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Momodou
Denmark
11827 Posts |
 Posted - 24 Apr 2006 : 12:44:03
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At The National Assembly
HALIFA’S REACTION TO THE PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS
By Abdoulie G. Dibba
In reacting to the address delivered by the president on Friday, 31st March 2006, at the National Assembly, the Minority Leader and Member for Serrekunda Central, Hon. Halifa Sallah, begins his reaction as thus:
“Hon. Speaker, this is the beginning of the end of our five year term. It is likely that if there is going to be another presidential address some of us may be here and some of us may not be here. But what is significant is to draw the right lessons. I would want to emphasize again that this National Assembly must register what is dictated by the constitution. The president has emphasized at page 1 in the last sentence that National Assembly Members must be more emphatic, critical and objective. If you look at page 56 of the president’s speech, he stated thus: “It now gives me the greatest pleasure to declare this session of the National Assembly officially open.” I want to emphasize Hon. Speaker that what is often called state opening of parliament is not rooted in law or the constitution. The notion that the president officially opens this National Assembly is not rooted in law or the constitution. Section 97 of the constitution provides for the president by proclamation, to state the place for the first sitting of the National Assembly after a general election and to request the speaker to summon a session of the National Assembly in the event of a declaration of a public emergency. But section 97 subsection 3 states categorically that: “Subject to subsection 1 and 2, the National Assembly shall determine the times of its sessions.” So essentially, the dictating of our sessions lies in us. The president has authority in section 77(1) to address the National Assembly. Section 77(1) states that “The president shall at least once in each year attend a sitting of the National Assembly and address a session on the condition of the Gambia, the policies of the government, and the administration of the state.” Essentially, this is a state of the nation address. I hope that this context, which is a Republican context, will be differentiated from the constitutional monarchical context, where the executive remains sovereign. Under a Republic, sovereignty resides with the people. Hon. Speaker, the president has emphasized that the unity of the nation must become the cornerstone of our stability and development. He emphasised that we must put less emphasis on words and more commitment to practice. He is saying; let actions speak louder than words. So in this National Assembly, we must make actions speak louder than words. I would go straight away to allow action to speak louder than words by taking note of the need to be critical, objective and emphatic. On pages 4 and 5 of the president’s address Hon. Speaker, he spoke of the economy. He said thus: “Turning to the outlook for the Gambian economy, this year is quiet encouraging. A GDP growth rate of 5 percent was registered in 2005 and 2006. Inflation has significantly dropped to about 1 percent as of end December 2005 from 4 percent this time last year. The Dalasi has strengthened against major international currencies and the gross official reserves of the Central Bank of the Gambia stands at about four months of import cover. This performance attests to the Gambia’s consistent strong commitment to sound and prudent macro-economic management to ensure growth.” But Hon. Speaker, if we look at the budget speech of 2006, page 3 paragraph 9, the Secretary of State for Finance and Economic Affairs indicated that “Real growth rate of the economy is expected to reach 5 percent in 2005, due primarily to a good rainy season.” Growth in GDP is mainly due to increases in value added in agriculture. My emphasis is mainly due to increase in value added in agriculture. Hon. Speaker, if we go straight to agriculture at page 13, the president said that out of the total estimates production of groundnuts this year, the commercial crop is estimated to be 30, 000 metric tonnes. In seasonal paper No.1 of 2005 at page 4, the president indicated that in consonance with the recommendations of the study, the Gambia Agricultural Marketing Company (GAMCO) was established and as at 24th February 2005, this company has disbursed D250 million as crop finance to the cooperative societies and marketing agents. In this connection so far, about 32, 000 metric tons of groundnuts have been purchased. Hon. Speaker, we are been told that GDP has increased because of the increases in groundnut production and here, we are told that we bought more groundnuts last year than what is available this year. That is really a concern! How can there be an increase in GDP because of the increase in groundnut production if we could purchase 30, 000 tonnes this year while last year we purchase 32, 000 tonnes? Hon. Speaker, it is important for us to see that there is statistical jugglery and we need to become critical of the figures we receive in this National Assembly. Hon. Speaker, we are told that GAMCO has all the capacity to purchase the groundnuts of the farmers, but here we are told by the president that “overall, more than 10, 000 metric tons representing 33 percent of groundnuts have already been purchased by GAMCO and GGC. Arrangements for the complete financing of the remaining tonnage are far advanced and it is expected that by the end of the trade season all the nuts will be purchased.” So it means that they do not have capacity to purchase the groundnuts of the farmers. This is what we have been told! What is also very evident Hon. Speaker is that we have been told in this National Assembly that GAMCO has to get loan from Guarantee Trust Bank to the tune of D120 million, guaranteed by the Social Security and Housing Finance Corporation (SSHFC) and that public corporations have invested in GAMCO as shares amounting to D57 million. That was last year! So how can this company at this very stage, this year, lack the capacity to purchase the groundnuts of the farmers? What happened last year with the profits gained? Where is the money that was meant for crop financing? But Hon. Speaker we are still being told that funds for crop financing is being sought, to help these companies to purchase the groundnuts of the farmers. I think we need to look into this very critically. We expect companies to really carry on what is expected of them. Hon. Speaker, we have seen the stage of the economy. We have been told that because of proper macro-economic management we are envisaging more grants and more benefits from the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA). But Hon. Speaker, we have been told clearly by the Secretary of State for Finance and Economic Affairs in his budget speech that we have not managed well. At page 10, paragraph 52 of the budget speech, the Secretary of State indicated that “the end of 2005 marks the completion of the Gambia’s first Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), implementation cycle of 3 years. The implementation process has been hindered by a number of setbacks that has made the overall PRSP process less successful. The most serious setback was the suspension of the PRGF program by the IMF in 2003 and because of the program suspension; the Gambia could not reach HIPC completion point as planned in June 2003, as reaching completion point is conditional on satisfactory implementation of a PRGF. The second setback which was a direct result of the PRGF suspension was that US$115 million funds pledged by donors during the 2002 Geneva Round Table Conference on the Gambia was not disbursed.” The Secretary of State is emphasizing here and we must bear that in mind that implementation of PRSP programmes was undertaken with a lower than anticipated budgetary resources envelop. Consequently, less than 40 percent of the PRSP programme has been implemented. So we must bear in mind Hon. Speaker that we must engage in proper financial management. To improve agriculture Hon. Speaker, it is mentioned that NARI is doing well. But Hon. Speaker, if you look at the estimates, and you look at the allocation to NARI, especially on the area of field study, you would discover that the allocation on field study has been reduced from D100, 000 (one hundred thousand dalasis) to D60, 000 (sixty thousand dalasis). So how can anybody say that there is commitment to the development of agriculture! The same D12, 500, 000.00 (twelve million five thousand dalasis) that was allocated to NARI in 2005, is the same this year. So where is the commitment to improve agriculture?
On Trade
Hon. Speaker, if we look at the issue of trade it is mentioned “with the training and incorporation of the common external tariff programmes, the Gambia will benefit like many ECOWAS countries to a wider market of 250 million people and with that wider market, we would be able to benefit in terms of development and employment.” But the reality is that Hon. Speaker, the Gambia is depending entirely on the re-export trade to survive.
To be contd.
Source: Foroyaa Newspaper Burning Issue
Issue No. 31/2006, 24-26 April, 2006
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