To add to Sidibeh's answers i would like to stress my favourite slogan "
visionary leadership and good governance". We use to argue that what Africa
needs is money and massive infusions of it, in order to escape poverty, just
like a rocket needs a lot of fuel to underwrite and power her thrusts to
escape gravity. This analogy is interesting based on the fact that Africa
has repeatedly failed to escape stagnant growth and poverty in spite of the
massive infusions of aid over the past four decades. We had experience a lot
of develop policies and strategies from Import subsidisation, Structural
adjustment, Trade liberalisation, Poverty Reduction Strategy, Privatisation
all these had failed. So, will trade make any difference, will opening the
doors for a free and a fair trade make any difference in this present state
order.
Yes, free trade, access to markets and money will go long way in helping
Africa out of her morass of poverty quite right. But a massive infusion of
huge amounts of aid money must be predicated on the presence and
functionality of credible, basic, indispensable structures of governance,
which only good participatory governance can create and sustain. This is
unfortunately, what Africa despite democratic pretences lacks at present.
Africa is not poor because she lacks resources, or access to markets but
because of the mismanagement of these resources, by her various shades of
visionless leadership, which spanned her like bubonic plague, and seriously
compromised her trajectory of development.
Most importantly, the fact must be reiterated that in as much as we share
the views that political engagement on issues such as debt cancellation,
trade justice, equitable governance in global institutions, and political,
social and economic rights for the poor remains the foundation for making
sustained progress to end poverty in Africa and in the Third world,
strategies to end poverty will only succeed if they are rooted in an active
promotion of good governance and democracy, including multilateral
institutions and active citizenship at all levels.
Governance profoundly touches the tangents of poverty and development of the
African continent. To this end, I am of the belief that an accountable
leadership supported with the establishment and consolidation of the right
legal structures, both on the international and local scene, would form the
first line of defence in the battle against poverty in Africa. More
political honesty at the local level, and less of international hypocrisy,
would collaborate in building up solutions to the incidence of scandalous
poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa. And the role that leadership can play in
developing and implementing a coherent program modeled to fight poverty and
underdevelopment Africa can not be overemphasized.
And for me one basis for doing this lies in according recognition to poverty
as a human rights violation, and from there establishing internationally
recognized sanctions for the infringement of these rights by political
actors, whose mismanagement and outright roguery pushes millions of people
into the poverty quadrangle. That is what I intend to add in relation to the
African solution.
NB:
Well Sidibeh,
Talking about the Ghanaian tomatoes sellers take me back to Ghana. Last year
there was an outcry from the Ghanaian tomatoes sellers who could not compete
with the Burkina Faso Tomatoes sellers because the Ghanaian Tomatoes Sellers
where loosing their market to the Burkinabe’s. For the simple fact that the
women who buy it find the tomatoes from Burkina Faso lasting longer than the
ones in Ghana? These tomatoes sometimes need to be kept for days before you
can get a buyer. And for the women at the Makola market in Ghana who also
buy from these women, they need to keep these tomatoes as fresh as possible
if they really want to make maximum profits. For these women the economic
returns are more from the tomatoes from Burkina Faso for the simply reason
that it keeps longer than the ones from Ghana. According to them the ones
from Ghana perish at a very short time and they risk loosing all their
investments. So, it is also not just price discrimination but what i will
call "profit driven".
The Struggle Continues!!!
Ndey Jobarteh
>From: Momodou S Sidibeh <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: "SunuGaal"/ Behind this trade there are Europeans involved and
>well paid.
>Date: Sat, 7 Oct 2006 10:57:33 +0200
>
> Ginny dear,
>
> Many things, from the point of view of a layman like myself:
>
> 1) Obtain a political consensus on the country's development priorities.
>From the the tiniest village communities to the parliamentary
>representative, there must be national unity as to what afflicts
>producutivity in all sectors and how these can be overcome. This is
>necessary in order to lay down a workable social contract between the
>government and the governed. [A cue from what Botswana did, also mentioned
>by Stiglitz and Sanford].
>
> 2) Diversify agriculture and invest in the country's competitive
>advantage. Gambian horticulture seems to have prospered lately, and there
>is hardly a reason why Gambian ockra cannot be exported to the United
>States or mangoes to European markets. Middle-class Gambians who own
>orchads are the most prosperous of the farming population.
>
> 3) Invest in food-processing plants to cut down on imported agric.
>processed goods like paste tomatoes, and pasturized milk from Holland,
>while at the same time providing employment opportunities especially for
>the urban women population. There is one now in Wellingara but I am
>uncertain as to what is produced there.
