The 10 billion CFA francs equivalent to 1.1 billion dalasi The Gambia owes SENELEC an electricity provider led to cessation of supply that caused power outages in many parts of the urban area.
It is therefore important for the government to draw lessons from the experience. The principle of protecting foreign assets is to ensure that the country is not subjected to risk insecurity because of losing control of bridges, ferries, airports, seaports and other sovereign services such as electricity and water supply.
There is a growing trend in heavily indebted poor countries to privatise many sovereign assets. In fact, some countries have gone to the level of getting private companies to control key sovereign assets like sea ports and electricity generation. Some allow such companies to control their data by providing the machinery that makes the issuing of ID cards and other documents possible.
Economic sovereignty means the capacity to control all the vital assets of a country that frees it from being subjected to the direction and control of any power, state or other private institutions.
We hope this lesson will be earnt by all Gambians, especially those who are managing its affairs.
