Folks, the third annual Midwest Gambian Association conference, held During
Labor Day weekend, with the theme "Gambia: Economy and Political
Climate in the 21 Century", was a big success.  The speakers for the
conference were Dr. Michael Banutu Gomez, Professor of Business Management
and Organizational Development at Rowan University, Glassboro, New Jersey,
and Dr. Abdoulaye Saine, Professor of Political Science, Miami University of
Ohio, Oxford, Ohio.

Dr. Gomez's topic of presentation was "Using Cooperation To Build, Nurture,
and Sustain Democracy in The Gambia For The 21st Century".  Folks, this
topic cannot be presented at a better time in the history of the development
of our nation and it strikes at the heart of our current situation in The
Gambia.  An excerpt from Dr. Gomez's presentation reads, "..now, as often it
is the case, people in and out of The Gambia, are blaming other people for
the social, economic and political problems that we now have in our society.
  I believe that this is because many people living in and out of The Gambia
hold a negative view regarding the use of alliances, reciprocity and
exchange to accomplish work and solve problems for the 21st century
democracy in The Gambia.  They believe "I've failed if I have to go my
neighbors for help - I will look bad."  We tend to seek who is to blame for
problems and to view persons we cannot control as our enemies.  This
tendency limits our perception of the many possibilities of a particular
situation and it distracts us from coming up with positive ideas that may
help to solve various social, economic, democratic, instability and
political problems we now face in The Gambia.  We try to influence the
people who we believe are to blame for problems by criticizing them because
they have influence in our society or control financial and human resources
needed to solve our nation's problems and have to cooperate if plans to
solve those problems are to be implemented.  We need to remember that they
cannot be ordered around and will only work with us to solve mutual problems
when they choose to.  For this reason, I believe that it is very important
for us to understand how reciprocity works and how to set up mutually
beneficial exchanges in The Gambia.  To do this, we as Gambians in and out
of The Gambia need to understand how the principle of exchange operates."
Dr. Gomez went on to talk about the three factors that suppress sustainable
democracy in our society and can hinder the successful growth of positive
exchange in the Gambia:1) failure to treat those we disagree with as
potential allies instead of enemies, 2) ignoring the need to understand the
world from other's unique points of view, and 3) our lack of awareness about
our own interact ional style.  To achieve these three opportunities for
improvement, Dr. Gomez recommends that, a) we be aware of the needs of an
ally, b) seek mutual benefit only, and c) not use that knowledge and power
to manipulate them in order to further one's own aims.  Dr. Gomez also
offered a model for sustainable democracy for 21st century Gambia that he
named "Queen Mother Gambia".  Dr. Gomez will post his paper on the L for a
wider exchange.

Dr. Saine's paper titled "The Gambia and The political Economy of
Globalization: Prescriptions For A "New Order" in the Twenty-First
Century",assesses The Gambia's chances of surviving in the new world order
of "globalization".  He argued that "The Gambia's current political and
economic arrangement, and its 'culture of dependency' on external
'development partners' must be replaced by
'creative-national-self-reliance."  The rest of the paper is divided into
four subsections.  The first deals with the conceptual and ideological
dimensions of globalization.  The second provides an overview of The
Gambia's political economy (pre-colonial, colonial, and post-independent
forces that dominated the Senegambian region).  The third subsection
revolves around the notion of "new thinking" and
creative-national-self-reliance" the goals of which are to reverse the
country's economic decline, and "culture of dependence.  The forth and final
subsection is concludes the paper.

Ladies and gentlemen, these two great speakers touched the very nerve of our
ailment as a nation.  They diagnose our problems and offered real solutions
to reverse the tide of decades of economic and political decay.  Drs. Gomez
and Saine will post their papers on the L for a wider debate.  On behalf of
the participants and the member organizations, I say thank you, thank you,
and thank you Drs. for sharing your time, knowledge, and wisdom.  Future
leaders will benefit from your prescriptions.  So, look out for these papers
everyone.

The conference was capped with a teleconference call with Mr. Halifa Sallah
of PDOIS, courtesy of Pasamba Jow (Coach).  The participants had an
opportunity to engage Mr. Sallah for more than an hour, on the many issues
that confront our nation, such as: that state of our economy; coming
elections; the need for increased participation of women in our economy; the
plight of our farmers; PDOIS' solution to our country's problems; the issue
of all the opposition parties uniting, etc., etc.  Folks this conference is
getting better and better every year, and we intend to build on that success
each time.

On a lighter note, there was an evening Gala on Saturday and a family picnic
and a soccer tournament that Detroit won, on Sunday.  There were three
teams, Chicago, Detroit, and Minnesota.  The two teams with the most points
met in the finals.  Each team played twice before the finals and Chicago had
the most points followed by Detroit.  The scores were as follows: Detroit 2
- Minnesota 1; Chicago 2 - Detroit 0; and Chicago 1 - Minnesota 1.  Detroit
beat Chicago 4 to 3 in penalty kicks after a goalless tie.  Habib Ghanim,
had Chicago not played three consecutive matches with twenty minute breaks
between games, Detroit knows they would have been given a clinic.:)!
Congratulations to Detroit for winning the Soccer Tournament.  Folks, next
year's conference would top this one, and do not take my word for it, just
ask the attendees.

Chi Jaama

Joe sambou

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