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Momodou
Denmark
11645 Posts |
 Posted - 03 May 2007 : 11:22:12
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FOCUS ON POLITICS:
SIGNS OF DISCONTENT GLARING; EMERGENCE OF GAMBIA’S UNDER GROUND MOVEMENTS
If The President’s Citadel
Is Not Safe, Where Else is Safe?
With Suwaibou Touray
Continued from: http://www.gambia.dk/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=3560
We have been focusing on the history of politics in The Gambia, which culminated into re-writing our history. We have dealt with the epoch of colonialism. We are now dealing with the happenings of the 1970s.
In the last issues we have dealt with the beginning of the underground political movements in The Gambia. We have also mentioned the clandestine leaflets. “THE VOICE OF THE FUTURE,” and so on. We have stopped where the Nation Newspaper quoted “THE VOICE” as saying, “Who am I? You want to make me a destitute to overcome me. Try”
Let us continue from where we have stopped. So as you can see, the first objective of the leaflets was to expose people they deemed to be responsible for all the ills of the Gambian society. The second objective was to enlighten the people. Many activities such as arson occurred during this period but it was not clear as to who were behind them. For example, on Saturday 8th October 1977, a car windscreen was smashed. According to Outlook, it was done by what it called unknown villains.
On 11th November 1977, the Nation and Outlook both reported that a car belonging to one Tom Chapman, a Gambian Merchant was hit by a petrol bomb which exploded underneath it. One of its kind in the Gambia. This had met the required objective. Panic was created. The community or residents of Grant Street were startled by a loud explosion as they saw a car gutted and in smoke.
According to the Nation, again on Saturday October 25th 1978, the NTC (National Training Corporation) was burnt down, a petrol store and an office at PWD also burnt, simultaneously. The fact that they happened at the same period was alarming enough.
The alarm bell reached a climax when on October 28th 1978, not only was another car gutted, but documents were reported to have been missing at State House.
According to the Nation in a caption: IS STATE HOUSE SECURE?” the documents were very important documents which the President himself would need among others. The paper asked, if the president’s citadel is not safe, where else is safe? According to the Nation, the pattern is the same. The horror and terror was clearly felt by everyone at the time.
A LONE PROTESTOR STUNNED SIR DAWDA. DID HE MAKE A POINT?
The MOJA which was registered were very active. They were equally organising the populace as the parliamentary opposition. They would tour the neighbourhood, discuss with students etc. Through that they were able to infiltrate the learning institutions such as the Yundum College, etc. This was why on 25th May 1978 student disturbances, a lot of suspicion abound as to whether the students were influenced by the MOJA-G. The whole college was closed down just because students wrote placards and threatened to march on the Education Department Headquarters on May 26th 1978.
According to the Nation, there was the feeling of mutual suspicion between the students and the college authorities. It appeared that the suspicion increased when the principal wanted to find out the exact authors of the posters. The students resisted the investigations culminating into a confrontation. According to the report of the findings, the principal closed the school but re-opened it after the investigations on June 4th 1978. Students who were suspected of authoring the posters were arrested.
As you can see, the fear or terror had been planted in the minds of not only the authorities but even among the ordinary people. Mr. Badara Joof captured the feeling in his letter to the Nation Newspaper as thus; “Live and Let-live so-as to eat and let-eat, and the general attitude would always be “Let sleeping dogs lie” But unfortunately the harsh and terrible realities of the situation cannot be camouflaged indefinitely especially when the strain and stresses can no longer be contained. 1978 is unfolding critical events that have their roots in a system set up in 1965. It is said that things badly begun make strong themselves by ill. This is true of 1978 Gambia. What began badly in 1965 is now rotten in 1978. The writing is on the wall.
1978 is witnessing an era of headlong change when nothing seemed to be what is not. The change has come through men. It telescoped all forms of doings and deeds in contemporary Gambia. It magnified the changing shapes and shifting images not only of the pathetic Gambian time but also of a tired, worn out society. It focuses into light the contrast between the ruler and the ruled, the contradictions between politics and loyalty, and the parallel between cowardice and leniency.
It was this year that evidences of dishonesty long buried in the silt of neglect became transparent, it was in this year that the strain of the grievous cases of fraud and corruption began to tell on people, and it was also in this year that some people were deprived of their duties, others interdicted, dismissed and some imprisoned.
