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| PDOIS Secretary-General, Halifa Sallah |
The
opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Organization for Independent and
Socialism (PDOIS) have identified that over 1.6 billion dollars is traded in
the currency markets of the Gambia annually without any visible impact on the
four fundamental pillars of the economy, namely: “public sector investment,
private sector investment, cooperative sector investment and informal sector
investment.”
This is
why we refer to the Gambian Economy as a transit economy. Monies appear to be
leaving the country as fast as they enter rather than nestling in one sector to
generate economic growth and employment, the party’s Secretary General Halifa
Sallah explains to journalists during an October 20, 2012 press conference held
at the Peoples’ Centre, Churchill’s Town.
Mr.
Sallah was speaking on Saturday when the PDOIS party announced “its commitment
to attain the objectives of the second phase of the struggle for self
determination and independence.”
According
to him, during the 1999 financial year, the APRC administration used to
indicate the annual gross turnover of public enterprises and their contribution
to the budget which amounted to 82 million dalasi. Now dividends from public
enterprises are recorded as zero.
He said
a PDOIS led government would ensure that the annual turnover of public
enterprises is scientifically calculated and made known to the public as a
matter of duty and that performance contracts would be signed with all public
sector operators to ensure that dividends are scientifically calculated and
increased on annual basis to build up the account of sovereign national wealth.
“The
Gambia earnings from mineral resources have been elusive. PDOIS intends to make
these earnings transparent and instrumental in promoting public sector
investment,” he said.
The
private sector has been identified as the driving force of the Gambian economy
by the APRC Government, he admits.
He
stated that the PDOIS has shown that banks invest more to gain profit from the
redeeming of Treasury Bills that from private sector operators. The direction
of financing is more towards commerce than the value added and employment
generation sector.
Remittances
“Even
though Gambians contribute up to 1.7 billion dalasi annually as remittances
from the Diaspora, there is no visible connection between the remittances and
the productive base of the economy especially the value added Sector,” Mr.
Sallah stressed.
He
assured that PDOIS will work consciously to ensure that the stock of sovereign
national wealth and the productive base of the economy grow so that it would
rely less on bank borrowing to meet recurrent expenditure.
“Bank’s
financial resources would be aligned with private sector demand for capital at
reasonable interest rates. An Investment Bureau would be established by PDOIS
to identify all areas of investments that could benefit from private sector
investment and provide the necessary infrastructural and institutional support
to make such investment productive and complementary to sustainable
development.
“The
cooperative sector has a gamut of micro financial institutions which could
engage in the financing of cooperative enterprises. However, these financial
institutions are not fully aligned to the cooperative productive base,
especially the agricultural and horticultural and value added sectors, to
ensure their marketability.
“Hence
many villagers are mobilized to give their labour to cultivate crops for the
head of state. PDOIS intends to encourage villages to have Village farms that
would be supported to produce in order to utilize the earnings for village
development purposes and support the needy,” he said.
The
PDOIS secretary-general explained that the informal economic sector in the
Gambia provides the vast majority of Gambians and other Nationals in the Gambia
with the means to earn a living. Dozens of weekly markets are scattered all
over the country and close to the border with Senegal which provide wider
markets for rural producers and traders.
PDOIS
will give emphasis to the development of such markets so that they would
facilitate both infrastructural and institutional development and enhance the
earnings of rural dwellers, he said.
Social sector
He said
PDOIS holds that the economic and social sectors are irretrievably linked.
It is by
ensuring that the informal, private, cooperative and public sectors contribute
their maximum potential on an annual basis that would facilitate the growth of
sovereign national wealth.
This, he
added, could be utilized to ensure the availability and affordability of
quality education, from the early childhood to the University level; health,
from the provision of health centres in each village and major referral
hospitals in each region; environmental services such as the disposal of liquid
and solid waste and the preservation of our flora and fauna; ensure the
accessibility of social welfare services according to need.
“It is
the growth of such Sovereign National wealth that would make proper nutrition,
safe drinking water, electricity and other communication services accessible,
and affordable,” he argued.
Political struggle
Mr.
Halifa Sallah explains that the attainment of the objectives of the second
phase of the struggle for self determination and independence is the creation
of the Republic with all its democratic and people-centred instruments,
institutions and its transparent and accountable governance practices.
“It has
become apparent that Gambia is deemed to be a country without an internal
opposition that could serve as an alternative, to put an end to such a distortion
of the political realities of the country this is why this press conference is
called,” he said.
He
announced that PDOIS will pioneer a “National Initiative” on a template that
would guide the establishment of a “National Independent Electoral Commission”
that would safeguard all political rights and a “Human Rights Commission” that
will safeguard all human rights.
He added
that they will also pioneer the creation of “Rural Government Structures”
comprising village, district and regional councils that owe their authority to
the consent of the people through periodic elections or the exercise of the
right to recall.
The
party, whose slogan in the 2nd phase of the struggle is “Focusing
on the Alternative”, intends
to pioneer the drafting of a “Constitution of a Third Republic” with the active
involvement of the people who would determine its coming into life at a
referendum.
He said
in the political domain, PDOIS stands for the assertion and consolidation of
the sovereignty of the people. It conceives all rights and freedoms as
inviolable and in extricable possessions of the sovereign person which ought to
be protected and consolidated by the state and all its agencies.
He
stressed that PDOIS sees no other role for the Government and the state in a
sovereign Republic other than to safeguard the powers of the people and promote
their liberty, prosperity and general welfare.
Strategic goals
Mr.
Sallah noted that the Central Committee of PDOIS holds that the party has done
its best to serve as an alternative voice which defends the liberty and
prosperity of the people and exposes and combats any threat to such liberty and
prosperity. “PDOIS is therefore a credible alternative,” he said.
He added
that the party exposes all violation of rights that come to its notice and all
incidence of deprivation or poverty. What the party needs is the support of the
people to have the political weight to articulate concerns that the ruling
party will be compelled to consider.
“A
political party is given weight by attending its rallies and public functions
and by casting one’s vote in its favour. PDOIS’ primary role is to increase its
political weight by heightening its visibility and showing what it is doing on
a daily basis to promote the interest of the people,” he explained.
He said
the first task to be achieved in order to enhance PDOIS’ political weight is to
unite with all political forces to promote electoral reform in the Gambia.
PDOIS
holds the minimum programme for electoral reform should comprise: “The
restoration of the second round of voting; the leveling of the ground for
multiparty contest by eliminating all abuses of incumbency and all unreasonable
restrictions to participation as a voter or as a candidate; the extension of
the right to vote to the Diaspora; the establishment of a term limit for the
presidency to two five year terms; the ensuring of free access to the media by
all parties and free dissemination of divergent views by both state and non
state media; and the introduction of biometric system of registration and the
paper ballot.”
He said
a genuine democratic society must have a government in office whose existence
must be based on the consent of the people and a government in waiting that
could serve as a credible alternative.
This story was first
published on the Marketplace Business Newspaper on October 30, 2012, and republish by the Gambia News Online on the same day.
Written by Modou S. Joof
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