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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