Updated
May 26, 2003

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As The Gambia celebrates 38 years of independence on February 18, President Yahya Jammeh is locked in a battle to get Gambians -more so the men - to take more interest in the development of their country. On the eve of the independence celebrations, the Gambiai~ leader spoke exclusively to West Africa Editor Desmond Davies at State House in Banjul and explained why he wants a radical change in the thinking of Gambians

Gambian men are not very happy with their President Yahya Jammeh. Depending on the reports one reads in Banjul. He has variously accused of them of being lazy or useless. This has raised hackles among those who believe that the president does not know what he is talking about.

The Gambian leader, who was actually born in 1965. the year his country gained independence from the British, is from a different breed of African leadership. Without the hang-up of colonialism, he believes that Gambians themselves should take charge of their destiny. Thus he is rather peeved that they are not living up to expectations.

And so it was that the first question West Africa put to Jammeh during an interview with him was on the issue of lazy Gambian men. "I never said they were lazy." he was quick to point out. "They have shirked their responsibilities and refused to work," he added diplomatically. 'They are taking things for granted. They have adopted a lassie faire attitude while everything has been left to women. For example, in the areas that are predominantly agricultural the women have been left to farm."

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He told West Africa "the average Gambian male farmer works four out of 12 months in the year while the women work all year round. Can income for four months take care of their needs for the remaining eight months? This is why we have a problem with poverty in The Gambia.

The Gambian leader is clearly not pleased with this state of affairs. He said that the men who work on the farms were mainly foreigners, "and Gambian men complain" about this. "This is to do with the wrong type of development, where we take everything for granted."

The impression being given by the President was that Gambian men were constantly shifting the goalposts. Jammeh went on to explain how he had provided tractors to a farming community to aid in agriculture. "When there were problems with the tractors, they expected the government to repair them.

However, opposition politicians placed the blame for the decline in agricultural production fairly and squarely on the government. They accused the government of not providing proper market facilities for farmers.

When West Africa put this question to Jammeh, he first took a swipe at the opposition. "As far as I am concerned, the so-called opposition is irrelevant. Why do they think we have created the Trade Gateway Project? This is to do with marketing agricultural products," Jammeh said.

But surely, there has been a downturn in the agriculture sector; West Africa put it to the Gambian leader. This he said had to do with poor rainfall patterns "and again the lazy man syndrome'. So what was the government doing about this?

"We have not moved from subsistence to commercial agriculture," Jammeh explained. 'This is what we are now planning to do, so that when there are problems, the commercial sector can take care of them. We will soon be able to achieve self-sufficiency in agriculture and to go into the export market.' And how soon was soon? "Before the end of my term - in three years' time."

Low rainfall indeed resulted in poor crop performance. The forecast is for the main agricultural product, groundnuts, to drop from 80,000 tonnes last year to just under 30,000 this year. By the same token, neighbouring Senegal will also see a drop from 600,000 tonnes in 2002 to under 250,000 this year.

The dalasi continues to depreciate against major trading partner currencies. According to the Finance ministry, the depreciation is due to less then expected inflows from tourism, re-exports and groundnut exports as well as currency speculation. Depreciation of the dalasi has greatly reduced the import capacity of many importers.

Although this trend was worrying, Jammeh told West Africa that "in any expanding economy you expect these things to happen. But we have the strongest currency against dollar than most West African countries". He was not happy with The Gambia's balance of trade. "The volume of Gambia's imports is 10 times higher than the volume of exports," he explained. "We are basically a consumer society."

He then returned to the issue of the attitude of Gambians towards business enterprise. "If foreigners in The Gambia were to leave today, you won't find any fish in the market. It will also be practically impossible for you to have your car fixed," the Gambian leader pointed out.

"We have 750,000 foreigners out of a population of 1.4 million in the country. If each of them sends at least $10 a month home, they are sending $7.5 million home each month.

"I am not saying that the presence of foreigners is bad for the country. We are not opposed to foreigners. But Gambian men have to change their attitude to work."

Jammeh noted that in the almost nine years that he has been in power (as both military and civilian leader), his government had spent over $100 million on development projects. "But all of this money went to foreign companies, We need Gambian companies to benefit from this," Jammeh said.

On the issue of foreigners, the government is asking citizens the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to pay D1,000 a year and non-ECOWAS citizens to pay D1,500 as registration fee. This is causing uproar among foreign residents in The Gambia. The hike in the registration fee is seen as punitive because it has jumped from D55 a year.

Jammeh does not see anything wrong with this, pointing out to West Africa that foreigners living in The Gambia benefit from the same social services as Gambians. "They receive the same medical care as Gambians. They are not treated as foreigners, and now they don't want to contribute" he said. "Most of them have jobs. There are certain ECOWAS countries where you can't own shops or even drive a taxi. We arc quite open here."

The government is also facing a backlash from the Bar Association, which has accused the government of interfering with the judiciary. In the last 12 months, six judges have returned home to neighbouring West African countries and there is effectively no Supreme Court of Court of Appeal because of a lack of judges.

Earlier this month, the Gambian Bar Association issued a statement saying that it would not take kindly to the government's alleged interference in the judiciary. "There is growing concern in the legal profession about what is happening to the judiciary," the GBA's statement said. "The interference has come to a stage where the Bar Association must make its voice heard."

In response to these allegations. Jammeh told West Africa that the foreign judges who left the service were making excessive financial demands, which the government could not afford. judges from Sierra Leone, Ghana and Nigeria have mainly staffed the Gambia's judicial system. On the issue of the non-existence of a Supreme Court and Court of Appeal, Jarnmeh told West Africa "There is a Supreme Court and a Court of Appeal. A Gambian has been appointed for the first time to head the Court of Appeal. This has something to do with patriotism."

He said he was grateful to the foreign judges who had kept the Gambian judiciary going for such a long time. "But for how long must we allow this to continue'? If all the judges leave, there won't be justice in the country," the Gambian leader noted.

Jarnmeh was rather reluctant to discuss politics. It was quite clear that he did not want to say things that might give credibility to the opposition. But there was no running away from the matter. West Africa put it to him that the opposition was saying that the country was moving towards undemocratic rule.

"It depends on their definition of democracy," Jammeh replied. "The problem is that tile old days of tribal politics are over and the older politician cannot compete in this new era.

"We have not prevented them from participating in the democratic process. But they have only concentrated on tribal politics. The sad thing about African politics is that the opposition would like to destroy all what the government has done."

West Africa asked why some of the parties had boycotted the 2001 National Assembly election after contesting the presidential election. Jammeh said some of the opposition parties had used the ethnic card but the electorate "rejected their tribal campaign and they failed to convince the people. He added: "They were completely rejected and that's why they could not mount a platform for the parliamentary election."

Given the overwhelming majority of the APRC in the National Assembly, was he worried about the state of parliamentary democracy? "It's a principle of democracy that tile majority will also take the vote. Which political party would not want to have an overwhelming majority in parliament? After all, it's the choice of the people." Jammeh argued.

The Gambian leader told West Africa that on the whole he was pleased with the general performance of the economy. "I am very happy to see that we have provided benefits to the people." He was quite pleased with the way Gambian women have performed in terms of economic development. He told West Africa that his independence anniversary to Gambians would include an acknowledgement of the role the women have been playing. "To Gambian women, I say congratulations for a job well done, You have kept the flag flying.

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