The topics in this issue are:
1. Editorial - The Media And Raw News
2. We Are Exporting Nothing But Groundnuts...
3. Babucarr Gaye's Citizen FM Still Waiting
4. Land Call To Mobile Up-Date
5. International Economy
NO: 43/2002 25 - 28 July, 2002
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Editorial
The Media And Raw News
On The Senegalese News
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In some areas real news is information gathered from eye witnesses or
affected persons. For example the GRTS interviewed many people in Nuimi
regarding the border restrictions imposed on Gambian vehicles. Many of
those interviewed were of the view that those drivers on the Senegalese
side who stood up to prevent transports from the Gambia from entering
Senegal had departed from what is reasonable. Some of them accused the
Senegalse side of making remarks that Gambia is just a province of Senegal.
Some accused the Senegalse side of being adamant and uncompromising. One
can read anger and frustration on the side of all those interviewed. The
Gambian journalists also appeared to be taken aback by the refusal of the
Senegalese drivers on the other side of the border to cooperate with them.
The whole exercise could have angered many Gambians. This is the danger of
raw news.
What was taking place at the level of the people on the ground was
different from what was being considered officially.
The Gambian and the Senegalese people need to learn fundamental lessons
from the conflict in our subregion. How many Senegalese died during the
conflict to unseat Vierra? How has this benefited Senegal?
What ought to be realized is that civil society organizations like unions
are tools for the promotion of democratic, responsible and law abiding
governments.
They should point out what governments are doing wrong and pressurize them
to do it correctly. In fact the civil society organisation in both
countries should collaborate and call on all governments to do what is
in the interest of the people of both countries.
If the union leaders fail to obey the dictates of law, civilization and
good neighbourliness how will they have the moral authority to criticize
any government if they depart from those principles.
It is therefore important for the Gambian Unionss to engage in a vigorous
campaign to educate their Senegalese counterparts by examples. They must
abide by democratic principles and the rule of law under all circumstances.
In FOROYAA's view, the crisis is sparked by the failure of the two
governments to review the issue of cross border transportation and come up
with policies designed with the collaboration of the stakeholders and
disseminated for their general knowledge. In the absence of that it is the
people in the two countries who must develop their maturity, respect each
other and seek democratic and civilized avenues to promote such interests.
Each media house is independent and has a right to give news whether raw or
well researched news. A well researched news is not self censorship. It
aims to show all the sides of the coin so that there will be no possibility
of misrepresentation.
Diplomacy should not be left to government's alone. Civil society
organizations and the people within countries should be more mature than
their governments and should infact insist that their governments mutually
protect their own nationals.
This is the way forward.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We Are Exporting Nothing But Groundnuts
This Is A Shame; Says President Jammeh
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
President Jammeh was himself. He did not read any speech. He just spoke his
mind. He told the audience that there was no case for boastfulness and
chest pounding. We are not independent he exclaimed. "We cannot talk about
freedom without independence. He said that Gambians cannot expect him to
provide jobs for everyone, that he cannot understand why foreign skilled
human power predominates in the Gambia.
He said that since 1965 Gambians have ever been able to sew a grand mbuba,"
(embroiled) clothes.
He called NEPAD knee pad and argued that it is based on begging. He said
people should not expect it to bring any salvation.
That ignorance is the worst enemy of the people. That it is not he Yahya
Jammeh who will give people democracy and human rights but the people
themselves.
That people are complaining that the dalasi is going down; that it will
continue to go down because even the rice people eat is imported, that
Gambia is exporting only groundnuts and that is a shame.
He said that in 8 years they have spent over 200 million dollars to build
the country but that the roads are being built by foreigners and not
Gambians. He said that some people should stop showing him that they are
party militants and go and work.
He said that the pillars of his government are agriculture, education and
health.
President Jammeh told the crowd that he was ready for any one who aimed to
threaten the security of the Gambia.
"I am a peace maker, that does not mean that I will not go to war. I will
defend every inch of this country and the integrity of everybody without
fear or favor.
This is what I live for and this is what I will die for. Those countries
that have abused our hospitality, you better think twice, if you have a
problem with the Gambia, not even the United Nations can solve that
problem. You will go.
