The Gambia Knowledge Bank Incorporated

There is a stark difference between critical thinking and conventional thinking for 52 years, Gambia has leveraged it's strategic thinking to multilateral organisation whose purpose of existence is to promote an agenda that perpetuate the status quo that existed in precolonial Gambia in the sense that we are being encouraged to produce and sell our commodities in its crude form without transformation or adding value to it. Furthermore our development agenda hasn't been wholesome nor did it have a tool kit that was robust enough to bankroll our development needs.

The prevailing proposition took us no where and we are still locked in the bubble of this crazy whirlwind. A country's development agenda must be home grown and country driven if meaningful development strides are to be registered. I therefore called for a radical shift in paradigm towards our development aspirations. The idea of participatory democracy propelled by non state actors have taken root in development circles and this in my view will challenge and compliment government initiatives in repositioning Gambia for sustainable growth and prosperity in the future. I therefore called for the creation and operationalisation of #GambiaKnowledgeBankIncorporated as a private initiative  to look at Gambia's ailments and not only offer prescriptive solutions but implement initiatives that augments the policy and structural deficiencies inherent in our quest to develop our country. The ensuing paragraphs are my attempts in scripting a concept note to clearly illustrate what this entity will be engaged in.

Human resources especially brain thrust is the corner stone of national development. Unfortunately, the Gambia as a nation has suffered a significant blow in its stock of human capital. In the past 22 years, The Gambia had a net outflow of human capital which was precipitated by poor governance structures spearheaded by Despot Jammeh. The arrest, detention, incessant sackings and lack of tenure for public servants prompted many to move west ward for greener pastures and a life of dignified professional participation. In light of the above mentioned, the Gambia as a nation suffered significantly in terms of its development trajectory. Government offices were staffed by people with limited professional capacity and foresight to move “Project Gambia” in the right direction. It is therefore an imperative to build the new Gambia using the skill set and expertise of Gambian professionals living in the diaspora. The foot prints of these Gambians can be found in most international public organizations and major Fortune 500 companies in the global corporate scene. These Gambians will periodically avail their services to help build a better Gambia that will pride itself with growth prospects. The services of this cluster (Professional Gambians with specialized skill sets) should be coordinated by an entity that will facilitate their access and intervention as and when needed by the state. The above prognosis is the basis of a foundation that will harness, coordinate and facilitate the participation of professional Gambians domiciled outside the jurisdiction of the Gambia. This foundation will be called “The Gambia Knowledge Bank Incorporated”. It will serve as an interface between government and bona fide Gambian professionals who in one way or another want to render their services to the government by way of consultancies or periodic technical advice. For this foundation to be effective, the following prerequisites must be attained.

i.   The establishment of a secretariat that act as a conduit/liaison between these professionals and the government.

ii.  A focal ministry to interface with the secretariat for all resource needs and mobilization. Preferably the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should consider being the focal point as it is best suited to initiate contact with the respective employers of the Gambians we are trying to attract.

iii.   A comprehensive needs assessment study to ascertain the technical needs of the Gambia and specific sectoral areas of intervention.

iv.   The identification of Good Will Ambassadors to convince professional Gambians to periodically volunteer their time and resources to assist in our developmental aspirations.

v.    Arrange with multilaterals and bilaterals to facilitate the short term arrangement to free up a particular staff for a national assignment.

vi.   The creation of a knowledge bank catalogue that highlight identified Gambians and their specific area of intervention. This arrangement by all intent and purpose will be a first off initiative that can accelerate the growth and development of our nation. This window accorded to the professional Gambians residing in the diaspora will accelerate growth and development of our dear nation. This brief synopsis is just a concept note that can be expound upon in furtherance of the ideals we all espoused for the new Gambia.

What's Good For The Goose Is Good For The Gander

The Gambian political memory is very short lived. I am an ardent nemesis of the APRC and the Butcher of Kanilai.  However, I am against the current position of many that these renegades and their party needs to banish from our political space.

