Dr Saine,
              thank you for writing an interesting piece that is both an
astute analysis and a call for action. You convincingly laid out a need for
we the Gambian people to step up and partake in the shape and direction of
our country not by pursuing the tried and failed policies of the past, but by
fashioning an entirely different approach. What struck me most was the care
you took in predicating this new thinking on an overall set of reforms that
has at it's core new leadership that is strongly anchored on the basic tenets
of democracy. I agree with you entirely that there exist from amongst our
people a sufficient talent pool to set our nation on path to genuine progress
because individual Gambians tend to be pretty good at most things they set
their minds to. However, collectively harnessing the potential of the Gambian
people has not been successfully done in our contemporary history precisely
because we have never created an enabling environment beginning with a
democratic reform minded leadership. Ideas which would be the driving force
of the new thinking cannot thrive in a rancorous political environment that
actively stifles descent and perceives opponents as mortal enemies and
institutions of governments as expedient tools.
       I would also like to take a slightly different view on your take on
why past policies failed. You suggested that Gambia, like most post colonial
countries failed partly because foreign institutions literally imposed
systems and ways that are alien to our situations. Alien they were but I
think most initiatives failed because Gambians mishandled them through
corruption, laziness and sheer incompetence. The same traits continue to
hobble even those initiatives that lumber along years after their inception
without failing outright but not performing to expectation either. For most
of the things we have failed spectacularly at such as power generation, food
sufficiency, education, healthcare, you will discover they generally revolve
around setting up a core infrastructure and creatively managing them as
ongoing concerns. All of the failures that ensued from these sectors are
primarily ours because we did not do what was required to maintain these
critical aspects of our development. Along the same lines, I once had an
informal chat with a Gambian who upon graduation from college had a stint at
Gamtel . He spoke of very credible plans put together by talented people
within the organization about how they wanted to use Gamtel's relatively good
infrastructure to nurture a nascent information technology venture within the
organization with a view towards very ambitious targets down the road. All
that had to take back seat when the gov't turned a promising company into a
cash spigot bleeding it incessantly  setting back  even promised expansions
of ordinary telephone lines by years.
        Finally I would to ask a few questions. How do we get to the
important task of the new thinking you are advocating in the current
circumstances. Do we proceed with the critical dialogue with the view that a
successor leadership would make it a basis for transformational change? Or do
we work  to change the current leadership that by most measures is not suited
for the new thinking as a prelude to the dialogue and ultimate reforms ? What
did you mean when you suggested that foreign aid in the context of the new
thinking should not be accepted just because it is offered especially if it
could distort national goals or objectives?
Thanks
Karamba

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