Jammeh's development is a farce

" Today, Gambians are prisoners of distance, and are fast becoming communication, too."Says Cherno Baba Jallow Former Observer Sub-Editor

"What obtains today at the Observer is even beneath mediocre."Jallow argues.

By The Freedom Newspaper Editors

"I am curious to know what development there is to talk about. To Jammeh and his supporters, development is to be measured through the prism of infrastructural undertakings. That's a simplistic way of looking at development. Most economic problems confronting countries are structural in nature, and therefore, require sound macroeconomic policies to bring about remedial changes. You can't just rely on the power of the purse to bring you economic growth. What is the point in building schools and hospitals when there are no facilities to run these structures? What is the point in having a national TV when national news is unrepresentative of reality or when opposing viewpoints are not allowed. When Jammeh came to power and with his sight on popularity, he rushed to build all these structures without assessing the economic costs involved. Too much liquidity was dispensed and there was hardly any productivity to offset these costs. In the end, an expansionary monetary policy to help finance Jammeh's leviathan projects brought us a terrible inflation and the "vicious cycle hypothesis" of inflation devastated our purchasing powers especially in 2003. So I continue to think that the so-called Jammeh development is a farce. Look at the area of public transportation. Today, Gambians are prisoners of distance, and are fast becoming communication, too."These were the exact  words of Cherno Baba Jallow, former Daily Observer Sub-Editor, now residing in the United States. Mr.Jallow in an interview with the Freedom Newspaper Editors commented about his life as a Gambian journalist, the country's ailing political situation, his past encounters with state secret police, the 1994 Commission of Enquiry set up to probe the deposed PPP administration, Halifa Sallah's defeat, Daily Observer under Mr.Best, the murder of leading Gambian journalist Deyda Hydara among host of topical issues. Pleas read on......

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Freedom Newspaper: You have the same name as the late Niumi saint. Tell us about yourself.

Cherno Baba Jallow: It is interesting how some people think that I am a native of Niumi just because of my namesake, the late Grand Marabout Cherno Baba Jallow. Actually, I was born in Basse and I was named after my grandfather on my mother's side. I didn't know him. He taught the Quran to a lot of Basserians, some of whom would later become public functionaries. I attended Koba Kunda Primary and Nasir Ahmadiyya Muslim High School in Basse and then Gambia High in Banjul.

Freedom: On your presence in the US?

CBJ: I left for college in the United States. My departure came at the right time, so to speak. Those were difficult days that brought me a lot of personal anguish, a consequence of my journalistic career. Just before I left, the then Acting Nigerian High Commissioner Geoffrey Teneilabe, a pathologically loquacious diplomat, had threatened to sue me and my newspaper the Daily Observer for libel and slander. I had strongly critiqued him for his staunch support of his boss, the late Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha. I accused him of being a propagandist not a realist. He was furious and so too were some of his fellow countrymen in The Gambia. I remember when the chief editor told me I might go to court. I didn't want to go through a trial. I internalized my anxieties moreso when I knew of the heightened stages of my plans to travel abroad. I was getting agitated. But by the quirk of fate, the Nigerian High Commission dropped the threat of suit. And I left shortly.

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