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Nyarikangbanna
United Kingdom
1382 Posts |
 Posted - 04 Feb 2007 : 12:20:47
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Culled from allgambian.net
Exploring the Political and Economic Structures of the Gambia
BY FRANCIS O ASPEREC
MS CANDIDATE (GLOBAL AFFAIRS)
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY
With a current population of 1.5 million people on the west coast of Africa, the Gambia is known to be the smallest country in Africa. The Gambia did not achieve its independence until February of 1965 when it gained independence from the United Kingdom. The Gambia did not become well-known to the international community until 1994 when a military coup overthrew former President Dawda Jawara and did not return to constitutional rule until 1997. Jawara was replaced by Yahya Jammeh, who was the leader of the military junta that overthrew Jawara. To this day, Jammeh is still the President of the Gambia. While Jammeh has been in power for over a decade, the Gambia continues to experience and struggle on various issues. The issues that the Gambia continues to struggle with are poverty, governance, agriculture, and economy. These issues that the Gambia is struggling with are pertinent and relevant in discussing in this paper. The primary issue will be focused on that of poverty because poverty brings effects on both the political and economic performance of the Gambia. In the hope of elaborating and discussing these issues, possible suggestions/recommendations should be offered in alleviating the burgeoning and continuous struggles of the Gambia.
The first issue of the Gambia that will be explored is its problems with poverty. Reducing poverty in the Gambia has been a key government objective since the first days of independence. Poverty is considered to be the main focal point of Gambia’s issues because of its effects on both its political and economic structure. Susan E. Rice makes a point about poverty in her article titled “The Threat of Global Poverty” by saying “Today, more than half the world’s population lives on less than $2 per day, and almost 1.1 billion people live in extreme poverty, defined as less than $1 per day. The costs of global poverty are multiple” ( Rice. Suzan). Although she is speaking on a general aspect of global poverty, she is making a statement that the effects of poverty are horrendous. In the Gambia, poverty has affected its citizens greatly. One way that poverty has hurt its citizens was that “high inflation has meant that basic food prices have increased under pressure of the declining exchange rate of the Dalasi to major international currencies.” Poverty has affected the Gambian currency, the Dalasi, and because of that, it is unable to compete with other major international currencies. In addition, high inflation resulted with the Dalasi’s poor performance in the economy and with that resulted in prices increasing especially in food. The reason that the increasing prices in food hurt many Gambians is because if Gambians cannot afford to pay for food, then they will starve as a result. In addition, poverty has also brought a “declining recurrent spending in education and health from domestic resources, and an increasing reliance on external grants is likely to become a trend in the near term.” Poverty has impeded the Gambia’s progress in shaping other issues that matter to their country. Education matters in the Gambia and they want the people especially the children to have an opportunity to succeed in the world. Unfortunately, with the issue of poverty at hand, they cannot improve their educational standards and acquire adequate resources without the sufficient funds needed to pay it off. Health is another major concern in the Gambia especially since they consider the reduction of poverty a health issue. Again, Susan E. Rice points out in “The Threat of Global Poverty” that “poverty prevents poor countries from devoting sufficient resources to detect and contain deadly disease.” Just like with the issue on improving education, improving health in the Gambia is also important. Poverty is again impeding Gambia’s efforts in shaping up its struggling issues. Also, without sufficient funds to improve health, then more challenges will arise in improving the health conditions in the Gambia. Gambia is also considering to improving their quality basic healthcare. Gambia has taken steps in monitoring and reporting on their poverty status. The Gambian government took part in the Poverty Reduction Strategic Paper (PRSP), in which they would make an annual report from a certain time period and report to both the World Bank and International Monetary Fund on their progress.
