Below is the FOROYAA Burning Issue of - Issue No 33. The topics in the
issue are:

1. Editorial - Expert Advice Needed Of Ferries
2. Focus On The Gambia's Economic Situation
3. Pan African Students Association (PASA) Organised Symposium
4. Training On Diplomatic Practice Closed



NO: 33/2002   10 - 12 June, 2002
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Editorial
Expert Advice Needed Of Ferries

The ferry JONE has been handed over for operations on Saturday 8th June
2002.
Prior to this the Banjul Barra ferry operation has been very unreliaible.
Disaster was looming in the horizons because of the many incidents when
the ferry found itself unable to dock.

What is however necessary to bear in mind is that coastal erosion is now
sweeping the coast line from Banjul to the Kombo's. A fleeting glance at the
Barra Ferry terminal would reveal that it has had to be dredged several times
because of soil intrusion which made docking difficult during low tide.  What
should be of concern to people and government is that once there is a
dredging within a short span of time the soil intrusion causes another
blockage. This gives the impression that there is movement of soil from
somewhere to Barra.
This is the science of Island formations. While some areas lose sand others
gain sand deposits. It is therefore necessary for the Gambia government to
give the facts regarding the past dredging in Barra area so that engineers can
do a follow up  to find out the consequences of such dredging. This may give
us some clue why coastal erosion in the Banjul area expanded with such
phenomenal rapidity. There are of course many answers to this development .

It is important to isolate the dredging associated with the provision of proper
docking facility for ferries to Barra as one factor which needs close study so
that preventive strategies can be developed against coastal erosion. this is
one point.

The Need For Foreign Exchange Accounts

Ferries require purchase with foreign exchange at the moment. Their spare
parts would also require foreign exchange . It is important for the government
to realise that services which require foreign exchange to be maintained
should also keep foreign exchange account to ensure that money is available
to pay loans and purchase spare parts and other materials. A system should
be developed to maintain a foreign exchange purposes .



Focus On The Gambia's Economic Situation

The first thing we must be able to answer before we  discuss about
privatisation is "what is privatisation?"

Sometimes in economists, people use different terms for the same thing.
Some economics would rather use the term divestiture rather than
privatisation.
Privatisation or divestiture bluntly means the selling of public assets to private
individuals.

They use the term divestiture because they simply want us to believe that
they are given the public company or parastatal to another management, that
would utilise it better, to benefit the people better. But that is left to each
individual to see if that is actually the case; that when a public institution is
sold out, those who buy it actually utilise it to better the lives of the people
than those managing it on behalf of the original owners, the people.

The term privatisation is used by those economists who want us to believe
that state owned companies are not viable, meaning they are not profitable
as they should have been if they were managed under a private ownership
management. they held the view that a human being takes bigger care of a
property or works harder to make something  viable or profitable if he/she
actually owns it; that human beings care less about a property if it belongs to
the general public. They want us to believe that the reason why certain public
companies collapse is precisely because those managing them do not see
the companies to be their personal properties. So they say the best thing is
to sell them, disburse them or hand them over to individuals to manage them.
They say this is what will promote the "private sector led growth policy."

The reality however explains something quite contrary to the above.
Governments do not just get up to privatise or sold off public utilities like that.
There is always an underground motive behind such a move. This shows that
such governments do not necessarily believe in the idea but something is
urging them to do it. If they actually believe in the private sector as the only
engine of growth as they would put it they would not have in fact established
public institutions or companies only to re-sell or disburse them to individuals
later.
The term "disburse" is sometimes used because the private entrepreneurs do
not always give governments the exact cost of those companies. The term
actually means giving them out for less than their real worth.

THE UNDERLYING REASON FOR DISBURSEMENT AND DEVALUATION:

We can learn a lot from the first Republic since the whole ERP came to us in
1983/84 financial year. The then government said groundnut production was
very low and was not enough to make an appreciable  impact on our balance
of payments position. They also said at that time, the government budget
was coming under increasing pressure as recurrent expenditure was well
ahead of estimated figures. They did not tell us why that was so. They also
said at that very time that they had negotiated with the IMF on an economic
stabilisation programme in the early part of that year which was designed to
address the two imbalances
which are of course fundamental in our economy; i.e. our country's growing
external indebtedness and the government's increasing budgetary deficit.

Before we come to what measures our government had taken with the IMF
inspired economic recovery programme, let us first analyse first the above
paragraph. The above paragraph simply said we were very indebted, meaning
we took too much
loans which we could not pay and secondly, we had an increasing budget
deficits, meaning that the amount of money budgeted annually for our
nation's needs falls far short of the requirements needed and this can be
caused by two things;
1. The amount budgeted could not be collected and
2. We were required to repay so much amount to the debtors that it had
eroded the meagre amount collected for
our budgetary needs.

