Is
The World Bank and the UN system in the Gambia sponsoring Yaya
Jammeh’s re-election campaign and Programmes for the next five years? The World Bank is targeting
88 wards and 600 villages in the six rural Local Government Areas up to
2012. But which village will benefit? Will any village in the LRD be
among the lot?
The
post election of 2001, the IMF and other bodies came with questions and
issues surrounding the Central bank of the Gambia that are yet to be
satisfactorily answered. It led to an audit exercise and the witch hunt
which saw the Paul commission, operation no compromise which led to the
demise of the mighty Baba K. Jobe, Lang Conteh, Abdoulie Kujabi, the
humiliation of the shamed APRC National mobiliser and Agriculture
Secretary Yankuba Touray, and host of others in Government. These
bodies knew exactly what was happening at the time and kept mute until
it went out of hand.
Jammeh and Charles Taylor
It
is happening again. The UNDP and the World Bank offices in Washington
have approved money for the Gambia to a tune of US$12M. See its press
release dated August 31st 2006 to fund a Community-Driven Development Project (CDD). According to the release, it is said that the funds will “assist the rural communities of The Gambia to plan, implement and maintain their priority social and economic investments”. The CDD, it went on
“will impact 50 percent of the rural population in The Gambia by
targeting 88 wards and 600 villages in the six rural Local Government
Areas (LGAs). Through its Community Development Facility (CDF), the
project will finance activities identified by participatory strategic
planning processes”. According to Renato Nardello, World Bank Task Team
Leaders for the project, by supporting communities and local
governments, the CDD project will “provide a single mechanism for
working across sectors and tackle some of the priority issues affecting
rural areas, particularly related to past weaknesses associated with a
centralized, supply-driven approach to poverty reduction”. In addition
to the US$12 million IDA credit, the project will be co-financed by the
Government of Japan, which has made available a co-financing grant of
US$4.8 million through its Policy and Human Resources Development
program.
What
Gambisara finds hard to understand is why making funds available to a
Government that is bent killing, jailing and forcefully exiling its
people and continuously threatening the citizenry with death? I am not
saying that the Gambia should not be supported, but should be
cautiously looked into. The Gambia has a debt of at least US$800M, what
is being done towards this debt? Why wait till election period to dish
out funds? It is like telling Yaya Jammeh to spend the funds towards
his re-election campaign. This is not helping the Gambian people,
instead its strengthening Yaya Jammeh and his APRC regime. Let us be
serious, do the Jammeh administration have any set of priorities other
than partying and dishing out public holidays like no man’s business?
These bodies are joking with its funds and helping impoverishing the
Gambian people. They always talk about poverty alleviation; do they
know the exact vicious cycle it is entangled with at No. 1 Marina
Parade? Please Mr. Executive directors, double check your decisions in
the future.
Recently
the UNDP made a similar decision to the National Council on Civic
Education with a tune of US$30,000. For that decision, Gambisara takes
this to be a mockery from the UN system hence it always lectures
promoting democracy, good governance and human rights. That amount of
money should have been channelled to The Association of Non-governmental organisations (TANGO)
towards its civil society programmes, thus promoting democracy, human
rights and good governance. Gambisara knows how Mr. Yabou’s
predecessor, the current Secretary of State for Education, Fatou Lamin Faye and Yabou himself use to chase
NGO’s to pay in their contributions so they will pay salaries and other
administration and programme costs. Why did Fatou Faye left? She knows
very well like me. The NGO community is non-partisan in their efforts
to promoting democracy, human rights and good governance. They have
relentlessly created advocacy programmes towards this direction and
have several times sought assistance from the UNDP and other offices to
no avail. Gambisara knows the endless paper work that awaits those
seeking funding for their projects.
These
so-called diplomatic institutions are very key in the systematic way
that the Gambia have derailed in all aspects of their human rights. It
is very well known to all that Yaya Jammeh have made series of public
statements that he is not going to tolerate the erection of a levelled
playing field and may not even be ready to concede an eventual
electoral defeat. He has many times made this clear publicly, even
during his failed campaign. All these bodies have their representatives
in Banjul and know very well what is going on in Banjul . Why are they
not reporting the factual information to their bosses back in
Washington ? Or they think they will not be assigned to another
diplomatic post should they be asked out of Banjul ? It’s too bad.
