Joe,

Thanks for your comments. Like you, I also disagree with you on some of the issues you raised. But before doing that let me first of all answer the following question you asked, which is:

"However, how do you [I] expect the rural folk to utilize the communications services mentioned when they could not sell their crops and don't have much to eat or support their families?"

Communications has long been identified as one of those ingredients necessary for economic growth in any country. Because of this, the provision of universal access has been one of the challenges being faced by many government-owned communications companies like Gamtel. In fact the provision of access has been recognized as one of the means to fight poverty. It is in line with these reasons that we are trying to develop rural communications.

Now let me come back to some of the issues that you raised and I do not agree with. For example, you wrote:

"Most of the meaningful business activity is controlled by Yaya, Amadou Samba, Tariq Musa, and few others, and God knows where they get their money from. There is a lack of capital in that country and the draconian government policies helps to keep foreign capital flow out of the country. Even regional trade is virtually at a standstill. All this points to poor leadership and mismanagement, when according to Itsede, the Director General of the West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management (WAIFEM), "all the countries of the sub-region fall short of the average poverty indicators for low income, with the greatest debt being incurred by The Gambia"."

Joe, I do not know what evidence you have that makes you believe that "Most of the meaningful business activity is controlled by Yaya, Amadou Samba, Tariq Musa, and few others." For your information, had it not been for the need to preserve the privacy of the individuals concerned, I could have listed the names of over 100 people who, I believe, are much richer than any of the above named and who have very little or no connection with the government.

Your assertion that "There is a lack of capital in that country and the draconian government policies helps to keep foreign capital flow out of the country" and that "Even regional trade is virtually at a standstill.", does not hold water. On the contrary, we have seen the commencement of at least three foreign-owned banks and a number of new hotels in the very recent past. In fact the latest Bank to commence operations in the country only started  a few months back.

The final assertion of the Director General of WAIFEM that "all the countries of the sub-region fall short of the average poverty indicators for low income, with the greatest debt being incurred by The Gambia", does not seem to be true either. I do not know from what perspective he was speaking from, but to say that we are the most indebted country in the sub-region, as he seems to allude, is certainly not true. There is no way Gambia can be more indebted than any country in our subregion. And even if that were the case, I do not have a problem with it as long as it is being used and seen to used for our benefit. Finally, we all know that Gambia, since independence, has always relied on loans and grants. The difference between then and now is that, now people are seeing with their own eyes where and how these loans are being utilized.

You also wrote:

"Why has poverty and unemployment increased many fold? Why are most Gambians (including gainfully employed folks and retired civil servants) trying to leave the country? Why is inflation suffocating our people? Why is the outside world not investing in the Gambia? I can go on and on. Central to all these questions and many more, are mediocre government policies. A government that is centered around an ignorant fellow in the name of Yaya Jammeh. Try answering any of the above questions without discussing government policies and see if you can come up with anything that makes sense. What have we got to show for, for being the most indebted nation in our sub-region? The only visible thing is that few crooks have benefited while the rest of the nation is barely surviving."

Joe, whilst I may not know the answers to all the questions you've asked above, I will try to give you my own perspective of how I see them. I am very much convinced, like most Ganbians, that trying to leave the country is not a new phenomenon at all. The "nerves and Babylon syndrome" has been an integeral part of our culture since time immemorial. This is further buttressed by the fact that most Gambians who've ever left the country usually come back much better off. I am sure you wouldn't deny that, or would you?

For the questions in the final part of the passage quoted above need no answers from me. For example what we can show for the debts taken in our name during the past few years is obvious to all who care to see it. These debts being incurred in the name of the people are being utilised to provide clean drinking, access to education, access to health facilities, the building of much needed infrastructure, investment in the productive sector of our economy etc, etc. The list goes on and on.

You again wrote:

"Finally, one does not have to be in "Gaanarr" to know that dinner is served in the evening. Folks on this list visit that country frequently and are on the phone weekly talking to Gambians of all walks of life, so when people talk about the "realities on the ground" I wonder what they are talking about. Folks, WE subsidize the Gambian economy. So, none can tell us that we do not know the realities on the ground. We live it through our folks and walk through it in our frequent visits. We can choose to stuck on stupid if that is our wish, but the fact remains that what is killing our fighting spirit is the mediocre government we have running our affairs. The people are not the problem, but those that control our little pot and mismanaging what little we have in it."

Joe, the fact remains that the reality on the ground must be sought and obtained from people who are here living that reality here. More over, how many in the Diaspora are told when a classroom block or a well is built in a remote village that that person does not come from? How many are told of a bushfire or some other local disaster when it ravages some village that that person does not come from? Very few, if any, I would say. That is why most people out of the country rely heavily on information about what is prevailing here from newspapers and the Internet.

Have a good day, Gassa.

There is a time in the life of every problem when it is big enough to see, yet small enough to solve. -Mike- Levitt-