ELECTION MANIFESTO 2006
NATIONAL ALLIANCE FOR DEMOCRACY AND DEVELOPMENT
GOVERNMENT BASED ON COLLECTIVE LEADERSHIP AND PARTNERSHIP WITH PEOPLE
ORGANISED IN “CIVIL SOCIETY” ASSOCIATIONS
PRIORITIES:
§ DEMOCRACY AND GOOD GOVERNANCE
§ FOOD SECURITY, AFFORDABILITY AND SELF RELIANT AGRICULTURAL BASE
§ PROCESSING, APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY AND COTTAGE INDUSTRIES
§ HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT, EMPLOYMENT CREATION
§ ENERGY, MINING AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT
§ POVERTY ERADICATION, INCOME GENERATION AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT,
(SATISFACTORY CROP FINANCE SCHEME, GOOD NUTRITION, HEALTH CARE, EDUCATION ,
SATISFACTORY PENSION CONDITIONS, HOUSING, RECREATION AND GENERAL WELFARE)
§ WOMEN, CHILDREN, THE DISABLED AND THE AGED
§ AFRICAN INTEGRATION AND PARTNERSHIP FOR A NEW INTERNATIONAL ORDER
OF PEACE
May 2006
Vision and Mission
Sovereignty resides in the people. The people of the Gambia are owners of
public power and authority. They have the absolute right to determine how the
Gambia is governed. Leaders are mere trustees of public power and authority.
They are to utilize such power and authority on behalf of the people to
safeguard their economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights to ensure
their collective liberty, dignity and prosperity while safeguarding their
fundamental rights and freedoms. As public trustees they are required to be
transparent in their exercise of public authority. They are also required to render
account to the people regarding their period of stewardship of national
affairs in order for the people to determine whether they are worthy of their
continued trust and confidence.
In this regard, the facts reveal that after 12 years of AFPRC/APRC rule the
government has not lived up to its promises of transforming the Gambia “into
a dynamic middle income country, a financial centre, a tourist paradise, a
trading export oriented agricultural and manufacturing nation, thriving on
market policies and a vibrant private sector, sustained by a well educated ,
trained, skilled, healthy, self reliant and enterprising population and
guaranteeing a well balanced ecosystem and a decent standard of living for one and for
all, under a system of government based on the consent of the citizenry” as
stipulated in its strategic document, i.e. Vision 2020. Instead of being a “
dynamic middle income country” the Gambia has become a heavily indebted poor
country with 69% of its population living in abject poverty. It is evident
that export of agricultural produce is being jeopardized by poor marketing
arrangement. Manufacturing is almost absent. The private sector is starved of
investment capital thus leading to the contraction of the productive base. This
has led to poor revenue earnings, escalation of internal and external borrowing
to meet the requirement of both the recurrent and development budgets,
insignificant growth in employment and income, skyrocketing cost of living and
perpetual rise in poverty.
It goes without saying that despite all evidence that the government is
neither capable nor willing to empower the people to take charge of their destiny
nor free them from economic mismanagement and poverty, it is making a
determined effort to perpetuate itself in office indefinitely. This is why it has
abrogated the power of the people to elect their district and village heads
and transferred it to central authority. It has eliminated the second round of
voting and replaced it with the “first past the post system”.
The Executive has ascribed to itself the power to dissolve parliament and
remove individual parliamentarians of the ruling party, as and when it wills.
Arbitrary arrests and detention without court appearance within 72 hours have
legitimized impunity. The suspension of poverty alleviation programmes
alludes to the existence of chronic maladministration of financial institutions.
It has therefore become absolutely clear that empowering the people to build
a durable democracy that would enable them to condition leaders to focus on
their needs and aspirations is the first step in a series of strategic
interventions that would lead to their liberty and development.
This calls for the creation of an opposition alliance transcending
ideological and other differences in principles, policies and programmes as a united
front designed to usher in standards of best practice in governance and
democracy, consolidate a common culture of respect for fundamental rights and
freedoms so as to build an unshakeable democratic foundation from which a genuine
multi party contest can arise to enable the people to choose among parties by
comparing their principles, policies, programmes and practices.