>
> 4) Drastically cut on unnecesary conspicuous consumption. "The African
>big-man's childish love for cars" - to quote Ousman Manjang's phrase, is a
>huge drain on precious foreign exchange and drives up energy costs. Further
>reduce this dependence on expensive fossil fuels by strategically investing
>in biofuels. Brazil is world leader in this technology.
>
> 5) Encourage inter-african trade and vigorously pursue stakes in Asian
>markets to reduce dependency on Europe. Dried sharks fins used to be
>exported to Japan in the seventies. I have no idea whether that is still
>the case.
>
> 6) Invest in education and skills training (a la Malanding). Undertake
>long-time plans to plug the country into the information technology
>revolution.
>
> 7) Develop a national anti-corruption strategy. This struggle cannot be
>just an event orchestrated by an anti-corruption commission. But an entire
>educational endeavour to change attitudes and emphasise the role of ethics
>in the social contract between state and society.
>
> 8) Open up certain sectors of the economy to foreign investment.
>Liberalise even the financial sector but this must be done at appropriate
>times where due consideration is given to sequencing. (I am aware that
>Gambia's service sector is growing but in some sections of this important
>sector, foreign investors are edging out Gambian entrepreneurs).
>
> 9) Incorporate all the recommendations Buharry gave here on how to
>exploit our cultural potential as a way of boosting economic growth and
>creating jobs.
>
> 10) Continue the diplomatic struggles at international trade talks to
>tell European and American consumers that their governments' insistence on
>farm subsidies is impoverishing the poor in developing countries.
>
> ...and many more things
>
> Cheers,
> sidibeh
>
> --- Original Message ----- From: "Ginny Quick" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Saturday, October 07, 2006 6:12 PM
> Subject: Re: "SunuGaal"/ Behind this trade there are Europeans involved
>and well paid.
>
>
> > Hello, so what can be done? Even if the corruption and the bad
>economic
> > policies started to be dealt with by African governments, how do they
>deal
> > with the arm-twisting that goes on by Western countries? It just seems
> > silly to me that farmers in Ghana, or anywhere else for that matter,
>can't
> > grow tomatoes, or other foodstuffs, to feed thier own people. The fact
>that
> > it has to be imported, and that the Ghanaean government seemingly
>doesn't
> > have a choice in the matter, if it wants to receive aid for other
>projects,
> > just seems, well, I don't know, "not right to me", would be an
> > understatement.
> >
> >
> > If European countries want to stop the flow of ilegal migration to
> > their countries, perhaps they should stop the arm-twisting, and let
>African
> > countries do whatever they need to do to provide a decent life for the
> > people within their borders, toherwise, people will continue to take
>risks
> > to go to whereever they see that the greener pastures are.
> >
> > Ginny
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Momodou S Sidibeh"
><[log in to unmask]>
> > To: <[log in to unmask]>
> > Sent: Friday, October 06, 2006 9:12 PM
> > Subject: Re: "SunuGaal"/ Behind this trade there are Europeans involved
>and
> > well paid.
> >
> >
> >> Omar,
> >>
> >> Faulting our misery on the failure of political independence
>indirectly
> >> questions the values of sovereignty.
> >>
> >> What we instead have to look at is the complex of internal political
> >> failures and their attendant distorted economic consequences and how
>these
> >> are further impacted by brutally exploitative western economic
>policies,
> >> in the case of West Africa. But the plight of our brothers in these
>deadly
> >> waters is simply a heavily dramatic case of a global phenomenon:
>Chinese
> >> and Vietnamese workers and peasants smuggled aboard ships bound for
>the
> >> U.S pacific coast; central Americans forcing the border into the U.S.
>from
> >> Mexico; former east Europeans (especially Poles) flooding the U.K
>labour
> >> market (many now turning up as beggars on the streets of London);
>hundreds
> >> of thousands of Phillipinos and other south Asians doing the menial
>and
> >> skilled jobs in the Gulf States, and so on...
> >>
> >> That it mostly is young west Africans we see now is largely an
>accident
> >> of geography. Just a month ago a boat filled with some 200 Pakistanis
>left
> >> Dakar for the Canary Islands. Now and again loads of Eritreans and
>other
> >> North Africans are also forcibly disembarked on these Spanish islands
>or
> >> in Malta.
> >>
> >> Here is a West African case in point:
> >> Italy, like all EU countries, heavily subsidise agricultural
>production
> >> of its farmers. So they are able to sell paste tomato relatively
>cheaply
> >> to retailers in Ghanain towns. Ghanain tomato farmers are unable to
>sell
> >> their products in the same market since they cannot compete with the
>lower
> >> prices of imported italian tomatoes.
