My fellow Gambians: This period in our history is indeed a most critical one, not just because of the misgovernance of our nation by Yahya Jammeh that is leading to its destruction, but also because of our urgent need to change our attitudes if we wish to make headway in the future. Yes, we definitely need to change the current leadership in our beloved country, but equally, we also need to change attitudes if we really want to avoid a repetition of the past. Clearly, the Gambian people have also colluded, albeit unwittingly, in setting the backdrop and conditions that have meant a despotical tyrant like Yahya has been able to consolidate his power base. Instead of speaking directly and truthfully of our concerns, we have spoken sweet words of flattery to our leaders. Therefore, in a way, we - the people - have made it easy for someone of Jammeh’s type to become corrupt, autocratic and dictatorial, because of our attitudes to those in authority. My fellow Gambians, this has to change! In a Post-Jammeh Gambia, we would not only need to be promoting, formulating and implementing policies which will take The Gambia forward, but we also need to modify our attitudes in terms of honesty, commitment, sincerity and expectation. The rewards which accrue to us, should come as a result of our hardwork and dedication to rebuilding the country, rather than of our praise singing of our leaders. The challenges facing our country and all of us are enormous, and it is crucial that we work together to meet and overcome them. Our strength and success will be in direct relation to our unity of purpose. The Gambia is the property of ALL Gambians. Therefore, its well being as a nation depends on ALL of us. To start with, we should be looking to appoint people to serve the country on the basis of their sincerity, their merits, their qualifications and their experience: the days of appointing one’s brother to a post of responsibility because he is a brother should now be at an end. The Gambian people have a duty to elect a responsible government, and in its turn, the government also has a duty to be responsible. Additionally, the people have a further duty: to prevent the re-emergence of a society based on favours and corruption. Since the people will be expecting honesty and integrity from its leaders, then it is also fair that they should give honesty and integrity in return. Unless we can address these issues, the task of rebuilding a decent society of which we may all be proud will be far more difficult to achieve. So clearly, attitudes MUST change! In a post-Jammeh Gambia, the people and government have to work together as partners. There would need to be a spirit of mutual criticism, honesty and integrity bound together by the rule of law and a free and fair electoral system. We have to set a new scenario for our nation where no one group will be in a position to seize power illegally again. Surely, the Gambia can once again become an exemplar for the whole of the sub-region and the continent, if we set our hearts, minds and attitudes on this. In my Eleventh posting, I looked at some of the challenges which will face the next leader of our country and his/her government. Now, in this posting, I shall continue with this broad overview of pressing concerns for the future. 1. Education Despite the previous levels of investment in this sector, education remains a major concern. Primary School enrolment figures are still low in comparison with the continent, and the enrolment of Girls is particularly low. Secondary School enrolment levels remain significantly low, and the illiteracy rate across the country is high. We are fortunate in having a skilled group of people engaged at the highest levels in the education sector, but their hard work and efforts are often unnoticed and unrewarded; and the development that has taken place, has tended to be piecemeal and fragmented. Indeed, there is an urgent need to re-examine the whole of the education system and to ask searching and profound questions about what are the needs of our country, as well as the needs of our young people. We need to be checking that the curriculum offered in every stage of our education system is suitable to our requirements and pertinent to our future as a developing nation. The expansion of a skilled technocracy is increasingly urgent, and we have to ensure that we have a system in place that will cater for this (along with skilled, qualified personnel and adequate, up-to-date equipment and resources). Vocational training is seriously limited at the moment, and much of it available only in the private sector. Now, given the advances in the world in Information and Technology (IT) and Communications, we shall need to invest heavily in these areas, in order to ensure that The Gambia can take its rightful place in Africa and on the world stage. Furthermore, Careers advice for young people is an area which has been largely overlooked, and which is going to play a vital role in our future development. We also need to be investing more vigorously in the training of a skilled and highly qualified teaching force: currently, around 60% of trained teachers are non-Gambians. The rewards for teachers, and the burdens we place on them (in terms of double shift teaching duties) need a thorough examination. If we want high quality teachers, then we have to invest heavily to meet our requirements. Also, no one doubts the need for The Gambia to have a University, but we have to ensure that it is effectively staffed and properly equipped to do its job. The courses on offer need to meet the country’s requirements more fully (e.g. Medicine, Engineering, IT) and they also need to be affordable to ordinary Gambians. It is important that the degrees conferred by the University of The Gambia are recognised as meeting world standards. Education, they say, is the key to the world, and our priority should be to make it the right of every child in the land, taking them from Nursery to Tertiary stages. There is no doubt that the funding necessary to achieve this is going to be massive, but if we are concerned to take The Gambia forwards, then the investment level needs to be sufficient to do the job, and do it properly. 