Below is the latest FOROYAA Burning Issues. The topics in the issue are: 1. Editorial - President Jammeh Needs To Respect The National Assembly; On Gambia Guinea Relations 2. Clandestine Publication Of The Fixing Of Foreign Exchange Rate 3. The Vice President's Visit To URD - "We Did Not Get Our Money Still" Says A Farmer From Sabi 4. Focus On The Gambia's Economic Situation - Continued from last issue ------------------------------------------------------------ NO: 38/2002 4 - 6 July, 2002 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~ Editorial President Jammeh Needs To Respect The National Assembly; On Gambia Guinea Relations ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~ The sight of Guinean men and women being rounded up and rushed to Police Stations for Residential Permit has been frequent and undesirable. With the birth of ECOWAS and the claim that free movement of goods and people would be encouraged many people in the Subregion have been expecting that there will be ECOWAS Passport and that Residential Permits will be eradicated for all nationals of ECOWAS States. That dream is yet to be a reality. Arrests, detention and deportation of each other's nationals are common in all ECOWAS States. Hence when it was announced that the special relation which exist between Senegal and Gambia is being extended to Guinea all those who wish to break the barriers established by national borders would welcome the gesture. It was therefore welcomed news when it was broadcast that in a recent visit to Conakry, the Guinean and Gambian authorities have agreed to waive residential permits for the nationals of Guinean in The Gambia. What is however lacking in the foreign policy of the Jammeh regime is the lack of acknowledgement of Constitutional role of the National Assembly in determining the validity of treaties and other agreements with foreign states. The signature of the President or any Secretary of State on an International agreement does not automatically bring it into force. All international agreements can only be binding if they are ratified by the National Assembly. This is clearly stipulated in Section 79 Subsection 1of the Constitution which reads: The President shall be responsible for: a) the conduct of relations with other states and international organisations b) the reception of envoys accredited to The Gambia and the appointment of the principal representatives of The Gambia abroad; c) the negotiation and, subject to ratification by the National Assembly, the conclusion of treaties and other international agreements; d) subject to the prior approval of the National Assembly, the declaration of war and making of peace. Subsection 3 adds that "The National Assembly may by resolution establish procedures for the ratification of treaties and other international agreements." It should therefore be clear to the Executive that it is not appropriate to take the president's signature as a sign that international agreements are in force. The National Assembly must ratify any treaty before it can become operational. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~ Clandestine Publication Of The Fixing Of Foreign Exchange Rate ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~ FOROYAA received information that the Central Bank has issued a circular fixing ceilings for foreign exchange Dealers. This was rather surprising because of the declared government policy to liberalise the foreign exchange trade. Further enquiry enabled Foroyaa to receive the following poorly written circular: THIS RATE FROM CENTRAL BANK OFFICE OF RESIDENT TO THE BLACK MARKET OF SERREKUNDA SINCE IN THE MORNING THIS PRICE IS MAINTAIN NO DIFFERENT $ 19.75 BUYING $20.00 SELLING P.STERLING 29.00 BUYING P.STERING 29.25 SELLING EURO 18.75 BUYING EURO 19.00 SELLING CF 135.00 BUYING CF 140.00 SELLING This Amount or Prices if any person increases a single Butut we will charge you by D1000. Second If we catch you again we will take you to Central Bank and the Bank will deal with you. No compromise. Jammeh kunda masalieu kula, Westfield Saido Jallow, Westfield Adama Jallow, Bambo Bubacarr Jallow, Johson Alieu Jallow,Munyagen Omar Bah, Gamtel Alagie Ebrima Jallow Johson,Baku Bubacarr Jallow, Moru Madi Saw, Big Tree Alassana Barry, Mouse road Bubacarr Saho kunda, Mutaha Gamtel, Alsaine Gamtel. Committed to serrekunda market member Control prise present Cherno Abdoulie Jalow, Second Abdou Jallow, Abdou raman Jallow, Alieu Jallow Saido Jallow, Lope Jallow. FOROYAA was informed that since the circular was issued a number of foreign exchange dealers have been asked to report at the Central Bank to answer to violations of the terms established in the circular. Foroyaa assigned a Reporter to go to the Central Bank with a copy of the circular in order to determine its authenticity since no one signed the circular. On Tuesday 25th June 2002, Foroyaa was informed that some foreign exchange dealers could be found at the foreign exchange department where they were called to answer to