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kaanibaa
United Kingdom
1169 Posts |
 Posted - 18 Jul 2008 : 22:06:01
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President Abdoulie Wade of Senegal has come up with a vision for not only Senegal but Sahelian Africa. The grand agricultural offensive for food sufficiency and nourishment, which encompasses the development of a huge green belt running the full span of the equatorial belt. It is being challenged by his detractors as too ambitious but I with my little knowledge feel that it is about time that our governments come up with such major projects which if properly implemented would solve our food and other agricultural problems rather than keep on depending on projects tailored for us without our own local experts and even farmers being properly sensitized or involved to make it their own and so nurture them to proper growth.Although projects in Africa tend to fail due to various factors ranging form poor planning , inadequate implementation and political meddling etc.Can we keep on depending on the west for our food supplies or development especially in food production sector ,be it agriculture or manufacturing of food from farms or fisheries etc.
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Edited by - kaanibaa on 18 Jul 2008 22:06:48 |
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shaka
996 Posts |
Posted - 18 Jul 2008 : 22:38:26
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This is typical President Wade at his best. The grand dreamer!! Do you know how many such grand innitiatives he had started in Senegal, only for those project to stop half way through their construction and lays rotting for lack of funds, some of which having been embezzled by his close circle? Plenty!! ."Demi projects" the Senegalese press like to call it. I guess charity begins at home. The Senegalese people are today more reliant on imported food than before Wade took power. Let him sort Senegalese agriculture first before thinking about this grand scheme. Some people just don't know where their priority lies.
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kaanibaa
United Kingdom
1169 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jul 2008 : 03:17:56
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| A good point there , but is it so bad to be a visionary president? Compare this to one that day dreams and announces huge discoveries that are best left to fairy tale series .Making people believe in their self worth and in that way encourage them to work on potentially productive projects/ventures, rather than make them believe in windfalls such as huge deposits of iron ore , diamonds gold and silver is in my opinion the worst act of a ruler ,unless the proclamations are actual factual discoveries and which in deed are viable economic windfalls.I am still waiting to see the drilling equipments for our oil fields which would transform our country from rags to riches as it where. |
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dbaldeh
USA
934 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jul 2008 : 09:53:08
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I like visionary leaders, those that do not vision for reason of political distraction like Sir Dawda did for Gambia. When leaders have big ideas and are willing to talk about them and start implementing them, one day someone somewhere will follow on those dreams and push forward.
Anything, that resembles the visions of Sir Dawda who always pronounced Gambia as the champion of human rights, but its people lack access to modern media, decent education, sufficient food supplies, clean drinking water, decent health facilities, etc. etc, that kind of a dream or vision is political distraction.
Remember when sir Dawda had a singaporian dream for Gambia, he was talking about reexport trade to the subregion from a business machinery that was corrupt to the bones. He was actually talking about stripping gambia of any producing ability but to solely depend on export and inport trade. His ports Authority in Banjul was being looted and underdevelope by the day.
That kind of vision and dream, nah thank you, but thank you.
I hope Wade would not only have ideas but also try implementing them while he is still in office. I still think it is almost time for him to leave. The guy is too old and soon will not be able to think for himselves.
Food sufficient, an absolute great dream for Africa. When our people are not hungry, they can produce for themselves. I say get the food first and others will follow naturally. A well fed population is a healthy population... |
Baldeh,
"Be the change you want to see in the world" Ghandi
Visit http://www.gainako.com for your daily news and politics |
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shaka
996 Posts |
Posted - 21 Jul 2008 : 19:08:52
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I can understand both your take on visionary leadership in Africa but if you had been following Senegalese politics you would clearly come to understand that this is just Wade at his classic best. It is just another red herring to deflect attention from the current political upheaval the Wade administration is facing, which right now is a powder keg moment waiting to explode. Wade is a daydreaming nutter. Plan GOANA is not the first grand agricultural initiative that Wade has so far dreamt of. Plan GOANA is in fact a morph of his 2006 Plan REVA(retour vers l'agriculture), a call on the youth to return to agriculture following dissent from many corners as to why after many years in power the Wade regime failed on it's promise to provide job opportunities to young people, forcing them to take the dangerous sea journeys to Spain. It's 2008 now and nobody hears anything about Plan REVA anymore.