NADD emerged to answer to the call of the Gambian people for greater
National unity transcending tribe, religion, gender, place of origin, birth,
disability or any other status.
We do not seek change for the sake of change; we do not seek power for its
sake; personality or personal interest is not the issue. The issue of interest
for NADD is Gambia and her people. What is paramount is the national
interest. Our duty is to change a system of governance that is increasingly
centralizing the power in the hands of the executive and replace it with a system
that will not allow patronage, sectionalism or self perpetuating rule to stifle
the authority of the people and bar them from changing their manner of
government whenever they deem it prudent to do so.
NADD stands for a future that will place your country right into your
sovereign hands. NADD aims to utilize the public power derived from your authority
to safeguard people’s liberty, dignity and prosperity. After 41 years of
Independence, the Gambia deserves nothing less.
NADD stands for a dual carriageway to liberate the Gambian people from
powerlessness, voicelessness and poverty.
The first carriageway is the pathway to democracy. The fundamental task
shall be to transform the presidency from being the citadel of power usurped by
the executive from the people to become a spring for the devolution of power
to the masses organized in civil societies or associations. We shall humble
the presidency by eradicating autocratic method of governing and replace it
with the system of collective leadership. This will be marked by involvement of
civil society as partners in governance and the consolidation of a culture of
respect and enforcement of fundamental rights and freedoms. We shall ensure
the performance of public duties, without fear or favour, dictation or
victimization. We shall nurture a culture of transparency and accountability by
those who are paid from public funds to perform public duties, through
safeguarding the freedom to access information by the owners of the country and the
right of the media practitioners to uphold their professional responsibilities.
NADD shall engineer a second carriageway, that is, the pathway to
development. It shall promote investment in the productive base, instill financial
discipline in the use of public wealth, boost up small scale and large scale
enterprises, ensure market access and income generation, expand the revenue base
to support human resource development and further consolidate social services
for the eradication of poverty in particular and social development in
general.
NADD intends to provide a leadership that will rely on the collective
intelligence of the people and their creative initiative to guide our collective
destiny characterized by liberty, dignity and prosperity.
This is the way forward. Political awareness is the key and unity the door
to become the guardians of their own destiny.
1. DEMOCRACY AND GOOD GOVERNANCE
NADD holds that sustainable development in the 21st Century is inconceivable
without building an open democratic society where authority to govern is
derived from the consent of the people, freely and fairly expressed in genuine
elections, that are free from inducement or intimidation.
It is equally convinced that any government that is entrusted with power by
the people should utilize that authority to promote national unity, peace,
stability, respect for human rights, adherence to the rule of law and the
general welfare or prosperity of the people.
NADD therefore undertakes to put in place a governance programme that will
demonstrate its commitment to the core values of good governance and democracy
characterized by transparency, accountability, popular participation,
respect for fundamental rights and freedoms, the upholding of the rule of law and
respect for political diversity and free media.
The programme shall consist of:
Constitutional and legal reforms through the commissioning of a
Constitutional Review Commission within a month of the assumption of office by the
President to ensure a nationwide sensitization and consultation with a view to
making proposals to amend the constitution so as to restore the second round of
voting, ensure the security of tenure of members of the Independent Electoral
Commission, restore Chieftaincy and Alkaloship elections, repeal all obnoxious
laws such as the Indemnity Act and conduct other legislative reforms that
restrict the freedom of the press and people in general.
Reform of the civil service to ensure professionalism and the performance of
duty to meet the expectation of the people in an accountable, efficient and
effective manner without any fear of being subjected to any discrimination,
harassment, victimization or indignation.
Executive reforms to make the cabinet more responsive to standards of best
practice established in implementing laws, orders and policies designed to
guide the operation of the various departments of state and further make it a
practice for cabinet members to face the media to explain the policies of
government and receive opinions on the impact they are making on the population.
