Mr. Dampha: Alagie is indeed my brother. Our parents are from the same father and mother. Alagie has been avoiding me since 1996. He could not understand why I would be part of an anti-jammeh group. I hope he understands clearly why we are fighting. I hold no apologies to him. Our struggle still continues. ----- Original Message ----- From: Dampha Kebba To: [log in to unmask] Sent: 1/19/01 12:46:32 PM Subject: Re: Read the Budget Speech 2001 First, I would like to express gratitude to Mr. Jassey-Conteh and Mr. Kebba Jallow for the efforts they made to go to Rust and represent the oppressed Gambians. Your actions are commendable. Thank you very much. Still on the topic of the budget, today I want to talk about our energy sector, since news from Banjul is reporting that the latest victim of Yaya's nihilist policies is the managing director of NAWEC. Apparently, Alagie Conteh (former MD of NAWEC) has been disgraced, called a thief and sacked by Yaya. Alagie Conteh (I hope no relations to Jassey-Conteh) has been blamed for all the failings of this inept government regarding the generating of electricity. According to Yaya, Conteh was caught red-handed taking bribes from suppliers. I say, Conteh got what he deserves. We should never feel sorry for these imbeciles when Yaya gets rid of them and drag their names in the mud. The same newspaper reports mentioned that Yaya will try to rethread by appointing Batchi Baldeh as the next MD. Although the paper mentioned a Batch Baldeh, I think they meant Batchi because I do not know of any former MD of NAWEC (or its predecessor) called Batch Baldeh. Well, if the paper really meant Batchi, I want to take this opportunity to appeal to Batchi not to associate himself again with these losers. Yaya will just abuse him again and end up disgracing him again. And this time around, it might be impossible for him to restore his reputation. Yaya and his cohorts cannot be relied upon to deliver on the job that needs to be done in this industry. Even the genius of a Batchi Baldeh cannot help us. The problems we have in this sector are very fundamental and require a lot of funds Gambia does not have. That brings us to the question of just how our illegal government intends to tackle the problems posed in this industry. Batchi et al should ask themselves whether they are confident Yaya has what it takes to raise the funds needed in this sector and allocate those funds efficiently. Ten year old kids know that Yaya does not have the wherewithal to solve our energy problems. The only thing he knows, is to fire MDs and heap all the blame on them. My suspicion is that the real reason Yaya is getting rid of Conteh is that Yaya knows that he (Yaya) cannot deliver on the promises he made last year about electrifying the country. That is why Conteh was sacked. If it is true that Conteh saw a bribe, I can bet my last penny that Yaya also saw some action. If taking bribes is now a 'fireable' offense, then Gambians should get rid of Yaya and all his officials. All of them are crooks. There is documented proof that Yaya took bribes from Taiwan. To also assist Batchi or the next rethread that is going to be asked to head NAWEC, I will reproduce some of the utterances from Famara Jatta regarding this sector. In the budget speech, Jatta stated that "in 2001 we plan to electrify the remaining part of Manjai kunda, Fagi Kunda, Wellingara and the Sinchus if all pledged funding are redeemed." This is an encrypted way of saying that nothing will and can be done unless we get loans and grants from other countries. One should also ask oneself whether it makes sense to expand the network when you cannot even guarantee electricity to our main hospital in the country. One should also ponder about the wisdom of taking electricity to Kanilai (a remote village in the middle of nowhere economic activity goes on), and forcing major economic centers like hotels to spend millions of dalasis buying fuel for their own generators. Getting the money is one thing. Putting the money into good use, is another thing. As we established yesterday, this government depend on donors to fund 90% of their programs. If we have a country that cannot do anything for itself without begging other nations, the leaders of that country have to be very smart people with impeccable reputations. We do not need uncouth nonentities that are clue-less about world affairs. We do not need vermin like Yaya alienating the powerful countries that can help us. Even people like Famara Jatta that should know better bought into the nonsense Yaya engages in. In his speech Jatta acknowledged rogue nations like Taiwan because of their private bribes to Yaya, but failed to mention the U.S. anywhere. I guess the work done by the Peacecorps does not count. It is foolhardy to try and snub the U.S. because a moron like Yaya is the one giving the marching orders. The role of Jatta et al should be to remove such illogical ideas from Yaya's little brain. Gambians should understand the economic reality of our country. If we do that, we will then know that Yaya and his gang can only make us grow poorer. They do not have the required reputation to attract adequate grants to the country. They do not have the wherewithal to draw up good proposals and negotiate favorable loans for our country. Finally, they do not have the intelligence to plan and implement projects that will make us more self-sufficient. In short, we are doomed under Yaya and his cohorts. Going back to NAWEC, here is how Famara Jatta plans to develop the sector: "In our drive to ensure development in all the divisions, a Rural Electrification Programme is to commence in the coming fiscal year. This programme is to be co-finance by the IDB, ADB, and BADEA. The IDB loan of D96.56m was signed in November 2000 at the IDB annual meeting in Beirut and negotiations are completed with the ADB for a loan of D47.8m. The BADEA loan of D96m is expected to be presented to its Board in the first quarter of year 2001. The implementation of this programme will result in the electrification of major rural communities." All he can talk about are loans. We need more creative solutions than that. I will not be the one that will offer Yaya and his cohorts a way out of this conundrum. A legitimate government with the interest of ordinary Gambians at heart, can solve our electricity problems in less than a year. There are very simple solutions to our electricity, water and transport problems. The difficulty arises when you have incompetent government ministers that are scared to take good ideas to a moron like Yaya. If Batchi had a good minister and a good president, he would be able to solve our problems. There are a lot of Batchis in The Gambia and outside the Gambia who can do an equally competent job. But as demonstrated by Batchi's earlier stint at the GUC (or whatever it was called), no matter how smart you are, if you have nincompoops at the helm, nothing gets done. That is the bottom-line. Our leaders cannot take us anywhere. Any professional that thinks that taking up a job in this regime is a good idea, is deluding him or her self. The only thing we can do, is fight against this government and ensure that we replace them with leaders that can take the country forward. A government that depends on loans and grants, should at least be nice to its citizens and the countries that can help them in a meaningful way. You do not cut the hand that feeds you. KB _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask] if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Lamine Conteh --- [log in to unmask] --- EarthLink: It's your Internet. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask] if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------