The Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, Lamin Camara, said Gambia has not been using the right numbers to measure the country’s economy. He said figures of 2004 have been used to calculate the GDP, giving a wrong data on the economy.
“All along our GDP figures have been under-estimated. Currently we are using a GDP figure of 2004,” PS Lamin Camara said last Thursday during the launch of IMF Regional Economic Outlook at a ceremony held at Ocean Bay Hotel in Cape Point, about 7 km away from Banjul.
Gambian economy is edging towards recovery as the new authorities have launched the New Development Plan (NDP). Also the gov’t has announced a macroeconomic strategy aimed at stabilizing the economy of the tiny West African nation.
PS Camara went further to say that the Gambia GDP is seriously under-estimated. He then added that the GDP, we know it is all about activities in the economy.
“Horticulture is everywhere, but it is not captured in our economy,” he deplored.
He cited similar examples such as the mining and the informal sectors.
While mining activities are taking place across the country, Camara decried the data available only highlight the Greater Banjul Area.
“So, how much our activities in the economy are under-estimated?” He quizzed.
He disclosed that gov’t is coming up with a project that is going to change the numbers of our GDP.
“We are really committed to fix these numbers issue and data,” he added.
Weighing in on the issue, IMF Resident Rep. Ruby E.M Randall pointed out the fact that the Gambia Bureau of Statistics (GBOSS) has been undergoing a rebasing exercise.
“In the process of doing that, they are also making the GDP more comprehensible,” she added.
IMF boss said there are number of sectors that are inadvertently excluded, and that are going to be captured in the economy.
Written by Abdoulie JOHN
Whatever formula is used to revise up or revise down the GDP figures will be irrelevant if that does not correspond to an increased quality and quantity of food in our dishes, school and utilities bills paid, medical needs taken care of, and so much more.
Yes good and reliable data is an intricate component of economic planning but it will be futile for it alone to be an end in itself.
Whether the ministry is using formulae from 2004 or 2040, the question is this:
How has the life of an average Gambian improved through policy interventions under Yaya and his government and how is Adama and Ousainou dealing with any registered failure and improving on whatever little achievement was attained? Abdoulie could have done a better job of dissection of the topic to keep the reader transfixed on the story. This one is a missed opportunity.
——————————–
Our journalism folk need to move from this model of tasteless reporting to critically engaging with topics and issues to reflect some semblance of professional acumen in current issues.
For heavens sake, this is the time everyone should up their game(s) to build a new Gambian who is not mentally lame to interact both physically and cognitively with his/her environment. Be bold fellas, be bold to make your impact felt with tremors of truth and courage in our lives and existence as a people.
Yours in the service of The Gambia and Africa, I remain.
Absolutely true. Capturing data from the informal sector may enhance GDP figures and give the impression of a growing economy, but these will be meaningless unless they impact the lives of the people positively.
I am not an economist and have no right to question the methods used to calculate economic growth, but I don’t think they’ve got that right.
You know something is not right when reports of steady economic growth for over (30+) years is not reflected on the lives of the people or the conditions in the country.
Yes Mr PS, horticulture is everywhere but before you go factoring in horticultural yields per hectare and attempting to extrapolate the yield data into Dalasi, please and please take into account the phenomenal post harvest losses in the horticultural sub sector!
In the absence of proper studies to determine correct estimates for post harvest losses, the values will be just that and can only serve to embellish reports on the Gambian economy.
Same as when planners bandy around the estimate of 70% of Gambians being engaged in agricultural activities.
The question is where do these numbers come from!
Oh! So Gambia has been producing faked numbers misleading the public and the international community for decades. Who is to blame? Is it the dictator or his intellectual accomplices?
Keluntang, the fake, embellished reporting started way before Yaya Jammeh who by the way perfected the art of, Mbang Wulenkeh/MAA TEYE.
The last my dad could recall honorable budget speeches and reporting was when Sherrif CEESAY was Minister of Finance.
The rest that came thereafter, he says, are all scoundrels and I’ve lived to see that!
So when I mention names, Bajaw says to leave personalities out of this but why shouldn’t we if we have to do justice to Gambia’s history?
Yes, my dad’s was correct that they were all scoundrels and I’m waiting to see that Amadou Sanneh will make a difference.
First the Krio came and they’re advised to act like nothing’s happening even when they’re sitting atop if the Million Dollar keg of loot.
Then came them Jollof Bobo Dem….
The Teyrri Kaffo…
OK Bajaw, I can see you cringe. So I’ll stop there to be politically correct and not go to town.
