Hi Dr. Saine: I find your historical narrative on Gambia's foreign policy
since the coup quite interesting. But:
You reveal substantial loans that The Gambia has received from donor
countries. I wonder if your research could have pointed out if these loans
had been effeciently allocated to generate the revenue necessary to cushion
the deteriorating living standards of the people, and refund the lenders.
Your explanation in regards to the loans and grants The Gambia received is
as simplistic as it is devoid of sound economic analysis.

I am inclined to argue thus because over the years we have witnessed the
burgeoning of vainglorious projects in The Gambia, financed by the myriad of
foreign loans you've mentioned. These loans have not been utilised for their
intended purposes. Alas, they leave us heavily indebted. Gambia's
basket-size economy today is teetering on the brink of collapse.

Of course to ask you to go into the mechanics of loan allocation or
misallocation is to ask too much from you: your topic concerns the growth of
Gambian foreign relations from July 22, 1994 to current day. However, part
and parcel of the role of Gambian foreign policy since the coup is to look
for crumbs from foreign donors and then misuse them at the expense of the
majority. Unfortunately, your research didn't see that. Gambian foreign
policy is on the cheap. In my humble opinion.

On the whole, your research is scholarly. Keep it up.

Cherno Baba Jallow
Wayne State University
Detroit, Michigan


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