Party with the People's Tour

As Gambians endure yet another terrible year epitomised by skyrocketing prices of basic commodities like rice, bread, and oil, President Yahya Jammeh last Monday began his annual country-wide tour. The Dialogue with the People's Tour, which is estimated to cost the poor tax payers over 1.5 million Dalasis, is aimed among other things to enable the President to communicate directly with the local people about issues affecting them.

However, over the previous years, Jammeh has used the tour to fool the Gambian people about the achievements of his government as well as portray himself as the only true Gambian who is capable of governing the country. This time round, as the country is facing an economic uncertainty, which is making it difficult for the ordinary man in the street to put a decent meal on the table as a result of his incompetence and above all, lack of interest to the welfare of Gambians, it would be very interesting to see what news the flamboyant dictator has for the starving population.

But does he really have any pleasant news to tell the poverty stricken Gambians, who are really finding it difficult to put food on the table? The situation in the country is fast becoming unbearable and if drastic actions are not taken, the average Gambian would end up starving to death. Hey am not talking bollocks. I' m dead serious.

A story published last week by Foroyaa Newspaper shows the true picture of the reality on the ground. The story, which was based on woman's account on how much it cost to prepare a decent benachin states: "1 kilo of meat and bone is D75.00; 6 cups of rice is D21.00; 3 cups of oil is D21.00, pepper D10.00; tomato, D10.00; tomato paste D10.00; cabbage, D10.00; bitter tomato, D5.00; garden egg, D5.00; a delicacy called yate, D5.00, firewood, D10.00. The total cost of the lunch is D189.00. The family’s breakfast requires 6 small loafs of bread which cost D18.00, 1 egg for each bread gives a total cost of D30.00, oil to fry the egg costs D7.00 per cup, onion costs D2.00 and pepper D2.00 giving a total cost of D65. Hence breakfast plus lunch would cost a sum of D254.00. This represents only 2 meals a day."

If we are to go by the above market prices of basic commodities, then many Gambians will soon be departing to the land of see me no more as a result of malnutrition. The current prices of commodities means that poor Gambians earning less than D5,000 will have to spend D7, 620 a month in order to put decent food on the table. And don't forget, electric, water, rent and transportation hasn't even been mentioned. How on earth will they survive?

And in this period of hardship and sufferings, what was expected of the President was for him to listen attentively to the cries of the starving population many of whom are living on less than one US Dollar a day and devise modalities of how to improve their conditions. Instead, all what I see on his itinerary is party, party and party. I would therefore be correct to state that the tour is not for Jammeh to discuss with people, but for him to party with them and therefore the name of the tour should be changed from Dialogue to Party with the People's Tour.

Staging grand parties for starving people to celebrate elections won months ago can again be seen as a waste of money. It also shows that the President being the richest Gambian does not give a monkey to the suffering and hardship Gambians are going through in their everyday life. Of course, he is far from touch with the electorates as he relies on his sycophants, who tell him ear-pleasing things that everything is alright. Yeah, Gambia no problem; Gambia no problem my back. The Gambia is full of problems. From Banjul to Basse and Kartong to Koina, people are complaining in low tones about how things are spiraling out of control. Except may be in Kanilai, which is now the bread basket of Western Division.

What benefits are Gambians going to derive from such grand parties? Gathering thousands of men and women, young and old to eat benachin and dance to Ucass Sedhiou Band, Jaliba Kuyateh, Afinjang and traditional music all night long is not what we want in this crucial moment. Now is not the time for idleness but the time for work and if Jammeh is not ready to work then, let him pack his bags.

We pride ourselves as Muslims who are ever willing to die in defence of our religion, yet we continue to do things that contradict our religion. Where are the likes of Imam Fatty, Banding Drammeh and other Alhajis and Oustaces who are always on the radios and television discouraging people from watching Nigerian movies, Maria de Los Angeles and using contraceptives? Why are they all scared of telling Jammeh the bitter truth?

I have stated it over and over and I will repeat here again that the Jammeh regime does not have any sense of direction. It is lost in its track. The President is more confuse than ever and it would be better if he exit from power and continue with his medical breakthrough of curing HIV/Aids, barren women, impotent men, ulcer, diabetic, stroke among others.

President Jammeh needs to wake up and see the light. He needs to lower his grace and pride and listen to his critics. His policies and programmes are taking the country nowhere. His Vision 2020 is only good in paper but will never be attained putting into consideration the way and manner in which he is governing the country. He may take pride in the number of projects his government has built over the past years but that has not in anyway make the Gambia a better place nor improve the living conditions of Gambians.

Take for instance, while the building of so many junior and senior secondary schools by the Jammeh regime is good, yet it has not brought quality education to students. All these schools lack equipped libraries, science labs and good teachers and as a result, our education system is sinking down the drain with students producing very, very poor examination results. And instead of dishing out thousands if not millions of Dalasis in A4 size envelopes for students to organise parties, the money could be better spent on text books and other essential education materials to enable the students pass their exams.

Our health centres are being persistently hit with drug shortages. They have failed to solve the health problems of the people. A larger majority of Gambians now go to private health centres and pharmacies which are better equipped for treatment. More and more Gambians are dying from preventable diseases like malaria. The infant mortality rate is still high and as a result of poor planning, the Gambian tax payer is shouldering the repayment of the loans used to build these hospitals while they are getting little or no benefits from them.

Our agricultural sector is the worst affected. Poor government policies have wrecked our once happy farming communities. There is no good market for their groundnut and for the past couple of years farmers have to sell their nuts on credit bases which takes them several months before they lay hands on their monies. An average farmer earns less than D5,000 a year.

Despite our fertile lands, Gambians are yet to be self-food sufficient. We are a hungry nation, a starving population for that matter. And without any proper and effective agricultural policies, Gambians will continue to import rice at high prices. Jammeh should be manly enough to accept his failures. Our dying farming sector is not due to the laziness of Gambian men. Gambian men have never been lazy. They are real hard workers, who should be applauded instead of being insulted. Calling them lazy is a great disrespect on the part of Jammeh.

Jammeh needs to know that the Gambia can only be self-food sufficient through mechanised farming. Agricultural farms like, Radiville Farm and YAMS Agricultural Enterprise needs to be supported by the government. Their produce if sold locally would save the country millions of Dalasis in imports.

Jammeh has to stop the wastage of tax payer's money. Gambians are unfairly over-taxed and their taxes should be better spend on worthy and productive causes. Alleviating poverty, which is threatening the people, is what we want Jammeh and his cronies to do. What Jammeh got to know is that, poverty breeds crime and instability. Gambians are being push and push to the wall and the government needs to solve their problems NOW before it is too late. This was case in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Niger you name it and government should learn from those lessons.