Has anyone read the book “Confessions of an Economic Hitman” by John Perkins, this book will confirm what Bax(the oracle), has said on many occasions
https://youtu.be/mehgRWMg8oI
There is a free audio book
11 hours duration online more in-depth, mentioning some well known African leaders, Google it, it’s all there, even the great Dr Barrow is under the spell, what comes to mind was one of Dr Barrows first speech regarding Gambians getting insurance, and Gambians can just about buy food.
Seen it Grim Reaper; what many of us have been writing about for years AND GET ABUSED FOR IT! The guy was NSA, CiA “Peace Corps” – he laughs when he says “Peace Corps”.
“…when I mention names, Bajaw says to leave personalities out…”
#Yes, Andrew; those who have their hands soiled can be named & shamed; if anything else…
But be careful of Sosolasso; Ming Daabijeh; Ming Daatejeh…!
True, Andrew, Dirimocracy is alive, indeed & kicking… ¿
God (save) Bless Gambia; Ameen…
Lmain,
Just a reminder to one of the subscribers( Luntango, A. Pjalo; Bajaw; I can’t fully recall) who stated that nowhere in the world can a world leader be insulted by anyone and get away with it. I’m not condoning insults anyway, but I just want to put the records straight.
Last night I heard this statement on TV “FUCK TRUMP” by a celebrity. Will he be arrested as the Gunjur Councillor Omar Touray who said Barrow was a LIAR?
I want to recall on the trends of democratic dispensation in The Gambia. Our people are gradually getting fearful of Barrow and his clique of LIARS.
Babu I saw that it too , but it is just Robert DeNiro being a clown – at an awards ceremony for stars. Different setting, a media crowd, etc. But more important, a DIFFERENT CULTURAL setting: “FUCK” is a white-caucasian-anglo-saxon thing and that is why THEY FUCKED UP THE WORLD – and their societies. We don’t need to adopt their ways.
Babu, just as Dida has alluded to, “whiteness” and white people are not the standards through which I measure anything. Avoid setting them as examples of anything good, please.
Now to the point: I believe Omar is wrong in sputtering out the insults he did.
In adherence to our humane cultures, he should be left off the hook with an apology and a warning. Convicting him on such a trivial matter will set a presedence only too familiar in the Yaya era. That should send warning bells to all who care about freedom and liberty in our country. Gambians won’t sit idly by and watch a resurgence of a totalitarian rule accompanied by massive looting of our coffers.
Second, and I think it’s hypocritical, nobody seem to care about the abuse meted out on Omar by the police. They kept him incarcerated for more that the constitutionally stipulated seventy two hours limit. And what about taking his video under duress and distributing it without consent and authority?
With Adama, we see a clumsy dictator in the making. What a sad development from the jubilations of hope and a new dawn to the dejection felt now all over the country and beyond.
————————————-
@ Dida: I would like to ask why you refer to Ousainou as LAWYER OUSAINOU MANDELA DARBOE?
Just out of curiosity………
Participants on their (UDP) platform had insulted and directed insulting remarks at Halifa Sallah for fun. Can’t remember any being arrested and prosecuted for it.
Insults and other forms of personal attacks should have no place in politics, but prosecution is not the way to deal with this cancer, especially when selectively done.
Now Lamin please don’t get on fire for this my comment, but the fact is that Lawyer Oussainou MANDELA Darboe declared “SOLO’s BODY OR MINE” and MARCHED to face Yahya Jammeh’s armed goons (I hear Halifa was at that point in time muttering “what the hell is Darboe doing” and hiding in the People’s Revolutionary Centre). Jammeh arrested Lawyer Darboe and his fellow FREEDOM MARCHERS, brutalized them, locked them up and poisoned them. At that point, the SILENT MAJORITY of Gambians said to themselves NO MORE – and kicked the tyrant out of power (and as we know Halifa Sallah and others saw the nation’s defiant mood and rose HEROICALLY to the ocassion).
NOW, Lamin, surely we must agree that such a man deserves the title “MANDELA”?
No Dida I won’t get on fire for your explaination. Thank you for answering to my inquiry.
You are entitle to your opinion that Ousainou should be given such a “title“, I, however don’t agree. Why?
First I believe Weenie Madigazela has done all the job for black people and not Madiba. I know that will touch a nerve in many, yet that’s what the facts state.
Second, the PDOIS leadership was the FIRST to step up to the brutish Yaya and his knuckle head junta after they banned political activities.
Sedia and Halifa were arrested and tried. They defended themselves and won mightily putting the prosecution and even the judge to shame.
————————————————————————————————————-
There is no scale to measure who has done more for The Gambia, nonetheless Ousainou cannot be eulogized on a false narrative.
Finally, I don’t understand your love affair with a political party which such questionable………non-agenda.
The PS, Lamin Camara is talking from the productive facet on the GDP but what real impact has it got on the overall economic evolution of our country and the livelihood of our people?
