*Development is People*

*By Baba Galleh Jallow*

A recent news report indicates that The Gambia government has just secured
a $50 million grant from the Chinese government to build an international
conference center. The question that immediately came to mind was who
suggested the nature of the project for which this money will be spent? Did
the Gambia government ask for $50 million dollars to build a conference
center? Or was the project suggested and funded by the Chinese government?
The underlying rationale for my question is whether this money could not be
better used funding the education or training of Gambian youths in skills
that would bring prosperity to themselves, their families and our country.

Surely, a conference center is important. But it is certainly not Gambia’s
most urgent need at the moment. It is true that the center will provide
employment for some Gambians and that it could serve as a tourist
attraction. However, I think if the Barrow administration has any say in
the matter, they should indicate that while important, building an
international conference center is not one of our top priorities at the
moment and that the grant money could be more usefully spent on other
areas, especially on the education and training of young Gambians. In the
New Gambia we need our governments both present and future to be more
discerning about our national priorities and avoid spending scarce
resources on projects that, while important, will only add to our national
expenses. Once this conference hall is built, it becomes another expensive
structure to maintain and will hardly generate any significant revenue for
the country.

On the other hand, let us consider how many full five-year scholarships
even $10 million can pay for Gambian students in any university, especially
the UTG? Just $10 million can transform the lives of hundreds of Gambian
citizens and their families. Should our government therefore spend all $50
million on a building rather than use it to build Gambian lives? Can
another $10 million not be spent on improving facilities at the University
of The Gambia, buying adequate furniture, or equipping university
classrooms with overhead projectors and labs and computer rooms with state
of the art technology that will facilitate research and learning of the
highest order? How about yet another $10 million dollars on the procurement
of vital medical equipment, beds, and drugs for our hospitals and health
centers? That would still leave $20 million dollars which is enough to
build a decent conference center worthy of The Gambia. With all due
respect, one cannot help but argue that spending $50 million on building an
international conference center in The Gambia is unjustifiably wasteful.

We do not doubt the Barrow administration’s good intentions. But good
intentions must be backed by good thinking and planning. We suggest that at
this crucial and potential-rich moment of our national history, there is an
urgent need for more discerning consideration of our national priorities.
Things have been done this way since independence and we have not seen much
improvement in terms of general development of and for the Gambian people.
There is a need to start thinking of new and more creative ways of going
about achieving our national development objectives. Old ways of doing
things have proven infective and if the Barrow administration or any future
Gambian government does not take the time to carefully think about our
national order of priorities and how to do things better, they will not be
able to leave much of a mark in terms of developmental achievements.

The key point we want to make here is that development is about people.
While building expensive infrastructure will give our country some
semblance of modernity, developing the human person through effective
education and training will yield more significant results for our national
economy and community. Investing in people is the key to African
development and so far, African governments have not given this crucially
important issue the attention it deserves. Who knows how many hundreds of
millions of dollars in development aid have gone down the drain in our
small Gambia alone since independence? And what do we have to show for it?
The reason for this is not hard to find. It is simply that hundreds of
millions of dollars have been spent on the wrong projects rather than on
developing our precious human resources.  Development and prosperity have
been elusive for our country because hundreds of millions of dollars are
invested in projects that cannot bring about development and prosperity but
take away from the meager resources we have. It is way past time to rethink
our national developmental priorities which demand that we put the human
person at the front and center of public investment.

It is safe to assume that a Chinese company will be given the contract to
build the $50 million international conference center from the Chinese
grant money. This means that while we will end up with a beautiful
structure, the immediate fruits of the grant money will benefit the Chinese
economy and Chinese nationals more than it will benefit the Gambian economy
and Gambian nationals. Needless to say, the project will create employment
for many Gambians during the construction phase, and it will continue to
provide a few jobs here and there afterwards. But these benefits are
nothing compared to what hundreds of scholarships for Gambian students will
yield. Why not consider sending at least 20 Gambian students to China or a
country of China’s choice for training using at least a million dollars of
this grant money? Chinese institutions will still benefit but the benefits
for us will be more tangible and long-lasting. Yes, the Chinese government
is giving some Gambian students scholarships and the conference project
might be a tourist attraction. Still, just one million dollars set aside
for more scholarships for Gambian students will be extremely useful to our
country in the short, medium and long term. Again, suffice it to say that
development is about people and the more we invest in our people, the
closer we will get to whatever developmental goals we seek.

At this moment in our history, there is an abundance of international
goodwill for the New Gambia. The Barrow administration is in a position to
benefit from hundreds of millions of dollars in loans or grants from
well-meaning members of the international community. However, it will be
helpful for the Gambia government to pause and reconsider how best these
monies may be invested for the direct improvement of the lives of the
Gambia people. In particular, the government should try to make it possible
for a part of every single aid package to be invested directly on the
education and training of Gambian citizens, and on other projects that
directly impact the lives of Gambian citizens. Develop the people and the
people will develop their country.


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