The following is culled from Foroyaa news paper burning issues. ---------------------- NO: 77/2002 21 - 24 November, 2002 Editorial Trade Season A New Agriculture Head The president has reshuffled his cabinet. The Secretary of State for Trade Mr. Musa Sillah is replaced by Momodou Sallah, the former Managing Director of AMRC. The Agriculture portfolio has been removed from Mr.Hassan Sallah and assumed by the President just as the energy portfolio. The president however, has not been able to solve the problems of NAWEC. He brought generators only to discover that the transmission lines have to be changed before they could reduce our electricity shortage problems. Now hundreds of millions have to be taken as a loan to replace the transmission lines. These loans will have to be paid by the consumers of electricity. Needless to say, power houses will need more foreign exchange to operate while consumrers pay in dalasis. This is what ultimately leads to operational problems and the privatization of services. Now the president has assumed the Agriculture portfolio. He will not have the time to visit farmers. He will simply be doing what he already has authority to do, that is to listen to advices of the technical staff and make policy decisions. A change of faces does not lead to a change of policies and realities. The government had simply failed to provide the conducive environment for public or the private sectors response to the purchase of groundnuts A public sector regime would have been possible if the funds recovered by AMRC were put into the groundnut sector in collaboration with cooperative societies. This could have earned income for the AMRC, the Federation of Cooperative Societies and the farmers. On the other hand government could have encouraged Gambians who have been engaged in the groundnut trade to have funds by introducing treasury bills purely for the groundnut subsector and provide funds in partnership with the private sector to purchase the groundnuts and recover their investment after sale. As it stands the government is simply working for investors to purchase the nuts. The farmers depend on chance to survive. The increase in the cost of living no longer permits the holding of the pay of the farmers for long. Groundnuts earn foreign exchange but farmers are paid in dalasi. If payment for farmers' crops is delayed for months after crops have been delivered their earnings will depreciates. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~