From FOROYAA Burning Issues NO: 1/2003 2 - 5 January, 2003
Sidia Jatta's Contribution To The Adjournment Debate
I was wondering whether the member for Kiang West knows the words of the
National anthem written by Mr. and Mrs. Howl former colonial commissioners.
I'm saying this because I simply want to indicate, because he was praising
the words; that the words were so good. What I want to indicate is that a
good human being will always think and do good wherever he or she is
irrespective of nationality. Commissioner Howl was a colonial commissioner
here, they won the competition for this music is taken from the piece
dedicated to the governor. It is not I am oppose to the farmers inoculating
their cattle, if they can that's very good but what I'm oppose to is cattle
tax being paid into Area Council coffers. (it does not serve the cattle
owners at all. Area Councils do not have the competence to provide the
services necessary for cattle owners. So why do we give them the money
provided by cattle owners into their coffers. Just being spent frivolously
by Area Council yet cattle owners dip their hands into their pockets to buy
drugs and to also inoculate their cattle themselves. This is what I'm
oppose to and everybody here is oppose to it. We had all complained about it
and I think we have to do something about it to make a stop to that because
cattle owners are paying money for nothing. They are paying D100 and D100 of
1000 person a lot of dalasis and yet after paying that they buy drugs and
they pay somebody else to do inoculation for them. This is what is
ridiculous. Mr. Speaker you know I talked about it and somebody was talking
about it but this is a totally different thing because they were talking
about the Local Government Finance and Audit Act. I am talking about
Financial and Audit Act that fit the fiscal year from June to July. Which
was changed in practice in 1997 and the Act had not been repealed. It is a
very, very funny situation and we have a responsibility to regularise the
situation. The Financial Act has been changed from June to July and when it
was being done I argued, I said it was not possible to do that until the
Act is repealed and it has not been repealed.
The SoS has confirmed my point by saying that the bill will be presented to
the Assembly in order to repeal the old one still the Financial year is July
according to the financial and Audit Act. That has to be changed. And Madam
Speaker's office should take it upon herself to write to the Audit Office
requiring them to submit to this Assembly their annual report. 2002 has
gone by we don't have any Audit report I wouldn't talk about the previous
ones because they all ......under the last National Assembly but 2002 has
gone by without any back log. That was what I was arguing about. A back log
since 1998 no Audit Report and then we talk about financial discipline. We
cannot do so unless we respect the law and do as the law require us to do.
Now we are dealing with the finances of a Republic. This year we talked
about D1.7 billion, last D1.3 billion we don't and year before that, year
before that almost a decade we don't have an Audit report. When you talk
about some people will say okay but you see, but I'm talking about the
Republic finance whether be it under the first Republic or the second
republic. What is important is that the law require us to take stock of the
finance of this Republic annually and there are institutions whose
responsibility it is to put before us here. Pressurise the public
enterprises they are bond by law to bring their reports here. We requested
them and had a mountain of them here and we had still not dealt with them.
We talked about the committee yes. There are committees but committees are
not meeting up their responsibilities. We had a mountain of all the
enterprises to deal with that up still now we don't have any report. And
this year also they should bring reports but are we in a position to ask
for their reports when they had submitted reports with all those lapses?
Madam Speaker, I think we need to back up. You see we talked poverty
alleviation, the other trend is poverty eradication. You see alleviation is
a timid way because you are not sure whether we have the capacity to get
rid of it so you say alleviation but those who are very sure are optimistic
and determine say eradication.
But you see Madam Speaker, the gravity of the situation is that the more we
invest into poverty alleviation the poorer our people become. It is very
simple to explain it. All of us who are here if we are honest with
ourselves can explain it.. I was in a village two years ago, they brought
D60,000 to lend it to the women of that village. Madam Speaker, some women
had D100, some D50 I am not exaggerating.
"Yea, yea," said National Assembly members and Deputy Speaker.
D250, 1500 two received D200 and they are to pay that in six months plus 25%
interest. No you tell me the person who has taken D100? What was she going
to do with D100? She was going to spend it and when the time has come to
pay plus the interest, the goat she has or sheep she has, she has to sell
it. So she has even become worst before she got the D100. So you see the
reason why poverty alleviation is poverty aggravation. That's what we had
been doing. I said this will not work, the SoS agreed with me. He said we
are going to review that but you see this year it comes. The budget was
tabled here, poverty alleviation and we are all contributing to poverty
aggravation. That is the problem. That is why in his budget he said
paradoxically was it 60% before the measures were taken now it is 69% after
measures last which means the money we put in there in fact made it worst.
I think we had to review honestly all these strategies and see how best we
can implement them to solve our problems really. And then again those of us
who were on the public account committee. It came in the Audit report this
issue of the socall Bamako initiative. I think that what is being
implemented in Basse Health Centre now; isn't it?
NAMS: Yea and Baja Kunda.
Madam Speaker what is meant by Bamako Initiative in Basse now what was D25
is now D50 and you were given prescription to buy medicine. My question
is: The money that is being paid in the form of taxes with a view to get
these services provided to the people what is happening to that money? So I
gave you D100 in order for you to pay me with a particular service and you
said okay your D100 is here but you see you have to put your hands in your
pockets again and then go and provide those services for yourselves. And
what was realized around this table is when we are having the public
account discussion, on this issue there is no legal framework for operation
of the Bamako Initiative. We have to look at it again and see what can be
done. Not what is already been done that is not going to help anybody it is
worsening the situation like the poverty strategy measures. I think there
is a need for us to review since they had already started implementing it
we have to access what has so far happened and what are the constraints,
what is needed to be done to improve the situation I think that's
absolutely necessary. Madam Speaker you see we are elected by groups of
people in given areas in this country called constituencies that is just to
facilitate the means of doing something but once we are elected and we come
into this National Assembly we are representing the Gambian people the
entire Gambian people. When each of us speak here, you are really speaking
on behalf of the Gambian people who had reached the voting age should come
here and speak for themselves but that is not practicable. But we made laws
and said okay now since that is not possible something similar to it is
possible. What is that? Any person who has reached the voting age must
participate in making a decision, in determining as to who is going to
represent who. So when that is done and we come here we are representing
the entire population of the Gambia. And that is why when we make laws, we
don't make constituency law, we make national laws.
The budget which came here was not a constituency budget it was a national
budget and which we tabled as a national budget, we talked about it as a
national budget. Therefore, when we came here we should have our party's tag
behind and put on the tag of the nation. So really when we are debating
here, we are debating to the best our abilities as Gambians and that is the
only way we can push this nation forward but we have different perceptions,
but the essential thing is that we are debating here, we should talk
honestly and choose what is the best for the Gambia.
Speaker: Thank you very much you have two minutes (laughs).
Madam Speaker, somebody said we should have an open society, that means a
lot.
An open society means a society where every individual is free to expressed
himself/herself to contribute to the best of his or her ability to the
development of his or her country, to operate in his or her society free of
fear particularly in executing his or her duty. We should be free to do that
without fear. If we do that, if that happen, but we cannot do that unless we
have respect for institutions and their roles and respect for law.
The age has come, it is the age of the people. It is no longer the age of
monarchs. It is the age of the people and that is why we have elections.
That is we have Universal Adult Suffrage. People who own the country must
decide and determine as to what should be done in that country in their
best interest. That is the open society my colleague was talking about.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: FOROYAA (Freedom) NO: 1/2003 2 - 5 January, 2003 ISSN: 0796- 08573
Address: FOROYAA, P.O.Box 2306, Serrekunda, The Gambia, West Africa
Telephone: (220) 393177 Fax: (220) 393177
Email address: [log in to unmask]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