Gambians do suffer from selective amnesia and the political faux pas of yester years are conveniently swept under the rug. Justice is neither selective nor prejudicial hence the reason why the lady on the scales of justice is blindfolded. The coming of Jammeh in the political space was precipitated by the politics of the day when the power grabbing political moguls not only compromised their political party but the security of the Gambia as a whole just to serve their narrowly defined personal interest. Lest we forget that those men at that material time were the reason for our misery and the coming of Jammeh.

It pains my heart that these men are now celebrated as heroes and accorded rousy home comings. This in my view is not only hypocritical but inconsistent with the very principle of equity and accountability that we are pursuing. That said, We can then allow Jammeh to take a hiatus and come back 15-20 years later with a clean slate. This is not acceptable and what's good for the goose is good for the gander. We didn't free this great country to welcome all as if nothing happened pre Jammeh. We need answers on a lot of things pre 1994 so lets not sweep it under the rug. This government must be seen as getting to the bottom of all public issues relating to graft of major magnitudes pre1994 to date because the Gambia is a continuum so lets look at the bigger picture

Nyang Njie

FARMER JOE AND HIS FIEFDOM

TROPICAL GANGSTERS

Once upon a time in a distant shore somewhere in the hot tropics of 13 degrees North and 15 Degrees West lies a paradise under the sun. This paradise was a slow creeping entity that was going through a transformation in search of modernity. Not much was going on for this enclave as it was resource starved. Nonetheless, life went on and her inhabitants were just happy to be living and slowly catching up with modernity. The leader of this enclave was called the Good Doctor. He was a man of great temperament but his ambitions for developing his enclave were premised on the economic realities of his environment so he built few schools and hospitals to service the needs of the enclave. The Good Doctor was a cloned British in an African Body. He enjoyed his tea time and social interactions at the country club where he fraternized with the European expatriates and few elites of the upper echelons. Well in a country of the blind, the one eye man is king so this enclave did not get its best and brightest to run the affairs of the enclave but the connected sons of the political class became the demigods that underwrote the political space. At some some point these demigods wanted more space than the Good Doctor was willing to dish out and discord and chaos ensued. Lo and behold there was a guard at the Good Old Doctors Court called Farmer Joe. Farmer Joe was was a complex self centered individual whose upbringing dented his world view and interpersonal relationships.

On a hot summer Friday afternoon, Farmer Joe was able to usurp power with the help of few rag tag renegades. This was the beginning of an era that took away the dignity and innocence of the people. Farmer Joe being the manipulative beast that he was conquered all his accomplices and became the Don of the enclave. He turned this beautiful enclave into a crime syndicate with the help of his capos. Prominent amongst the capos were The Fixer and the Manager. They ran a syndicate similar to that of the Luchesse and Gambino families in New York. The only difference was those syndicates robbed and extorted the rich and gave to the poor and serviced their lavished lifestyles. Farmer Joe on the other hand looted and robbed the poor people of the enclave and made them believe he was the best thing since sliced bread. Being a master manipulator, Farmer Joe was able to corrupt almost everyone in the society. The clergy, elders  and the renowned were all pocketed for his personal use. He prostituted the young men and women of the society to run errands and periodically use them for sexual favors. See Farmer Joe's rough childhood played an integral role in the manner in which he ran the syndicate. He wanted to be noticed at all times so he drove expensive cars and and fashionable glasses and watches. He even had to marry a sex transactor just because he found her to be exotic and out of his reach growing up. Just like a poor boy done good, Farmer Joe's appetite for exploitation knew no bounds and he became a monster beyond repair. His exploits took a daring pursuit towards self destruction and the people of the enclave voted him out of office but realizing that he was not answerable to the people , he resorted to his syndicate to do the bidding in terms of the enforcement of his will. His neighbors had enough of his rancor and arrogance and decided to enforce the will of the people. After his exit, some of of his most trusted aides disappeared in thin air never to be heard of. The likes of Action Jackson the guardian of the revolution went below the radar and never to be heard off again. Seedy the Terrible, Fabakary the Fox and Yankee the Mayor have made futile attempts to stem the tide but its was a loosing battle not worth fighting. The major enforcers are either in jails or in hiding. Sleek Yanks, Sleazy Louie and Terrible Ousman are all in the hands of authorithies in different jurisdictions. Farmer Joe's days as a free man are drawing to an end as the net is closing on him. Mr Fix it has also made attempts to reinvent himself with the help of influential people within the enclave but to no success. Stay tuned for the next episode of whats going to be the final fate of Farmer Joe and his criminal enterprise.