Any country and I mean any country in the world that is unfortunate to
invade this country, I swear to the Almighty Allah, we will wipe you out of
the world map, I swear to God, Bi Lahi, Wa Lahi, Ta Lahi."
Observation
President Jammeh was more over excited than expected. People expected him
to reflect the new situation where the person they overthrew came to stay
in the Gambia. One would have expected messages of tolerance to the
citizens of Senegal and Guinea Bissau in the country and urging them to
call on their people at home to be tolerant of Gambians in order to promote
regional peace. The best way to create peace is to win the hearts of the
people of the sub-region. They will not allow their governments to go to
war with a country they love and respect.
One would have expected that if he criticizes growing imports he would have
stated more areas than agriculture, health and education as his agenda. He
would also include manufacturing, processing and energy.
One would have expected that if he criticizes NEPAD he would have given an
alternative strategy.
Nonetheless, the speech was realities. It was shown that Gambia has a long
way to go and only the people can search and find the road to take, to get
our destiny of liberty, dignity and prosperity. There is no short cuts to
development. People must know and take charge of their destiny in order for
the country to truly move forward.
See next for further analysis
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Babucarr Gaye's Citizen FM Still Waiting
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Babucarr Gaye was stopped by the N.I.A. from operating Citizen FM because
of the claim that he has not paid his taxes. He now produces a receipt for
income-tax and income-tax clearance certificate to indicate that he has
met all his tax obligations.
Many people expected President Jammeh's speech to extend more olive
branches and push Gambia towards greater normalcy. There is much talk from
official quarters that Gambians do not want to work. Citizen FM is a
Gambian company. It has been offering jobs to many family men and women and
young Gambians. What is the government gaining by delaying its opening.
They should encourage Gambians to earn a living and not deprive them of
means of survival.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Land Call To Mobile Up-Date
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Gamtel announced last week that they are charging the Tele-centers
D2.50 per minute and that the Tele-centers should charge clients 60 bututs
per unit. In a minute there is about 6 units. In that case, one simply
calculate 60b x 6 units and that would give one D3.60, out of this, we then
know that the telecentres would give Gamtel D2.50 and what is left goes to
the telecentre operator, and that is D1.10.
When this announcement and panel discussion was made over GRTS our reporter
went to different telecentres to find out how the telecentre operators felt
about it.
A telecentre operator at Churchill's Town told our reporter that he would
not entertain any calls to mobiles. When our reporter explained what
Gamtel's announcement said, he replied that he heard the announcement but
that he would not accept any call to mobiles.
Our reporter then went to Bundung and made a call at one telecentre to a
mobile and after the call, the telecentre operator charged D1.25 for two
units. Our reporter told her that it should be D1.20 and not D1.25. The
operator said that's what she was charging. Our reporter discovered that
many telecentres are charging 65 bututs per unit instead of 60 bututs, and
others are even charging one dalasi.
What is however clear is that the unit moves faster than before once one
calls to a mobile and the mobile owner's answering machine responds, that
automatically marks one unit, and if one adds a short sentence, that too
marks another unit. This means that no one should expect to call a mobile
and pay for only one unit when an answering machine responds or the caller
speaks. The least one can pay for in the situation is two units.
The question that now arises is whether Gamtel and the telecentre owners
can do more to harmonise the charges by making further announcements over
and over again so that every body will know the actual charges.
The other difficulty the telecentre operators are experiencing is the lack
of 10 bututs and 5 butut coins and even 1 butut coins to give the
appropriate changes at each given time. The Central Bank should now release
as many coins as possible so that quarrels over change at telecentres can
be avoided. These coins were not much in circulation due to the
depreciation of their value in the market. The Gamtel should also
reinforce the agreement by printing a standard tariff which must be pasted
by every telecentre operator so as to avoid any possibility of cheating or
quarrel with the general public.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
International Economy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The international economy as it stands today dominated by the theory
dubbed "Globalisation". The advocates of this theory thought it is new
which has its objectives to allow the flow of money, commodities and
services without restriction. In this way they say it will create a
growing interdependence hitherto unknown among the world's people.
Globalzation is also a process of integrating not just the economy of the
world but also cultures and governance.
But before we go in to this so-called new theory, let us look at the world
economy in the past to refresh our memory so that when we come to look at
today's world economy we would not falter when we see reality.