charges. The Foroyaa Reporter decided to proceed to talk to the Central Bank authorities. He did find the Manager of the foreign exchange department and other staff plus two Senior Police Officers. The Foroyaa Reporter could not speak to the Manager. When the reports persisted that dealers were being fined up to 1,000 Dalasis for violations of the rates fixed the Reporter went back to the bank to seek clarification but to no avail. On Thursday 27th June 2002, the Editorial Board had to intervene to speak to the Manager of the foreign exchange department of the bank regarding the allegations. He criticized the poor content of the circular and implied that it should not be taken as a serious matter by a reputable paper. However, Foroyaa kept on receiving information that the circular was still being distributed and dealers were being fined by its violation. Conclusion The Central Bank needs to issue a press release to confirm that it has nothing to do with the circular and call for the distribution of the clandestine publication to stop. Government has authority to change its policy, take bills to the National Assembly to regulate exchange rates and so on and so forth. It is undesirable to resort to clandestine intimidation of foreign exchange currency dealers. The policy of The Gambia Government has been made quite clear in the last Budget Speech of the Secretary of State for Finance. According to him, "although a level of Tourism activities during 2001 was below expectations, the foreign exchange market was quite vibrant as transaction volumes, measured by aggregate sales and purchases of foreign currency in the inter bank market rose by 18% to D6.8 million by end September". The Secretary of State adds that "the Dalasi came under a lot of pressure losing considerable ground against the major international currencies, recording an overall depreciation of 8.4%in nominal terms against the composite basket of currencies by end-September 2001,compared to end- December 2000". He added, "The Dalasi fell by 12.4% against the US Dollar and 5% against the Pound Sterling. The depreciation of the Dalasi was more pronounced in the parallel market where it fell against the Dollar and the Pound Sterling by 13.1% and 13.7% respectively. Thus the premium between the parallel and inter bank markets especially is the case of the Pound from 3.4% at end December 2000 to 10.8% at the end of September 2001 whilst in the case of the Dollar, the movement was from 7.2% to 7.8%". The Secretary of State gave a diagnosis of the situation by asserting, "the pressure on the Dalasi could be attributed to the poor performance of the tourist industry, reduced cross border trade and serious difficulties in marketing of groundnuts. This was also coupled with the strengthening of the Dollar in the international markets". The Secretary of State however concluded by asserting, "despite these problems however, we remained steadfast in our commitment to the liberal exchange and payment system". If government wishes to change its commitment, it should establish lawful and respectable ways to do so and not entertain any clandestine form of pressure. This is prone to abuse. We hope the Central Bank will issue a Press Release to distance itself from any clandestine publication fixing exchange rates. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~ The Vice President's Visit To URD "We Did Not Get Our Money Still" Says A Farmer From Sabi ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~ In her tour of the Provinces, the Vice President Madam Isatou Njie-Saidy, on Saturday 29th June held a meeting with the Elders of U.R.D, D.C.C Members, Security Forces, Council of Elders in the Division plus women groups, where concerns were raised about the problems affecting the people, the community and also the security problems around the borders of U.R.D and the neighbouring Senegal. Vice President Njie-Saidy said their coming was because of security reasons and to visit government employees and talk with the elders of various communities. She said she will not make her speech long because she was going with many security officers including SOS Badjie. But she said her last tour in URD, there was a task force committee which was formed on disaster relief for those who were affected during last flood. She said, she was going to account those things. In delivering his speech, SOS Ousman Badjie said, this disaster relief committee which is under the Vice President's office is a very powerful one. Mr. Badjie said the Gambia is a signatory to the UNHCR and for that reason anything that will not bring integrity of this country, the government of the Gambia will not allow that . Warning the refugees Mr. Badjie told them that he heard the problem at Kundam refugee camp, but thank god it was settled by the help of Basse Immigration Department. He said if anything has happened to any refugee in the Gambia it means the Gambia government will be responsible. Mr. Badjie went on to say that , there are individuals who