>From: "Katim S. Touray" <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list <[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Re: Yahya Jammeh's Incoherent Speech >Date: Sun, 29 Jul 2001 00:21:15 -0700 > >Folks, > >I have to say this: did President Jammeh *really, really* deliver the speech below? >If this was a speech he gave, then God help us; we're in BIG trouble. Furthermore, >I'd like to point out a few issues. First, the claim that about 300 doctors for >roughly 1.3 million people in The Gambia translates to "the highest doctor-patient >ratio in the whole world" is totally false. According to my calculator, the above >numbers translates to a doctor-patient ratio of 3 doctors for every 13,000 (thirteen >thousand) people. This ratio, expressed in the standard number of doctors per 1,000 >(one thousand) people translates to 0.23 doctors per thousand, or about 23 per >100,000 (one hundred thousand). Is this ratio the highest in the world? > >Well, according to the WHO (http://www-nt.who.int/whosis/statistics/menu.cfm), the >number of physicians per 100,000 for The Gambia was 3.5 per 100,000, well lower than >the figure above. Even if we accept the figure of 23 doctors per 100,000 of the >population, that is by no means the highest in the world given that Cuba has 530 >doctors/100,000. All this talk is, of course, just that, talk, when you are sick and >can't find or afford the drugs prescribed for you, or you can't communicate with best >team of doctors surrounding you because they all speak Spanish, and you speak Jola. >In short, we should take these numbers in perspective. > >Second, I found what is either a typographical error, an outright lack of arithmetic >skills, or wishful thinking. To quote from the speech: "From 1994 up to date the >government has spent more than 100 million Dollars in socio-economic and >infrastructural development. 100 million Dollars will be more than 15 billion >Dalasis." The above numbers just don't jive with reality. The only way 100 million >Dollars will convert to 15 billion Dalasis if there's an exchange rate of 150 (one >hundred and fifty) Dalasis to the Dollar. Given that current exchange rates are >about 15 Dalasis, I propose that President Jammeh should have said 1.5 billion >Dalasis. Clearly, this is an order of magnitude less than what the speech claims, >and I suppose warrants that his rhetoric be discounted by as much. > >I guess that's about all for now. Have a great week(end), and best wishes. > >Katim >----- Original Message ----- >From: Malamin Johnson <[log in to unmask]> >To: <[log in to unmask]> >Sent: Friday, July 27, 2001 1:38 PM >Subject: Yahya Jammeh's Incoherent Speech > > > > Jammeh Addresses the Nation - 1 > > > > > > > > Email This Page > > > > Print This Page > > > > > > > > The Independent (Banjul) > > > > DOCUMENT > > July 27, 2001 > > Posted to the web July 27, 2001 > > > > Banjul, the Gambia > > > > Seven years ago a new era dawned, not only on The Gambia but also on the > > African continent. The reason why we had to take the actions we had taken is > > very clear to you. Today we are not here to do anything other than take > > stock of our achievements, our trials and our tribulations or failures. > > > > Seven years ago around this time when changes had not taken place; we were > > at the Denton Bridge. At that time the city of Banjul didn't have good > > roads. Seven years ago there was no university in The Gambia. Seven years > > ago there was no Kombo coastal highway construction. Seven years ago > > Gambians watched television signals from Senegal and Guinea-Bissau. Seven > > years ago the majority of Gambians had no hope that they would even have a > > good radio that will cover nation wide much more a university where all > > Gambians, irrespective of political and social standing would have equal > > access. > > > > Seven years ago the children in my village in the remote part of The Gambia > > never hoped to see the inside of a high school even on excursion much more > >---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > >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. >----------------------------------------------------------------------------