Dad,

Thanx for sharing this Foroyaa editorial. It conveys my sentiments exactly. It appears then that Gambians have a choice...Stand by casually and let the drug culture flourish or nip it in the bud. One thing the Foroyaa editorial hasn't touched on is the rendering of complicit police and military delinquent. That is the achilles heel of a drug coup d'etat. It is a threat to national security and is insiduous.

Haruna.

-----Original Message-----
From: Modou Nyang <[log in to unmask]>
To: GAMBIA-L <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wed, Jun 9, 2010 12:31 pm
Subject: Foroyaa Editorial: THE DRUG MENACE




THE DRUG MENACE

In the news yesterday one hears about beheaded bodies of victims dumped in a mine in Mexico. The claim is that they are victims of drug lords struggling to protect their territories. The drug menace goes hand in hand with organised crime. Once it is consolidated, Governments, the legislature, the judiciary, the police forces and military forces of countries are infiltrated. The drug barons put and remove leaders from office. They determine the outcome of trials. They sentence their opponents to death without trial and issue death threats to people in position of authority to force them to do what they want.

In many parts of the world drug barons have become states within states. They establish their own Banking establishments, run parallel legitimate businesses to cover up their loot and carry out community services such as helping orphans and the disadvantaged so that they could win popular sentiments. Some of them establish personal militias and could even provoke uprisings in their communities if they are touched. Drugs are not only capable of destroying the human beings it is also capable of reducing a country into a failed state because of the greed of a few.

In The Gambia one could see the trickling down effect of drug money. However, what is evident is that Gambia is still part of the transit economy. Billions of dalasis appear to be transited through the country as evidenced by the foreign exchange transactions that do not even go through the banking system.

Needless to say, the Central Bank needs to scrutinize the Banking system more closely to deter money laundering. The statistics reveal that 1.3 to 1.6 billion dollars worth of foreign exchange is bought and sold through our banking systems annually when our exports earn us only 300 Million dalasis annually or just over 10 Million dollars.

As drug related offences and catches are on the rise the Gambian people should take note of the dangers of ‘the get rich quick syndrome’. Poverty is devastating and prosperity is sweet. However, the prosperity brought about by crime syndicates is unsustainable and tyrannical. Nothing is more treacherous than the question of life and death being in the hands of drug barons who decide people’s fate on the basis of their whims and caprices.

Gambians want to be sovereign and free. They do not want poverty to reduce them into slaves of drug barons and war lords. They do not want to live in a state where people are beheaded overnight just because might is right. We should all take a stand against the drug menace and work to bring the positive change that would address the problem of poverty in a manner that would foster personal freedom, security and justice. 



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