[Mr. President, The mid-term review of the Millennium Declaration two years
ago indicates that the Millennium Development Goals are far from being
attained in most of the developing world. This notwithstanding, for us in The
Gambia, our commitment to the MDGs is unwavering. The overarching policy objective
of the government, under the leadership of his Excellency the President of
the Republic of The Gambia Alhaji Yahya AJJ Jammeh, is to reduce poverty and
achieve all the MDGs. We have just concluded a Second Poverty Reduction
Strategy Paper which clearly sets out our policy framework for achieving growth and
poverty reduction despite our meager resources and endowments, and despite
the failure of several partners to fulfil their pledges of aid, debt relief,
and market access for African countries. The same mid-term reviews showed that
the commitments that were made in many fora by the international community
in support of the MDGs in poor countries have not translated into real
resource flows into these countries. We therefore call on the international
community to rededicate itself to the provisions of the Monterey consensus, and the
Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. In this regard, my delegation welcomes
the panel of eminent personalities established by former British Prime
Minister, Mr. Tony Blair, to monitor pledges made at the G8 summits including
those made at the Gleneagles Summit. My Delegation considers it particularly
critical to take action to reverse the downward trend in overseas development
financing.]
I sit and wonder whether there is a gap in understandings between the
developed countries and the developing countries when it comes to the UN. Or is it
that Gambian officials have not read or did not understand the Millennium
Declaration. I had thought that my review of our speech at the UN would be on
the premise that we understand the basic elements of the subject matter.
However, our speech indicates there may be a deficit of critical information.
Therefore, I present some relevant sources of information and I encourage all my
colleagues to read these documents as we review our state:
_http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/goals.html_
(http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/goals.html)
_http://unstats.un.org/unsd/mi/pdf/MDG%20Book.pdf_
(http://unstats.un.org/unsd/mi/pdf/MDG%20Book.pdf)
In September 2000, The UN Millennium Summit took place. 189 nations
participated. 147 of those nations adopted some goals targeted to be accomplished by
the year 2015. It was then up to those nations to devise policies and plans
toward accomplishing those goals. The goals are 7 in number and to assist less
able nations, they added an eighth goal to form development partnerships in
their various journeys toward the common goals. The UN promised to undertake
monitoring and encouragement of these nations and partnerships and so they
produce reports every so often to track progress. A report was completed in
2003, 2005, and recently in 2007. The second URL above is the 2005 Report. The
Millennium Declaration does not place any obligation on any participating
nation to give anything to any other idiot. The relevant development partnerships
must be consulted to review promises and contracts among nations. It is sort
of like a Pair Effort where nations associate themselves with other desiring
nations and partner toward achieving the Global Millennium Goals.
Now then, as you can see, the 8 goals are:
1. Eradicate extreme Poverty and hunger.
2. Achieve universal primary education.
3. Promote gender equality and empower women.
4. Reduce Child mortality.
5. Improve maternal health.
6. Combat HIV / AIDS, malaria, and other diseases.
7. Ensure environmental sustainability.
8. Develop a global partnership for development.
It is no accident that the goals appear in the order that they do. It means
that goals 1 thru 7 must be achieved in tandem with goal 8 or perhaps better
before goal 8 can harness values. For example; you would not expect Gambia to
participate in trade anywhere on an equal footing with Senegal if Gambia does
not make any meaningful effort toward eradicating extreme poverty and
hunger, achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality and the
empowerment of women, reducing child mortality, prevalence of HIV/AIDS, and
malaria, in an environmentally sustainable manner. Nor would you ask Spain to
absorb Gambia's diseased and ill-prepared children. In effect, instead of
lament Gambia's lack of Millennium Development partners or donations from more
developed countries, I think the Vice President ought to have shared what
concrete steps her administration has taken in achieving any of the goals of the
MDG. In fairness to her, Ajaratou, the vice president has shared that her
administration has just (in 2007), concluded their second Poverty Reduction
Strategy Paper. And she shares that burden with her delegation to the UN. A
question then arises: Why since 2000 when the MDGs were adopted, that The Gambia
government has only embarked on the production of policy papers? How many
strategic policy papers do they intend to produce before they begin implementing
any one of them? And are those strategy papers dependent on gifts, grants, and
circumstance from generous countries? How do they intend to find those
generous countries therefore? I remembered an opportunity they squandered in
receiving aid from the US based on the Millennium Project. That aid went to Ghana
instead and Ghana is putting it to good use. I recommend Gambia take a look
at Ghana's representative's speech on this issue of beggars and spoilers.
[Mr. President, The mid-term review of the Millennium Declaration two years
ago indicates that the Millennium Development Goals are far from being
attained in most of the developing world.]
