Demba, I'm just curious, when you were at the civil aviation organization and it was corrupt to the bone, did you reveal the corruption or speak about it at all, or did you just go along with it for fear of losing your job (since you said it was also politically corrupt). Politically corrupt means the people who ran or worked at the CA were crooks, rogues, and perhaps criminals.
Haruna.
-----Original Message-----
From: Demba Baldeh <[log in to unmask]>
To: GAMBIA-L <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Mon, Jul 8, 2013 1:44 pm
Subject: Re: A review of A WEEK OF HELL by Papa Faal
Daffeh, I would absolutely agree with you that some of these organizations got started during the PPP time, may be you and I are looking at institutions in different perspectives, I am not looking at the initiation of the ideas but strengthening and building independent viable institutions that will withstand the test of time... unfortunately, it is not enough to initiate and idea, they had the responsibility to build independent institutions free from the political machine... The judiciary certainly was somewhat functioning but the institution itself was not built independent of the political machinery.... The Pakistani judiciary comes to mind when they flatly rejected Musarif's meddling with the supreme court... Those judges relying on the strength of the institution refused to bow down to government...
The public transportation, the Parastatals you talked about existed - great ideas but they were infested with corruption to the bone... I was at the Gambia Civil Aviation as a new Semi - independent government entity but it was corrupted to the bone and was only a matter of time before it crumbled. Not a single week went by in Gambia without reading massive mismanagement of public funds and public corporations failing like dry moss... the Cooperative union, the Gambia commercial and Investment Bank (a creation of the Central bank), the GPMB, the GUC etc and etc were all created but functionally deficit.
May be you were too young to understand what was going on or should I say you need to go back and read your historical facts about institutions in the Gambia... The excuse that when we obtained independence we did not have anything is a cheap and false excuse.. The very purpose of our independence was to take our country into something greater than just bringing together people within a geographical boundary and call it a country. I contest that our leaders taking our nation from the ruins of colonialism to independence with minimal progress is no excuse... a small nation like Gambia, without a viable public service utilities such as, roads, clean water supply, healthcare facilities, manufacturing economy etc is simply nothing to celebrate....
I guess my argument is that a house was built in Gambia but with a faulty foundation that led to nothing but our current circumstances. Unfortunately, the bar has been lowered so low by current circumstances, we often find ourselves nostalgic about a government that simply presided over decades of a stagnant economy and nation... I would conclude that I read exerts of Berkeley Rice's birth of a probable nation... and am simply not sold on what many saw as impressive in building a small nation... our leaders simply did not have any vision for you and I and future generations thus our currently reality... To argue that former regime was not corrupt simply does not hold water...
Thanks for the comments...
Ramadan Mubarak to you and all members of the L.. Stay blessed
Demba
On Mon, Jul 8, 2013 at 4:03 AM, UDP United Kingdom <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Demba, there was almost no economy at the time they assume power. The country was almost entirely dependent on handouts from Great Britain prompting fears that the country could never be able to stand on its own feet as an independent nation. Some including IM Garba Jahumpa even wanted to see Gambia annexed to Senegal.
I suggest you read 'the birth of an improbale nation' by Berkeley Rice. I am informed by historical facts, not idle talk or sentimental rambling.
On institutions, you can't tell me the judiciary was not functioning under Jawara because I know it was. You can't tell me Gamtel, a creation of the PPP, was not doing well because I know it was; You can't tell me the central bank, a creation of the PPP, was not functioning because I know it was; you can't tell me the tourist industry, a creation of the PPP, was not serving the country well economically; you can't tell me GPTC, GPA, GCAA, SSHFC, all creations of the PPP, were not functioning because I know they were.
Yes, there were cases of mismanagement and financial misappropiation within the civil service and some parastatals and I have seen evidence of this unfold before my eyes in the Algali Commission. The only blame one can attached to the PPP political leadership in this regard is their failure to take grip of the issue and tackle it head on, and I have alluded to this when I said the PPP was too linient to a fault. LJD also alluded to the same. So yes, they might be negligent in some respect but not corrupt as a govt, in my view.
I have no interest in defending the PPP for neither myself nor my parents benefitted from them in anyway or form apart from the public service they provided/ were providing for us all.
Thanks
Daffeh
On Sunday, 7 July 2013, Demba Baldeh <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> "a vibrant nation state with functioning institutions and a promising economy." Hmmmm! Not sure the former regime and first republic could accurately be described as "Vibrant, functioning and promising institutions with promising economy. Certainly we did not have the democratic institutions, the economy was going down the drain by the day due mainly to public mismanagement and lack of oversight..., I know what we have now is far worst but lest we forget how we got here... we won't do justice in recognizing what a functioning institutions, a vibrant nation and promising economy look like.. just my two cents....
>
> Demba
>
> On Sun, Jul 7, 2013 at 11:21 AM, Haruna <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> Hear Hear JDAM!In your honor, I shall share a video interview of our son in Misera. Coming up.
>
> Haruna.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Lamin Darbo <[log in to unmask]>
> To: GAMBIA-L <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Sat, Jul 6, 2013 5:45 pm
> Subject: Re: A review of A WEEK OF HELL by Papa Faal
>
> Thanks Haruna. Except for unbelievable advancements in the technological and other material side of things, modern times have nothing on antiquity. Cicero was just one of humanity's treasure trove of thinkers from societies across the world. I like him
>
> LJDarbo
> ________________________________
> From: Haruna <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Sent: Thursday, 4 July 2013, 19:04
> Subject: Re: [G_L] A review of A WEEK OF HELL by Papa Faal
>
> Thanks JDAM for sharing Cicero once again, that luminary of Roman exigencies.
>
> Rome is not merely a matter of geography. Rome is not defined by rivers, or
> mountains, or even seas. Rome is not a question of blood, or race, or religion;
> Rome is an idea. Rome is the highest embodiment of liberty and law that mankind
> has yet achieved in the ten thousand years since our ancestors came down from
> those mountains and learned how to live as communities under the rule of law”
>
> Haruna. I will continue to take in of your magnificence in this review.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Lamin Darbo <[log in to unmask]>
> To: GAMBIA-L <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Thu, Jul 4, 2013 7:10 am
> Subject: A review of A WEEK OF HELL by Papa Faal
>
> --
> "Be the change you want to see in the World"
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