Mr Sidibeh, You made some very good and important points. The infrastructure "saga" as you put it, has always made some big roars. A few have clearly stated that it should not be a priority, but what is a priority depends on who you talk to. I agree with the other side who think that without infrastructures, nothing could be done to move the nation. A lot of arguments have been made that the education, health and employment should be the priority. How could a nation take care of all of those without good roads, electricity and communication? I think focussing on what will enhance the rest to achive what we are striving for is a very genuine argument. The Jammeh government is focussing a lot on infrastructural development and this might not mean a lot to some who lived in the urban areas for all their lives. A Gambian who walked to school for ten or more years of their educational career, a good road that would bring some kind of transportaion means a lot to that one. A mother who had to ride on horse/donkey to deliver ten of her babies in a health center just 5 miles away or at times 50 miles away will see such an infrastructure as a big step towards betterment. How about a trader who cannot bring in goods to a samll city because there are no roads? So Mr. Sidibeh, I personally do not think that the others who are advocating for other approaches towards development meant any harm. I think they are just ambitious like any of us for a better Gambia. To them, I say, give this one a chance and if it fails to get us to what we want, then we could try another approach. As the saying goes, "the person who never makes an error, never tries". Ousman Jallow Bojang. Original Message: ----------------- From: Edi Sidibeh [log in to unmask] Date: Mon, 07 Oct 2002 19:11:18 +0000 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: This is obvious but......... <html><div style='background-color:'><DIV> <DIV> <DIV> <DIV></DIV> <DIV></DIV> <DIV>In my opinion regarding the infrastructure saga, it is obvious that people cannot eat the infrastructure but then again, the infrastructure building can also generates jobs and can at the end of the day bring about more investment opportunities to create more and more jobs for the entire population to benefit on. it can also create easy and fastest access to the home base products from point A to point Z. Infrastructural building is the milestone as well as the gate way to gaining and attracting the foreign investment in to the country. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>However, there are still a lot for the government to adjust as such, the human right record, rules of law, corruption, mismanagement, and scaring of qualify workers with foreign education to come home and work for the good of all Gambian.I think, one's political choice shouldn't have a thing to do with his/her capability to perform in the offices of the state, as this two things are not at all related as it seems to be in the Gambia. Development in any form needs know-how individuals to lead and get the job well done. Again if those few capable and experience individuals are thrown out of office for their political differences how will that affect the development? I am not saying their are no educated ones to replace those experience ones but it will cause some set back to the development processes.<BR><BR></DIV><BR> <H5><EM><U><FONT color=#336699>Better now than ever > cooperation and understanding featuring better Gambia and willingness of her people to commit intellectually<IMG height=12 src="http://graphics.hotmail.com/emthup.gif" width=12></FONT></U></EM></H5> <DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></div><br clear=all><hr>Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: <a href='http://g.msn.com/1HM1ENFI/c152??PI=44332'>Click Here</a><br></html> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -------------------------------------------------------------------- mail2web - Check your email from the web at http://mail2web.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] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~