What is without doubt is that the world economy has been dominated by stiff
competition first between the European powers alone led by Germany and
later between the western powers on the one hand and the soviet Union on
the other.
We also know the united States, Western Europe and Japan took the path of
market oriented or capitalist economic development which encourages the
pursuit of profit which of course gives rise to a few to become extremely
rich at the detriment of the vast majority of the people.
But we also know that in this type of economy, individual capitalists
either build campanies or collaborate with other capitalists to build
companies and it is these companies in these countries that become the
owners of wealth since they are the owners of the means of production.
Now the question that arise is how these companies maximize profit? The
answer is very simple. These companies depend entirely on the people of
the world who live in different countries in the world and who buy or
purchase their commodities for them to make profit.
Since these companies pursue only profit as their main motive, then it
stands to reason that they would continue to make plans to produce as much
as possible as long as they think that people are out there who can buy
their goods.
But since all these countries also have their companies and in most cases
producing the same types of goods, then it stands to reason that
eventually, competition would have to be the norm between them, and that
was and still is the norm between these companies.
As they produce more than what their various countries need, they began to
search for more markets outside their countries and this has since become
the source of tension within them. Since the governments in these
countries also know that the more markets their companies have, the more
money the government would have and the more wealth the country would have,
then governments took it upon themselves to not only search for markets for
their companies but to have have a ready source of raw materials.
This is why as the search for ready markets and raw materials intensified,
the competition between countries of western Europe who have these
companies also intensified leading to the forceful seizure of the third
world countries as colonies. This has been the underlying reason for the
scramble of Africa for colonistation as opposed to the crusade to civilize
the rest of the world.
Interestingly enough, Germany which was one of the major world powers in
terms of weapons production and technology if not the major power was left
out in the scramble to seize colonies, they the Germans naturally felt that
they could utilise their military might to even subjugate her then European
competitors.
This was the reason for the first and second world wars. This was the
height of the struggle between those countries with industries.
So after the second world war, the struggle between the countries and
companies did not cease but instead of military wars, companies that could
not secure markets for themselves simply become bankrupt. The stiffer the
competition, the more unemployment also grew. This led to the accusation
of one country by another of unfair trade practices.
The Japanese and the Germans got the upper hand, especially Japan, who
later expanded their production at home as well as buy or established
companies in other countries eventually controls business internally and
externally and become a threat to the others, what happened was that each
government established huge intelligence organisations against each other
so as to ensure an expansion of trade in their favor.
When this competition could not be sustained any longer GATT (General
Agreement on Tariff and Trade) was formed to create harmony between them
but since it is a system that pursues profit as its main goal. It is
almost impossible to create harmony and unity. Hardly any headway could be
made in that direction.
After several years, a new round of trade talks resumed named the Uruguay
Round.
The Uruguay round was supposedly designed to ensure Agreement to eradicate
subsidies that gives advantages to producers in a given country. Some
analysts described it as "hanging in the air".
So trade war appeared to be imminent because losing the trade battle means
endless unemployment and political instability at home. So the forecast has
been that Japan and Germany will not continue to have the economic
advantages they used to have. This is why at present the forecast stood
the test of time.
Both are experiencing crises.
At the present moment, banks and companies are collapsing on a daily
basis.
Stock markets and companies are experiencing crises for lack of markets and
over speculation. Developed countries are also resorting to or
intensifying borrowing to support the welfare programmes at home.
COMECON (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance) the trading bloc for East
European Countries) had also changed to market oriented or capitalist
methods.
It was indicated to them that the world market was already saturated; that
even long established market oriented economies are having difficulties in
maintaining their markets and are experiencing bankruptcies and high
unemployment. It has been forecasted that they would not be able to compete
since they were designed to give jobs to the largest number of people, not
necessarily to make profit at the expense of the vast majority of persons.
It was also predicted to them that the change to the capitalist trend would
lead to a desire to make industries to be more profitable by reducing the
workforce and intensify the exploitation of those who remain; that this
would lead to massive unemployment; that despite that those industries
would still not be able to compete; that many will collapse leaving the
state with a narrow tax base which shall render it total.
In the next issue, we will look at the situation of the developing or
countries termed as third world countries to which our country belongs to
see their position in the world economic situation.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: FOROYAA (Freedom) NO: 40/2002 11 - 14 July, 2002 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]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