Crisis Management Often Breeds Solutions That Are Sustainable. Debt Restructuring And The Gambian Situation

If you borrow you must pay and this simple adage is the foundation of subtraction in mathematics. The magnitude of our debt especially the domestic component is as a result of persistent borrowing without any means to draw down the cumulative debt stock. This has made Gambia to venture on the verge of insolvency. If our total debt obligation is greater than our capacity to generate public revenue then we are charting in murky waters that may sink our overall development aspirations.

Our debt profile and instruments associated with it have a 365 days maturity. This is part of of our bottleneck as it relates to serviceability. In layman's language, we are contracting debt faster than we can generate revenue to payoff our liabilities. For every problem, there bound to be a sustainable solution to tame the anomaly. In the case of our bloated debt, we need to tackle it with a Pareto optimality view. This implies that we will employ a strategy that will make everyone better off without making no one worse off. This may sound utopian to the discerning mind but it is a feasible venture once government have a commitment to curb the festering debt stock. This approach will call for a medium to long-term term debt instruments (5-15 years) debt maturity profile. Once government is able to introduce debt instruments with simillar profile then the next plausible step is to negotiate with Teasury bill holders to move from the bills to treasury bonds. This approach will immediately relieve the treasury from making immediate debt payments to rescheduling of debt to medium to longer term profiles. This initiative like any other has a tradeoff and a price. The tradeoff basically lure the Treasury bill holders to  accept longer term maturity and in return they will be offered higher yields. This will then give the Gambian treasury the time to reorganise and also curb their appetite to spend. Economic management may not be an easy task but the daunting challenges do come with inherent rewards.

The Gambian Ailment

Gambia! Gambia! Oh boy a country at a crossroad loaded with ideological indifference. Some struggling for political supremacy, whilst others struggling to cement their dominion on mainstream thought. The soldiers of fortune looting and robbing the homeland for it's riches be it the youthful population who are on a stampede across the Mediterranean for the illusive pastures of Western Europe or the environmental looters who are poaching our marine resources and depleting our limited forest cover as in the Monkey Park all in the name of development. This beautiful land cries and sob for redemption. Redemption from decades old wounds borne out of our colonial heritage. A country being looted from within by her sons and daughters of the leftovers of colonialism. A country whose off-springs lack the ideological homogeneity of nation building. Tribal and social barriers have become stone walls towards our march for redemption and economic Independence.

