By Omar Bah
The leader of the Gambia Moral Congress has appeared optimistic that the Barrow-led Coalition Government is moving in the right direction despite the challenges.
Mai Fatty said there is an enabling environment that makes it possible for Gambians from all walks of life to engage in meaningful activities.
“We no longer have a national leadership that overwhelmed the economic space and we no longer have a dictatorial economic environment that makes it difficult for Gambians to come and experiment the freemarkets. So the new Gambia has brought two important elements, liberty and the opportunity for those who want to work hard,” he told The Standard.
He said when they came to power the economy was stagnant, foreign exchange was extremely difficult and inflation was sky rocketing but little over one year, the country’s import cover is up to four to five months.
“The dalasi is beginning to regain its strength although prices have not fully stabilized…But we are moving in that direction.”
He said the tourism sector has also rebound: “We are moving into a new constitution. We are also digging into some of the criminal activities of the former the government to get to the bottom of the truth…So accountability is also on track even though some people think it is slow. But no one will say something is not happening.”
“You could say it is too slow for your speed but the will of government is not always very fast…If you want to do things firmly you got to do them formally well. I believe relatively speaking the government has done something but that is not to say that everything is well…All is not well,” he stated.
He continued: “Large numbers of young people remain unemployed, we still have to improve the quality of education, we have real problems with our health sector even the tourism it itself has to be reformed so that it will be in the advantage of our economy because most of the income generated in tourism is shifted outside.”
“Security remains a fundamental challenge and no one is in a better position to say this than I because I wielded that position for nine months so I know exactly the security challenges facing this country. What we need to do is reorient our securities from the police to the military and improve our intelligence because very soon Africa will be borderless,” he explained.