The hon. Ajaratou informs the UN delegates that the 2005 Millennium
Development Progress Report demonstrates that the goals are far from being
attained
in most of the developing world. Since the Hon. Vice President is not
representing any other of the developing world, I presume she misspoke here.
She
meant to say that the report indicates that the goals are far from being
attained
in The Gambia. This is critical because what Banana republics do is hide
their non-performance in larger non-performances of phantom nations in
order
that their non-performance becomes part of a larger intractable malaise
with
their hands out perpetually for gifts. If we compare the Hon.'s speech with
speeches of other countries such as Kufuor of Ghana's speech, we see that
other
countries speak of their own experiences and efforts. Only where it comes to
global conflict, disaster, and or other issue of global ramification, do
they
speak to the wisdom of other nations. It is high time Gambia learn that She
has responsibility for itself and that her urgencies do not constitute
emergencies for other nations. Besides, you cannot appeal to the greater
wisdom of
others by abdicating your own responsibilities. We will speak to this more
later. I am duly informed that the Hon.'s speech was prepared by the
Taiwanese
Embassy or that it was reviewed for approval by said embassy and that the
Embassy facilitated her very trip to the UN Assembly. I hope that is not
true
because if it is, it will constitute grounds for charges of persona non
grata and
the cessation of diplomatic relations with Taiwan. I urge Taiwan's
restraint in micro-managing Gambia's foreign policy and international
representation.
They will look more like Pimps than development partners. Services in
expectation of consideration or vice versa constitute coercion and where
those
considerations are offered public officials, False agency becomes issue.
Barring evidence of Taiwanese coercion and bribery, we understand that The
Gambia is far from attaining any of the goals of the Millennium Declaration.
[This notwithstanding, for us in The Gambia, our commitment to the MDGs is
unwavering.]
How so Madam Vice President?
[The overarching policy objective of the government, under the leadership
of
his Excellency the President of
the Republic of The Gambia Alhaji Yahya AJJ Jammeh, is to reduce poverty
and
achieve all the MDGs]
We understand that HE may be committed to attaining the MDGs. However, it
may border on irresponsible to share this with us and at the same time share
that the most that has been achieved from 2000 up until now is the
compilation
of two strategic policy papers. Unawares, Ajaratou, you are sharing that
while
HE's heart may be in the right place, when it comes to performance of his
administration, you and your colleagues fall short of completing the tasks
HE
delegates to you. We all know that a President forms overall policy
objectives
and then delegates implementation tasks to SOS and Permanent Secretaries.
The
world is changing rapidly. You must assist the President in achieving or
at least effort to make headway on his policy objectives. HE cannot possibly
do your work for you as much as he may have a big heart. We cannot go
through
life thinking that as long as we keep singing praises to HE, we are under
no
obligation to fulfil our responsibilities. HE himself advises you as much.
This is grossly unjust to invoke HE's name in malfeasance and
non-performance.
Indeed, HE ascented to the Millennium Declaration and therefore his
overarching goal will expectedly be to achieve the aims and aspirations of
the
Declaration. That is obvious. Now the rest of you could assist him in
completing
those aims and aspirations if you focus on doing your work.
[We have just concluded a Second Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper which
clearly sets out our policy framework for achieving growth and poverty
reduction despite our meager resources and endowments, and despite the
failure of
several partners to fulfil their pledges of aid, debt relief, and market
access for African countries.]
Ajaratou, may I remind you that you must enter into partnerships first,
then
the partnerships make pledges, and only them can you qualify the value or
lack thereof of those partnerships. The way I see Gambia making partnerships
leaves a lot to be desired. When you seek distressed nations such as Taiwan,
Cuba, Venezuela, and Iran, and you promise to do their bidding at the UN in
exchange for consideration, that is not a genuine partnership in
development. At
least not as far as the MDGs are concerned. That activity is sale of
services
for consideration. The only service you have demonstrated that you can
offer is doing these nations' bidding at the UN when you should be
representing
HE and Gambia. If you look at that service more broadly, you will realize
that
the audience for your bidding is not paying attention to you. They are
focused on their own efforts toward attaining the MDGs. You will be better
advised
to facilitate conversation between China and Taiwan if your purpose is
sincere. But if you engage in garrulous gaucherie, you risk alienating
China
further, widening their cultural gap with Taiwan, and when China decides to
annex
Taiwan for good, then you have no client in Taiwan. The same goes for the
other
countries. When you are charged with policy-making, you train on diplomacy
for cooperative negotiation. Here you are trained on petty mischief-making
that will spill over to Gambia when it blossoms into a full-blown conflict
between the two nations who share the same culture. We have a similar
problem in
our own backyard involving our own peoples; Cassamance. If you cannot do
anything about that, what makes you think you can bridge the gap between
Taiwan
and China by taking the side of Taiwan at China's expense? It is high time
we
grow up. You are squandering enormous goodwill for HE and Gambia by
engaging
in petty mischief-making. By the way, did you know that certain debts are
being forgiven? Gambia has to negotiate for its own debts to be forgiven.
