Thank you Mr. Jeng for your very interesting contribution to the current debate about the 2002 budget. You have eloquently dealt with an issue that has bothered me for a very long time. For what seems like eternity, the local area councils have preyed on the very poor people, collecting all forms of taxes only for the E.Os (Executive Officers) to plunder most of the money with impunity. You wrote: "There should be a refocus to the role of Municipalities, Area councils and City governments in terms of giving them significant roles, It is over due to start holding these offices accountable for development initiatives. It is time to remove functional illiterates and replace them with effective Administrators. Unless Municipalities, Area councils, Cities and Towns start to play a significant role in our development challenges, the average Gambian would continue to find this whole National budget ritual meaningless and would always questions its impact to their social and economic lives. I was born in Kaur, and have heard of an office call the Area council, of course like many Kaurians; we have always expected the National Government to bring in the electricity, the roads and other infrastructure developments. Well, we are still waiting. I have never heard of the annual budget of the Kaur Area council, Its annual revenue flow, whether in terms of Government subvention, taxes collected? Or annual development projects within the area. Ok maybe, I am expecting a little bit too much because Kaur is just a Town in the rural areas, and most of the real organization and structures are concentrated within the colony. I have also spent my adult live in Banjul, and cannot recall the city buzz with the annual budget from the BCC. The Annual budget for the city of Banjul would most likely have a direct impact to the daily lives of the people in the city. It would be interesting to review the 2001 budget for the city of Banjul, in terms of tax collections and infrastructure development layout plans. What strategic plan does the Mayor of Banjul has to bring Bathurst back to its heydays?" I sincerely hope that government looks into the points that you've raised and seriously address them. I know that there have been some improvements lately, but these are, in my opinion, not as drastic as I would have wanted. I also believe that people should be adequately sensitized to understand that the revenue collector that collects D5.00 from you and gives you a D0.50 ticket is a criminal that he/she should be exposed. I fully remember a serious row I once had with a revenue collector on the way to Janjangburreh from Kuntaur over the issue of issuing wrong value receipts. The guy was collecting, I believe, D3.00 from drivers and giving them 50 Butut receipts because, according to him, he had run out of D3.00 receipt books. I insisted that he gave each driver six 50 Butut receipts or the drivers would not pay him a single Butut. Have a good day, Gassa. _________________________________________________________________ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com <<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>> To view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] <<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>