In their first annual progress report, the Gambia’s progress in implementing the PRSP was uneven. What happened was “slow implementation mainly reflected low capacity, a lack of commitment, and poor prioritization of policies implemented in 2002-2003.” What that reflects right away is whether or not the Gambia has taken this initiative seriously. They have not taken this step seriously based on the way they prioritized and committed to their goal. Eradicating poverty takes a team effort and without the team effort, then it falls apart. In addition, “private sector participation and employment creating in the agricultural sector did not increase significantly, and such major initiatives as the Poverty Reduction Fund – designed to build the capacity of local communities and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) – were not implemented”. The effect of poverty in the Gambia also resulted from the lack of effort from the private sector participation and employment. Their lack of effort especially with the initiative of the Poverty Reduction Fund resulted in policies and initiatives not being implemented. The private sectors lack of effort hurt both the local communities of the Gambia and other various organizations that could have been created. What is even more shocking about the poverty in the Gambia according to the annual progress reports is that the poverty rate likely increased during the first year and a half of implementation of the PRSP because of poor economic performance, particularly since the groundnut sector, with its high representation of the poor, experienced severe crop failures. As pointed out earlier, the increasing of poverty in the Gambia reflects on its political and economic performances. Although these areas will also be discussed in the paper, we can see that the Gambia’s performance in implementing the PRSP has not been successful and thus, has resulted in poor economic performance. “The Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target for the percentage of people living on less than US$1 per day is 27 percent by 2015, but this ratio increased from 54 percent in 1992 to 59 percent in 1998”. The target goal for helping out the poor in the Gambia continues to increase and puts a challenge to the MDG on how they can help out despite the poverty rate continuing to increase. What we can be seen so far with the problem of poverty in the Gambia is that there has been a lack of commitment and prioritization in implementing better policies and goals to eradicate it. With that, it also reflects both the government’s poor job of not tackling the issue seriously and thus, has reflected on the poor economic performance and stability of the Gambia. After looking briefly on how poverty is the main concern and priority of the Gambia, let us look at another area where the Gambia continues to struggle and improvement needs to be made.
Another area that needs to be examined by the Gambia and reflects on the increase in poverty is its government. A stabilized and structured government matters in a country because by having that, a country would be able to make better decisions and also to be able to work well with its citizens. Plus, corruption and turmoil would not happen if a government were structured and stabilized. As mentioned earlier in the paper, the Gambia gained independence from the United Kingdom in February 1965. It was not until 1994 that the Gambia’s government experienced another transition when a military coup under the Armed Forces Ruling Council (AFRC) overthrew former President Dawda Jawara. The leader of the AFRC, Yahya Jammeh, ended up taking over as president and is still the current president of the Gambia. President Jammeh represented the Alliance for Patriotic Restoration and Construction (APRC). “Since the military coup overthrow of Jawara, the first Presidential elections took place in 1996 and as a result, he won with 56% of the votes against opponent Ousainou Darboe of Untied Democratic Party (UDP) with 36% of the votes”. Under Jammeh, problems have occurred in the Gambia. In 2000, that year was marked by a series of events which caused concern, which included two coup attempts and the repression of the April student demonstrations by security forces, with at least fourteen deaths and many casualties. By July 2000, tensions in the Gambian government escalated. During that time, there were tensions between the ruling, APRC, and the opposition, United Democratic Party (UDP), which lead to the death of a ruling party militant, and a charge of murder against the opposition leader, Mr. Ousainou Darboe, and 23 of his party members. As a result, Mr. Darboe and a couple others were detained for several days in November and led to the Justice Ministry announcing that this bail would not be allowed for certain offenses including murder. After that incident, elections took place in 2001 and once again, Jammeh prevailed in the elections over Darboe.
In 2004, Jammeh implemented tougher restrictions on the freedom of the press, which reflected his attitude toward civil liberties. He introduced a “draconian media law” that has put a restriction to the freedom of the press. “In 2004, journalism took a turn for the worse in the Gambia as it was marked by an attack on the new printing press of the opposition newspaper “The Independent,” and the assassination in December of Mr. Deyda Hydara, who was the Managing Direction and principal Editor of the independent newspapers “The Point.” President Jammeh’s muzzling of the press and media became an issue because since these journalists would criticize him, he wanted to restrict the way the press was delivering their information. Jammeh denied that he had anything to do with the killing of Mr. Hydara saying that “I don’t believe in killing people. I believe in locking you up for the rest of your life.” When he was re-elected recently, he still denied having any part in the murdering of the journalist Mr. Hydara. A change in the way he controls the freedom of the press would be a nice step to help his government focus more on the pertinent issue of poverty; a focal point of governance that should be addressed.
