When Strategic Interest Overwites Economic Interest

First of, I must renew my Pan African credentials by praying for closer political and socioeconomic ties for the people of Africa particularly the people of SeneGambia. The recent pronouncement for the construction of a bridge at the Yelli Tenda/Baba Tenda crossing to cement closer ties with our sister country (Senegal) is a welcome move but I will qualify this milestone with a caveat “Buyer Be Ware”. This implies that the State of Gambia need to know fully what it is getting into and to have adequate legal cushion to exercise a force majeure as and when required to protect first and foremost the national interest of her people.

There is nothing wrong with opening up our territorial space to Senegal for the ease of commerce and movement of her people as this will boost our economic dividends and broaden the fraternal ties that bind the two countries. Furthermore, it is my humble opinion that such closer ties will rectify an anomaly that has been the creation of the colonialist who divided one people into two countries. However, the financing and construction of the bridge MUST BE entirely a Gambian initiative as the issue of equity can compromise our sovereignty. Senegal being a co-financier of this noble initiative accords them an irrefutable stake for an unfettered right of access as long as the bridge is operational. The Government of the Gambia should have sourced alternate financing initiatives that will efface the issues of sovereignty and this could have been addressed through a public/private initiative whereby by private capital would finance the construction of the bridge and the capital investment will be recovered through toll charges.

Political expediency has always been the corner stone of future disputes that could be averted if proper due diligence and strategic national considerations are factored in the decision matrices for the adoption of major public goods. Having co- financing being the model applied, the two nations have inadvertently diluted the respective national territorial space into one thereby creating one SeneGambia. Therefore we need to accept the symbiotic nature of our existence and forge a meaningful coexistence that will usher in a dawn of a new day for the people of SeneGambia. Border closures and trade impediments should not be a way of life for the people of SeneGambia. We Demand from our political class to foster closer bilateral ties that will culminate into common market. The construction of this bridge has paved the way for the Government of the Gambia to look into the funding and construction of a more ambitious project (Banjul/Barra Crossing). This project in my opinion will be the Suez Canal or China wall equivalent for the Gambia.