Now we all know from this that we were in a very sorry state at the time and
those who lend us refused to forgive us, so they directed our government to
launch a fifteen months programme that would address the indebtedness and
the deficits which our government accepted at the time.

So how did they address the programme? They said   they had a plan and
they the then president  explained the plans in this words;

"with the devaluation of the dalasi the domestic demand for imports will be
dampened while we will receive more dalasi for our exports which will
encourage export crop production. We also agreed to implement supporting
measures which would restrict government expenditure, contain domestic
inflation and encourage domestic savings."

This simply means that our dalasi's value would be dropped so that things
from outside of the Gambia would become expensive so that we will not want
to buy them. This of course is not sound economic judgement because we
will know that our desire to purchase things that we do not produce all
always be there since we do not produce anything.

Secondly they say if we sell our groundnuts abroad, we would receive more
dalasi for our groundnut and in their lilliputian believes this would encourage
our people to produce more crops etc, that we can export. This is also not
scientific because they have refused to remember that they have reduced the
value of that very dalasi. This means that if I had 100 dalasis before the
devaluation I could buy two wooden arm chairs but after the devaluation, my
hundred dalasis could only purchase or buy me one wooden arm chair so
how could such a devaluation encourage me more than before the
devaluation?

Thirdly they also said they have agreed with the IMF the brain behind the
programme to restrict government expenditure, contain domestic inflation and
encourage domestic savings."

This simply means that our dalasi's value would be dropped so that things
brought outside the Gambia would become expensive so that we will not
want to buy them. This of course is not sound economic judgement because
we all know that our desire to purchase things we do not produce will always
be there since we are almost producing nothing.

Even though we were not told why government should restrict spending
money paid  to them by the people to give public services, it is already an
open secret that what they wanted to do was not to spend it but to use it to
repay debts. We all
know that once that becomes the norm, government would of course cut
down on the services rendered to the general public which in turn spells
doom for the vast majority of our population. This was and is why poverty is
increasing in our society rather than decreasing despite all the slogans
uttered against it.

So devaluation in most cases is done out of pressure rather than actual
sensible economic measures to eradicate an economic imbalance. This was
why even though this programme went on for eight years since the then
president made that infamous speech, only the opposite of what they said
they had intended happened.
That is the economy has not expanded because of investment, relentless war
has not been waged against inefficient management. Over consumption
waste and corruption has not been eradicated as promised. The agricultural
sector has not expanded just because farmers expect more of devalued
dalasis for their producer price, and government in fact lost total control to
determine prices. This in fact has been the origin of our adverse economic
and financial crisis.

And let me inform you that despite the fact that other so called economic
programmes such as ERP (Economic Recovery Programme), PSD
(Programme for Sustainable Development, esaf (Enhance Structural
Adjustment Fund-) and  PAP (Poverty Alleviation Programme, we still
continued to experience budget deficits, trade deficits, economic
contractions, unplanned devaluation on a daily basis and the increase of
poverty levels. Our economic problems are nowhere close to a solution
instead they are piling up mountainously.

The downward trend goes on non stop like this; see data below;

This trend has continued with us up to today and this is why our poverty
level, instead of going down, is spiralling upwards. I hope this is food for
thought for all Gambians.



Pan African Students Association (PASA) Organised Symposium

The Pan Africa Students Association (PASA) of Nusrat Senior Secondary
School on Friday 7th June 2002, organised a symposium at the school
ground.

The invited panellists were Madi Jobarteh of the Gambia Family Planning
Association, Mr. Halifa Sallah, National Assembly member Serrekunda
Central, Alkali Fofana, chairman Pan African Association (PASA) Nusrat
Senior Secondary School. Shiaka Mua Sama chaired the occasion.

Mr. Shaikak Musa Sama made opening remarks about the pan African
Association (PASA) in Nusrat Senior Secondary School, the role of Pan
Africanism has played for the liberation of the African continent and the
importance it has for young people who are to be future leaders tomorrow.
Brother Sama then called Mr. Madi Jobarteh to address the audience on the
topic, "Pan Africanism, the way forward".

Mr. Jobarteh in delivering his speech on Pan Africanism, the way forward said
that, Pan Africanism was a struggle and still a struggle against colonialism.
He noted that we talk about Pan Africanism today, because the African
people were enslaved in the 15th Century.