Another issue that reflects on Gambia’s government structure is regional relations. “Regional relations reflect on how well neighboring countries work well with another especially in times of conflict. Since 1999, President Jammeh has tried to play a mediation role for solving conflict in neighboring Casamance (Senegal)”. In addition to that, negotiations between the rebel Movement of Democratic Forces of Casmance (MFDC) and Senegalese authorities took place in Banjul in December 1999 and January 2000, and as a result, the a cease-fire was agree, but continued negotiations stopped and clashes between the MFDC rebels and Senegalese army have taken place which lead to an influx of refugees into the Gambia between May to June 2002. What we can see with regional relations so far is that tensions between the Gambia and its neighboring country, Senegal, have been prevalent. In August 2005, there was border dispute that broke out between the Gambia and Senegal. This tension occurred following an increase of 75-100% in the tariffs for crossing over the river Gambia and the Senegalese Transport Union blocked all the border crossing points to the Gambia. Why that matters is because by blocking out trade between these neighboring countries, both of their economies would suffer. Furthermore, the Senegalese Transport Union was of the opinion that the Gambian authorities should have officially informed them of such increases before they were implemented. What that tells us is that the Senegalese authorities were not informed of the increase in tariffs before implementation. Trade and border disputes are importance concepts of international political economy because both reflect on a country’s performance on governance, regional relationships and economic performance.
Briefly talking about how Gambia deals with issues of civil liberties and regional disputes, the focus must come back to the issue of poverty. In the first annual progress report of the PRSP, one of points outlined about Gambia’s governance and its connection with the increase in poverty is that governance needs to be strengthened. According to a World Bank report, “poor governance has been a central reason for the Gambia’s weak economic performance in recent years. The off-budget expenditures of around 7 percent of GDP in 2001 signaled a serious breakdown in governance, which not only endangered the macroeconomic environment, but also helped undermine PRSP implementation”. With poor and unstable governance problems, the rate of poverty has increased and progress has been impeded. Most of all, the poor governance problems reflects on the poor political leadership that has been administered. By not implementing the PRSP in a timely fashion and making sure that eradication of poverty is happening, it reflects on the progress of the political leadership in Gambia and how they are prioritizing themselves. What can be evaluated so far about Gambia’s government is that since 1994, Jammeh has been in power with little progress whilst the question of stability in Gambia’s government remains unanswered. With the way they are tackling the issue of poverty, there still lacks a responsible political leadership, commitment, and prioritizing. These are some key areas of improvement that need to be made in Gambia’s government.
Another key area where the Gambia’s poverty is accounted for is the issue of agriculture. Agriculture, along with tourism, account for Gambia’s economy. The one dominant crop that the Gambia has been dependent on is the peanut crop. In the second annual progress report of the PRSP, the Gambia made a note of their current agricultural status in which “agriculture employs 75% of the population and yet contributing only 30% of the total output of the economy (GDP) which is a clear indication that agricultural production is very low.” Gambia’s economy is highly dependent on its crops and livestock, yet it fails to bring enough output to strengthen and stabilize its economy. In addition to Gambia’s low output to stabilize its economy, other factors are outlined as failures to its agriculture which is:
This is due to the cumulative effects of adverse climatic conditions, declining terms of trade for international primary commodity prices, low public and private investment in the sector, resource poor institutional support services to the sector particularly research and extension, limited credit access and facilities; inadequate water supply and availability of other essentials inputs (seeds, fertilizers and agro-chemicals); inadequate infrastructure(transport, market, equipment, irrigation and processing facilities); inadequate access to farm mechanization, low production and productivity of crops and livestock, paucity of skilled manpower; unsatisfactory land tenure system making productive land inaccessible to potential additional users; the inherently low fertility/productivity of the land compounded by rapid development of acid sulphate soils, bushfires and salt water intrusion in swamps; over-dependency on rainfed argriculture, inadequate logistical support and, the lack of instituting and enforcing measures to militate against rapid population expansion.
Outlining all these other reasons for Gambia’s failed agriculture are important because with the adequate and sufficient resources needed to improve its agriculture, not only will the output towards Gambia’s GDP continue to be low, but also an increase in poverty since less food is being produced. Gambia’s woes in agriculture became well-known to the international community when a severe drought impacted Gambia’s crops between 2002 and 2003. With the effects of the drought, “due to a prolonged dry spell experienced in most parts of the country, crop shortage and imminent food shortage became a reality.” Climate effects impacted the Gambia’s agricultural production in 2002 and 2003. Food production shortage can be attributed to the growing poverty problems today. In addition, “the problem was further aggravated by the fact that the quality of the produce also dropped due to poor crop development.” The climate not only had an effect on the food production shortage, but also on the quality of the crops that were produced. Poor quality of the crops reflects the poor output on Gambia’s GDP because that has led to the increase in the poverty rate. The issue of agriculture is also reflects immensely on the economic performance of the tiny west african state. Both sides need to step up to improve the better quality production of agriculture and find ways to have more access for sufficient resources to improve the growth of agriculture especially in times of a severe drought.