> >> Young Ghanains then migrate to the urban areas in search of work
>since
> >> farming no longer remains a vaible souce of income. Unemployment in
>the
> >> cities grow exponentially and many youing men therefore, risk their
>lives
> >> on open fishing boats leaving the Gambia and Senegalese coasts for the
> >> nearest European ports, again in search of work.
> >>
> >> To help their farmers, many African governments protest by trying to
> >> raise tariffs on imported agricultural goods (such as cheap,
>tatseless,
> >> frozen chicken all over Gambia and Senegal). But then the Europeans
> >> threaten that they will cut funds and aid they provide as subsidies to
> >> national budgets. So no schools and clinics will be built and
>teachers'
> >> salaries may be unpaid for months.
> >> (A senior Ghanain representative illustrated this graphic
>arm-twisting by
> >> the EU last year at the global forum at Davos).
> >> This, plus the corruption and stupid economic policies of African
> >> governments are what lie at the roots of the lamentations of
>"sunugaal".
> >>
> >> cheers,
> >> modou s sidibeh
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Subject: SV: "SunuGaal"/ Behind this trade there are Europeans
>involved
> >> and well paid.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Sidibeh/Oko/Bailo,
> >>
> >> I hope the SOPI Coalition is listening. The song is pregnant with
>meaning
> >> giving a vivid picture of the harsh realities not only in Senegal but
>in
> >> many African countries. We don`t have to look far away to see that.
>The
> >> level of deprivation is alarming and having to take such a risk on
>those
> >> rickety fishing boats on such a perilous route shows how desperate the
> >> bulk of the people are.
> >>
> >> Bailo pointed out the valid point of the failure of political
> >> independence and it makes me wonder whether this mass exodus of
>African
> >> migrants is not a form of reverse colonisation; the coloniser being
> >> colonised by its former subjects. Is it a case of the chicken coming
>home
> >> to roost? And the situation is made worsening with the level of
>organised
> >> crime as Oku cited.
> >>
> >> Happy weekend.
> >>
> >> regards,
> >> Omar
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> > From: oko drammeh [[log in to unmask]]
> >> > Sent: 2006-10-06 14:32:06 CEST
> >> > To: [log in to unmask]
> >> > Subject: Re: "SunuGaal"/ Behind this trade there are Europeans
>involved
> >> and well paid.
> >> >
> >> > This is prophecy/ not an overstatement.
> >> >
> >> > If you need what Africa has,
> >> > and you can't do without it
> >> > and don't want to pay for it.
> >> >
> >> > You will create problems for thoes people only to make them weak
>and
> >> maintaining them in the clutches and machenary of exploitation and
>inhuman
> >> treatment.
> >> >
> >> > It seems like Africans are still under the conspiration theory of
>the
> >> CURSE OF HAM (decendants of black race) by his father prophet Noah in
>the
> >> Abrahamic religions.
> >> >
> >> > RELIGION RULE THE WORLD
> >> > That Denial of peace and prospertity to the Black Africans and
>the
> >> punishment sent to them said by most religions is an order of god.
>This
> >> has cause poverty, wars, deaths and an unsettled Africa. This is the
>root
> >> of all our problems. It is holy.
> >> >
> >> > Be wise Africa,
> >> > you are the richest continent
> >> > but yet with the poorest people.
> >> >
> >> > You have been duped !
> >> >
> >> > Oko
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > bailo jallow <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> >> > Omar,
> >> >
> >> > Thanks for sharing this moving clip of a song that is spot on for
>the
> >> reasons of the desperate quest of young able bodied Africans to reach
>the
> >> shores of the promised land. As reflected by the song, it is primarily
> >> because political independence from the yoke of colonialism have thus
>so
> >> far failed to fulfil the hopes and aspirations of Africans. In other
> >> terms, we, Africans have been failed by our political class, i.e both
> >> those in civvies and uniforms. They seem to only take care of
>themselves.
> >> >
> >> > Very sad indeed!
> >> >
> >> > Bailo
> >> >
> >> > bailo jallow wrote:
> >> > Testing, testing, just testing.
> >> >
> >> > Bailo
> >> >
> >> > OMAR DRAMMEH wrote:
> >> > Fols,
> >> >
> >> > Thought this might be of interest. It portrays the plight of the
> >> African migrant including Gambians in their journey to the "Promise
>Land".
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > http://www.studiosankara.com/sunugaal.html
> >> >
> >> > Regards,
> >> > Omar
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
> >> > To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the
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> >> >
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> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > ---------------------------------
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>to
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> >> >
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> >> >
> >> >
> >> > ---------------------------------
> >> > All new Yahoo! Mail "The new Interface is stunning in its
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> >> >
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> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > ---------------------------------
> >> > Get your own web address for just $1.99/1st yr. We'll help. Yahoo!
> >> Small Business.
> >> >
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> >>
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