Gambian Leader Lashes Out At NEPAD for Being Irrelevant

In his New Year message on Monday night, the Gambian leader, Yahya Jammed restated his opposition to the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD), describing it as being “dead and buried.”

Jammeh also said that from its inception, NEPAD was designed to offset an earlier suggestion by some African leaders for African countries to put up 10 per cent of their GDP in a fund which would have sufficient amounts to finance their needs for development.

Stressing that NEPAD has “no legs, no direction,” he said it was rather in the interest of the people who created it to have African states indebted and perpetually bound to them.

On domestic issues, President Jammeh announced with effect from 1 January, 2008, a 20% salary increase “across the board” for all civil servants in The Gambia.

He however warned that there would be no compromise as “I would be stricter than I have ever been in any time of my life. You either deliver or you go,” adding that “we must all work together as Gambians to develop the nation” as there is no time for idling.

He said 2008 should be a year of hard work, patriotism and meaningful involvement in national development.

The announcement of the salary increase came after he stated that The Gambia now stands to benefit from debt relief after reaching completion point for the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative. He also noted that “as we commence the New Year ‘fraught with challenges’, we stand together.”

Jammeh called on all to work together, build upon and monitor what has been achieved and he stressed the need to nurture a peaceful environment for the rule of law.

He decried the notion of the opposition asking for a court injunction against legislative measures which gave the president the powers to dissolve local government councils and replace them with interim administrative committees saying that “This is democracy and the majority carries the vote.”

He called for a change of attitude towards local government representatives saying that people should take them seriously when choosing those who should represents them at the local council elections on January 24, as the councilors bring local services to meet their needs.

Source African Press Agency

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