Saiks Ebou sowe(lupi) was in the gambia for some months trying to establish his business. As you know he is a proffessional welder trained here in Norway and have his workshop at Bundung. When i met him in the Gambia he was going round from place to place marketing his products which includes dust bins which i am sure is far more cheaper and better in quality than the ones ordered outside the country. I really dont know when we will start seeing the efforts made by our young and talented Gambians and start encouraging them. Just a short contribution Matarr >From: saikss <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list ><[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Re: Boom or Doomed >Date: Thu, 11 Jul 2002 00:34:09 +0200 > >Jungle, > >Sorry for responding late. Your silence over some of the issues I raised >seems >to confirm that you see my points. If Tariq Musa ordered dust-bins from out >side the country to be bought by government authorities whiles we have a >Sankung Sillah is not a serious approach to national development. If we can >order containers for collecting rubbish whiles we have small industries, >who >are struggle to survive daily and could produce the same type or even >something better is also not a serious approach to national development. >This >has been my point of take off. I am not saying that communication net work >should not be extended to the rural arrears, my problem is that we have >other >urgent development issues than that. Remember the great majority of our >farmers are still using hoe and living in huts, drikking from well water >and >the majority of them could not provide a decent three daily meals. If you >are >to invest a $10million project on behave of these people then one must be >very >conscious as to what is intended to achieve. The amount of people who will >be >able to afford telephone in the rural areas is very limited, likewise a >television, the State might end up subsidising for these services. >Get me right here; I am not saying that we don't need well-constructed >roads. >This we need as much as efficient electricity supply. The issue is, do we >actually need to spend so much in the construction of these roads? What I >am >saying is that, we don't need a four lane highway inside Serre Kunda, no >matter what service these roads will perform, they will not pay off, the >only >way out will be to increase road tax and this again will have to affect the >comsumers. We need roads but we need roads that we can afford, you don't >take >big loans to build a road capacity that you don't need and when poverty is >in >the increase. >The APRC regime declared the dead of the 1st republic without been able to >liberate her self from the shadows of the 1st republic. For example, You >don't >just go on building hospitals because the 1.republic did not do so, it is >much >more better to have a well thought health programme and with that you might >know if you even need a new hospital and where. Or else it will just be as >it >is, hospitals without drugs or simple necessary equipment. Just take Serre >kunda as example, perhaps one of the dirties towns in this world, how many >people are going to suffer and died from maleria in that town this year, >only >God knows. Every bloody day when you visit the outpatient at the royal >Victoria hospital, you are almost convince that there is an emergency >situation in the country because of the amount of people queuing there. >Take the building of schools, they are very many now and you hardly visit >a >compound in that country without meeting a half educated school drop out or >some one struggling to pay his/her school fees. You don't call this >national >development, there is much to that. A poor country like Cuba used not more >than two years to bring illiteracy to one of the lowest in the world. When >Sankara took over Burkina Faso, the country was more than poor, but theses >people with the little resources they had, brought illiteracy to one of the >lowest in the history of the country. Jungle, the amount of loan and grant >accumulated in the name of the country since the APRC came to power is >enough >to do 10 times more than what this government achieved.A serious >government >faced with this serious poverty will never buy a jet fighter, even if free >they will return it back, let alone a president with a private plane, >private >zoo, two homes etc. It is only self-sacrifice that will be able to bring us >to >our dreams of a better Gambia. Go bring all the world industries in the >Gambia, if the objectives are not for freedom, there will always be >poverty, >just look at Nigeria with all the wealth and industries of that country. > >For Freedom >Saiks > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >===== Original Message From The Gambia and related-issues mailing list ><[log in to unmask]> ===== > >Saiks, > > > >You have raised many varied and interesting points on which I shall do my > >best to shed some more light. First of all, let me tell you that I know > >poverty to my finger tips and that my knowledge of poverty is from a very > >close encounter. I did not read about it. I have lived in it. You see >Saiks, > >I was born into what you can term a relaticely well-off family and grew >up > >seeing what wealth and generousity can do. I also lived through a period >of > >living a life of deprivation and seeing how some people repay kindness >and > >generousity when you no longer have what yiu used to have. > > > >As a kid growing up in Kuntaur (CRD), I have witnessed how dozens of my > >relatives and friends of my family from the Baddibus, Bakau, Serekunda >and > >Banjul would regularly visit or come for holidays. i have also witnessed >how > >some would even spend the whole trade season with us. I saw how my late > >father cared for dozens of them out of relationship and kindness. I have > >also seen how, within a space of about eight years, he lost almost > >everything. First, it was a major burglary that left us almost penniless, > >then a fire that gutted our entire compound, closely followed by the > >devastating devastating drought of the 70s and the departure of the first > >Taiwanese mission from The Gambia, when we switched recognisation from > >Taiwan to China. Saiks, my Dad was a rice and groundnut farmer as well as >a > >businessman. Seeing how some folks repaid the generousity of my late Dad >(He > >died in 1979) gave me first-hand lessons on wealth, friendship, poverty >and > >of dignity. > > > >Having said that, let me now turn to the $10 million rural development > >project that we beginning to implement in the northern half of the >country. > >The project involses the laying of about 350 Kms of fibre-optic cable >from > >Basse to Barra and completing the loop to Banjul using a digital >microwave > >link. The main purpose of doing this is to first of all provide the > >necessary security for the South Bank fibre in case there is a major > >catastrophe with it. You know that fibre, not only carries rural traffic, > >but also national TV and radio broadcasts as well. Secondly, it allows us >to > >develop telecommunications on the North bank to the same level as that on > >the south bank of The river Gambia. > > > >I had mentioned sometime back that, access to information particularly in > >rural areas, is one way of fighting poverty. If our poor rural folks, >need > >only travel a few Kilometres and have access to a phone to speak to their > >loved ones far away in the Greater Banjul rather than travelling dozens >of > >kilometres just to make that call, you are saving them both time and >money. > >If a poor farmer in Karantaba can call Banjul from Karantaba to inform >his > >child that he/she badly needs money rather than borrowing money and > >travelling all the way to Banjul, only to learn that his/her kid has been > >trasnferred to say Kiang or some other place, you would be saving him/her > >and his/her child anguish, time, money and effort. > > > >Thirdly, if we agree that education and health are important >pre-requisites > >for development in this day and age, and that in both cases the exchange >of > >information has a big role to play, then the need to bring that to our >rural > >folks is an absolute neccessity. Before you ask me how it would be >powered > >when there is no electricity in the rural areas, let me tell you that >they > >are normally solar-powered. The rural electrification project, announced > >earlier, would also come in very handy later. > > > >Fourthly Saiks, we all know that most of the rural folks who leave behind > >their families and come to the GBA do so to find work. If you can provide > >electricity and access to communications in some of these rural areas, >there > >exists a good chance that some light industries may be located there and > >provide much needed employment. The Kuntaur groundnut mill provided jobs >for > >thousands of people in the area until the former inept government moved >it > >to Kaur. The result? Kuntaur is now almost a ghost town. The tug boats >and > >barges that used to employ people and transport goods very cheaply up and > >down the river all disappeared. In those days, nobody dreamt of leaving > >Kuntaur for Banjul, Bakau or Serekunda. > > > >Coming to the roads being constructed, I do not know of any that has not > >been very long overdue. At a time when we are embarking on the Banjul > >Gateway project which establishes a trade free zone within the airport >with > >the possibility of having several industries there, then the need for the > >dual carriageway linking it to Serekunda makes a lot of sense to me. >Linking > >the same airport with the other economic zones of the country such as >Kerr > >Serigne, Bijilo, Tanje, Sanyang, Kartong, Gunjur etc, also makes a lot of > >sense to me. > > > >Finally saiks, you seem to think that some of the investments in > >infrastructure being undertaken are somehow not priority projects. If >that > >is your view, you cannot be more wrong. When potential investors come to >a > >country and find that most of the essential infrastructures such as good > >roads, reliable electricity, good communications facilities, peace and > >security, a reasonably developed human resource base and of course good > >governance exist, they more likely to consider investing in that country > >than when they are not available. You see Saiks, a friend of mine in the > >tourism industry told a few days ago, that two tourists came to The >Gambia > >for the first time two years ago and were so smitten with the country >that > >they came back again this year. The changes they saw impressed them so >much > >that they decided to start up something here. During their stay, they > >established that potatoes consumed in Gambia, though imported from mainly > >Holland are actually grown in South Africa. > > > >After their return, they came back again after a few weeks but this time > >with some agronomists. You see, these two tourists happen to be major > >potatoe farmers. Anyway having established that our soil is indeed very >good > >for potatoe farming, they sought and got allocated land for farming >potatoes > >for local consumption and export to the sub-region. > > > >For a start, they would sink boreholes for irrigation and are likely to > >start in ernest early next year. They plan to employ a little over 1,000 > >(Over one thousand) full-time farm workers in the first year and hope to > >employ as much as six thousand within five years. This would have > >significant impact on the lives of the tens of thousands of people who > >depend on those workers. > > > >As to whether mordernising the air has had much impact on tourist >arrivals, > >I do not know. Two things I do know however, are that the constraint we >have > >in tourist arrivals are mainly due to the limited number of available >beds > >as well as the quality of our product, amongst others. Improve on these, >a > >friend told me, and we can double the number arrivals within five years. > > > >another thing I do know is that the number of aircraft landings and > >take-offs have more than trebbled during the past five years. At the >moment > >no less than three dozen flights a week take-off from Banjul >International > >Airport for various destinations. The recent decision of Afrinat > >International Airlines to use The Gambia as its hub into West Africa and > >operating three weekly flights to Newyork from Banjul is a case in point. >I > >am sure when they start plying this route the number of flights from the > >sub-region would drastically increase. This means more jobs for Gambians >as > >well as more revenue for the GCAA. Like I keep saying, "There is a time >in > >the life of every problem when it is big enough to see, yet small enough >to > >solve (Mike Levitt)". we are surely getting there!!!! > > > >Have a good day, Gassa. > > > > > >_________________________________________________________________ > >Join the world’s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. > >http://www.hotmail.com > > > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > > >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] > > > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > >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] > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _________________________________________________________________ MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~