Where Jammeh is a young semi-litterate loose cannon, Wade is an intellectual oddball.Wade is so desperate to leave behind legacy in the maximum twelve years he is allowed to rule, that would surpass the 40years of his predecessors. So much so that he had became an economic time bomb and a great liability to his people. He had so many fantastic ideas for his people, his country and Africa in general but want to squeeze them all in, in an impossible time frame, leaving behind a trail of destruction and so much economic waste as a result of unfinished projects abandoned after billions of CFA francs had been pumped into them. Yet still everyday he wakes up he has a project in the pipeline. Visionary leadership requires thinking, planning, feasibility studies and expert advice as well as the most important aspect; how to finance a project. With Wade he just want to delve straight into a project he dreamt up the other night without consideration of his national budget only to dump it half way after he find out there is no money available.
Take a look for example at his Plan Jaxaay(a grand housing scheme to move Dakar's slum dwellers to newly built government housing while using their existing lands to build other projects). You would have thought that a sane person would have built the government housing first and then relocate the people there, before demolishing their previous homes. Not Wade. This nutcase is in a hurry. He quickly relocate the people into some make shift tent dwellings on the outskirts of the city without electricity, sanitation and running water and then proceeded to demolish their houses. Two years later there is still no Plan Jaxaay.http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=62800 This is a classic tale of a megalomaniac. Here is also a video by renown Senegalese film maker Jo Gai Ramaka about the effects of Plan Jaxaay on one particular neighbourhood. Be warned,the pictures are too graphic, if you don't have a cast iron belly don't watchhttp://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1y8tl_jaxaay
Despite the missery trail that Wade continues to leave behind in his ambitious projects, he is still dreaming and everyday a plan something comes up.
There is NEPAD, Plan Omega, Plan Sesame, Plan Formula, the new airport of Dias, tunneling through Gambia among others. The most hilarious being projet yékalma(yep you heard right: as in "dish out some food for me") a food processing factory that would be processing Mafe(Domoda or doorang'oo for my Gambian folks), Chere basse, Chebujeen etc. Isn't this man a genius?
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Edited by - shaka on 21 Jul 2008 22:32:26 |
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shaka
996 Posts |
Posted - 21 Jul 2008 : 19:20:04
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| Sorry i had to do some editing. I had provided the wrong irin news link. Correct link now updated. |
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kaanibaa
United Kingdom
1169 Posts |
Posted - 22 Jul 2008 : 01:21:01
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| Bro Shaka you did your homework very well and on viewing the video on Jaxaay my eyes filled with tears, sad story they had to tell.These people are hurting and it seems they are going to hurt for a long long time. I am so sad about their plights.What then can we do in Africa as it seems to me that most of our politicians are so unmindful of the suffering of the people they rule so long as they get their finger prints or projects, never mind the costs of human suffering it may cause before the attainment the said projects. I actually saw news reports on Madina Gunaas and its sorrowful plight but your video came out better after your instructive postings. thanks again for making things clearer for me at least. |
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Santanfara
3460 Posts |
Posted - 22 Jul 2008 : 05:34:12
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| shaka, you are spot on. wade for me is a big disappointment. i thought a man with is credencial should have done better ,but alas power is something else. that man should leave sooner rather than later. he has failed the senegalise people. the industrious nature of the senegalise nation and the shortage of rice in the country is a serous political failure for president wade who is no different from all other fail leaders. |
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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kaanibaa
United Kingdom
1169 Posts |
Posted - 22 Jul 2008 : 17:01:27
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| Hie men, I remember a trip to Touba and an experience of mockery from Senegalese people, ranging from the street person to officers I encountered en route. They kept on calling me Yahya Jemmeh, and I ask why they simply reply that he Yahya is very good for us . I seem to read that they are happy that we have such a terrible ruler and that we deserve him .I can imagine being in Senegal and throwing the same remark at some of those men and women .Perhaps they too deserve Abdoulie Wade Njumborr.WE surely are one people owing to our close proximity to each other and having such a closely knit relationship with many of them, I wonder why they hate us so much, this is what I could understand from those comments, I would have thought they would be sympathetic or be more understanding .Perhaps I read those comments wrongly but I clearly heard the words ,Mboka! Yahya bahna pour yen man! ha ha ha!. If that was not derisive I don't know what is ..... |
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dbaldeh
USA
934 Posts |
Posted - 22 Jul 2008 : 22:45:47
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Shaka, good job there giving us more information. I must admit, I haven't been monitoring events in Senegal like I do in other African countries. I can't give a good reason for it, but I think it has to do with less trouble and spot light.
Gambia and other dictatorial regimes draws more attention. I recently read though that Wade some how brought a little stability to the Cassamance crisis. I did not have the opportunity to verify with other sources. I will try to do a better job on that if time permits.
