Why is Gambia not a signatory to the Single Africa Aviation Transport Market SAATM?
Dear editor,
Please allow me space in your noble and respectable newspaper to ask the aforementioned question to our state managers through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs International Cooperation and Gambians Abroad.
The concluded 30th ordinary session of the assembly of heads of state and governments of the Africa Union which took place from the 22nd to 29th January, 2018 witnessed the unavailing of the most anticipated Single Africa Aviation Transport Market which according to aviation and economist experts is expected to spur more opportunities to promote trade cross border investment in the production and service industries including tourism, resulting in three hundred thousand direct and two million indirect jobs.
However, with this lucrative opportunity which can be exploited to solve the Gambia’s terrible economic and unemployment problems, yet the Gambia fails to associate itself with it. What is the hidden agenda that caused our diplomatic space managers not to be a party?
Africa as per agenda 2063 base on the guiding vision of “an integrated, prosperous and peaceful continent, driven by its own people representing a dynamic force in the international arena” will be a distant goal to achieve if such initiatives of the Africa Union are not supported.
For Africa to solve her disheartening problems of political and social instabilities, environmental degradation, hunger, poverty, corruption and economic exploitation, we must unite, integrate both economically and politically to transform our human, natural and geopolitical resources to solve our self-imposed social and political problems.
Mr. Editor, allow me this oppor
tunity to admonish the political executive under the stewardship of Adama Barrow to also sensitize the public on the validated National Development agenda (2018-2022). The trajectory of Gambian politics indicates the failure of almost all development plan since the first social and economic development plan 1975\6-1980/81 to date to lack of communication on the content of the plans. How can the citizens especially the average ones participate in the implementation of a plan that they do not know?
Sanna Badjie
Political science student,
University of The Gambia