If when productive figures are properly tabulated but there are no feasible and gainful internal and external marketing gateways of those goods and services, how can our producers save and plough back the surplus productive gains to create employment, riches and a sustainable economy?
Of course, we can see a lot of goods and services in the streets, markets, stores…at UNAFFORDABLE prices! What propensity do our people have to acquire the commodities of their choice? Almost NULL! So, tabulating the productive figures rightly is not the ultimate solution to creating a sustainable economy, but the way forward to boosting MARKETING, SAVING and CREATING EMPLOYMENT. That’s the capitalist economy anyway!
Lamin, wow!
No. 1: You are 100% right about Winnie, Queen Mother of Azania (But I would NOT dismiss Mandiba!);
No. 2: Where in ALL my writings have I EVER mentioned UDP? I praised Lawyer Oussainou Mandela Darboe.
Dida, I take that one back. Please forgive the mishap on my part.
———————————–
I have high regards for Madiba too but I surmise his contribution to the liberation struggle against white domination is overrated at the expense of equally committed knowledge freedom fighters in SA.
Luntango, Jollofnews 12th June 2018
Bravo Luntango!!
THEY FUCKED UP THE WORLD, yes, of course. They fucked up the world!!!!
With their “DEMOCRATIC TEACHINGS” on our “barbarian way of life” isn’t it?
LAUDING & LIBERISING: homosexuality, lesbianism, promiscuity, prostitution, parental disrespect, IMMORALITY…………….
Can any social scientist please get us read the virtues of “MORALITY, ITS IMPLICATION on the SOCIAL, POLITICAL and ECONOMIC STRIVE of A PEOPLE”?
I would challenge Lamin, A. Pjalo, Luntango, Bax, Grim reaper, Dida to delve into this “dissertation theme” not our natural scientist Dr Isatou. Big Sister, I’d reserve you from getting into this theme till another time!!
Just something short, readable.
That is ingrained misogyny and sexism Babu.
Off topic,
What has happened to “Human rights watch” these days, are they not being bank rolled lately, what are their opinion on not having a legal system that gives you a choice of judge or Jury?
Also a guaranteed place of burial?
Dr Isatou Sarr,
Are you crazy to call refer to those statements and myself as sexist and misogynist. Come on Big Sister be a little sober headed. Babu is millions of kilometres away from those block-headed behaviours and thinking. A humanist in the vein!
I have on several occasions said that I am not against the wish and desire of a human soul. What I hate most is the manner in which some of the behavioural attitudes are imposed on us, coming from the West, after knowing the extent we(Africans)have suffered/continue to suffer in their hands.
Why can’t we accept/reject from the African perspective? Does everything has to be Western to become ingrained?
You have a forum of several hundred “men” and one me. You expressly excluded the only woman in the forum. Whatever your reasons are, your beliefs come crystal purpose. You are what you are.
We’ve had this discussions before. Perhaps one day you will get it. I have nothing against your pan-Africanist agenda. Good for you. All I care about is success in nation building. How can we get our country from this social/economic failure to a vibrant robust society. So for the last time. It is not African Vs Western perspective. It is what works for us as a people. The Gambian perspective. Stop wasting valuable time on rejecting everything white, while you still live amongst them, for all we know, you might be married to one of “them”, rather focus on how we can build a nation so Babu can move back to Gambia. Lastly you know who is holding us back. Look in the mirror. It’s US.
Well, Dr: U R more than a match for “several hundred men”! More power to your elbow
BUT, on this one U R, I respectfully suggest, wrong:-
You say: “It is not African Vs Western perspective. It … The Gambian perspective”.
THE REALITY is that the WORLD HEGEMONY is a WESTERN PERSPECTIVE. Even the ARABS in REALITY face Washington when they pray … though they pretend to face Mecca. Just look at what Trump is doing to European powers:- They too MUST toe the USA perspective.
Dida, this is where we part ways.
Start from slavery. You really believe a few white men with musket can enslave Africa. No Sir. The Slavers look like you and I.
Do you really believe that Africa can be colonized by a few hundred pirates, majority of them sick with dysentery and malaria. No. We Africans are the colonizers, those white guys are our ancestors proxy. World hegemony is not determined from the western perspective, but by African GREED. If most of the world resources are in your father’s compound, but due to your greed, ignorance and stupidity you let some visitor tell you how to lead your life, that is on you. You decided to give up your rights. In my mind you are still The decider, bad decisions and all.
It is therefore important that to reverse this backward destructive mindset, Africans must understand that we have all the God given tools, natural resources and human talent to be the greatest. To have power, you must take it. If you believe it’s yours anyway, the sure way to reclaim it is, sit, think and make good selfless decisions for the general good.