Anyway, I am still more optimistic about Senegal than Gambia. Atleast Wade is going to be intentionally or by law be leaving office soon. That is a far better scenario than Jammeh turning Mugabe...
Thanks for sharing, the video is moving... |
Baldeh,
"Be the change you want to see in the world" Ghandi
Visit http://www.gainako.com for your daily news and politics |
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shaka
996 Posts |
Posted - 22 Jul 2008 : 23:09:04
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Santou i have long given up on Wade. I had had held him in high esteem once but like you he had terribly dissapointed me. Most Senegalese can't wait to see the end of his final term but then again he is working ever so hard to see his son succeed him to the throne. quote:
Originally posted by Santanfara
shaka, you are spot on. wade for me is a big disappointment. i thought a man with is credencial should have done better ,but alas power is something else. that man should leave sooner rather than later. he has failed the senegalise people. the industrious nature of the senegalise nation and the shortage of rice in the country is a serous political failure for president wade who is no different from all other fail leaders.
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shaka
996 Posts |
Posted - 22 Jul 2008 : 23:27:28
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Kaaniba i think you misunderstood our cousins a bit. Senegalese in general are Jammeh crazy. They seem to drawn to his youth, perceived fearlessness and equally his madness. Like most Gambians they dwell too much on the contrast between Jammeh's decade and Jawara's three. You get the odd critisms of Jammeh but mostly at intellectual level. To the average Senegalese Jammeh is a "great", atleast this is my experience.quote:
Originally posted by kaanibaa
Hie men, I remember a trip to Touba and an experience of mockery from Senegalese people, ranging from the street person to officers I encountered en route. They kept on calling me Yahya Jemmeh, and I ask why they simply reply that he Yahya is very good for us . I seem to read that they are happy that we have such a terrible ruler and that we deserve him .I can imagine being in Senegal and throwing the same remark at some of those men and women .Perhaps they too deserve Abdoulie Wade Njumborr.WE surely are one people owing to our close proximity to each other and having such a closely knit relationship with many of them, I wonder why they hate us so much, this is what I could understand from those comments, I would have thought they would be sympathetic or be more understanding .Perhaps I read those comments wrongly but I clearly heard the words ,Mboka! Yahya bahna pour yen man! ha ha ha!. If that was not derisive I don't know what is .....
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shaka
996 Posts |
Posted - 23 Jul 2008 : 00:28:34
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Baldeh I can safely say that Wade is a dictator to an extent but disguises it with a skillful diplomatic touch. His dictatorial tendences are mostly reserved for his opposition whom he had safely wrapped round his finger and his blatant attempt to make his son the heir apparent to succeed him. His most credible opposition and threat to his dream of having son on the thrones comes from within his own militants whom he had groomed into Wadism from their teenage age and who had rebelled against his monarchical wishes. These two are his former Prime Ministers Idrissa Seck and Macky Sall. Perhaps one of his greatest achievement is the promotion of a free and vibrant press, which nevertheless is the torn in his backside. He himself admited that he has no opposition but the press. He is known to use huge amounts of cash to entice his stauchest critics in the press and those he can't, become regular visitor to DIC(Senegal's equivalent of the NIA). Madiambal Jagne and Latif Coulibaly are his current victims in that capacity. I don't think the Casamance crises will ever come to an end if left to Wade's policy of buying the loyalty of anybody he perceives to be somebody in the Casamance conflict. He had poured billions of CFA francs into this scheme as well as sponsoring and arming certain rebel groups. A lot of these rebels are fighting for a real cause and no amount of money can make them change their position. What is happening in Casamance right now is that people are becoming tired of a war they thought would have ended a lot soon coupled with an unprincipled and backstabbing leadership. Even Salif Sadio had came to this realisation and is little by little pushing for a diplomatic solution. Nevertheless there are pockets of skirmishes here and there from time to time with rebels attacking villages they believe are devoting less attention to the cause.quote:
Originally posted by dbaldeh
Shaka, good job there giving us more information. I must admit, I haven't been monitoring events in Senegal like I do in other African countries. I can't give a good reason for it, but I think it has to do with less trouble and spot light.
Gambia and other dictatorial regimes draws more attention. I recently read though that Wade some how brought a little stability to the Cassamance crisis. I did not have the opportunity to verify with other sources. I will try to do a better job on that if time permits.
Anyway, I am still more optimistic about Senegal than Gambia. Atleast Wade is going to be intentionally or by law be leaving office soon. That is a far better scenario than Jammeh turning Mugabe...
Thanks for sharing, the video is moving...
