Dear Editor,
Indeed, we had more schools, more hospitals, more roads and bridges, increased salary, a television, university and many more things than we had in 1994 or 2000 or 2010.
But the country was more indebted and poverty was increasing by 2016, while corruption and inefficiency permeate the public sector. Despite the huge investments in all sectors and the many infrastructure developments, the standard and cost of living are appalling.
Any government anywhere builds things. Even war-torn countries continue to build infrastructure and provide services.
Therefore, the issue is that the same trajectory that this country has been treading since 1994 is the same trajectory this government is following. Take more loans. Grants have increased. Taxes increased. Building more roads and pumping in money everywhere.
But still ignoring transparency, accountability and probity. That is like harvesting your groundnuts and putting rats in the store. Your heap will rise but in time all the hard work and investments will waste and there will be no more nuts for the family to feed on.
Building infrastructure is the cheapest, quickest and easiest thing to do. Just take a loan or grant or local funds to procure contractors. But the issue is, has the right process been taken to determine if that road is strategic and necessary at this time; has the right contractor been awarded; is it that the whole money allocated will go into that project or will 75% be diverted only to get a poorly constructed road?
These are the issues this country faces since 1994 at least. There’s no shortage of projects and initiatives. But are they producing the desired effect?
Intellectuals like Mai who are educated, have travelled the world and back and they know that the Gambia’s economy and development are poor and fragile because the very values and standards that are necessary are lacking.
Leadership, governance and management standards are poor simply because the executive and the legislature do not want to abide by the law in full, be guided by ethics and professional standards of performance and delivery.
So one can sit here to do all the rationalisation and false comparisons but we will all come to agree that this country remains a highly indebted, highly corrupt, highly dependent, and highly impoverished nation. Not because we lack knowledge, skills or resources and surely there are no shortages of projects but simply because those who lead do not wish to uphold and abide by law and ethics.
Madi Jobarteh
On Mai Fatty’s response
Dear Editor,
Mr Fatty, I’ll allow myself to be infected by insufferable smugness by claiming that you were responding to me when you tried to defend your political alliance with rape, torture, and murder apologists in the NPP/APRC. Delusions of grandeur affect many of us in this colonial space so please bear with me. But even if you were not responding to me, I’m one of those who expressed disappointment with that alliance. Therefore, I’ll respond.
Whether out of a desire for dialogue or simply a need to defend your position due to the backlash you received, I commend you for continuing to engage. Sadly, you said it’s your last response and that breaks my heart because I could swear, we were engaged in National Dialogue no matter how unpleasant it may be. I saw two of your articles on Kerr Fatou preaching tolerance and sobriety in politics, but I believe that was directed at your “political enemies” so I’ll let you preach to them. I’ll focus on what you called “response two” in that article which you said is directed at “those questioning (y) our party’s decision to join the government coalition.”
I noticed how you conflated the “government” with your “political alliance” and called it “the government coalition” as if the parties in the so-called coalition are the same as the government! Aren’t conflating parties in power with government not one of the reasons we ended up where we are today? Or is it that something about being in coalition with the APRC of Yahya Jammeh still bothers you given all that you’ve said about the same APRC?
Your defense of your alliance with unrepentant torture, rape, and murder apologists in the APRC/NPP is premised on a resolution passed by your National Congress. You are telling us that the decision to join the APRC/NPP was a collective decision by your party delegates. You may not have used the word “democratic” but that’s the message you want us to get from that decision. That because it was a collective decision, taken democratically, you, as the leader, had no choice but to accept the will of your delegates. I have two issues with your position:
One, for someone who preaches MORALITY in politics and even named your party Gambia MORAL Congress, couching your alliance with rape, torture, and murder apologists in the raiment of democracy does not make your alliance RIGHT or MORAL. A collective decision is not always right no matter how democratic the decision is/was. Ornamenting your alliance with the perfume of democracy doesn’t quell the stench of the unrepentant rape, murder, and torture apologists in your midst!
Two, as a leader, your duty is not to always follow the desires or dictates of those who are behind you. I would be one of those who would have hailed your stance if you had, for moral reasons, refused to align yourself with unrepentant rape and murder apologists. Leadership doesn’t mean doing whatever your followership wants just as followership doesn’t mean doing whatever the leader wants.
Lastly, don’t confuse disagreeing with your stance with denying you your right to decide on your internal party affairs. You preach tolerance, let’s all live by it. If you put your internal party decisions in the public space, you will be inviting the public to share their thoughts on it. Heck, do you know all the names I have been called by people aligned with you? Since you claim political pluralism must be upheld, you should consider our thoughts as part of the so-called democracy we subsist on. Playing the victim as if anyone is trying to dictate your internal party affairs is probably not the best approach sir.
Alhagie Saidy Barrow
USA
