We The People Reign Supreme. A Notice To The Political Class

Our revolution was televised and the second coming will also be televised. The guarantors of our fragile democracy (we the people) are putting on notice the political class of our utter disatisfaction of the state of affairs and management of our commonwealth. Jammeh was booted out due to his discretionary attitude towards the management of our country. Gambia is neither a fiefdom nor a personal patrimony of any politician and or interest group. We the people are the shareholders of this going concern and it shall be our way or the highway.

The direction and development trajectory this country takes lie squarely in the hands of our elected officials but I can safely say without ambiguity that that the people want is what's going to obtain.

December 1st 2016 was a vote against Jammeh not a vote for anyone. It was our day of redemption and the renewal of our dignity as Gambians. I therefore condemn in the strongest terms the abrogation of our rights and laws. I unequivocally without hesitation demand from my government to remember how they were constituted. Activism will give way to positive and genuine aspirations to develop this country. Equally, activism will be activated when our rights are trampled on or that of other Gambians. For duty, honour and country, I remain a humble servant of my conscience and country.

Watch the space as the evolution of our new democracy takes the course the people choose not the whims and caprices of the politicians. There comes a time when citizens muster the resolve to  steer the course of civic action.

#Nyang_Njie

Is The Gambian Economy Stupid? #Budget2019 An Utter Disregard Of The Gambian Macro Fundamentals

Fiscal Prudence is what the Doctor ordered. #Budget2019 is worrisome and taming of fiscal dominance is what the economy needs. The core macro fundamentals of this economy are neither robust nor sound to absorb the proposed expansionary fiscal measures such as the 50% salary increase. Inflation is likely to creep when disposable income increases especially at the proposed rate of 50%. Watch the video for the rest

Gambia Fiscal 2019. An Ambitious Budget Without Sound Macro Fundamentals

Macroeconomic Stability is the anchor for economic growth and prosperity. A country cannot tax it's way to prosperity. Therefore fiscal prudence and economic growth strategies must be the strategic objective of any government.

Having said the above, I want to register my concerns on an ambitious budget for fiscal 2019. The budget process is a combination of several activities  starting with the formulation of a resource envelope. This envelope takes into consideration all macro activities and opportunities in terms of our revenue drive. Hitherto to the formulation of a resource  envelope, a call circular is drafted for eventual bilateral consultations between sectors and the exchequer (Ministry of Finance). The 2019 budget is over reaching and grossly ambitious without sound macro fundamentals to back the expansionary fiscal drive. The stance of the government on the 2019 budget can create inflationary tendencies and also raise deficit financing which will in turn increase the domestic debt and consequently, raise the policy and interest rates of the Central Bank.

The desire by government to increase salaries by 50% is noble but lacks a logical construct based on prudent economic management. I wonder if the economy is stupid or the custodians of policy are taking the macroeconomic environment for a joke. The government must first engage in civil service reform by down sizing the government then use the savings to properly renumerate the workers.

I foresee a lackluster performance in 2019 and an economy that is severely taxed. God bless the Gambia but our economic woes are largely a result of politically expedient decisions that disregard good economic thought and policy. Our last Flicker of hope lies with the Assembly. I do hope for once, they tame the excesses of government by taking their oversight function seriously in order to the much needed fiscal consolidation and productive sector development and growth.

Nyang Njie

Open Letter To His Excellency President Adama Barrow

Open Letter to President Barrow

Your Excellency President Barrow

I write this letter to you with trepidation and anxiety, as a concerned citizen in our nascent democracy, which you fondly call New Gambia. With utmost respect, Mr. President, let me remind you that the Presidency is an institution and all your powers are derived from the sovereign citizens of the Gambia as clearly stated in section 1 (2) of the 1997 Constitution which reads:

“ The Sovereignty of The Gambia resides in the people of The Gambia from whom all organs of the government derive their authority and in whose name and for whose welfare and prosperity the powers of the government are to be exercised in accordance with this Constitution ”

Mr. President, let me take this opportunity to remind you that all the powers you exercise are subject to limits set by the supreme law of The Gambia, our Constitution as stated in section 61 (2)
 
“ The President shall uphold and defend this Constitution as the supreme law of the Gambia”

Mr. President, We as citizens as the repository of the sovereign powers of the state, have delegated our powers to your office to execute your duties in accordance with the laws of the land. Mr. President, you are the custodian or trustee of powers that belongs to the people, a powers bestowed to you by the people and powers to execute in the interest of the people. In a nutshell, all your powers and legitimacy are derived from the citizenry.

The good citizens of The Gambia broke the shackles of a brutal dictatorship and are still healing from a very dark episode of that history. The freedoms we enjoy today were not handed to us on a platter but are rather the result of sacrifices of patriotic Gambians - some of whom paid the ultimate price, may their lives rest in peace. 

Mr. President I find it hard to believe that you allegedly made the statement that “The Gambian people were scared of Yahya Jammeh’s power because he had the police, the SIS, the Army, but I am more powerful because I have the Police, the SIS, the Army and ECOMIG forces”[ my emphasis]. 