used to come and visit the refugee camp which is not allowed. Because as he said any person or institution who wanted to visit any refugee camp should seek permission from his department or Vice President's office. Concerning Alkalos and Chiefs, SOS Ousman Badjie asked them about the register which government issued them to record the names of aliens who come to the villages. He said he did not receive any report from any alkalo or chief. SOS Badjie said these are things which also help the security in their work. In answering to queries, the Divisional Agricultural Officer Mr. MS Kah told one Alhagie Tankoro Sillah from Sabi who said he was sent by the village's to ask the Vice President, that still they did not get their money and their groundnuts were taken by the government. In response Mr. Kah said still paying is going on, but, he said due to certain circumstances beyond their control, not everybody could be paid but urged farmers to be patient and apologise for any in convenience caused. In delivering his speech on the security matters, the Director General of NIA, Mr. Kebba Ceesay said people should report any person who they suspect. Mr. Ceesay said before,theft cases were very small but, now there is an increase of these cases. Mr. Ceesay told the gathering that the most notorious criminals in this country are Gambians. He urged Elders to give hand to the security forces to work together so that the security of the country could be tackled. The Vice President was accompanied by a high ranking delegation from the Police and Army which includes the Army Chief of Staff Mr. Baboucarr Jatta and other Senior personnel. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~ Focus On The Gambia's Economic Situation Continued from last issue ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~ We have been focusing on the economic situation of The Gambia which has been motivated by the present economic difficulties, the rising commodity and food prices, the massive unemployment and foreign exchange scarcities etc. It has been the objective to focus on the economy so that the ordinary educated Gambian will have a deeper understanding of economic and financial situations so that instead of alarm there will be debates as to which direction to take to put the economy on the right footing. So far so good, I am grateful to all those who have been responding in one way or the other especially those who are sending contributions and questions or simply acknowledging what they are reading. I have been of late been focusing on the (Gambia Human Development Report 2000) published by the UNDP which has an in-depth analysis of the Gambian economy and has a wealth of statistical data. The report also aims to promote Good Governance for Human Development and Poverty Eradication. In the last issue, we have delved into what the report said about the Gambia's education and employment sectors. The report did not speak well for the employment situation it says the formal sector, i.e., the Parastatals and the Private Sector all combined employs only 11% of the labour force. It also criticises the employment opportunities in these sectors as bias for the menfolks, meaning not equal opportunities are open to women compared to the men. On Education, the report spoke favourably about the sector. It says between 1990/91 and 1996/97, average annual growth rate in Primary School enrolment was 8% compared with targeted 5% and a school aged population growth rate of 4.3%. It says there is much to be desired in the enrolment of girls; that only 61% of girls of primary school going age are enrolled in Primary School against 79% of boys according to the 1998 (education sector expenditure review). The report however maintains that despite improvements, secondary level education is still below acceptable levels. It says government junior secondary schools increased from 12 to 24 accounting for an increase in transition from 30% in 1990/91 to 70% by 1996/97, it says the Gross enrolment ratio rose from 22% to 39% during the period under review. Let us now follow the Report on Education, this time on its relevance and its financing. Relevance In the past, national development policies have focused on human resource development for white collar and peripheral service sector to the detriment of the areas of science, technology, agriculture and industry. This resulted in mis-match between demand and supply in the labour market. The country had to depend on importation of human capital to manage the development of national productive resources with no firm foundation for sustainability. Consequently, the focus on education had to be changed to meet its development needs. The present school system, in line with the 'Vision 2020' aims at providing relevant education in the context of producing graduates armed with skills and training suitable for the country's socio- economic development needs. The private sector has also been contributing to education in terms of providing educational facilities