Mr. Jobarteh indicated how the enslavement of the African people came
about in those years. For example, if one reads the history of "Roots" or
looks at the film of Kunta Kinteh one would know  how slavery came into
being. He said during the slave trade there were collaborators in every society
both under the Arabs and Europeans slaver traders. He said, looking at the
film of Kunta Kinteh, "Roots" one would see that no one would would
appreciate being oppressed and Kunta Kinteh did not appreciate to change
his name to that of his slave master, he wanted to remain a dignified person
and keep his African identity with his name. Slavery, Mr. Jobarteh said, is too
oppressive and as a result of that, Kunta Kinteh's name was changed to
Tobby. But even though his name was changed in his mind he believed that
he was Kunta Kinteh and wanted to maintain his name.

Some people, Mr. Jobarteh said, believed that if the Europeans did not come
to Africa, there would not be educated people in the continent. Mr. Jobarteh
however outlined that Africa would have come like other continents in terms
of both education and development because at that time all continents, the
world over, were securing for progress of its people. Mr. Jobarteh noted that if
the colonialists or the imperialists did not come to Africa, Africa would have
come out of its own as any other continent in the world.

The subjugation of the African people by the imperialists was so much that it
even affected us  in thinking  that Africa cannot do anything except to be
asked to. Mr. Jobarteh added that Africa was divided during the colonial
period purposely to work for the colonial masters on their farm lands and even
deprive the African people from owning a farm land on their continent. This
was the reason why Africa was divided in 1884 in Berlin to oppress the
African people and dominate them in all forms.

In conclusion, Mr. Jobarteh said that it was because of this reason that some
people who are prepared to sacrifice for Africa to be liberated emerge to
pursue Pan Africanism, but the struggle started a long time ago, for Pan
Africanism came into being in 1900, in Africa, and in the Diaspora, to be
freed from all sorts of degradation put on the African people.

People are not free, Mr. Jobarteh said. They are not informed or enlightened
about Pan Africanism. Therefore he said, a symposium of this kind should
always be organised everywhere for others who don't know.

People like Kwame Nkrumah,  Amilcar Cabral and many other African
leaders who struggled for the liberation of the African people were trying to
inform or enlighten the people for the total liberation and unification of the
African continent, but they have faced a lot of obstacles by the imperialists
which has led to the elimination of some of the leaders in the struggle.

After Mr. Jobarteh's deliberations the chiarman of the occasion invited Halifa
Sallah to deliver his key note address on the topic "an Africanism in the 21st
Century."

Mr. Sallah indicated that a person must know his or her time before he or she
know what he or she deserves; that a people cannot be the architect of  their
destiny until they recognise their  dignity and selfworth.

Mr. Sallah informed the audience that two hundred and fifty (250) million
people in Africa are living in abject poverty, with all the wealth and resources
that we have in our oceans, land etc in Africa. We have all we need to live a
dignified and prosperous existence. We do not l he said. Knowledge he
added is the tool of empowerment and it is only human beings who can
utilise it to gain a better life for humankind.  Why are Africans living in poverty
when Africa is one of the richest continent in the world. He asked whether
one accepts that the African is inferior. To the Africans from the Diaspora, he
said, their coming to attend this gathering and other places is a search for
identity to find out who they are, makes it essential to look into Pan
Africanism. Pan Africanism, Mr. Sallah asserted came through the liberation
struggle for the unification and independence of Africa. The colonialists fought
against it. That he said during the trans Atlantic slave trade few companies
were making wealth from buying human beings. Colonialism, Mr. Sallah said,
means ownership of our lands and the taxation of our people. They refused to
educate our people and the few they educated were people who they used to
utilise as seervants of the colonialists.

Mr. Sallah said those with colonial mentalities cannot be architects of their
own destiny. If you want to dominate people, Mr. Sallah said, dominate their
minds and this was what the colonialists did to some of the few Africans who
were literate in English. Mr. Sallah indicated that the colonial economic
relation helped to enriched few European companies at the expense of Africa.

He said that by 1830 few pounds of groundnuts were purchased; that by 1925
96,000 tonnes of groundnut were exported to show that people are
abandoning food production for cash crop production. He indicated that the
colonialists bought our broundnuts, cocoa and other raw materials at cheap
prices and transferred them into manufactured goods which sell to Africans at
high prices.

Africa was getting poorer and poorer while Europe was getting richer.

The African people, Mr. Sallah said were in poverty, they had no relevant
education and had no right to elect their own people. this was why, he said,
Africans started to fight against colonialism. By 1900, African leaders
Nkrumah decided to take charge of themselves an continueed the liberation
struggle for the advancement of the African people. This was why at the
earlier stage, they saw the need for our African identity. The struggle was not
only in Africa but those in the Diaspora, America, UK, who at the time in their
days were called all sorts of names, tigers, monkeys etc even though they
had degrees. They know that they had to liberate Africans before they can be
respected, By 1945 the actual battle intensifie. By the 60s  more countries
became independent.