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dbaldeh
USA
934 Posts |
Posted - 23 Jul 2008 : 01:45:47
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Noted Shaka, what credit can you give him since he came into power? Compare to his predecessor how do you rate him?
Like Jammeh off course he has done some good stuff, even thought critics like me are always on Jammeh's neck. I think one good think Wad is doing though is to pose a threat to Jammeh. The guy is not comfortable with Wade next door.
Senegalese in general and very resourceful and productive. They are very educated and technically savy. They certainly contribute a lot to Gambia's socio economic development. They are equally very influential to Gambian culture, thus I think we ought them our identity.
For me so long as he is leaving at some point sooner I am willing to give chance to the next person. Not his son though, that is nepotism and I doubt Senegalese will buy that.
Thanks |
Baldeh,
"Be the change you want to see in the world" Ghandi
Visit http://www.gainako.com for your daily news and politics |
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kaanibaa
United Kingdom
1169 Posts |
Posted - 23 Jul 2008 : 14:12:39
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| We wait and watch that development unfold, yep Karim seems to loom large on the political landscape, everything of importance or likely to attract support is broadcast with him fully in the frame as a key player though Wade is silent on the issue his silence speaks volumes.What I like about this case though is that for sure he leaves at the end of the stipulated time,if he could manipulate the system enough to impose his son on the Senegalese that would be something else, as they say a different kettle of fish.Clearly Abdoulie Baldeh and Karim Wade are like two dauphins waiting to takeover the mantle of rulers, this apparent from their very huge prominence on the politico economic scene as being displayed by the Partie Democratic senegalaise (PDS) |
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shaka
996 Posts |
Posted - 24 Jul 2008 : 01:24:52
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The greatest achievment to Wade's credit for me is the provision of an environment for press freedom. Senegal today is one of a few if not the only African country the allocate some of it's budget to the local press. The result is an enviable free and vibrant press diseminating news and other services to the Senegalese people albeit occasional harrasment here and there. Four new TV channels propped up as well as more than half a dozen newspapers and several magazines. He had proposed some time last year to construct a press building to accomodate all the local press in Dakar. I don'tknow how far he had gone with that projects. You just have to envy the Senegalese people, they can be anywhere in the world yet feel very near to home because they can access quality news of various types anytime they want not to mention documentaries, home movies and live TV from home.
Another great effort by the Wade regime is the empowerment of women through his successful micro finance initiatives through out the country. He had indeed changed lives in this regard with more and more women able to give a better quality of life to their families
Perhaps Wade's most distinctive quality is mastery of the art of diplomacy. He sure does have the gift of the gab to go with a highly intellectual brain. He has the ability to maneuver with even his most perceived enemies without so much of a fuss and that include some ruthless diplomacy as well. He certainly knows how to play the game. He was able to break free of the dependency on France which had been sustained by his predecessors from independence. This was predicted by pundits to be highly explosive but all the fuss died down as quickly as it has started and he still maintain a good relationship with France. I think the notion that goverments have no permanent friends but interest was just conceived for Wade. When he thought that China offered a more tempting plate he did not hesitate dump the decades of diplomatic ties with Taipei enjoyed by his predecessors. Besides he understands that he cannot share this common friend with the boy across the border for security and other reasons. Through out his tenure Wade had notoriously flipped flopped all over the place with his diplomacy but had skillfully managed to fool a lot of so called smart arses in the diplomatic circle and persuade them to part away with tons of dollars. He is the most travelled African leader of recent years.
I cannot begin to compare Wade to his predecessors because i don't know much about them. I was infact drawn to Senegalese politics in the wake of Wade's ascent to the presidency. One thing i do know is that he is not a Frenchie like Senghore and Joof even though he has a French wife.
You are right when you said the Senegalese area very industrious and hard working people. Apart from perhaps Egypt and South Africa they also most probably have the highest number of university graduates and professionals in Africa. It is a shame that successive government have to been able to utilise their utmost potential.quote:
Originally posted by dbaldeh
Noted Shaka, what credit can you give him since he came into power? Compare to his predecessor how do you rate him?
Like Jammeh off course he has done some good stuff, even thought critics like me are always on Jammeh's neck. I think one good think Wad is doing though is to pose a threat to Jammeh. The guy is not comfortable with Wade next door.
Senegalese in general and very resourceful and productive. They are very educated and technically savy. They certainly contribute a lot to Gambia's socio economic development. They are equally very influential to Gambian culture, thus I think we ought them our identity.
For me so long as he is leaving at some point sooner I am willing to give chance to the next person. Not his son though, that is nepotism and I doubt Senegalese will buy that.
Thanks
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