From http://www.observer.gm Opinion There are more urgent needs By Salieu EH John Jul 28, 2004, 10:51 The burning issue of the day is the deteriorating economic climate in the country. This is the main subject for discussion among the youth, adults, civil servants, businessmen and women, housewives, in short all and sundry. It has been widely speculated and rumoured that government had set aside between D50 and D80 million to spend on celebrating the tenth anniversary of the July 22nd military takeover. Whether the celebration is necessary in the first place is actually not my worry. What worries me is how the alleged sums could be spent on such celebrations at this period of time when our economy is in such a bad shape and reaching an almost epic proportion. This decision doesn’t portray the Jammeh administration in any positive light at all. On the contrary, it shows how insensitive the regime is to the plight of the masses; the hunger and abject poverty which ten years ago Jammeh promised us he and his cohorts came to improve. A newspaper recently published an article reporting that there is shortage of drugs at the RVTH. Some say the paediatric wing at the hospital lacks incubators and that premature babies could not be saved. Is President Jammeh aware of this situation at the hospital ? Is he aware that some of our schools, particularly those in the provinces, are merely existing and not functioning? That science, art and craft, woodwork and metal work equipment, materials and tools are in acute shortage in most of our schools throughout the country? That the computers that have been supplied to some schools in the provinces are simply sitting there as white elephants collecting dust - the worst enemies of machines because they cannot be used due to either dead battery cells which cannot be replaced or stolen solar panels? Look at the electricity situation in the country. It has worsened and it is continuing to worsen despite desperate efforts to improve the situation. The Daily Observer of June 22 quoted Nawec chairman, Amigo Jeng, as saying that an estimated D45 million would be needed to procure spareparts to repair and put generators 6 and 11 on the run again. This contradicts previous announcements by the senior management of Nawec that the current load-shedding being experienced was due to the delay in arrival of fuel and the limited fuel in stock which has to be controlled. The same paper in the same issue quoted Amigo Jeng as saying that in order to raise the money to procure the necessary spareparts for generators 6 and 11, Nawec was going to review its tariff upwards. It is therefore tantalising to learn that Nawec has donated millions to government as its contribution to the celebrations. If this is true, how fair is Nawec to its consumers? Isn’t Nawec guilty of exploiting the Gambian people and of increasing their hardship? It reasons that a better way to have raised the money to pay for the spareparts required to get engines 6 and 11 working again was to get all debtors owing Nawec to pay up - government, parastatals, industries, supermarkets and even private individuals who owe Nawec huge amounts of money in arrears. By allegedly donating millions of dalasis to government to celebrate the July 22 takeover, Nawec has clearly answered the lingering question: What is wrong with Nawec? on the part of government, it is unfortunate that it has chosen to let the celebration of July 22 take precedence over desperate need such as electricity. The importance of an efficient, competent and reliable electricity supply network cannot be overemphasised. In the absence of the latter, we cannot talk of development as everything hinges on electricity. We now live in an era in which electricity is a sine qua non. Government machinery cannot function and homes, institutions, computers, fax machines, fridges, cell phones, televisions and many other things need electricity to function. Gambians are really living in abject poverty and we should not wait until we see our people drop dead in the streets because of poverty and hunger before we believe they are poor and hungry. The evidence that our people are hungry is not far-fetched. These days Gambians get angry very easily, sometimes over very trivial matters. Why? Because of stress. The stress of survival. “A hungry man is an angry man” (Bob Marley). Pass by the rubbish dump at Bakoteh and you would find humans among vultures scavenging not for food like the vultures but to collect empty bottles, tins and other recyclable items of all shapes and sizes which they will sell, all in their desperate fight for survival. So, to neglect the plight of the people for the celebration of July 22 does not reflect concern for the welfare and livelihood of the people. On the contrary, it is an absolute disregard and disrespect of the Gambian people. I don’t know whether Jammeh has advisers. If he does, it’s either that they are not giving him the right advice or he is not listening. One would have thought that considering the poor state of the country’s economy, government would have adopted what our neighbours, Senegal, did a few years ago; just observe the national day in a very low-key manner because their economy was in a bad shape. Hardly does a week go by and we do not read in the Daily Observer about child A or B asking for assistance either to further his/her education or to undergo medical treatment abroad. If all these monies that were being lavished on the celebrations were put together, we could have established a charity like ‘Save the Children, Gambia’. If there is ‘Save the Children UK’, ‘Save the children USA’, why not ‘Save the Children, Gambia’? After all, it is not how much money you have that matters but how well you manage the little you have. © Copyright 2003 by Observer Company ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l 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 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~