they
> are wrong on the relevance and importance of
> governance, rule of law and some of these
> non-economic intangibles to the development of our
> dear country. But I can also understand how such
> issues can be meaningless to some farmer who is
> preoccupy with feeding his children, or a poor
> mother who is more preoccupy with the education of
> her kids.
>
> Jammeh and the APRC’s strong suite are in the area
> of Education, Health, communication and the weirdest
> of all, his generosity. The Majority of Gambians, I
> have argued with, discussed with, and these included
> strong Jammeh supporters, educated civil servants,
> rural folks, city dwellers, and there is absolute
> unanimity that he is committed to the development of
> the country, and they are actually seeing it. On a
> personal note, inasmuch as I believed that Jammeh is
> wrong for Gambia, his present contribution in the
> area of infrastructure, education, building of
> hospitals are realities on the ground that would
> help the future of our dear Gambia even when Jammeh
> is long gone. I am still convinced that the country
> is worst off under Jammeh because of the fundamental
> issues on the rule of law, protection of civil
> liberties and in the area of governance, but he also
> deserved lots of credit in some of the things he is
> doing. The APRC and Jammeh have their strong
> supporters, and people who cannot stand them
> irrespective of whatever good they do. The final
> conclusion, in the absence of a PDOIS
> government—which is the real bastion of hope for our
> dear country, I can settled for a Gambia with the
> combination of Jawara's era good suite on
> governance, rule of law and the mirage of democracy
> with a Jammeh’s government strong suite on
> infrastructure development, building of hospitals,
> education and investing in the future of our
> development initiatives. Yes, the NIA is at work,
> people civil rights are trample upon on a daily
> basis, the whole power structure is in the hand of
> one Man, and whatever he says goes; the main
> opposition party, UDP is finish as a force to be
> reckoned with; Jammeh and the APRC are making a
> difference in the area of education, healthcare,
> communication and road constructions; and a
> PDOIS/NRP in the National Assembly is definitely a
> sigh of relief to the possibility of a one party
> state.
>
> Thanks
>
> Musa Jeng
>
>
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