Foreign Debt At D9 Billion, Opposition Leader Discloses




The Independent (Banjul)

September 21, 2001
Posted to the web September 21, 2001

B.s Jawla
Banjul, the Gambia

The National Reconciliation Party leader Hamat Bah has revealed that The
Gambia has incurred over D9 billion as debt owed to the outside world in the
last seven years.

Mr. Bah, who was on a nationwide tour told a mass rally in Sanjaly Sarra
Kunda recently that the country's foreign debt has increased manifold since
July 1994 in view of what he saw as reckless government spending, spurred by
bad economic policies of the APRC administration.




Mr. Bah said the economic conditions in the country was better before
President Jammeh staged his coup in 1994. He said before that period, the
country's debt was D3 million, which he said was manageable.

He said Gambians have been forced to incur a huge foreign debt without
knowing where and how that money was spent. He said many Gambians are only
just realising that the man who had toppled ex-president Jawara, purportedly
to contain corruption has presided over a looting spree of the nation's
meagre resources.

The NRP leader accused the president of buying expensive cars every two
years. "This shows that Jammeh has no interest in improving the miserable
lives of our people" he charged.

On the president's overseas travels, Mr. Bah said Jammeh always prefers
globetrotting on chartered flights instead of regular flights, which are
cheaper and less burdensome on the nation's coffers. According to him, the
president spends over D1 million in every trip while the sick in hospitals
are left to languish in anguish and students from poor homes are left
without school fees. He said Gambian youths have been overwhelmed by
frustration, while mothers suffer miscarriages because of bad roads.

He said it is outrageous for President Jammeh to preside over these problems
while misinforming Gambians on the television and the radio in his
propagandistic statements to gain support for his unpopular party. Mr. Bah
also said that he would expose President Jammeh's true nature to Gambians
who he said would realize the truth and why they shouldn't entrust him with
power for the next five years. He called on Gambians to distance themselves
from President Jammeh and his party, who he said are bent on more plunder.
"Those clapping for him are doing so for their own selfish interests. But
they will regret it sooner rather than later," he said.

According to him, Gambians are ready for change, which he believes is
inevitable especially when there would be no chance for vote-rigging.



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