National Assembly reforms to amend provisions that enable the President to
dissolve the National Assembly or empower a party to remove a national
assembly member by virtue of party disputes. It shall strengthen parliamentary
oversight, and safeguard the immunities of parliamentarians against executive
encroachment.
Judicial reforms to ensure that there is no executive presence or
manipulation of the Judicial Service Commission. All district tribunals and
adjudicating bodies shall be under the judiciary and the appointment and removal of
magistrates and arbitrators in courts shall be done by a separate judicial
service commission that is completely independent of the executive. Schemes of best
practice shall be incorporated to ensure speedy justice.
Reform of prisons to ensure that they are transformed into correctional
rather than punitive institutions. Community service shall be given primacy over
custodial sentences; prisons shall be organized in such a way that they serve
as conducive environment to rehabilitate prisoners. Maximum security wing of
prisons shall cease to be detention centres. Prison administrators shall not
be subjected to any other dictate but that of the law and best practice in
prison administration and rehabilitation of those who have problem with the
law.
Reform of police, the military and security services to promote the
performance of duty on the basis of law and best practice. Measures shall be put in
place to protect such personnel for non compliance with unlawful instructions
especially politically motivated ones.
Establishment and/or consolidation of Independent Oversight institutions
like the office of Ombudsman; Commissions such as those for women and children,
the disabled, pensioners and human rights. Such commissions can receive
reports and conduct investigations on complaints of violation or non compliance
with laws and international conventions designed to protect the rights and
interests of given categories of people in society who may be more vulnerable to
discrimination or marginalization.
Separation of the function of Attorney General with the function of
Secretary of State for Justice and Human Rights. The office of Attorney General shall
serve as a state function free from any political influence so that any
intervention by the Attorney General in the judicial process will be motivated by
the pursuit of the interest of Justice. The Department of State for Justice
and Human Rights shall oversee the incorporation of all international,
continental and regional conventions into domestic laws to promote economic,
social, political and cultural rights and ensure that they inform policy and
practice in state administration.
10. Promote popular participation in decision making by developing
partnership with civil society organizations and empower them to articulate and
protect the concerns of farmers and workers, the disabled, women, children,
pensioners, the elderly, youth, owners of income generating enterprises,
members of the chamber of commerce, media practitioners and those living with
HIV/Aids and other categories or interest groups.
11. Ensuring the protection of the media to receive and give
information and hold all state organs accountable and responsible for their manner of
service to the people. The state media shall be opened up to convey divergent
views. The media shall be encouraged to hold all public service delivery
institutions and elected officials accountable to the public. The media
practitioners shall pioneer the establishment of a self regulating media commission
to promote professionalism, ethical conduct and standards of best practice in
journalism.
12. Promotion of the prestige and image of the country internationally
by being a signatory to the Africa Peer Review Mechanism and accede to all
continental and international conventions that aim to encourage the separation
of powers and ensure the checks and balances in state administration that
can guarantee transparency, accountability and commitment to the public
interest.
2. THE ECONOMY
2.1 Finance and Investment
Development is inconceivable without short term and long term investment.
Investment is the engine of growth. Without growth in investment in the
productive base of the economy in a sustainable way it will not grow.
Income and employment will not be enhanced and poverty reduction or
eradication cannot be achieved. How to promote investment into the productive base of
the economy shall be NADD’s number one priority.
2.1.1 Local and Foreign Direct Investment
2.1.2 Local Investment
There are three sources of investment in the country, public sector, private
sector and cooperative sector.
2.1.3 Public Sector investment
The government has both non tax revenue earning departments and public
corporations.
The current public investment policy of the government is grossly defective.
