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Momodou
Denmark
11645 Posts |
 Posted - 10 Jul 2007 : 19:19:30
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FOCUS ON POLITICS
THE 1981 POLITICAL CRISIS
GAMBIA SUBMERGED IN RECESSION, DROUGHT AND DEVALUATION;
With Suwaibou Touray
In the focus column of the last issue, we have published the Agreement between the Republic of The Gambia and the Republic of Senegal concerning the Establishment of The Senegambia Confederation.
Let us now pick up from where we stopped. Continued from: http://www.gambia.dk/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=3983
The Senegambia Confederation has now been established. The Confederal parliament also met on Wednesday, December 29, 1983 in an extraordinary session at the request of President Abdou Joof. Mr. Momodou Babucar Njie (BP), the Speaker of the Gambian parliament, was said to be unanimously elected as Speaker of the Confederal parliament. Mr. Habib Thiam, the speaker of the Senegalese Parliament was elected the Vice Speaker.
The draft standing orders and the Budget which amounted to D4. million or 256 million FCFA were examined and adopted by the SeneGambia Confederal Assembly.
At this stage, the Confederation appeared to be in full swing. It had been two years since its declaration and signing. The second Anniversary had taken place in Banjul. President Abdou Joof received a tumultuous welcome in The Gambia, at the then McCarthy Square.
Sir Dawda who spoke first, said the Confederation had become a political reality, since its inception, thus demonstrating the will and determination of the two people to work for their mutual advancement. He expressed his satisfaction that the basic political institutions and administrative framework had been established and were working.
For Sir Dawda, the success of the Confederation would depend on the manner in which it affects the socio-economic life of the people of the Senegambia; that it would be essential that the two countries which made up the confederation to improve their economy, both at the national and international levels.
For the President of Senegal and the Senegambia Confederation, Abdou Joof, he said the different signs of recovery noticed here and there were just not capable of curing the symptoms of such a deep crisis, or of solving its structural effects. He expressed his dissatisfaction with the economic situation then and thus maintained that, "with every comprehensive challenge, they should find a comprehensive solution; and that it required a responsible political dialogue geared towards action". President Joof added that by establishing the diagnosis of the crisis without complacency, and by correctly measuring its extent, they should endeavour to win over the challenge on free movement of objects and things.
President Joof, however, did not mince words when he said that the dialogue would be difficult but that they have "principles to defend and values to safeguard which were the guarantees to all peoples for exercising their national free will .."
Regarding the economic and monetary union, Joof said he "would like to say very clearly that his brother and friend Sir Dawda would take all the necessary steps to ensure that this third year of the confederation was resolutely devoted to fruitful negotiations on economic and monetary issues".
President Abdou Joof reminded the People that it was only with stability and security that they could get to grips with the tasks of economic and social development which they were confronted with. He then renewed his trust in the armed and security forces who he said had given a good example by their discipline and sense of honour.
THE ECONOMIC SITUATION
The economic situation featured in both presidents' speeches, but reading carefully between the lines, one would notice that for President Jawara, the economy was the priority. For President Joof, security took the centre stage as a prelude to economic development. This was why he emphasized the international economic order which, he opined, remained the backbone of the edifice of peace in the world.
The economic situation or its improvement must of necessity take centre stage for President Jawara.
The year 1984 was characterized by drought which had reached unprecedented severity. The government of the Gambia had to appeal to governments across the globe, as well as nationals for prompt assistance to alleviate the difficulties. An estimated 290-300, 000 heads of cattle died plus a similar number of sheep and goats. Even human beings had severe difficulty in accessing drinking water in the rural areas of the Gambia. Production of all kinds of crops according to records had fallen by 50%.
The slowing down of the economy was felt by the ordinary people since 1983. It was the taxi drivers who first cried loud in that year and were allowed to increase fares from 30 butut to 50 butut. But the situation became so bad in early 1984 that government had to increase prices of everything, such as bread, fuel, rice, cooking oil, fares, etc. Everything was blamed on drought and external factors. According to official sources, the increase was due to the lack of fuel and spare parts. In a research document published by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), in Cooperation with the Gambia Government, entitled "Investors Guide To The Gambia," it is reported that the economy experienced a down turn due to a combination of inadequate internal factors.
According to the research booklet, it was indicated that GDP growth slowed down to about 1.8 per cent per year and per capita income also declined at the rate of about 1.6 per cent pear year; that most of the objectives of the First National Development Plan were subsequently revised and extended to cover 1980/81; that those of the Second National Development Plan 1981/82/85/86 proved unrealistic as the economy had to face a combination of chronic budget deficits due to the failure to diversity away from groundnuts. Deteriorating terms of Trade as well as the mounting debt burden were also cited.
During this period, according to the Sun newspaper, people called on government to stabilize prices by taking into account the purchasing power of the working masses.
So how did the PPP government wish to solve this crisis? A team of IMF experts were invited on the 13 of January 1984 and had consultations with the government over an aid package on the Gambia. Still according to the Sun, the whole thing was shrouded in some kind of secrecy but that what was said was they were to help cushion the effects of general economic malaise due to the successive deterioration of the terms of trade and the high cost of imported fuel.
According to Babucar Gaye of the Sun newspaper, The Gambia started this negotiations with the IMF, as far back as August 1983 but due to the secrecy surrounding such missions, it was not possible to learn exactly whether a definitive package had been worked out for the Gambia or not.
But by 26 February 1984, the President revealed to the people in his address at a mass political rally that the Gambian Dalasi had been devalued. He did not stop there. He also said it has consequences. He then went on to inform the importers to import less and to restrict themselves to items that were only necessary and scarce in the country. He also defended the step as necessary because of the gravity of the economic situation. He mentioned drought as the cause coupled with the recession over the years. He then recommended the importation of agricultural equipment to go side by side with the exportation of the country's product inorder to halt the flow of foreign exchange from the Gambia.
See next issue for more on the politics of the 1980s.
Source: Foroyaa Newspaper Burning Issue
Issue No.79/2007, 9-10 July, 2007
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