I may be in the minority but I believe that the President of the
Republic of The Gambia should be Commander-in-Chief and not
Farmer-In-Chief. The President claiming tracks of land and asking
citizens to work it the name of achieving food self-sufficiency is
totally misguided. Unless there is any other reasoning, the President's
actions seem to suggest either serious lack of judgment or outright
abuse of power. To think that Gambians will all of a sudden return to
farming because to President farms is totally flawed. It should be
clear that many Gambians have been farmers for generations and one of
the reasons many decided to abandon the land is low productivity. Over
the last yrs many enthusiastic farmers have seen their livelihood taken
away first by declining rains then by agricultural policies that seem
to believe that farmers will continue to toil under the hot sun even if
you remove needed subsidies for farm inputs (seeds and fertilizer) and
given them promissory note in-exchange for their years work. As the
wolof saying goes, "Mac du fecha Yal naa dey". It should be clear by
now, farming is only enjoyable when the price is right.
I must say I find it naive to think that civil and military service men
and women "volunteering" on the president's farm is the way to show
loyalty and love for the president. Given that the President is the
Commander-In-Chief and Executive-In-Chief it its incredulous to believe
that any one will turn down request to volunteer at his farms. As such
any "enthusiastic" response can only be interpreted by the presidents
critics as abuse of power. Few people will care if these same people
are not paid by tax payers to do other things such as keeping them
safe. More important the make believe that its alright for 1500 police
to spend as many weekends as needed at the President's farm at the tax
payer's expense suggest that it will fine for the platoon officer to
ask of his juniors to help babysit for his wife. While this may be
alright in the Gambia use of civil and military services, the police,
their wives and children and as volunteers or coerced labor on the
President's farms is interpreted by many on-lookers as illegal use of
powers of the Presidency.
Above all the President becoming Farmer-in-chief has the unintended
consequence of pushing out the small farmer. Knowing how small The
Gambia,it would be hard to imagine how the President can claim 45 ha
rice and 8km (whatever that is) sorghum fields without any small time
farmer losing their land. Even if the president managed to carve out
his farms from no-man's land, it begs the question whether produce from
his subsidized farms is not undercutting the small farmers' chance of
making a few dalasis at the market place.
As
more people continue to descend on Kanilai in support of the
president’s farming initiative, harvesting at the Gambian leader’s
farms continue to gain momentum.
Last weekend’s harvest (the 7th week in to harvesting) saw a large
turnout as personnel from the various security units in the country,
(GAF, NIA, Police, NDEA, Prisons, Immigration, and the Fire Service)
headed by their respective service chiefs, descended on the Bunubore
forest park, to work on the president’s 8-km Sorghum farm.
Speaking to journalists at the work site, Major General Lang Tombong
Tamba, Chief of Defence Staff of The Gambia Armed Forces, hailed the
president’s initiative of putting agriculture at the centre stage of
the development process.
Major General Tamba believes that Gambians should not even wait to be
called to support the president’s efforts "to propel Gambia into food
self-sufficiency," as the proceeds of the farms go back to the average
Gambian people.
He assured that the security forces of the country would not rest on
their laurels until and unless they finish harvesting the Kanilai farms
“for the benefit of all Gambians.” He called on all Gambians to answer
to the president’s call and go back to the land in order to attain the
country’s food self-sufficiency dream.
For his part, Ensa Badjie, Inspector General of The Gambia Police
Force, expressed delight at the work on the president’s farm. The
Gambia Police Force alone, he revealed, had over 1500 police officers
working on the farm. According to IGP Badjie, the Police Force will
visit Kanilai every weekend to help the president in harvesting his
farms "until when harvesting is completed."
He used the opportunity to call on members of the country’s Police
Force to maintain their loyalty to the president and the nation. IGP
Badjie also hailed the collaboration of all the security services in
the country.
Ibrahim Bun Sanneh, Executive Director of the National Drug Enforcement
Agency (NDEA), also commended President Jammeh for his efforts ensuring
a food self-sufficient Gambia in the shortest possible time.
Bun Sanneh also spoke at length on the collaboration that existed among
the security forces of this country. He promised that the security
forces would finish harvesting the Bunbore forest park’s Sorghum farm.
Lt. Col. Gibril Bojang, commanding officer Kanilai camp, recalled that
after the clearing of the 8km Bunubore Forest Park, the president of
the Republic of The Gambia, Profess for his advice as to what to
cultivate on the land.
He said that the President had advised them in favour of sorghum, which
he said has produced a good yield. He commended President Jammeh for
his hard work and called on Gambians to help in harvesting.
Lamin Sanneh, governor of Western Region, expressed delight at the
large turnout. He said that he was delighted at playing host to "this
agricultural revolution," calling on other Gambians to join the
crusade.
According to Governor Sanneh, the proceeds of these farming activities
would be ploughed back to the country’s development endeavours. He
pointed out that President Jammeh had spent thousands of dollars in
providing scholarship for Gambian students in and outside the country.
For his part, Lt. Seedy Baldeh, coordinator of the Kanilai farms,
commended the security forces for responding to the president’s appeal.
He noted that the massive response by the security forces would reduce
the burden of harvesting at the farm, as they have done a lot of the
harvesting in the Bunubore forest park in Kanilai.
Lt. Baldeh also revealed that the response by the security forces is
part of a demonstration of their commitment to President Jammeh’s
farming initiatives as well as to the progress of the nation.
The security forces also worked on the Sesame farm at the Bunubore
forest park, while the Police Wives Association and Tallinding Arabic
School were also spotted working on another part of the president’s
farm in the forest park.
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