I have traversed the length and breath of this beautiful stretch of land we all claimed to love but hardly treat with dignity and pride. Yes dignity! See dignity impinges on our conscience. Once our moral compass invokes our sense of conscience which tends to guide our decision matrices, we tend to strive to do good for country.  We can't claim to love Gambia if we hardly, if ever give back to her. Yes we proudly wear her paraphernalia and shout out loud "for the Gambia our homeland". It is no longer enough to to shout out love for country. Gambia is fed up with her doomsday pundits whose ties to this beautiful land have been severed long ago for selfish personal gains. Serious advocacy for our dearly beloved Gambia can't be done arms length nor via remote control. This ground is fertile and awaits her sons and daughters who believe in her might to come down and be part of the renaissance we all yearned for. Who have we become? We have morphed into creatures who inflict misery and mayhem on each other rather than fortify our resolve to build a great nation we will be proud of. Part of our problem is ego borne out of tribal supremacy or social deficit borne out of decades old complex of perceived inferiority. Gambians can't compliment the efforts of their fellow country men and women who are making significant strides in upholding our culture through creative arts or other entrepreneurial endeavors. The question I longed to ask my brothers and sister in the diaspora is whose side are they on? It is surely not the side of the masses if so, the persistent character assassination of our would be leaders will not be the daily agenda on our talk circuits. People who have been disconnected to the Gambian reality tend to have solutions to our festering local problems. We appreciate the goodwill of our brothers and sisters in distant shores and we also recognize their role in the sustenance of families in the Gambia financially. Their financial assistance especially within the political sphere doesn't warrant them to feel so entitled to the point of being a major impediment to our collective aspirations. I rest my case dealing with the "so called" online mediums once some of them called their audiences "fans". The struggle to build a better Gambia is not a popularity contest to boost or massage someone's bruised egos. Therefore I urge the owners of the social microphones to use their platforms judiciously in pursuit of a greater nation as talk without actions will not spearhead meaningful change. People should also know their intellectual limitations as they have by virtue of the new social media platforms become public figures not because of their knowledge but frequent presence within the Gambian social media space.

To my brothers and sisters on the ground, I urge us all not to short change ourselves or mortgage the future of our off-springs for short term gains. Our moral backbone must be our conviction to build a just and equitable Gambia where we jointly collaborate to usher in a Gambian renaissance. Our collective attitudes especially in the run off to the December polls has shown severe cracks and deficiencies in the character and moral position of our aspiring leaders. Genuine Gambians are watching and history will surely not be kind to many for they have put their personal wants and aspirations before country. Ignorance is NO LONGER AN EXCUSE for inaction. Gambia deserves better from all of us and the time has come for a serious dialogue between local and diaspora Gambians. Too much of hot air and less of constructive engagement has been the modus operandi and ENOUGH OF THAT. Gambia awaits her sons and daughters who will come down to the ground to make that difference by being the Game Changers they want from others. We are the change we want and it will only be effective if we are counted. Spectators can't score goals in a football game. I love you all and I do hope we take our country seriously and stop the divisive political rhetoric and that is further setting us apart. One Gambia, One people under God.

Nyang Njie

Don't Believe The Hype - When Two Elephants Fight It's The Grass That Suffers

if the people want to be hoodwinked by the political class they will but what's happening in our political space the past few days is quite normal if one is a student of politics. Political wishes and political realities diverge from where they are conceived. I for one believe that Gambian political evolution is going through a natural selection process. The first phase has completed successfully and we were all happy of the outcome. That phase dealt with the convergence of political foes and nemesis  to dislodge a tyrant (Despot Jammeh). The Second phase is the presumed political storm we are currently witnessing and this phase is for the imposition of power and dominion within the political machinery and this is almost at the tail spin and the National Assembly elections will be the final arbiter of this phase. The third and final phase will be that of power consolidation. This phase will be the calm after the storm and hopefully thats when the legislative and political agenda will be fast tracked. If we understand these principles then we will understand fully well why Halifa had his preferred stance and Darboe had his entrenched position. Remember politics is a game of vested interest and in as much as these people talk the beautiful rhetoric of galvanizing the interest of the greater good, they have a vested interest they want to secure. Halifa's choice of a coalition led initiative for the National Assembly is premised on diluting the perceived relevance of the big boy (UDP) by making all parties as equals among men. On the contrary, The UDP want  a tactical alliance so as to display their might by differentiating the boys from the men. This in the eyes of the the UDP will be an equitable dispensation of power and authority. So lets not fret as these politicians will always be politicians but the electorate must be smart enough to decipher the political nuances from our established reality. I am watching the space and I do hope we don't allow ourselves to have extreme blood pressure over the jockeying and maneuvering of our political operatives. So let the games begin and it is only the shallow amongst our midst who see these tactical moves in the prism of tribal lenses. Politics is nothing out a game where the end justifies the means

What's The Fuss About A United Front For The Parliamentary Elections?