So when Ghana become independent in 1957 that  Ghana's independence
would be meaningless without the total liberation of other African countries.

Mr. Sallah further noted that, the liberation of the African continent emanated
from Pan Africanism, that to have symposia of this kind all the time at many
places would help those who don't know what Pan Africanism is all about.
Mr. Sallah indicated that Kwame wanted African countries to put up their
resources and establish an African Investment Bank to provide capital to
African countries. He called for capacity building by providing university
education to African intellectuals. That Ghana had nuclear potential  in 1965
before South Africa. That Kwame created industrial base so that other African
countries link to it. That because of selfish interest many African leaders
castigated Nkrumah for being power hungry.

Mr. Sallah indicated  that by 1963 African leaders were too divided  to be
capable of uniting Africa.   We are yet to see the type of Africa which we all
are yearning for and not leaders who would like to live extra-vacant lifestyle,
live in  state houses, receive fat salaries and allowances while our people
continue to live in degradation and in poverty at the expenses of the tax
payers, we don't need kings or lords in Africa, we need leaders who are
prepared to sacrifice to fight against poverty of people, who have been living in
abject poverty for centuries up to now, Mr. Sallah said.

He said  we need an Africa of the people that knowledge must become the
property of the people. That each African must  become a sovereign person
with knowledge dignity and selfworth. That once this is achieved Africa will be
finally liberated, dignified and prosperous.

After, Mr. Sallah's deliberation, the chairman of the occasion brother Shaika
Musa Sama invited various persons, personalities who attended  to come up
with what they have before allowing contributions from the floor of the
audience.
Members of the Pan African Association (PASA) from MSSS performed a
very interesting drama about colonialism, the way they use to bribe other
people which results to coup de tats, conflicts, wars etc in Africa. Individuals
students from other schools like GSSS etc read poems all about Pan
Africanism and Africa's advancement. There were contributors who
questioned the practicality of Pan Africanism because the said that some
people want to believe that the Association is like a talking house and what
is needed is not theory but practice.

Some stated that the idea of going abroad in search of greener pastures is
widespread among many young people and they are to be talking Pan
Africanism they must do away with the syndrome I'm going to Babylon
(Europe). Some say they cannot call themselves Pan Africanists if that
mentality of leaving Africa or the Gambia for Europe continues to ring in their
minds. Since they are the future leaders, they must be prepared to sacrifice
at all cost to enlighten the people especially the young people about Pan
Africanism and to continue organising seminars and symposiums etc to
inform the people, for there are still people who don't know what Pan
Africanism is all about.





Training On Diplomatic Practice Closed
The three weeks training workshop on diplomatic practice that took place at
the Palm Beach Hotel, Mile Two, from the 20th May to the 7th June 2002 has
come to a close.

In his closing remarks, John O Kakonge the co-ordinator of the UN System in
the Gambia said that he is very delighted that he is accorded the opportunity
to make a few remarks at the closing of this very important workshop for
diplomats and senior government officials.

Mr. Kakonge noted that he had been reliably informed that the workshop was
of a resounding success in terms of attendance, participation and the
substance and quality of topics discussed. He said further that what is
particularly striking of the workshop is that the workshop did start and
concluded with the same enthusiasm. He further told the participants that
what is now of out standing importance are the activities that one is going to
be engaged in after the workshop. He then outlined four messages as food for
thought to the participants as follows:

(1)   The need to put in practice the understanding and skills gained at the
workshop in their various state functions.

(2)   That the training is the training of trainers; that the now lies on the
participants to import the knowledge they gain to others to give it greater
sustainability.

(3)   On the resolutions passed by the participants, Mr. Kakonge promised
that his organisation will continue to give support on similar work shops.

(4)   The integration of efforts at regional and international levels.

He finally thanked the SOS for Foreign Affairs, the course co-ordinator, Mr.
Hanada Munchiko and all other resource persons and the participants for
their hard work during the three weeks long training.

The next to take the floor was the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Mr.
Blaise Jagne who promised the participants of a follow up workshop to be
organised by his department in September of this year.

Mr. Jagne paid tribute to Ambassador Ebou Taal and Bolong Sonko for being
their source of inspiration in foreign and diplomatic work. He finally expressed
his delight in the way and manner both the resource persons and participants
under
took the workshop. The presentation of certificates to the participants by the
SOS Foreign Affairs and his permanent secretary were followed.

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