JAMMEH LIES: Gambia’s Faked Economic Superpower Dream!

“For the massive support and love Gambians have for me, I hereby pledge to take you to the promise land of an undisputed economic super power, by the grace of God, in the not too distance future.”

YAYHA JAMMEH’S STATEMENT IS NOTHING BUT A TALE OF LIES, DECIET AND AN UNFOUNDED INSULT ON THE GAMBIAN PEOPLE

By An Insider, Banjul

Mr. M’bai I tried to hold my breath when Yahya Jammeh said these remarks at his inaugural ceremony recently held at the Independence Stadium in Banjul. I tried to dilate on the statement to truly understand whether Jammeh was intoxicated when he said those remarks or he just wanted the cloud to clap for him.

I have  analyzed the Gambian Economy very closely and have come to realize that in order for Yahya Jammeh to be able to do what he said in not long in the future, he must be able to initiate into the Gambian Economy what the East Asian Tigers notably Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan  to name a few did between 1965 and 1990 that helped to transform their economies into Economic  Super powers. Students of Politics and other disciplines reading this article will agree with me that in order for the East Asian Tigers to do what they did during these years, they were able to “promote rapid capital accumulation by making banks more reliable and encouraging high levels of domestic savings, while universal primary schooling and better primary and secondary education quickly increased their skilled labor forces. Also included are illustrative examples of productive agricultural programs, modest tax policies, the modification of price distortions, foreign technology and investment, and the cooperation of government and private enterprise”.

Mr. M’bai one of the lessons to be learnt from East Asian Miracle was whether Developing Countries can replicate those policies to stimulate Equally Rapid Growth. Now here is Yahya Jammeh assembling High Profile Head of States in the Persons of Abdoulaye Wade and Co and telling them that he can transform the Gambian into an Economic Super Power in not too long in the future, Where are the ingredients that his Government can inject into the already frail Gambian Economy to be able to achieve such an unthinkable dream? Mr. M’bai it took the ‘Asian Tigers’ a period of almost 25 years to be able to do what Jammeh said he wants to achieve in ‘not too long distance in the future’. Are the Gambian people willing to accommodate Yahya Jammeh for another 25 years?

How Can the Government of the Gambia help to encourage domestic savings when Yahya Jammeh’s Lebanese counterpart loot the Gambian Economy on a daily basis by depleting our foreign currency reserves through their daily or otherwise frequent laundering of money to overseas banks? Similarly how can local banks be reliable in an environment where the Presidents Just lifts a telephone and the deal is done.

Can somebody anywhere in the World reading this article tell me what good agricultural policies the Gambian Government has rather than Yahya Jammeh’s Back to the Land Policy which only supports his farming activities at Kanilai and his other farms at diverse places in the Gambia?

So how can a country that relies on Agriculture at least to transform the Economy to an Economic Super Power as Jammeh said only promotes the Agricultural Enterprises of the President.

Encouraging universal Primary Education is an asset to the Economy and nobody is against that but tell me is the Jammeh Government making any plans to absorb people with basic and secondary education into the labor force to support the labor market. The Government of the day cannot absorb the graduates it generates from the University of the Gambia and those coming from abroad let alone those with primary and secondary education in the Gambian context. At the end of the day who will employ those with such basic education other than turning them into the notorious wing of the “Green boys and Girls”.

Similarly the Gambian Government does not have a modest Tax Policy at all. Domestic taxes which are imposed mostly by the GRA have now become so unbearable on the Gambian people. The GRA has now been turned into a just a tax collection edifice and nothing else. They don’t initiate any comprehensive tax reforms that would go to benefit the Gambian people thereby encourage people to reinvest their monies in the Economy. All that is happening at the GRA level is to increase and collect taxes on behalf of the Government. In an economy like this how can one initiate a Price Control Mechanism when the President is equally selling ‘bananas’ on the streets like any ordinary peddler?

Mr. M’bai you will agree with me that Foreign Direct Investment is one of the ingredients that can help boost the economies of Third World Countries like the Gambia. Undoubtedly we have an agency in the country responsible for encouraging Foreign Investors bring in their money and invest into the Gambian Economy. Tell how many meaningful Foreign Investors do you find in the Gambia? I am not talking of his so called Lebanese Counterparts; those are not investors in the real sense of the word because they do not keep their monies into the country. Even if a meaningful Foreign Investor comes into the country Yahya Jammeh will want to share the proceeds of the business with him. So how can one encourage Foreign Direct Investment into the Country when the President wants to own everything? 

Finally Mr. M’bai if the Yahya Jammeh Government wants to transform the Gambia into an Economic Superpower as he clearly lamented, he must be able to have a meaningful cooperation with the Private Sector. The Private Sector generates a lot of revenue into the country. The private sector also employs a lot of labor into the economy.

The Gambian Government’s cooperation with the Private Sector is still a farfetched dream because Yahya Jammeh alone is the Private Sector so nothing at all can be achieved as far as cooperation with the Private Sector is concerned. Similarly those Gambians in the Private Sector that have sacrificed and invested their fortunes into the Gambian Economy have now become victims of Economic Crimes or other politically fabricated charges.

Going by the foregoing facts, it is very clear that Yahya Jammeh’s statement at the Independence Stadium is nothing by a Tale of lies, deceit and an unfounded insult on the Gambian People. Yahya Jammeh knows very well that he does not have the ingredients to be able to achieve this and with the current climate of fear and rampant imprisonment of Intellectuals how and when can meaningful development be realized in the Gambia.

If the President really wants to achieve his dream of transforming the Gambia into an Economic Superpower, he must not only inject sound economic policies like what the East Asians did, but must also respect the most basic and fundamental needs of Man, ‘Freedom of Expression and Assembly’ . If he can do this in his next five year term, he can be rest assured that his dreams will be realized.