Another Skeleton in Our Cupboard

The Independent (Banjul)
EDITORIAL
December 27, 2002
Posted to the web December 27, 2002
Banjul

A majority of Gambians don't know it, but there were two things Jammeh
secured from his trip to Nigeria. One was the usual commitment to bilateral
cooperation between 'Big Brother' and The Gambia, which was publicised in
the state media. The other which was a gift of oil to The Gambia never saw
the light of day in the media. Why?

It was good news to learn that Nigeria is staying true to its commitment
with The Gambia, by continuing to give technical and military assistance.
But what was even better news was the offer to The Gambia of 22,000 tons of
crude oil by Nigeria. Our inquiries revolve around the question of why the
government is selective on the things they wish to make transparent or not.
This omission is conspicuous.

In a previous editorial, The Independent pointed out how the lack of
transparency is gnawing at our Gambian statecraft and how the blemish cast
overbearingly on our democratic system, founded on the principles of checks
and balances, probity and accountability, is getting all the more
pronounced. We want leaders who practise what they preach, not leaders who
pile up skeletons in the cupboard. We want a government, which would strive
to deliver and explain to the people why so many things were going wrong.
We want a government, which is not only democratic and transparent but is
also seen as such. Our national reality suggests how utopian these
expectations are. There is no point in time when Gambians need a
transparent, accountable government than now when everything about our
economy is going disastrously topsy-turvy.

If the offer was made in the name of The Gambia and not in the name of any
individual or group of individuals, then the regime has to inform the
public. It is better to err on the side of transparency than to err
elsewhere. The Gambia is no a stranger to crude oil sagas. The first
involved Jawara, which was trumpeted as an issue of corruption by Jammeh's
government, which spoke lengthily on transparency and the lack of it in the
PPP day. From 1984 to 86 17 million barrels amounting to $41 million were
reserved for The Gambia. It provided the ace to pummel Jawara at every
opportunity. And Jammeh and co were at pains to show how justified they
were in their criticism of the old order. But two years later, they too
were involved in a similar saga, linked to an Abacha oil gift to The Gambia
(not to the government) from the same country, Nigeria. In 1996 $3.8
million were alleged to have been accrued from the crude oil transaction.
Jammeh was left with nothing to say but to opt for official silence.
Although no one betrays himself by silence, in given contexts it could be
eloquent. In this case it made obvious that something was awry with the
handling of the oil gift. Our thought at the time was how successive
African governments and their leaders never learn from the costly mistakes
of their predecessors and take their people deeper into the dark recesses
of the abyss called poverty and political privation. Now after this latest
revelation, we hate to admit that the regime has learnt not from its own
mistakes or from the one before it. In the end such a mistake cannot be
called a mistake because it was calculated. Mistakes are supposed to be
accidental not calculated or contrived for a given purpose. Embarrassing as
they may be to the government and those who serve it thereof, these issues
need to be pointed out so that something is done to arrest them. As we said
in a recent editorial, we do not hate personalities serving the government,
but anti-social tendencies that characterise their handling of the
country's affairs. We are all stakeholders in the running of the country,
hence our abiding interest in all things Gambian. In fact a prominent
Gambian owns a plantation in Guinea-Conakry but prefers to keep it as a
secret skeleton in the cupboard.

The truth is uncompromising and excuse us for stressing it. There are no
two ways about it.

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