Interesting take Dr; but the HISTORICAL facts are these:- Africans fought VALIANTLY against Slavery and Colonialism UNTIL the Whiteman brought the MACHINE GUN into the equation. White conquest has nothing to do with “African collaboration” but everything to do with the fact that our spears and assegais were no match for the MACHINE GUN. Simple as.
I did not want to get caught in the fight regarding sexism and mysogynistic behavior because I thought Doc. is right and Babu Soli is wrong in excluding her from a conversation that is in the public space. I wanted to tell that to Babu but I procrastinated. Now I regret that.
——————————-
The thing that get me sweating though is this: Doctor Sarr is blaming black people for two thousand years of slavery, subjugation, racism and all the associated evils it comes with.
Doc, I think you have taken a battering today. For that reason, I won’t go into dissecting your unfortunate post about slavery and colonialism.
All the same, here is my advice to you regarding your knowledge and understanding of black history vis-a-vis the development of The Gambia and Africa as a whole: stop reading white versions of our hisyory because they are full of misrepresentations and lies.
I will stop here for today. Get ready during the weekend because I will be coming full throttle on this your (anti-black, poisonous post.
Yours in the service of The Gambia and Africa.
Wow, I’m speechless at some of what you stated above. Do you seriously blame Africans for Slavery and Colonialism just because of the participation of Africans in those two evils?
Tell me Dr I. Sarr, when did you last hear the German People being blamed for the atrocities of the Nazis?
When did you last hear the financiers of the Nazi Party, some notable Americans amongst them, being blamed for the crimes of the Nazis?
Do you consider yourself (I don’t want to go beyond that) one of these greedy, ignorant and stupid Africans or you’re the exception?
“World hegemony determined by African GREED!” Where did this come from?
The hallmark of UDP politics is personal attacks, insults, character assignation, playing on sectional sentiments till day break and claim not to be a dividing force. They are allergic to debating on matters of substance like the economy, governance, agriculture, youth employment etc.
Their mantra is that God has now made the sun to shine for them, so they will make their hay.
Sadly though, the police and all other government institutions in The Gambia aligned themselves with any party that is in power or seemingly in power. That is the malignant cancer Bax mentioned above.
A different political and institutional dispensation is what our children deserve. Not a decadent system where your distance from the centre of power is the only instrument that determines your opportunities in life.
———————————————————————————————-
In my mind, this government has made no tangible achievement since coming into power, except change the clothing tastes of Ousainou and his underling Adama from simple attires to elaborately designed Kaftans and suits.
Oh, and three cars for every minister until there was a public outcry.
Their party has the majority in the NA, yet no legislative overhauls of the Jammeh era laws.
Our country is truly sinking! Little by little, but surely the Adama regime is creating two parallel societies just like we have witnessed under Dawda and to some extent under Yaya.
Lamin, I think Dr. SARR is mixing up two issues:-
1. Dr. is not a Historian but clearly a highly achieved African who expects Africa and Africans to uplift themselves BY THEMSELVES today. There we agree with Dr Sarr and as the Late Great Dr. Fanon said “Our Fate is in Our Own Hands”. I think we ALL agree on that.
2. Dr. Sarr’s mistake, I think, is to conflate the responsibilities we have to ourselves today with the undisputed historical FACTS of Slavery and Colonialism. Our ancestors fought that fight valiantly, but they have defeated, not by any cowardice or defect of character as Dr Sarr would have it, but by the WHITEMAN’S TECHNOLOGY – specifically the GUN. Of course there were tribes, such as the Fante in Ghana who assisted the Whiteman – but that is only because the Whiteman gave those he had caught the gun to go and attack those who do not have the gun OR ELSE. To this day the WHITEMAN gives advanced weapons to African criminals who he wants to use against Valiant African Warriors: France and the great Thomas Sankara are just one case in point.
3. Like I said here before, Africa will never be truly free UNTIL we are militarily strong enough to resist foreign forces. For example, all our former colonial powers to this day REMOVE militarily, openly or clandestinely, those African leaders who challenge WESTERN HEGEMONY. Trump is in North Korea to do just that; The US Congress tried to do just that in Ethiopia a month a ago – but we sidestepped them by chosing a UNIFYING Prime Minister.
I could go on and on …
@ 2 above, Patrice Lumumba and the Criminal Mobutu Sese Seko are also a case in point.
Agreed on all points 100%.
Dida, who wrote the “undisputed historical fact”you referenced. Please name the source. I personally will like to research the author/authors nationality and pedigree.
Thank you in advance.
Dr. SARR: If you told me, as a medical doctor that “HiV” (not the Whiteman) “causes AIDS” … I WILL ACCEPT it from you (though Babu Soli might not as he may wish to reference a South African President!). I would humbly ask you to take the “undisputed historical facts” as stated above from my humble self.