Do not
pretend to speak on all Africa's behalf when you are not assigned that
responsibility. This insidious patronage of other is old. And no one
listens to
you anymore. People are taking responsibility for their people and
garnering
more goodwill by the day.
[The same mid-term reviews showed that the commitments that were made in
many fora by the international community in support of the MDGs in poor
countries have not translated into real resource flows into these
countries.]
Ajaratou, Which commitments were made in support of the MDGs of Gambia in
any international fora?
NONE.
Will you continue to breed hatred and animus among nations in the hope of
Resource flows from aversed countries? If the answer is yes then you are
inadvertently sharing with us that Gambia's interests in development lies in
formenting and maintaining conflict around the world. Matkhaafsh min rabbak?
Are
you not afraid of Allah?
[We therefore call on the international community to rededicate itself to
the provisions of the Monterey consensus, and the Paris Declaration on Aid
Effectiveness.]
Word of advice! When you beg, it will be valuable if you can address your
benefactor. Who is the international community? Do they have their own MDGs
to
attain? I will share with you some of the partnerships formed in this
regard:
UNDP/Japan Partnership to promote South-South Cooperation
Civil society and the MDGs
UNVs and MDGs
UNDP/UNEP Poverty-environment partnership (This realizes the correlation
between environmental stewardship and poverty-reduction.
UNDP/UN ESCAP/ADB Asia and the Pacific.
These and many other resources are available for Gambia and other nations
to
utilize. They however have benchmarks to be achieved. Yes performance-based.
So we better Taka Ndiga and giddy up.
[We therefore call on the international community to rededicate itself to
the provisions of the Monterey consensus, and the Paris Declaration on Aid
Effectiveness. In this regard, my delegation welcomes
the panel of eminent personalities established by former British Prime
Minister, Mr. Tony Blair, to monitor pledges made at the G8 summits
including
those made at the Gleneagles Summit.]
The key word here is monitor. Even Allah does not give money to a lazy and
clueless person. Allah gave money to HE and he built a farm to feed his
people.
Can you not get a clue?
[My Delegation considers it particularly critical to take action to
reverse
the downward trend in overseas development financing.]
I hate to inform you that there is no action to be taken where there is no
need for action. The world likes peace and tranquility. Speak with Blair and
he
will advise you wisely.
It is highly irresponsible to keep throwing around words like "international
community", "overseas development financing", "foreign Direct investment",
etcetera just because they sound good to the illiterate. The reason is
because they do not address anyone nor do they address any tangible property. These
words belong in a choir. I have been taught that when you have a problem, it
helps to be able to clearly define your problem, and generate criteria for
evaluating solutions. When you come across insurmountable tasks while you
effort to solve your problem, seek help honourably. You must not be ashamed to
seek help or to admit your shortcomings. If I were the international community
or the overseas (By the way, what about the overland? What about the sea that
conjures up images of bounty on its yonders?), and you present this speech
to me, I will understand that you have a severe problem and you are seeking
help. And if I wish to help you, I would not know how to help you. At least
help me understand the nature of your problem and what area you need assistance
in. Don't just tell me you have a problem with "not enough money". We all
have that problem.
Madam Vice President, the advice I give you here is very valuable and I
don't normally give it for free. But if your aim is to complete the desires of HE
for Gambia, then I am gladly offering it to you and your administration. I
will ignore the rest of your speech because as am sure you will agree with me,
the remainder is insignificant as far as HE and Gambians are concerned. I
understand you are a Doctor, in what, I do not know, nor is that valuable at
this critical national juncture of demonstrated malaise. When I next speak with
you and my fellow citizens, I will share with you concrete steps toward
achieving the Millennium Development Goals, and how you can attract benevolent
development partners who are also focused on their own MDGs. I understand that
perceptual obstacles are related to peoples' inability to visualize remote
relationships or to make the link between cause and effect (T. Jewell, A
Systems Approach to civil Engineering Planning and Design, 1986, Harper and Row,
P.3) as our friend JDAM will agree. I am no doctor. Just a fellow citizen whose
heart is trained on commoner good.
Thank you Madam, Ajaratou, and colleagues for your audience. Please discard
the two strategic policy papers you have been compiling for the past 7 years.
We do not have any more time to squander. Let your SOS and their
under-secretaries to expect to really do some work for a change.
Haroun Rashid. AL Khairawan. MQDT. Darbo.
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