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I do not oppose unity but I oppose dumb union. |
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Santanfara
3460 Posts |
Posted - 04 Feb 2007 : 20:38:42
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| Nyari , i hope the jammehrites have the oudercity to read this report .they will know that gambians are not after yaya's head but about our common prosperity . the guy is doing governance like a chief citing under his mango tree . spend ,spend without proper planning and accountability ,yet they say yaya is developing the country . may be until the evil ones (IMF and WORLD BANK) STRIKE we will see the desaster of yaya's policies . |
Surah- Ar-Rum 30-22
"And among His signs is the creation of heavens and the earth, and the difference of your languages and colours. verily, in that are indeed signs for men of sound knowledge." Qu'ran
www.suntoumana.blogspot.com |
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Santanfara
3460 Posts |
Posted - 04 Feb 2007 : 20:38:42
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| Nyari , i hope the jammehrites have the oudercity to read this report .they will know that gambians are not after yaya's head but about our common prosperity . the guy is doing governance like a chief citing under his mango tree . spend ,spend without proper planning and accountability ,yet they say yaya is developing the country . may be until the evil ones (IMF and WORLD BANK) STRIKE we will see the desaster of yaya's policies . |
Surah- Ar-Rum 30-22
"And among His signs is the creation of heavens and the earth, and the difference of your languages and colours. verily, in that are indeed signs for men of sound knowledge." Qu'ran
www.suntoumana.blogspot.com |
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Karamba
United Kingdom
3820 Posts |
Posted - 04 Feb 2007 : 20:58:04
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Yahya Jammeh is a total poison for Gambians. He is wasting the precious time of Gambians. Everybody in Gambia share responsibility for keeping this dragon the next minute. He's got to go back to the demons. I like that one Santanfara where you equate him to a mango farmer who plugs out the next ripe fruit to gain pleasure. |
Karamba |
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Karamba
United Kingdom
3820 Posts |
Posted - 04 Feb 2007 : 20:58:04
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Yahya Jammeh is a total poison for Gambians. He is wasting the precious time of Gambians. Everybody in Gambia share responsibility for keeping this dragon the next minute. He's got to go back to the demons. I like that one Santanfara where you equate him to a mango farmer who plugs out the next ripe fruit to gain pleasure. |
Karamba |
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Santanfara
3460 Posts |
Posted - 04 Feb 2007 : 21:14:32
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quote:
Originally posted by Karamba
Yahya Jammeh is a total poison for Gambians. He is wasting the precious time of Gambians. Everybody in Gambia share responsibility for keeping this dragon the next minute. He's got to go back to the demons. I like that one Santanfara where you equate him to a mango farmer who plugs out the next ripe fruit to gain pleasure.
HI BRO KARAMBA ,as we write our opinions on the bantaba ,the world bank have assigned a team in the accountant general to upgrade the accounting systems for them ie (computerise) . why is the world bank doing this ,well when countries fail to abide by the rules set by them ,they impose it on you .this way the government lies will be put to rest .the mounting debt capacity will result in the dalasis becoming the cedes or nihira . we can hide but not for long .the major reason that our dalasi is still good is gambians abroad and tourist . the ports is also a major tool in holding the dalasis. world bank is a private bank and they have no blood .it is like what julius nyere said the market don't know any body to feel sorry for you . |
Surah- Ar-Rum 30-22
"And among His signs is the creation of heavens and the earth, and the difference of your languages and colours. verily, in that are indeed signs for men of sound knowledge." Qu'ran
www.suntoumana.blogspot.com |
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Santanfara
3460 Posts |
Posted - 04 Feb 2007 : 21:14:32
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quote:
Originally posted by Karamba
Yahya Jammeh is a total poison for Gambians. He is wasting the precious time of Gambians. Everybody in Gambia share responsibility for keeping this dragon the next minute. He's got to go back to the demons. I like that one Santanfara where you equate him to a mango farmer who plugs out the next ripe fruit to gain pleasure.
