By Demba Bah
The People’s Democratic Organization for Independence and Socialism (PDOIS) embarked on a twelve day long nationwide tour from October 20 to October 31 2024. According to the Secretary General and spokesperson of the party Halifa Sallah, the tour was meant to engage the membership and have a dialogue with citizens on the way forward.
He said in 2021 the party offered itself as an alternative but was not elected. “We cannot be arrogant to say we have the answers. What we can say is what do you want. If they tell us what they want, we are also going to be telling them what we have. May be that dialogue will enable us to see eye to eye. They will see that what they want is what we have. That is the approach, he informed.
In the Kerewan Administrative Area in North Bank Region, at India Illiasa, Oumie a mother, spoke of the hardship women go through. She said it is so extreme that even the unborn child can feel it. “Imagine children walking seven to ten kilometres to get to school with mothers struggling for their sustenance,” she lamented. Ma Hawa Jallow echoed her sentiments advising the community to listen to the PDOIS leadership for solution. In the Janjangbureh Administrave Area in Central River Region at Karantaba, residents spoke of their disappointment of unfulfilled electoral promises. One of the youths from the village development committee told the women, being the majority, they should be politically aware and not allow themselves to be carried away by the politics of patronage and ethnicity. Mr. Touray, a political activist in the community enlightened residents on tribal politics which he said does not reflect on the socio-economy as all pay the same price for a bag of rice.
Still in CRR at Jokul, Ndey Ceesay, an activist, expressed frustration in unfulfilled development projects as promised to uplift and alleviate women from their suffering.
In his response to the queries and complaints, the Secretary General informed the audience that the problem of the country is systemic which demands change. He enlightened communities throughout the tour on the debt burden which he says during the 30 year Jawara administration was D2 billion (dalasis). The 22 year Jammeh administration raised it to D46 billion (dalasis). With the current administration, it stands at D110 billion (dalasis). This therefore shows, change of personalities does not necessarily mean change of system, he warned.
Halifa informed on how the country is divided into regions, regions into constituencies, constituencies into wards or villages. The regions he said have their local governance within the jurisdiction of their administrative areas. Ironically, as it is structured, the ward or village development committees do not have treasuries to bring about development. Whatever is collected in rates, license or other forms of tax is transferred to the Area Council which never returns to them in the form of services. That is what needs to change, he said.
Halifa delved into the cooperative economic model as a way to eradicate poverty. That, he explained, would require a cooperative banking system to be the depository of sovereign national wealth which will be used to help farmers with interest free bearing loans to have seeds, fertilizers and farm implements. Not only that, but also extended to the value chain. He simplied the cooperative banking model with the local women “Oususu” (building societies) for better understanding. He said those contributing in “Oususu” will one day have their returns to invest. In the same way, the sovereign national wealth will be invested in the productive base to eradicate poverty.
Halifa also explained why the dalasi keeps depreciating, reducing peoples’ purchasing power along the way. He said in 2022, total imports amounted to D44 billion (dalasis) while exports stood at D2.9 billion (dalasis) leaving the country with a trade deficit of over D41 billion (dalasis) requiring loans from international financial institutions. In 2023, imports from Senegal stood at D3 billion while exports almost at zero. The country is sinking, he warned.
To make matters worse, Halifa disclosed, that there is something creeping into the agricultural sector which the Agency for National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) should take note of. He said genetically modified crops which yield bumper harvest but without seeds to reproduce are being supplied to farmers. That would require the country to further depend on the outside world for seeds as farm implements, especially from those genetically modifying it.
In conclusion, Halifa promised communities, the PDOIS leadership will come back to them in a much wider and extensive tour.