almost at all levels. In order to ensure relevant education, there has been a continuous effort in tailoring the school curricula to suit the nation'' needs. The current school curricula is much more broad-based. Rather than being strictly academic, more technical subjects such as woodwork and technical drawing , among others, have been introduced to make education functional for those who are not academically inclined. Population and Family Life Education is also being gradually introduced into the formal educational system and the 'Madrassah'. The on-going sensitisation programmes aimed at creating awareness among pupils and, especially parents about the importance of non-academic subjects, need to be strengthened to remove the stigma attached to these subjects. In addition, restructuring of the school system to 6-3-3-4 and further efforts to introduce 9-3-4 system confirms this effort. The aim is to provide nine years of uninterrupted basic education, (DOSE, 1997 Policy Documents). Financing of Education Total government expenditure in the education sector during the 1990s reflected an increased allocation. Between 1990/91 and 1996/97, total government expenditure in the education sector grew in real terms at an annual average rate of 9 percent, almost doubling both in nominal terms from 98 million Dalasis in 1990/91 to 186 million Dalasis and in real terms to 174 million Dalasis in 1996/97 (The Gambia Education Sector Public Expenditure Review, 1998). However, salaries account for 75 percent of education sector recurrent expenditure whilst operational maintenance and teaching/learning supplies receive only about 5 percent each. This disproportionate distribution does not reflect the stated policy priority of increased expenditure on books and other learning materials. During this period under review, the education sector's share of government expenditure averaged 21 percent. This constituted an average of 5.2 percent of GDP during the period. In comparison with sub-Saharan African average, The Gambia's education expenditure has been higher both as a share of total government expenditure and as a share of GDP (sub-Saharan African average of 20 percent and 4.2 percent respectively). Primary education received the bulk of the expenditure (an average of 45 percent). Although development expenditure on education averaged 31 percent of the sectors total expenditure, its share fluctuated during the period. For example, the development component's share of total expenditure dropped from 35 percent in 1991 to 23 percent in 1992. It picked up again in 1993 to 36 percent and dropped to 23 percent in 1994. The main reason advanced for the fluctuation was the lack of co-ordinated planning of resources. This could partly be explained by lack of sector-wise planned investment programme in terms of level or function. Currently, the public expenditure plans are such that 27 percent of the national budget will be allocated for education. Other Financing Sources Since 1992, there has been consistent patterns of support to primary school education as a priority by donors. For instance, 65 percent of externally financed development expenditure were allocated to the construction of primary schools, expansion of facilities for teacher training and in-service training of unqualified teachers as mentioned earlier. Civil Society also plays a very important role in the education sector, especially in the rural areas. Community-based Organisations such as Parent-Teacher Association (PTAs), and NGOs undertake self help project usually in the construction of classrooms and facilitation of adult literacy classes, as mentioned earlier. Household Expenditure and benefit incidence Though education in itself does not increase economic growth, it is a vital ingredient in that process. It is a necessary input in the production process and, therefore, an important social service needed by the poor to escape poverty. However, the poor are more often unable to meet their share of the education expenditure. According to the 1998 National Household Poverty Study, cost of secondary education D2400) is higher than the per-capita permanent income of the poorest 20 percent of the population (D965). In the next issue we will still quote from the UNDP Human Development Report 2000, on the liberalise economy Gambia has adopted for along time now to see what findings the reports makes. We will also in subsequent issue try to address issues raised by the readers in this coloum so as to clarify issues before continuinig with the analysis on world economy. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Source: FOROYAA (Freedom) NO: 38/2002 4 - 6 July, 2002 ISSN: 0796- 08573 Address: FOROYAA, P.O.Box 2306, Serrekunda, The Gambia, West Africa Telephone: (220) 393177 Fax: (220) 393177 Email address: [log in to unmask] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To unsubscribe/subscribe or 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] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~