HI BRO KARAMBA ,as we write our opinions on the bantaba ,the world bank have assigned a team in the accountant general to upgrade the accounting systems for them ie (computerise) . why is the world bank doing this ,well when countries fail to abide by the rules set by them ,they impose it on you .this way the government lies will be put to rest .the mounting debt capacity will result in the dalasis becoming the cedes or nihira . we can hide but not for long .the major reason that our dalasi is still good is gambians abroad and tourist . the ports is also a major tool in holding the dalasis. world bank is a private bank and they have no blood .it is like what julius nyere said the market don't know any body to feel sorry for you . |
Surah- Ar-Rum 30-22
"And among His signs is the creation of heavens and the earth, and the difference of your languages and colours. verily, in that are indeed signs for men of sound knowledge." Qu'ran
www.suntoumana.blogspot.com |
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Sister Omega
United Kingdom
2085 Posts |
Posted - 04 Feb 2007 : 22:51:04
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The computerisation of Gambia accounting system is a part of World bank Poverty Reduction strategy for 2001. As we know in the West most public accounting systems are upgraded on a routine basis. Santafara let's not get too carried away.
Peace
Sister Omega |
Peace
Sister Omega |
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Sister Omega
United Kingdom
2085 Posts |
Posted - 04 Feb 2007 : 22:51:04
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The computerisation of Gambia accounting system is a part of World bank Poverty Reduction strategy for 2001. As we know in the West most public accounting systems are upgraded on a routine basis. Santafara let's not get too carried away.
Peace
Sister Omega |
Peace
Sister Omega |
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Santanfara
3460 Posts |
Posted - 04 Feb 2007 : 22:56:07
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quote:
Originally posted by Sister Omega
The computerisation of Gambia accounting system is a part of World bank Poverty Reduction strategy for 2001. As we know in the West most public accounting systems are upgraded on a routine basis. Santafara let's not get too carried away.Peace
Sister Omega
let us not get carried away you say ? well sister i know why the world bank is doing that . follow the trend in ghana . i have friends working on the program they are paid in dollars . it is not about just pooverty reduction but also about there money being paid at aggreed time . this is private money . |
Surah- Ar-Rum 30-22
"And among His signs is the creation of heavens and the earth, and the difference of your languages and colours. verily, in that are indeed signs for men of sound knowledge." Qu'ran
www.suntoumana.blogspot.com |
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Santanfara
3460 Posts |
Posted - 04 Feb 2007 : 22:56:07
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quote:
Originally posted by Sister Omega
The computerisation of Gambia accounting system is a part of World bank Poverty Reduction strategy for 2001. As we know in the West most public accounting systems are upgraded on a routine basis. Santafara let's not get too carried away.Peace
Sister Omega
let us not get carried away you say ? well sister i know why the world bank is doing that . follow the trend in ghana . i have friends working on the program they are paid in dollars . it is not about just pooverty reduction but also about there money being paid at aggreed time . this is private money . |
Surah- Ar-Rum 30-22
"And among His signs is the creation of heavens and the earth, and the difference of your languages and colours. verily, in that are indeed signs for men of sound knowledge." Qu'ran
www.suntoumana.blogspot.com |
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Sister Omega
United Kingdom
2085 Posts |
Posted - 04 Feb 2007 : 22:58:41
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| Can you elaborate further? |
Peace
Sister Omega |
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Sister Omega
United Kingdom
2085 Posts |
Posted - 04 Feb 2007 : 22:58:41
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| Can you elaborate further? |
Peace
Sister Omega |
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salimina
253 Posts |
Posted - 05 Feb 2007 : 08:40:06
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| Santafara or janjanfara- which is which? i think my friend sister omega is right. |
Edited by salimina |
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salimina
253 Posts |
Posted - 05 Feb 2007 : 08:40:06
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| Santafara or janjanfara- which is which? i think my friend sister omega is right. |
Edited by salimina |
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Janyanfara
Tanzania
1350 Posts |
Posted - 05 Feb 2007 : 13:15:58
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quote:
Originally posted by salimina
Santafara or janjanfara- which is which? i think my friend sister omega is right.
Bro salimina,
I am Janyanfara and I don't know Santanfara except if I know his full name.
Peace
Janyanfara |
Edited by - Janyanfara on 05 Feb 2007 13:34:15 |
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