I would ask you and the readers one rhetorical question to help with the process of understanding:-
Why was the atom bomb good enough for USA and Britain but not for Russia and China (General MacArthur wanted President Ike to nuclear bomb China in 1952); why is the atom bomb good enough for Israel but not the Arabs, Iran or North Korea? Coming back home, why was the atom bomb good enough for Apartheid White South Africa but not good enough for Mandela’s “Independent” Black South Africa? (Mandela’s worst decision, in my humble view, was to de-nuclearize Black South Africa – Shaka Zulu must have turned in his grave).
Read Stuart Hall’s “the West and the Rest” for starters.
For god and heaven’s sake, get hold of your fear of black people and their realities. If you don’t wanna deal with it, that’s totally up to you but don’t try to rewrite our true history with a white ink.
Wow Lamin, Stuart Hall? I used to be on the Board of Tabernacle Community Centre in Notting Hill 25 years ago and we invited Stuart Hall to give us a talk. For my Black History teaching check this out – Mr Halake’s School 1.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a934IK2PN2A
I once came to teach African History, at an African school in Africa, with three sets of African written text-books: Prof. Gideon S Werre’s EAST AFRICA through a thousand years; WEST AFRICA through a thousand years; and SOUTHERN AFRICA through a thousand years. The African headteacher looked at me with utmost sympathy and said this:
“Mr. Halake, we are preparing our students for UK’s IGCSE syllabus”.
In other words, Lamin, I can teach African, Caribbean and Black American History in London, but I MUST teach European History in that African “International” School.
PS: I recently turned up at a London school to give a lecture – and the teacher was the small boy coming last into class in this video 24 years ago. Pure JOY.
Dr Isatou Sarr,
It’s sad that I have not been able to express myself vividly to get your understanding. I’m getting to know Dr Sarr, and appreciate your invaluable role/contribution on this forum, your humane touch on important issues. Thes have already gained my admiration and respect for the only credible sister we have here.
Take it slightly moderate with me. In as much I have excluded you from this trivial issue (not on any SEXIST notion), I am excluded myself. Basically on professional grounds. You aren’t a social scientist (though your opinions on the subject are succint and professional) nor is Babu is social scientist.
Sister, Babu has never engaged a White woman. My wife is FULA, Gambian, from the URR.
Yes, I agree with you. We are holding back, or better said moving backwards, because of US. For consuming, digesting and reproducing ALL that comes from THERE. The THERE that has tortured us, belittled us, subjugated us, humiliated us, downtroddened us so long and continues to.
When will we CRY FREEDOM?
Babu, I needn’t add more as Dr Sarr has more than adequately spoken for me.
However, I’d say that Dr Sarr is more often than not on message and is not looking for windows of opportunity in the Gambian world of jockeying for clout or being heard in the context of DAHUM GINAARR, WAHALEH SA SOHLA (Wolof). What Bajaw labels JALO SINGO BEH FORANGO TO (Manding).
At least Dr Sarr isn’t looking to get a foot in the door anywhere that I know of or looking to be in the good books of powers that be! Tells it like it is and doesn’t get excited about the proverbial carrot dangled in the face!
My two cents.
OK Dr, head to the back room to do some HOHH MBEYL/KAAJO courtesy of Andy. Smile.
This particular Africans MOBILIZED against an invading white 30,000-man army with 8 Generals (not pirates). The Africans annahilated the “European Power’s” Army at the Battle of Adowa in 1896 – and remained a free nation. We were helped also helped by our mountainous terrain – apart from the claim that we are “indepependent” and “wild”!
Sambagate Snr (Facebook).
Proceedings of the Philological Society,
Fleet Street, London, 14th February 1847
“The Galla, with the usual pride of wild and independent nations, call themselves exclusively ORMA, i.e. ‘men’, ‘the people’ and an individual among them is ILMAN ORMA i.e. “a son of” or “one of the people” – corresponding literally with the Arabic IBN-EL-NAS i.e. “gentilis, well-born, free”. He calls his language AFAN ORMA i.e. ‘the people’s tongue”
Dida Halake’s note:
171 years later, the people are the OROMO and their language is Orominya. They make up 40-50% of the population of Ethiopia and a significant minority in Kenya (the Borana).
To understand slavery, it’s not enough to just have images of emaciated gun touting white men in shorts suffering from dysentery. This conjured mental picture by Dr. Sarr is the fallacy sold around by ignorant white supremacists and the enemies within our midst who have sold their souls to the white man.
It’s not our responsibility to educate white people about black history, blackness and how that has given rise to whiteness, white privileges and an anti-black world thriving on a materialistic and a libidinal economy that was created at the expense of hundreds of millions of black bodies and the natural resources of continent Africa.
