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From:
"Pa. Saikou Kujabi" <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
The Gambia and Related Issues Mailing List <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Mon, 22 May 2017 13:42:09 +0000
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"Jaraama machudoJola."  Well stated Baba. If Kairaba Hotel could serve as the seat of government for so long, I wonder why any important conference cannot be held in one of the hotel's magnificent Ball Rooms. The Gambia has a long road to travel and a particularly  daunting task of recovering from decades of economic injustice perpetuated by our own governments. We as a nation have to be able to identify our  developments priorities to our donors, and indeed dictate how those funds should be spent.  I couldn't agree more with you that Education and Skill Training programs are two key important priorities in achieving our short and long-term development goals. I would argue that when a people have the requisite academic and technical skills necessary to do for themselves what others have been doing for them for centuries, only then can they claim total freedom from the economic bondage of the west. We do not want to continue begging and receiving hand-outs for ever. Invest in our young Gambian citizens NOW. Human Development is National Development.  

Keep it up guys.  

     On Sunday, May 21, 2017 4:30 PM, Baba Jallow <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
 

 Development is PeopleBy Baba Galleh JallowA recent news report indicates that The Gambia governmenthas just secured a $50 million grant from the Chinese government to build aninternational conference center. The question that immediately came to mind waswho suggested the nature of the project for which this money will be spent? Didthe Gambia government ask for $50 million dollars to build a conference center?Or was the project suggested and funded by the Chinese government? Theunderlying rationale for my question is whether this money could not be betterused funding the education or training of Gambian youths in skills that wouldbring prosperity to themselves, their families and our country.Surely, a conference center is important. But it iscertainly not Gambia’s most urgent need at the moment. It is true that thecenter will provide employment for some Gambians and that it could serve as a touristattraction. However, I think if the Barrow administration has any say in thematter, they should indicate that while important, building an internationalconference center is not one of our top priorities at the moment and that thegrant money could be more usefully spent on other areas, especially on theeducation and training of young Gambians. In the New Gambia we need ourgovernments both present and future to be more discerning about our nationalpriorities and avoid spending scarce resources on projects that, while important,will only add to our national expenses. Once this conference hall is built, itbecomes another expensive structure to maintain and will hardly generate any significantrevenue for the country.  On the other hand, let us consider how many full five-yearscholarships even $10 million can pay for Gambian students in any university,especially the UTG? Just $10 million can transform the lives of hundreds ofGambian citizens and their families. Should our government therefore spend all$50 million on a building rather than use it to build Gambian lives? Cananother $10 million not be spent on improving facilities at the University ofThe Gambia, buying adequate furniture, or equipping university classrooms withoverhead projectors and labs and computer rooms with state of the art technologythat will facilitate research and learning of the highest order? How about yetanother $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 worthyof The Gambia. With all due respect, one cannot help but argue that spending $50million on building an international conference center in The Gambia is unjustifiablywasteful. We do not doubt the Barrow administration’s good intentions.But good intentions must be backed by good thinking and planning. We suggestthat at this crucial and potential-rich moment of our national history, thereis an urgent need for more discerning consideration of our national priorities.Things have been done this way since independence and we have not seen muchimprovement 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 aboutachieving our national development objectives. Old ways of doing things haveproven infective and if the Barrow administration or any future Gambiangovernment does not take the time to carefully think about our national orderof priorities and how to do things better, they will not be able to leave muchof a mark in terms of developmental achievements.The key point we want to make here is that development is aboutpeople. While building expensive infrastructure will give our country some semblanceof modernity, developing the human person through effective education andtraining will yield more significant results for our national economy and community.Investing in people is the key to African development and so far, Africangovernments have not given this crucially important issue the attention itdeserves. Who knows how many hundreds of millions of dollars in development aidhave gone down the drain in our small Gambia alone since independence? And whatdo we have to show for it? The reason for this is not hard to find. It issimply that hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent on the wrong projectsrather than on developing our precious human resources.  Development and prosperity have been elusivefor our country because hundreds of millions of dollars are invested inprojects that cannot bring about development and prosperity but take away fromthe meager resources we have. It is way past time to rethink our nationaldevelopmental priorities which demand that we put the human person at the frontand center of public investment.It is safe to assume that a Chinese company will be giventhe contract to build the $50 million international conference center from theChinese grant money. This means that while we will end up with a beautifulstructure, the immediate fruits of the grant money will benefit the Chineseeconomy and Chinese nationals more than it will benefit the Gambian economy andGambian nationals. Needless to say, the project will create employment for manyGambians during the construction phase, and it will continue to provide a fewjobs here and there afterwards. But these benefits are nothing compared to whathundreds of scholarships for Gambian students will yield. Why not considersending at least 20 Gambian students to China or a country of China’s choicefor training using at least a million dollars of this grant money? Chineseinstitutions will still benefit but the benefits for us will be more tangibleand long-lasting. Yes, the Chinese government is giving some Gambian studentsscholarships and the conference project might be a tourist attraction. Still,just one million dollars set aside for more scholarships for Gambian studentswill 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 weinvest in our people, the closer we will get to whatever developmental goals weseek.At this moment in our history, there is an abundance ofinternational goodwill for the New Gambia. The Barrow administration is in aposition to benefit from hundreds of millions of dollars in loans or grantsfrom well-meaning members of the international community. However, it will behelpful for the Gambia government to pause and reconsider how best these moniesmay 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 everysingle aid package to be invested directly on the education and training ofGambian citizens, and on other projects that directly impact the lives ofGambian citizens. Develop the people and the people will develop their country. ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interfaceat: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.htmlTo Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-lTo contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:[log in to unmask]¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤

   

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