Jungle,

This was an interesting one. I don't know your family background but I ,come
from a very poor family and sometimes when I read your articles it seems like
it is my family that have chosen to be poor. But deep in my heart I know the
story is not as simple as you would like others to believe. I do not need to
be in the Gambia to know how my family is doing.
The economic problems of our small country are not course only by the fact
that the brutal capitalist economic system is in deep crisis all over the
world. Ours is one dominated by economic mismanagement and a serious lack of
understanding of what must be taken as economic development in responding to
the basic needs of the ordinary people. I bet that had we had positive
economic growth in the Gambia, I would have heard that the country is doing
fine and that poverty is been taking care off, even though serious bourgeoisie
economic theorist are now saying that economic growth does not respond to the
problem of poverty. Not from the government but from an independentt
organisation, that have no political ambition in the Gambia, we learn that
poverty is seriously growing in that country. When I saw your piece, I was
definitely convinced that you did not get that information. Our problem is
that we have a $10 million project on communication when we are yet to discuss
who are going to be the consumers. Not the farmers who have not been paid
their monies since last year, if such people could not feed their children and
themselves, I do always wonder if the laws of production in a free market
system is not been seriously voilated. It is not the market that create
production, it is the opposite and tell me seriously am not expecting any
government subsidies in the very near future when the $10 million dollar
project is already through.
Lets look at this again, you have a Sankung Sillah and still dust- bins made
of plastics are been imported, can you find out who is doing this importation
for the authorities. What about the containers for the rubbish Can you find
out where they are imported? I can tell you if you do not know, we have able
and competent workers who are able to produce these containers in our country
and don't tell me the authorities are not aware of that, I know of a worker
who talked to responsible people about the fact that he can produce these
containers. Forget about that, the dirtiness of our Towns have no problem in
entertaining malaria.

The four lanes high way in the middle of the biggest town in our country is
not going to produce anything, you don't need it. This encourages more
unnecessary private consumption, more cars, more petrol and more environmental
burden. A two-lane road would have been enough; the monies that are building
these roads are going to be paid back. Investing it in more productive things
would pay better, work more on collective transportation or build the other
two lanes in productive areas that needs better roads or buy school bus for
children travelling many miles everyday to get to school. You know some of
these development projects just reminds me of what I have been told about the
comments made by Ousainou Darboe on the ARC 22.I understand he said that you
can see the whole of Banjul taking shower when you stand up there. A typical
example of third world development, not so. We have a beautiful airport, with
good   capacity and  so on,this is development. Since all those millions have
been spent on that airport ,did we have more tourist than before ?Go pass the
airport, the beautiful one, from the very door step you smell the poverty. Do
you think people who visit the Gambia, will remember more the beautiful
airport or the horrible poverty in that country, the "bear Footed" children
finding something better in the rubbish ?Some of them will not  even return
back to the Gambia,because of the amount poverty they witness in that country.
And when you  read in the news paper, some one from somewhere have donated
blood pressure machines and from the director to the minister all would have
the chance to say how badly such instrument are needed, whiles Jungle is
working on a $10 million communication project. This is the very reason why
the question is not Boom or no  Boom. It has to do with the mental
consciousness that understand that Adam Smith has for long been a history and
not even serious  liberal bourgeoisie economist have always serious
explanation as to what is responsible for this crisis.Without the liberation
of the human being from poverty,from wage slavery etc there will always be
crisis.

For freedom
Saiks



















>===== Original Message From The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
<[log in to unmask]> =====
>As I have a team of engineers from Siemens (Germany) for the commencement of
>our $10 million rural telecommunications project, which is at the
>development stage of the as-built plans, I have not been able to actively
>monitor all that is going on in both the L and Gambia-post.
>
>As I also use the same hotmail account to receive contributions from both
>lists, that account had been full for a while. For that reason, I may have
>missed some mails sent to me on that account. I would therefore like to
>apologise to anyone who's sent me a personal mail of late without receiving
>any response from me.
>
>Having said that, I would like to come to the subject of this mail. As most
>of you are fully aware, there has been a lot of debate about the performance
>of The Gambian economy and how it is affecting those of us living here. Some
>people have also made a lot of hullabaloo about the depreciating Dalasi,
>outstanding payments to farmers and came to the conclusion that The Gambian
>economy is in dire straits and that we are all doomed. Some have blamed the
>government for lack of clear-cut policies, scaring of foreign investment and
>stiffling domestic investment. Some have also accused The Government of
>massive corruption and filling government departments with 'mediocre' people
>while sacking 'the professionals'. This brings me to the question what or
>where the evidence is to support all these?
>
>While not denying that there may be some eliment of truth in some or all of
>the above, I have always stated that what appears to be the end of the road
>for some of these pessimists, is just a bend for some of us. I have also
>stated over and over again that things are improving, and improving very
>fast indeed. Now, what do I base my optimism on? In other words is the
>Gambian economy really heading for a boom or doom? I will try to give my own
>perspective of where we are heading based on common sense and the little
>economics that I know.
>
>I have been told, over the years, that the performance of a country's
>economy can be reasonably guessed based on a few pointers. This, I have been
>told, include the level of unemployment, conditions of basic infrastructure
>like roads, and the performance of certain key areas such as the real
>estate/construction sector, access to facilities such as communications,
>energy, education, health, clean drinking water etc. While these may not do
>for some/many, they are enough for me. As far as I am concerned, these
>indicators are more than OK to enable me to use common sense and conclude
>that The Gambian economy is indeed heading for a boom and not doom. I will
>now give my reasons.
>
>Nobody, who has been to the country recently, will deny the fact that the
>real estate/construction sector of The Gambia is indeed booming. Nobody will
>also deny that the quality and value of property is increasing by leaps and
>bounds. Nobody will say that there is serious unemployment in the country.
>Evidence from all major towns in the country indicate that brisk business is
>going on everywhere. New businesses are cropping up everywhere and I am not
>aware of any that has gone burst. During the past eight years, the
>government has created no less than five parastatals while private sector
>recruitment is increasing daily. Nobody will say that communications is a
>problem anywhere in the country. In fact, within one year of the
>introduction of GSM in the country there are over sixty thousand (60,000)
>customers throughout the country and from all walks of life. There are
>hundreds of Internet caffes and thousands of public call points spread all
>over the country. Nobody again, will tell us that access to education or its
>relevance is insignificant. Access to education and enrollment has
>significantly increased over the years with special support to the
>girl-child and deserving students. The University of The Gambia and other
>tertiary insitutions are churning out hundreds of professionals yearly, over
>60% of which are sponsored by the government. The calling to the bar, a few
>days ago of four Gambians, all of them women except one is a case in point.
>These four, bring to ten the number of lawyers called to The Gambian bar in
>less than a year, an unprecedented development in this country. Within a few
>years the first graduates from the medical school will further improve the
>quality of attention Gambians receive from our health facilities. The
>commencement of operations of the Bwiam hospital, a few days ago, cannot
>also be dismissed as insignificant either.
>
>The roll of GRTS in promoting our culture and promoting our youths is
>yielding significant dividents. Gambia now has over two dozen musical groups
>ranging from armatures to professionals.
>
>With all these, ladies and gentlemen, I say bravo to the government and
>pledge my continued support of them.
>
>Have a good day, Gassa.
>
>
>There is a time in the life of every problem when it is big enough to see,
>yet small enough to solve.    -Mike- Levitt-
>
>
>_________________________________________________________________
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>
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