—————————————
But it’s our responsibility to teach and educate black people like Dr. Sarr who are adamant that slavery and colonialism was our fault. Such people are allergic to any voicing of black radical thought, black radical movements, black radical organizations etc, for they deem those “evils” as dangerous to their privileges handed down to them by a white system that can only survive on the perpetual suppression of black people. Their’s is a cry for help, for understanding, for empathy, for compassion, for knowledge and wisdom.
————————————
Let’s go back to the origins of European slave hustling in Africa for some context and to expose the lie that we are naturally willingly submit to bondage and commandeering.
A science (pseudo science) called eugenics was the foundation for the Atlantic slave trade (how I hate the term trade; as if there is a specific monetary or material value one could attach to human life).
Eugenics has its foundations in Germany. But it was first the Portugese and the Spaniards who transported Africans through the Atlantic ocean.
Before then, Western Europeans were enslaving predominantly Eastern Europeans and Indians for bonded work. The question then becomes: Why did they turn to Africa?
They turned to Africa because finally they can usescience to justify the sub-humanness of black people through eugenics.
More on the genesis of the AST at another time.
————————————-
But here are some features of the white savagery perpetrated in a span of FIVE HUNDRED YEARS.
First, being captured as a slave in the hands of the beastial Europeans means an automatical deprivation of an own identity. The moment one is in these dreaded chains, the only language the Europeans then speak is the crack of the whip, and the African black slave can only murmur to him or herself as they grimace in pain. A pain that is both physically and psychologically traumatizing as no other people has gone through. Isatou, am trembling as I type these factual historic events. You can continue to trivialize it in the name of free speech and freedom of thought.
But do me a favor and ask your self you are being just to the memory of those who loose their lives (more than three hundred million blacks) as slaves and those who have fought against it and pay the ultimate price.
You can exercise your freedom of speech today, slaves were not even allowed to speak their languages to each other talk less of a freedom to speak their opinions.
To be a slave also means taking a forced journey where there will never be a return to what you and I will call home. So their longings become home to them. These longings are expressed in music genres like reggae, blues, jazz, tap dance and stories that we will never got to hear or know. Still ask yourself one more question: how much money is the white establishment making from the music genres I have mentioned? Get to a rough figure and know that it’s coming from black suffering. Now you see the relationship between slavery and the libidinal economy I talked about earlier?
Even if you understand it a little, we are on a good footing for a start.
To be continued…………
———————————–
Yours in the service of The Gambia and Africa, I remain.
Lamin,
Noted.
Grim reaper,
if noted, then I’d say spread the word. grins and much black love ❤️.
Off topic,
Are there any more members interested in this foundation that I am trying to create?
I’m looking for 13 members in total, who will be the founding members, all members will have voting rights, once we have the 13 founding members, we will move off this forum, to a more secure channel.
Bear in mind we will need a Kickstarter (self-funding) initially.
We have Andy(thank you) on board so far.
All decisions will be decided by voting
Great idea. Tell us more.
Again to Doctor Sarr with ❤❤❤
————————————–
We will take power only if you and I and Bax and Bajaw and Andy and Dida and Babu and Tagel and Jack and Bourne and all the brothers and sisters out there will embrace each other in the believe that the black unity needs all its people and brains and bodies and souls to thrive and succeed as a people. White people will not do it for us. In fact they are blind and deaf to our suffering.
Recognizing that black individual lives are historically intricately linked and our destiny is connected to that collective past plus what we make out of the present, is our only guarantor that we will not be socially and culturally annihilated.
So let us unite and trod on!
@ Dida,
Anti blackness has not only permeated the white psychology, the black psyche is also poisoned with it. You don’t need to look far. This phenomenon is a product of a racialized world.
I will have a look at the YouTube video when am home later.
Africa I’d in fact argue should be the battle ground for awareness about our histories, our cultures etc. The white man has already done the damage to minds and beliefs of many already. It’s a tough job but we can’t afford the mistake of leaving it to those who believe that it was the stupidity and greed of our fore fathers that led to slavery and colonialism.
//////////////////////////////////////////////////
Have a blessed day.
Bob Marley “Free your mind”, Garvey “Up you mighty race!”, W. E. B. Dubois, Angela Davis, Biko, Winnie, Fanon, Ali, X, Nkrumah, King, etc etc etc. What more can we say Lamin?
