Culled from the Daily Observer of March 15, 2002, the following by Abdul Hamid Adiamoh gives us some insight into how Jammeh sees the role of the private sector in our quest to develop our country. My apologies, in advance, for any typographical and grammatical errors in the article, as I had to retype it myself.
Have a good day, Gassa.
Jammeh chides the private sector
In characteristic straight talk, president of the republic, Yahya Jammeh has chided the Gambian private sector and particularly indigenous entrepreneurs for their lack of risk-taking initiative, noting that the willingness to take risks is an imperative of real businesses.
Answering questions fielded to him during a riveting and revealing interview with The Entrepreneur magazine, President Jammeh spoke on a number of issues, ranging from his government’s investment and development policies to his back-to-the-land campaign and the need for attitudinal adjustments in Gambian society. But perhaps the highlight of his remarks was his impression of the nation’s private sector, an arm his government traditionally regards as the veritable engine of national economic growth.
Responding to a question on The Gambia’s lack of a national trade fair complex, President Jammeh said, “…one thing we have to take into consideration is that The Gambian private sector is one that does not want to take risks. They always want to make maximum profit out of small investments. If the private sector takes the lead, if we put all our private sector together with the GCCI (Gambia Chamber of Commerce and Industry), they can build a trade fair complex without having their fingers burnt. But where they cannot even come together to come up with such a structure, it is not within government’s purview to establish a trade fair center.”
President Jammeh further underscored his indictments of the private sector by pointing to the paucity of Gambian entrepreneurs in hotel industry and the manufacturing sector. “Are you telling me that the private sector cannot set up a plant to manufacture corrugated iron sheets in this country?” he quizzed.
Jammeh also lamented the lack of such small-scale industries as could produce our daily needs such as candles and matches. He advised business people to reconsider their cherish for “warehouse business” and rather venture into the manufacturing sector because there is “more money if you go into industry.”
President Jammeh also sought to arouse some entrepreneurial courage in Gambians when he attempted an explanation of entrepreneurship as “undertaking an activity either to benefit from it and also may be benefit others or lead the way for others to understand that something can be derived from such (activity).”
Apparently unhappy with the low level of indigenous Gambian involvement in entrepreneurial and productive engagements and initiatives, President Jammeh blamed what he termed an “attitude problem.” “Unless we change our attitudes, the country will be developed but the beneficiaries will certainly not be Gambians,” he said.
Jammeh cited events at the Tanji Fishing facilities and in the nation’s forests as case points underpinning the rationale for his fear of the future industrial ownership of The Gambia. “Look at the Tanji fishing complex. If you go there today, you will be lucky to count ten villagers who are benefiting from the facility. We build facilities and foreigners make use of them but then, at the end of the day, what we want to ensure as a government is that there is fish in the market for Gambians.” As pertains to the nation’s forests, Jammeh wondered “is it was fair that even our forests, our firewood, foreigners come cut our firewood, foreigners come cut our firewood and sell it to us and then take the money to their countries while we sit and say oh, it is the government?”
Betraying some implicit frustration, President Jammeh complained that “it seems we have done everything possible to prop up Gambians to have indigenous business set up but it has always been an uphill battle. Look at the hawkers in this country, retails shops, how many Gambians are there?” I have nothing against foreigners but as the English say charity begins at home, we need to have Gambian entrepreneurs alongside the foreign investors…”
But not everybody in the private sector would score the President’s polemics correct. While most stakeholders would readily admit the government’s commitment to market-driven economics and commend its drive in the provision of infrastructure and a business-conducive environment, analysts still think the Jammeh administration must do more.
According to private sector operators, the missing link in the nation’s industrial experiments is not the risk-taking initiative but rather the funds with which to take the risks.
At the first National Economic Summit two years ago, the private sector had complained bitterly of the lack of appropriate legal and regulatory framework that could enhance their access to and use of long-term lending facilities. At an exorbitant average banking interest rate of 21 % per annum, entrepreneurs said it was neither feasible nor possible to reasonably engage in much big-time industrial activity. They reckoned that doing business at such rate of interest was not as much matters of risk taking as it was of gambling, and business people don’t gamble, at least not big-time. At the same summit, representatives of the banking industry also challenged the government to review the 1992 mortgage act which industry insiders regard as a scary interference and a gory gag to their ability to help finance the country’s industries.
According to some economic analysis, the unaffordable bank loans – which entrepreneurs blame for their lack of initiative – is partly due to the government’s domestic debt policy. An analysis of the 2002 budget by FJP consultants revealed that “the financing of government by the banks has dramatically reduced the country’s net foreign assets, increased domestic liquidity, fuelled inflationary pressures, compromised the value of the national currency, increased (banking) interest rates, besieged the disposable income of individuals and choked off financing for the private sector.” The report continues to lament that the exorbitant bank lending rates of 21 % per annum has made all but short term trading activities uneconomical.
Notwithstanding the gapping schism between President Jammeh’s impressions and the private sectors understanding of the issues however, the Gambian government must be commended for establishing a cordial bridge between it and its private sector.
If anything, it is this bridge that would allow a productive two-way traffic of ideas and consequently result into a fruition of mutual understanding between the sectors.
In his interview with The Entrepreneur, President Jammeh re-iterated his government’s support for the private sector and outlined some of the government’s commitment to assist the private sector in its spearhead role in national socio-economic development. He also dilated particularly on the Trade Gateway Policy and hoped the project would accrue lots of economic benefits for The Gambian people and businesses.
The Entrepreneur magazine, in its fourth year and published by the GCCI is now being funded by AGIBNET, a department of The Arab Gambia Islamic Bank, Banjul. The magazine also has Pascal Eze, former editor of The Daily Observer as its new Editor-in-Chief. He takes over from Mr. Alieu Badara Njie.
(Abdulhamid Adiamoh was formerly Editor-in-Chief of the same magazine.