Almost every bank had a theft case, and thousands of dalasi disappeared. Departmental cases concerning corruption were said to be rampant. Allegations of top representatives owning many plots of land and compounds and taxis were irrefutable. Rumour had it that there was a six door limousine in town which seems, to be without an owner. People were saying that second hand engines failed. The GUC is almost a fiasco, and has been placed on the crematorium. Some people interpret GUC as “Gambians Used Candles.” People’s parcels tampered. Tele-human was airing that the former head of Civil Service disappeared unnoticed. Operation 78 struck Yundum College; crises became prevalent in some schools, and some government workers submitted a memorandum: demanding better wages/grades. There was a cabinet reshuffle in 78. Signing and resigning, exposure and concealment, re-instatement and replacement and cross-carpeting, all in 78. There may be many more things to transpire. The atmosphere surrounding the changing events is horrifying, electrifying and paralyzing.
Everyone seems afraid of an unknown nameless terror. This is a feeling of anxiety, uncertainty and insecurity. It becomes a matter of seeing everything but not saying everything. The questions being asked were; what will happen next? Who will go again? Where will it all end? Whatever may happen, and whosoever may go with whatever happens, the fact remains that changes and not modifications will come, and God willing, may come soon”.
By 1978, clandestine activity intensified. The MOJA leader would sometimes tour the country, meet with people and discussed politics with them. He became a well-known figure. He was popular and well respected by the then vibrant younger generation. The young people as I said were very interested in politics. They were searching for answers for all the issues troubling the nation. The unemployment, the wastage and corruption, the lack of roads and lack of opportunities etc. The young people used to call him “King Koro.” He was a huge fellow and respected but highly viewed with suspicion. Fear struck the hearts of corrupt elites at his sight.
Concerned about the situation, a young man by the name Baboucarr Langley wrote his banner and surprised the security personnel, rolled up his banner and moved through the crowd until he was levelled with the president, and then unrolled his banner. Before anyone could notice whether he was supporting or demonstrating, Sir Dawda read the embarrassing slogans’ “Sir Dawda come down! It is ENOUGH! EVERYBODY IS TIRED! Alaahu Akbarr!” Mr. Langley was not only showing his banner to the president, he was also shouting his slogan on top of his voice. He had stunned everybody. He was later arrested and taken away. His banner was seized from him. For the ruling party, Langley had overstepped his bound, for the opposition, he had exposed in practical terms what many hid to express. The young man was jailed for six months for his open and defiant protests, even though he had exercised it peacefully.
Has Langley Made A Point?
Mr. Langley’s banner said everybody was tired. What was the economic situation in 1978?
According to a booklet published by the National Executive Committee of the ruling PPP, “A BETTER LIFE FOR OUR PEOPLE,” with a sub-title “Achievements of the People’s Progressive Party 1962-1979" The total revenue in the financial year, ending in June 1977 amounted to D60.5 million dalasis; that indirect taxes (mainly taxes on international trade) accounted for almost two-thirds of total revenue and direct taxes for about 14%. According to this booklet, a special tax, National Development Levy, was introduced for the first time in 1976/77. It imposed a levy of 10% on salaried workers, public or private would be required to pay. Only farmers and pensioners were exempted.
Secondly the second five year plan suffered from a low level of domestic savings as well as heavy reliance on external resources. According to this PPP booklet, 85% of the total investment was to be financed by foreign capital assistance.
So as you can see, due to the low income level of The Gambia, the potential for generating domestic savings has been limited and therefore the country relied heavily on foreign assistance for the implementation of its development programmes. This acceleration in foreign aid inflows in the recent past, the booklet said, has had important consequences for the hitherto limited indebtedness of the country. According to records, the total public debt outstanding increased from D11 million in 1972 to D66 million in March 1979. Records also showed that the foreign loans had been mainly contracted on concessionary terms thereby making the debt servicing burden to continue to be relative to current government expenditure, export receipts and national income.
According to the PPP, the expectation was that other donor countries would convert their loans to the least developed countries into grants like was done by the United Kingdom. This was what tempted the government to take more loans not only from European countries but also from the Middle East countries who did not do as anticipated.
The other bottleneck was the fact that financing of future development programmes and projects constituted the mobilization of the necessary complementary domestic resources.
The average, from 15% to 20% of development project investments had to be financed by Local funds but as shown by the records, the traditional sources of these counter-part funds, were transfers from the accumulated GPMB reserves and Central Government savings which the experts said could not make substantial contributions to the development fund.
What option did this summary leave for the Government? The only option was to take more and more foreign loans even for the local contributions to projects, thereby steadily reducing the small resource-less country from least developed country status to the status of HIPC (Highly Indebted Poor Country) status.
Continued: http://www.gambia.dk/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=3603
Source: Foroyaa Newspaper Burning Issue
Issue No. 49/2007, 30 April - 1 May, 2007
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