Essa, it is obvious that you are quite determined to get your issue to the
forefront.  You have raised some pertinent questions.  This does not mean,
however, that issues in Mozambique and the African diaspora are not
pertinent. We need to pay attention to our neighboring countries because they
tend to put things in perspective and also help us outline strategies or
allow us to brainstorm on how to avoid the horrible consequences of future
natural disasters.  Nevertheless, our country should always come first and I
understand the urgency of your question.

These are a few things that hinder our development.  Hopefully, we can expand
on these points:
1) Bad and inept leadership:
Good leadership should come from the very top. We simply cannot afford to
have Corporals and Sergeants run our countries.

2) Corruption:
We all know about the rampant corruption issues in The Gambia right now.
Something has to be done to stem this tide.

3) Lack of accountability:
 This has always been a problem.  There are no checks and balances to make
that people are performing up to par or not abusing their positions of power.
If the president can use a 5% of our budget for a mansion in Kanilai, then a
bad precedent is being set for all others to follow.

4) High illiteracy Rate:
 I have no specific statistics for the literacy rate back home. But the
number should be around the 50% mark.  Countries with high literacy rates
tend to do better.  Cuba is a good example.

5) No specific development plan:
We seem to have strayed form the Vision 2020 plan but this plan seems to be
too grandiose and far fetched. The goals need to be more specific  short
range achievable ones.

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