2. Health Like Education, this sector is going to bring enormous challenges to the new leadership and will require heavy levels of funding to bring it up to even a minimal standard of national operation. The saying that "a prosperous nation is a healthy nation" holds true, and we are all concerned that The Gambia takes its place on the world stage as a prosperous and prospering (therefore healthy) country. The current situation is dire, notwithstanding the Herculean efforts of the Health Service workers to keep a failing system going. Infant and child mortality is very high indeed, and life expectancy levels are low for all sectors of society. We have to set in place a Health Service which is affordable to ordinary Gambians (and free for those who genuinely cannot afford it), which meets basic Primary Health Care needs, particularly in the rural areas, and which provides the essentials of care (diagnosis, prognosis, treatment, prevention and health education). People are dying because they do not have access to a decent health service, to necessary medicines or to reliable medical equipment. X Rays and Scans can only take place in Banjul, which again puts people in the provinces at a great disadvantage. Ambulance services are restricted (and again, almost unavailable in the provinces). The new hospitals at Farafenni and Bwiam remain incomplete, and nationwide there is a great shortage of skilled and qualified personnel to man existing hospitals and health centres. Our longer-term aim has to be the complete overhaul of the Health sector, including the training of Gambian personnel to staff it. In the short term, we should be looking to establish an effective Basic Primary Health Care system that serves the needs of every community in the country. 3. Population Issues The population growth rate (4.2% last year) is alarming, as are average fertility rates (currently set at 6 children per woman). Our next leader will need to tackle these issues head-on, and set in process the changing of attitudes, as well as the socio-economic development of our country. There is also a significant volume of migration into The Gambia from other countries in the sub-region that is adding to the problems of over-population. In 1993, 13% of the population were non-Gambians, and over the last seven years, this percentage has increased dramatically. Economic development and population growth are inextricably linked, and our next government will have a lot to do to ensure that the cycle of rising unemployment and increasing poverty levels do not spiral out of control. The rural-urban drift also needs addressing as a matter of urgency, to reduce all the pressures currently being borne by the country’s main population centres. We have to look for ways in which we can reinvigorate the provincial areas, and make it a viable option for people to stay there rather than moving to the coastal area. 4. Women's Issues Jammeh has paid lip service to raising the stature of women in Gambian society, but this has been limited to the elevation of a few women to political office. The situation for the majority of women in the country is still deplorable, and the Gender Policy recommendations of the Beijing Conference of 1995 remain unfulfilled. Our women form 50% of the labour force of the nation, contributing 40% of total agricultural production, and yet the majority remain on the poverty line, working up to a sixteen-hour day. Our government has a bounden duty to serve the interests of women, and first on the agenda will be the changing of social attitudes. The post-Jammeh Gambia should reflect a society of equal opportunity, and not the patriarchal views of those like Imam Fatty which serve to keep women in subjugation. It will be no easy matter to change social norms and practices, and there will have to be positive discrimination for women. It will be a question of education for all, to serve the long-term interests of women and to raise their stature in our society. 5. Culture Our country’s cultural heritage is diverse and rich, and the next government will need to be spearheading a campaign both to preserve it and to nurture it. We have to look towards a restoration of pride in our Gambian and West African culture, and the obvious starting place will be in our schools and colleges. The government will need to give active encouragement to artists, musicians, dancers, craftspeople, historians and to promote all aspects of our traditions and culture. We have good reason to be proud of our heritage, and to advertise it on the world stage. 6. Sport This is an area obviously dear to my own heart, and I have even become a cricket fan since being in the UK! The departure of Yankuba Touray from the Ministry of Youth and Sport was an excellent piece of news, but the problems facing the development of Sport in all its aspects and at all levels remain enormous. We need to be encouraging young people to take up sports, and giving them the opportunities and the facilities to develop their skills. We should be setting up sporting academies in both the urban and rural areas, where the potential of sporting youth would be tapped. As a means of putting The Gambia onto the world map, success in the sporting field will serve our country’s best interests. Sport is an important area of life, and government will need to do a lot to ensure that The Gambia takes part in all the sporting disciplines in the sub-region and throughout the world, and that we do well as a nation. 7. Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) Government alone cannot address all the development concerns of the whole country: a vital role is also played by NGOs, particularly in the developing world. The criteria for setting up NGOs in The Gambia should be favourable, and at the same time, we also have to ensure that the NGOs themselves are genuine and serving our nation’s best interests. The government will need to promote an environment for NGO operation which is good, and obstacle-free. By doing this, we can also encourage Gambians to set up their own and thus play an active role in the development of the nation. My fellow Gambians, with determination and hard work, we can move The Gambia forward after Jammeh: there is nothing that is not possible with the right attitudes and a sense of national commitment. Across the world, countries which have been brought to the edge by corrupt leaders or warfare have risen like a Phoenix and The Gambia will be no exception to this. It is a country blessed with industrious, kind, staunch and steadfast people who remain its chief strength for the future. Ebrima Ceesay Birmingham, UK. _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. 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