Gambia L, Whenever I write, or say, something critical of Mr Jammeh, or his government, those die-hard supporters of Jammeh, be they on the L, or outside the L, are always quick in accusing me, among other things, of just being "anti Jammeh". But, as I indicated on this forum, some time ago, I can, without any protraction, put my hand on the Holy Qur'an (to the effect) that I have nothing personal against Mr Jammeh. Of course, what I have been consistently opposing are Jammeh policies and actions, which, in my view, are detrimental to the well-being of the majority of Gambians. People keep saying that the living conditions of the majority of Gambians have improved "considerably" since Jammeh seized power in July 1994. But these claims, unfortunately, are not supported - or backed - by various economic reports on the Gambia that are published from time to time. Perhaps something is wrong with my eyes, or I must be reading from the wrong reports on the Gambia (laugh!). Of course, I am not!! For those of you who do not know, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) recently published an "Economic Report on Africa for 1999", and the report makes interesting reading/revelations, in relation to the state of the African economies in 1998. The report is long and technical, but I'll try to interpret it as simple as possible, so that its content can be fully understood. Unfortunately, time does not permit me to interpret, or put the whole report in proper perspective as at now. What I'll do in this piece is to confine myself to chapter 3 of the report, which looks at the well-being of Africans, in terms of income, health, education and freedoms. For your information, Chapter 3 of the report names 12 countries in Africa that have the lowest scores in a survey conducted, which looked at the well-being of Africans, as I already mentioned, in terms of their income, freedoms, health and education. And I am afraid to say that the Gambia is one of the 12 countries in Africa that are trailing behind, according to the UNECA report. I would give you the 12 countries named in the report later on. Also, later on, I'll give you the 13 countries that have the highest scores, according to the report. But before that, let me inform you that what chapter 3 of the report did/does was/is to develop indices, not only to assess current (economic) performance and policy stance (in Africa), but also to evaluate the medium to long-run sustainability of economic growth (in Africa). The UNECA then stresses the importance of the well-being of each African, saying it is central to the notion and measurement of our economic development. Economic policies and performances are deemed good if their impact on well-being is both positive and sustainable, according to the report. Having said that, the analysis in chapter 3 of the report then uses four elements to measure the quality of life of the African. The elements used were income levels, health status, educational attainment and political and civil liberties. In short, the report holds the view that (our) economic development can be measured by increase in real incomes, improvements in health and educational status and the widening of the freedoms of the people. The report further indicates that one way of enhancing the well-being of Africans is by eradicating poverty. Now, having looked at, or studied, 46 countries in Africa, in terms of real per capita GDP, life expectancy at birth, infant mortality, adult illiteracy and freedoms, the UNECA came up with a welfare index, in which countries that perform "best" have the highest scores, and countries that perform "worst" have the lowest scores. What this means is that the 13 countries with highest scores are the countries that are doing very well in terms of real per capita GDP, life expectancy at birth, infant mortality and adult illiteracy, while the 12 countries (Gambia included) with lowest "Borda" scores are the ones lagging behind in terms of income, health, education and freedoms. The 13 highest-scoring countries in ascending order are Egypt, Gabon, Morocco, Cameroon, Botswana, Swaziland, Algeria, Cape Verde, Tunisia, Libya, South Africa, Mauritius and Seychelles. The 12 countries with the lowest scores in ascending order are Sierra Leone, Mali, Burundi, Mozambique, Malawi, Ethiopia, Niger, Chad, THE GAMBIA, Guinea-Bissau, Burkina Faso and Uganda. Having said that, let us also not forget that in 1996, the Gambia was ranked 162 out of 174 countries in terms of human development in the UNDP's Human Development Index Report. However, last year, the Gambia's performance was even poorer. We were ranked 165 out of 174 countries. Interestingly, the Gambia was not even selected to be among the 23 African countries that were surveyed by the World Economic Forum and the Harvard Institute for International Development in the "1998 Africa Competitiveness Report". Mauritius takes the lead in the competitiveness index of the 23 countries on the African Continent, followed by Tunisia, Botswana, Namibia, Morocco, and Egypt. This means that these six countries are the most competitive economies of the 23 surveyed. The Africa Competitiveness Report measures the competitiveness of these 23 countries based on estimates for medium-term economic growth and their control of income levels. In other words, in the report, overall competitiveness is calculated based on an average of six indices: openness, government, finance, labour, infrastructure and institutions. It is therefore clear - looking at the various economic reports that are published from time to time on the Gambia - that the Gambian economy has indeed been sinking, since Jammeh assumed leadership of our motherland, unless these reports are not telling the truth. Which is, of course, not the case. Please, take it or leave it, but what prevails in the Gambia today, as far as the economy is concerned, is nothing less than a mismanaged economy or an economy in crisis. In fact, in my view, sooner rather later, the real/true picture of the state of the Gambian economy will come clearer, even to the pro-Jammeh camp. No one can suppress the truth eternally!! The truth must prevail at all cost!! Ebrima Ceesay, Birmigham, UK. Wassa Fatty, Good to hear from you, and thanks for your useful contribution to the subject of Socialism. The person who privately requested some information regarding the "failure of Socialism" is on the L, and I hope he, too, finds your contributions helpful. I have also given him (the person who needs the information) some references from both leftist and rightist perspectives on the subject. Paul Foot, a die-hard marxist/journalist/political commentator has also addressed the issue quite adequately in one of his books. Once again, Wassa, thanks for your input and keep it up! ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.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 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------