Politics is the second oldest profession apart from prostitution. It is also a game of vested interest that only yeild positive results based on consensus building. The trending political discourse on the position of the coalition's approach regarding the national assembly election is  pertinent. The formidable coalition forged to oust Despot Jammeh was designed and anchored on a shaky ground from inception. What brought these political operatives together (Jammeh) was stronger than any interest that will keep them together. Therefore the recent developments unfolding must not be a suprise to any political observer who is conversant with Gambian politics.

For starters, the principals that bankrolled the coalition have been at each others throat for almost two decades and this polarised their thought processes and consequently, their decisions are not in conformity with rational thinking but rather political preservation. My views about the eminent separation of the entity we called the "coalition" is a welcomed move in the preservation of party politics and political plurality in the Gambia. A coalition led National Assembly will be short lived as the nuances surrounding their divergent interests will drown the public's desire for a common unity of purpose.

Politics is also underpinned on the principle of equity and he who is with equity can come to the table. This upcoming National Assembly election  will certainly distinguish the boys from the men and this in my humble opinion is a better way to drive the legislative agenda. The flip side of the aforementioned proposition is to have a strong showing by the GDC/APRC outfit. This arrangement if successful will render the Barrow administration ungovernable. A lot is at stake but political evolution is a process and the ball has been set in motion with a view of a favourable outcome. Politics is an intricate fabric that is woven out of a yarn that has vested interest as it's core input. Nonetheless, a day in politics is a long way so lets wait and see but all hopes are dashed with regards to a unified force

Seek and you shall find. Atleast that is what's inscribed at the entrance of the Pyramid of Kufu on the Gizeh Plateau and as a student of knowledge who loves to  withdraw from the vast and infinite knowledge expanse around us I want to be enlightened about the pros and cons of coalescing for the National Assembly Election. Politics is a sleazy enterprise that changes the goal post periodically. This implies that the the old adage Caveat Emptor (buyer beware) applies. Political interlocutors will always be around and they may come in different forms so lets not worry bout who Barrow will work with post National Assembly elections. The relationship is symbiotic therefore it is a mutually beneficial relationship between legislators and the executive.

Banking The Unbanked -The Missing Puzzle In Our Banking System

Banking the unbanked is the bottle neck that will open up the retail banking space in the continent. Most of the major multinational banks have closely focused on development projects in the oil, gas and mineral sector and the syndication of government security offerings. This alone will not grow the banking space and the players in the market do not have the patience nor appetite to foster the growth of this sector as it relates to the retail business. Therefore, there has to be a shift in paradigm in bringing on board the unbanked and it starts with developing a solid microfinance sub sector that will feed mainstream banking with its clientele. The advances made in telephony services coupled with high penetration rates have made Africa rife for mobile money. This is another segment that can bring the unbanked to the formal banking channels. Public policy has been inadequate in creating the environment and framework for banks to attract the segment of society who lived in the fringes. The more government encourages electronic payment systems as an alternative for economic transaction, the better for the unbanked.  Bottom line is we have an inconsistent value proposition that is averse to the mobilization of deposits for the unbanked.  Finally the crowding out phenomena propelled by fiscal dominance of the exchequer has parked much needed deposit into government securities (Treasury Bills) thereby drying up available funds for seekers of financial capital. The sooner banks understand that their role is not to be trading houses (sellers of foreign exchange) but facilitators of financial intermediation particularly in the structuring of financial capital instruments, the sooner they will embark on a path to sustained economic prosperity. It is quite evident that the policy framework and environment need to adjust seamlessly with time. The dynamism and profile of the prospective client need to be streamline into policy formulation to cater for them. Dodou Nyang I guess next generation banking solution will rely heavily on electronic platforms and the idea of Branch Banking will slowly fade away in the medium term. This will help boost the margins of the banks as it reduce the bloated capital expenditure on their balance sheets. Doyen Abdoulie Touray what's your take on untapped business gold mine that needs prospecting and exploration?