As a young girl, while visiting an African country with my parents, I met a brilliant man from Guyana who wrote a fantastic book “How Europe underdeveloped Africa” (get a copy please before you pen anything else about Africa) – His name is Walter Rodney. At that young age, I was a able to recognize that he was a literary giant on paper, actually bigger in person. There is a difference between reactionary attitude towards African history and understanding, and a serious analysis of our existence/survival, how we got where we are and most importantly the way forward. For all those who insist on writing about what they have no knowledge, at least read a dynamic piece of literature written by a Black Man with extensive knowledge of our history and momentum towards self reliance as opposed to self pity.
Dr Sarr,
Walter Rodney was actually here in Notting Hill – and was a teacher at Dar University in Tanzania. We all have read his book and grew up with it. More to the point, EVERYTHING you have said above is CONTRARY to what the great man wrote in that book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What is contrary:
Is it momentum towards self reliance?
Disdain for self pity? or
Concise telling of history without reactionary rhetoric.
Once you tell me that, then we can both dissect the body of the book and let sharp minds infer true intent.
Dida, Have we ALL read the book? but more importantly how many comprehend and understand the information.
Well well well……….I think it will be time to call it quits with you, Doc. You cannot be healed from your white malady. You can continue to live in your world of fantasies and privileges, yet that won’t change FACTS that neither belong to you no to me.
——————————–
If you have truly read “How Europe Under Developed Africa” by Walter Rodney, then you need to go back and reread it because there are gaping holes in your understanding of African and black history.
And you know what? I honestly think you are faking it and you haven’t read a page of that magnificent book.
Anybody who has seriously engaged with Walter Rodneys work will not spit out such ignorant and insulting comments as you did.
And stop bragging about meeting, knowing and interacting with this and that personality. Nobody really cares about that. If you can’t add substance to the black cause, it doesn’t matter to us if you have met and wined and dined with MLK himself.
There are a few here who have lunched with presidents, ministers, actors and actresses, famous writers etc. They never go on brandishing that in the face of villagers like me.
Lamin don’t be so sensitive. Don’t take offense. In Gambia villagers can be president too. Ask Adama. We are all equal. No bragging just facts of my experience. No apologies either.
Dr Isatou Sarr,
I read Walter Rodney’s book “How Europe Underdeveloped Africa” over 25 years ago. It is one of the most elucidating pieces that one should read to get in touch with the reality/ies of our backwardness. However, Rodney didn’t make mention of Africa/African self pity but instead gave a succint background to the European intrusion into our welfare that halted and degenerated our progress.
Also read Frantz Fanon’s “The Wretched of the Earth” or Dr Kwame Nkrumah’s “Consciencism”
The current Ugandan President, Yoweri Musoveni’s book ( I bought it in Kampala in 1994) read it through during my stay at Makere but lost the book in Brussels on transit to Amsterdam. It’s a masterpiece as well.
Read Alex Haley’s “Roots” compare it to the “Pilgrim Fathers” and visit Jufureh village in our beloved Gambia, Jufureh Island (James Island or SandiMunku Joyeto) and Goree off Dakar.
Then you will come in touch (real touch, in soul, blood and flesh) with the African/Black Renaissance period and struggle!!
I like this style of Babu’s writing but for your last sentence. You are instructive. Much better than your condescending write ups about Barrow’s administration and blind support for Yahya.
Keep it up and lets focus and talk more about our collective responsibility to educate one another and develop our motherland.
Still going to slap you senseless when I see you, but don’t worry you are in good company with Lamin, and now Dida.
Dr Sarr, everything you have said makes one believe that Walter Rodney (RiP) got the title of his book wrong. If we accept Dr Sarr’s arguments, the book should be titled HOW AFRICANS UNDER-DEVELOPED AFRICA!
You mean “How Africans colluded with Europe to under-develop Africa”.
Bravo Dida, I made that same point several years ago to an audience at a book club.
God, you are unbelieveable Doctor! No, I mean you got Walter Rodney thesis completely wrong (assuming you read the book!). Now you say: “How Africans colluded with Europe to under-develop Africa”. OMG! That is YOUR view Doctor, NOT Walter Rodneys and not mine or Lamin’s or Babu’s!
So, Dr, your view being “How Africans colluded with Europe to under-develop Africa”, why did you mention Walter Rodney AT ALL because that is NOT his view?
Doc you make me very angry and at the same time laugh. I cannot be sensitive about coming from the village. For your info, I cherish hailing from where I come from. It’s called Badibu.
—————————————————————————————————————-
Now to more substantive matters.
I am seriously contemplating not engaging you in conversations of this nature anymore. I could use the energy for more fruitful engagements. This is as a result of me realizing that you are a bourgeoise who can easily contaminate the work of true black liberators.
Wait a moment, who fed you this bull crap about collusion between the marauding savages and black people? Stop victim blaming dude. In your view, if a woman is raped and murdered because she was said to have dressed in a sexually provocative way, will it not be her fault that she dressed as such and why didn’t she fend off her attacker(s)? You see the illogicality of your argument? Or you still blinded by your white narratives.