This is why the volume of revenue does not match expenditure demands thus
leading to deficits and heavy borrowing. In 2005 alone the government budget
deficit stood at 855.4 million dalasis. To offset the deficit, the government
had to borrow 488 million dollars from Domestic and 446 million dollars from
external sources. The fact that the volume of borrowing is not pegged to the
volume of earnings from public investment, arrears in the payment of public
debt have become the order of the day. This has given rise to the public debt
and high debt service ratio. The total debt of the country is over 22 billion
dalasis. A sum of 1500 million dalasis is being paid in 2006 to meet our debt
service obligation. This constitutes more than 30% of government expenditure
and almost 40% of government revenue excluding grants. This haphazard way of
making public corporations to finance social programmes that are mainly
politically motivated, such as July 22nd celebrations, deprives the state of
public investment capacity.
In the same vein, public corporations are drawn into investment programmes
that are not subjected to any feasibility studies or cost benefit analysis. A
glaring example is the investment of public corporations into GAMCO to
purchase groundnuts. The company was transformed into a monopoly to purchase
groundnuts with public sector finance and guarantees to receive funding from banks
and the result is total failure in crop financing and increase in poverty.
Similarly, the state invested 45 million dalasis to purchase Mariatou Beach
Hotel and 300 million dalasis to refurbish it by drawing investment capital
from Social Security and Housing Finance Corporation. This is a poor judgment
in investing public resources.
NADD shall develop a public investment strategy that will enhance earnings
from public sector investments in order to promote modernization of public
corporations and further enable them to finance social services.
2.1.4 The programmes shall consist of
1. Keeping of proper records by public corporations to ensure proper
auditing and quantification of profits accrued and dividends to be paid to
government
2. Proper monitoring and accounting of corporate resources to ensure
accurate quantification of optimum earnings on an annual basis.
3. The integration in the national budget of dividends anticipated annually
from public corporations.
4. The signing of a performance contract with the management of public
corporations to honour the provision of dividends anticipated or risk termination
of office.
5. Safeguarding management from any termination of services by subjecting
any grounds for termination, under the performance contract, to a tribunal for
final decision.
6. The establishment of a policy for annual local borrowing to be linked to
dividends anticipated from public corporations and revenue generated from
revenue earning departments to prevent arrears in the payment of any loan.
To move towards such surplus financing to release bank funds to promote
private sector investments.
2.2 Private sector investment
2.2.1 Private sector finance comprises banks, insurance companies and
bureaux de change.
In 2008, the volume of transactions in foreign currency in the Inter-Bank
market was 18.98 billion.
This shows the volume of capital being currently handled in the financial
market. It is estimated that remittances from Gambians working abroad rose from
509.9 million in 2004 to 856.3 million in 2005.
Private remittances were projected to be the second largest source of
foreign exchange after foreign direct investment which is estimated at 1.3 billion
in 2005.
It is also estimated that the travel trade generated an income of 2.2
billion in 2004.
In short, the private sector has huge potential for investment in the
productive base. This has been restricted by heavy government borrowing which
provides bank with “lazy money” derived from mere taxation, mediocre investment
policy and poor infrastructure such as energy, road networks and river
transport.
NADD shall therefore
Ensure financial discipline in the management of the public purse so as to
depend less on domestic debt and leave the private sector financial
institutions to promote private sector investments.
Give strategic boost to the energy sector and land and river transport to
enhance investment potential.
Engineer a comprehensive prospecting scheme to identify and create an
investment plan for the development of mineral and natural resources of the
country, including oil exploration.
Validate programmes and institutions for investment programmes with a view
to upgrading their capacity to evolve relevant and sustainable programmes.
Match currency production with the volume of goods and services and the
currency transaction required to back such economic activity. In this way old
notes can be thrown out of the system and currency speculations that create
inflationary pressures reduced.
2.2.2 Cooperative Investment
The country has village savings and credit associations (VISACA) banks which
belong to communities and micro financial institutions which belong to non
governmental organizations and cooperative societies.
There is very little study on the global impact of these institutions on
investment and production and trade.
NADD shall
1. Cause the undertaking of a study of the cooperative financial
institutions with a view to developing a comprehensive and holistic policy on how they
can enhance the productive base and promote individual earnings to reduce
poverty.
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