Continue to help impoverish and deepen poverty among the Gambian
people. The Gambia ’s minimum wage can be estimated at D50.00 little
above US$2. How long will it take to pay off our debt as a nation? An
economist I was speaking to at Finance today, he said the debt will be
written off, God help!
Gambisara
thinks that the problem with these bodies especially the UN is that it
is an association of countries and not interested in the concerns of
its people as claims. Its so-called Resident Representatives dare not
incur the wrath of the leaders of their host countries, but allow
themselves to be dictated by authoritarians like Dictator Yaya Jammeh.
In the Gambia , the UN, the World Bank and other multilateral
institutions are promoting tyranny not democracy, human rights and good
governance as they claim.
Gambisara
thought that the suspension of the Gambia from the Millennium Challenge
Corporation ( MCC ) account in June will be a lesson to other bodies
and countries to re-think. But no. It’s like the World Bank, the UN
system, IMF and other bodies does not representatives in Washington and
the Gambia . Donors should borrow a leaf from that statement hence the
worsening human rights situation in the country. I know the EU is
keenly watching with a hope that it will reconsider its aid policies
towards the Gambia .
I
do not hate the Gambia as I am a bonafide Gambian, but could not
establish why entrusting Yaya Jammeh with aid for the Gambia ? He
cannot be trusted. The World Bank and the IMF have used credits towards
the Gambia which they used and finally succeeded ruining the Country.
No wonder Jammeh is bragging that anyone, village or constituency that
did not vote for him will not benefit from his Government’s projects.
Gambisara concludes that these bodies are sponsoring Jammeh’s
re-election campaign and Programmes for the next five years. Yaya
Jammeh was also bragging that he will not hit the campaign trail that
this election is to determining development and backwardness, all sorts
of words. On the whole, it’s these bodies that are behind the scenes.
When Jammeh will be visiting The Hague , he will be accompanied by
these executive officers in the defence box. They will join him because
they are aiding him in the process. This is not a threat. The US
Government did us Gambians a great favour by suspending its aid to the
country.
The author can be reached at gambisara1@yahoo.com.
Below is the full piece culled from the world bank website regarding Gambia's latest funds released. Please read on....
$12 Million to Support Rural Communities in The Gambia
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| Press Release No:2007/64/AFR |
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WASHINGTON, August 31, 2006 -
The World Bank Board of Executive Directors today approved an
International Development Association (IDA) credit* of US$12 million to
assist the rural communities of The Gambia to plan, implement and
maintain their priority social and economic investments. The Community-Driven Development Project (CDD)
will impact 50 percent of the rural population in The Gambia by
targeting 88 wards and 600 villages in the six rural Local Government
Areas (LGAs). Through its Community Development Facility (CDF), the
project will finance activities identified by participatory strategic
planning processes. However, to strengthen capacity for community
development, the project will also address the technical and fiduciary
skills needed at the different decentralized levels to implement local
activities. The project will close in 2012. According to Renato Nardello, World Bank Task Team Leaders for the project, by supporting communities and local governments, the CDD project will “provide
a single mechanism for working across sectors and tackle some of the
priority issues affecting rural areas, particularly related to past
weaknesses associated with a centralized, supply-driven approach to
poverty reduction”. He underlined the sustainability of the
project, based on the design and implementation arrangements, the use
of existing structures to limit the creation of parallel units, and the
results-oriented approach of the CDF. In
addition to the US$12 million IDA credit*, the project will be
co-financed by the Government of Japan, which has made available a
co-financing grant of US$4.8 million through its Policy and Human
Resources Development program. * The
credit is provided on standard International Development Association
(IDA) terms, with a commitment fee of 0.35 percent, a service charge of
0.75 percent over a 40 year period of maturity which includes a 10-year
grace period. ### For more information on the World Bank’s work in sub-Saharan Africa visit: http://www.worldbank.org/afr For more information on the World Bank’s work in The Gambia visit: |