Should that be the case, I will say we part company here.
@Grim reaper,
I am at least ready to listen to what you have in mind. So count me in up to that point.
Much respect ✊ for initiating something.
Respect to you Lamin.
Andy and Lamin,
11 to go.
So y’all want to tell us that Africans must read Frantz Fanon, Walter Rodney, Alex Hailey, Houari Boumedienne, Mwalimu Nyerere and a host of authors to find our Africanness?
True that books open windows in the mind and that this forum is for sharing knowledge and perspectives but the foregoing arguments may be misplaced.
Our Africanness is innate and not so hard to find but we invariably water the trait down where we Africans choose to live the life of a white man as we have done from when African nations attained “independence” from the colonialist. Here’s the wrench in the works in our “renaissance” if any.
We don’t have to look very far for points of reference or perspectives to guide our thinking and/or mindset as have them all about us, lived them and immersed in them from childhood. However, we still eschew our own ways in favor of extraneous cultures. We simply refuse to acknowledge our own failings period and in so doing don’t find reason(s) to correct anything.
Don’t we all recall the song that goes, “my poor parents worked, from sun up till sun down…now they’re underground”. In the eyes of most African “elite”, parents and family working the fields is indeed a sign of backwardness while we neglect the fact that the African-American journey is quite different from ours (in the interest of brevity). There’s nothing dishonorable about parents working from sun up till sun down to take care of family for now we also know that it’s good for our overall well-being.
We love to offer sermons on development and the “ideal” way forward but we fail to listen to each other for shared perspectives. All the while keen on finding fault with the other party’s narrative.
What happened to kids that grew up in nomadic and animist cultures in Africa? They didn’t die off in droves, did they? Only became stronger and rose to become Doctors and College Professors!
Maybe we shouldn’t be drafted so early into Quranic school or Bible study so we can all work to find out Africanness without prejudice!
Call this a rant if it fits the call.
My two cents.
Grim Reaper, I have found a replacement for your pen name.
I’d like you to consider the name, TILLY BO for sunrise in Mandinka. Also can be taken for a new dawn.
With an “i”, TILLI BO. The “y” as in Andy makes it sound toubabish. Just a thought Andy!
I’ve moved to quick,
Later I’ll change it from the letter Y to I
It’s a very humble name.
Thank you.
So you’d prefer Arabic or Amharic characters Luntango?
Amharic will do nicely Andy, though Doctor mighty object vehemently and insist on Latin.
Roman characters will do just fine. What Dida is alluding to is called Aufbau-Ausbau. Meaning building on what’s already there but keeping it distant for autonomy.
@Andy: I think you are really creative in and with our languages. Brilliant idea for Grim reaper if he so chooses.
——————–
I wanna do away with Lamin.
Any suggestions?
Mwalimu would be apt for you Lamin – since you have taken on the Herculean task of educating Dr.
I have a feeling Doc. is not willing to learn. She prefers to live in her comfort zone.
Oh no!
Keep the Lamin as it’s a name that carries a lot of meaning to it.
And Luntango, Lamin being the humble Nyankatang Domolaa that he is would object to the name Mwalimu.
I bet that he wouldn’t object to the pen name, Kunkiling Taamalaa on account of his independent spirit. I was once labeled that Lamin.
I’m waiting to offer someone the name, DOMORR FODAY. Fit for a Badibunka.
Your laugh of the day!
Andy you got me on that one. You don’t wanna hear he laugh out loud as I read this.
Yes, but I have already settled for Mwalimu.
One, I love it. And two I’d like to remember that Dida gave me that name.
Thanks for the laugh mate.
My pleasure Tilly Bo.
And don’t let our Luntango call the shots here. I’ll bet that he has a longer name but chooses to go with Dida for ease of pronunciation.
Where one wants to be philosophical about an African name, a lot of meaning can be found. Tilly for the sun. Think about the benefits that the sun brings mankind.
Dida is common amonst the Oromo Andy, see the song TO ME on Sambagate Snr (Facebook) – I have changed the title of the song from Dida Galgallo to Dida Halake.
Y’all may remember that the names Baba Galleh, Neneh Galleh, Naa Tomaa, Fanding, Cherno, Pape and Ndey aren’t real names.
Right?
Wrong! It’s a false doctrine of Islam and Christianity that we Black people have to change our names to suit the egomaniac missionaries hunger for power and control over us.
This is how nearly all native black African names are disappeared by the scoundrels.
Will we be able to reclaim our glorious past? Kung Kiling taala, what do you think?
Lol, love it but why don’t you ask Dr Elizabeth Sarr?
Where is ELIMU (aka Babu Soli)?