Mr. President, with utmost respect, the Police is our police, the SIS is our SIS and the ECOMIG is our ECOMIG. Mr. President, as Commander in Chief, your duty is to uphold the Constitution and command the security forces in accordance with the dictates of the Law as provided in section 61 (1) & (2) of the Constitution.

Mr. President, Never again will our security apparatus be used at the whim of any leader against the citizenry or any person for that matter.  Mr. President all security forces are servants of the sovereign people of the country albeit under your command at our behest. We trust and expect that the era of Presidential directives to our security forces is a thing of the past. 

Mr. President, our country is at a crossroad. As we are trying to build the foundation of our democracy (Constitutional Review Commission ”CRC”) and seeking to heal as a nation (Truth, Reconciliation and Reparation Commission “ TRRC”  ), the youths are anxious and impatient, and want to reap the democratic dividends now. 

Mr. President, the same security forces you mentioned as belonging to you, belonged to your predecessor and were used as instruments of oppression against the citizenry. Mr. President, rest assured that the fear factor is a thing of the past. We defiantly stood up against your predecessor at the height of the political impasse despite his army, NIA (now SIS) and Police. #GambiaHasDecided against tyranny or any form of Dictatorship.

Mr. President, with such a statement, what message are you sending to the CRC and the TRRC?  Our nascent democracy is still fragile; the citizenry is learning the new ways of living under a democracy with all their expectations and aspirations.  

Now, more than ever, as our leader, as captain of our ship, we are yearning for unity and peace. We are yearning for a “ New Gambia ” where the basic essentials such as water, quality education, health care and decent employment opportunities are available to Gambians, particularly the poor and the underserved.  We are yearning for transformational leadership and not politics of rhetoric or division. Mr. President, we respectfully remind you of your own slogan one people, one nation and one destiny.

Mr. President, I hope and trust that you will recalibrate and refocus on making Gambia great. Mr. President, humility is a great trait and will endear you to Gambians. I humbly ask for the old President Adama Barrow to come back and steer our country to greatness.

For the Gambia our Homeland





Salieu Taal
Initiator  #GambiaHasDecided
Concerned Citizen

WHAT IS IN A NUMBER? WHO PAYS FOR THE INTRODUCTION OF A NEW NUMBER PLAN

In telecommunications, a lot rides in a number. A numbering plan is a telecommunication scheme through which telephone numbers are assigned to subscribers and telephony endpoints. Each telephone number is an address assigned to an endpoint in a network through which a designated subscriber can be reached. Depending on the local telephony requirements and network, a numbering plan can follow a number of strategies. Generally, operators are differentiated by a prefix (the digit their number range starts with. Well this is rapidly changing due to the introduction of number portability. Number portability implies that a subscriber of telephony services can move from one network to another by maintaining a unique number. This clearly is a break through in telecommunication as numbers are a national resource that needs to be efficiently and effectively managed. 

In the case of Gambia, our number plan is not only poorly managed by the regulator but it is frivolously allocated without due concern to future needs of this scare resource. As at today, our number plan has 9 ranges 1-9 and each series has a possible combination of One Million numbers thereby giving our telecommunications sector 9 million numbers. Generally, the 1 series is reserved for public service etc. 2 and 7 are allocated to Africell, 3 and parts of the 5 series are allocated to Qcell, 6 is allocated to Comium, 9 is allocated to Gamcel whilst 4,8,5 are allocated for the various services offered by Gamtel.

There are talks to introduce a new number plan. This has adverse effects to destination Gambia as it will take time for callers reaching the destination to be aware of the changes on the additional digit(s) added on our existing numbers. In addition, there is a financial cost associated with migrating the number plan. The cost of such a migration will ultimately be passed on to the subscribers by the operators. Now the million-dollar question is Should Gambia Migrate to a NEW Number Plan? The answer is an emphatic no because the Gambia is yet to exhaust the 9 million potential numbers within our existing plan. The 4 and 5 series are used by Gamtel for their land lines and it’s a known fact that nationally Gamtel doesn’t have more than 75,000 lines and this figure is even on the high side. This implies that within the 4 and 5 series we have a surplus of 1,925,000 possible numbers to use. It is also noteworthy to mention that the 8 series is used for the CDMA (Jamano) service and no more that 40,000 clients subscribe to that service nationally. That leaves us with a surplus of 960,000 numbers not in use. This therefore implies that there is an inefficient use of our scare resource (number range). 

I therefore called on our regulator PURA to look into the rationalization and effective use of our scarce resource rather than adding additional cost to an already over burden subscribers who pay one of the highest tariffs in the region for data. PURA must concentrate on making the sector more innovative by rewarding investments into the sector. The Quality of Service (QOS) Model to be adopted by PURA must reward innovation and investments. It baffles me that a 2.5G Network (Comium) is still allowed to sell data to Gambian subscribers. This is not only appaling but must be halted. Alternatively, Comium must be charged a hefty SPECTRUM FEE to discourage the use of such technology. In a nutshell, PURA is aiding COMIUM to milk their dilapidated infrastructure that is not in line with the technological advances Gambian subcribers deserve. An investor in the Gambian Telecommunication sector must avail the Regulator (PURA) with a 5 year roll out plan per their capital expenditure to make their networks efficient and responsive to the needs of the subscribers.