Vision 2016 or Delusion 2016 – Anti-Rice Importation Policy.
By: PPP Media.
Dictator Yaya Jammeh is attempting to re-invent the Economic wheel… You are all hereby forewarned! The rob Peter and pay Paul, monkey work and baboon chop economic policies have failed for all to see now. In the last budget speech of 2014, even the finance minister had admitted as much, but that has not stopped Jammeh from throwing more parties to celebrate illusionary or delusional achievements. The recent Economist article on The Gambia authoritatively confirms that, it’s bad management of the economy, directly tied to the policies of Jammeh, that is causing Gambians so much pain and suffering. ( http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21641261-gambias-financial-woes-do-not-portend-african-public-debt-crisis-not)
Numbers don’t lie, but liars do, and we all agree that Jammeh is a compulsive and continental liar …. But I digress…..
My friends there are certain truths or facts about developmental economics, about basic economics, even the lay person can understand. For 30 years, the PPP administration employed free market economic policies which made Gambia the envy of the whole West African sub region. The Gambia was called the Supermarket of West Africa for good reason, and the Dalasi was strong enough to be accepted on the world market. The PPP administration created the environment, through well -thought out plans, for ordinary citizens to thrive, importing goods at reasonable cost because of the strong dalasi, and re-exported across the region.
The so-called No-Rice Import or Vision 2016, is an economic policy that has been tried before and has failed in developing countries across the world. The policy itself may sound nationalistic, but it is very misguided, and can actually spell doom for the Gambia. The policy simply means that Dictator Jammeh will order or decree that rice – the most important food product – will no longer be imported, or will be severely restricted through tariffs or quotas. The idea behind these restrictions is to make the imported rice prohibitively expensive, thus less attractive to local consumers who are already struggling. Jammeh’s hope is that Kanilai Farms, will take over production of what was previously imported. The only way to achieve this outcome and keep prices comparatively low, or competitive is to heavily subsidize its cost of production. The restrictions do not guarantee quality or affect people’s taste and desire to acquire products that may become a luxury.
These products will still find their way into the country, through smuggling especially. Over time, the government will struggle to maintain those subsidies because of the high cost of inputs, the difficulty in reaching economies of scale, and natural factors beyond the government’s control. Also, because of the weak Dalasi, those inputs become more and more expensive pushing the price of rice higher. Jammeh’s plans are to have his family businesses dominate, control and run this policy to benefit them. This No-Rice Import policy is called Import Substitution Industries (ISI) in economics. Many African countries, including Senegal, tried hybrid versions of it, including promoting local industry, but it neither brought them independence or development, while prices remained high, and product quality was poor. Now you know why Senegalese came to Gambia to buy products that were domestically made, such as fabrics, sugar, cement and shoes (Slippers or Charakh).
Where are the so-called Gambian intellectuals, or elite working for the junta, to tell him that he is walking off an economic cliff! Gambia does not have the capacity, nor the capital to independently sustain this misguided policy over a long period of time. Jammeh will have to borrow money to keep it going, and we will never know the true costs or outcomes as to whether it has actually improved our quality of life. Jammeh is scared of numbers, statistics, that is why he never allows program evaluations, and won’t even for a census (just saying). A census is one of the most important tools in deciding social policy and the fair allocation of resouces.
He would rather start another vision and call it 20/20, or “vision had I known” ! This policy is another window into Jammeh’s thinking. He has become afraid of the international system and trade. The weak Dalasi is making it impossible for local business people to import any goods and sell them at affordable prices. Jammeh’s family is the importer of all major commodities or goods now because they don’t pay taxes, another economic crime. Because of the weak Dalasi, Jammeh has been unable to reduce the price of petrol for Gambians, even though the global crude oil prices have plummeted some 40%, instead, as we go to press, on February 2, 2015, water and electricity prices are going up by some 2% . Petrol is what runs the economy, and make life bearable for people, Jammeh has failed to provide reliable supply of energy – electricity –for twenty years. I take that back,….except in Kanilai, where it is free at our expense. Another economic truth, you cannot impose development from the top, like a command economy, nor can you develop a nation while holding half of the people down, to elevate others.
It goes without saying that no country, especially Gambia, can develop without trade, period. Every country has a comparative advantage in producing something, to sell the surplus to the world in order to be able to acquire goods and services that you cannot produce efficiently. Therefore, as a country open to the outside for business, you need more trade, more markets, not less or fewer. Selectively closing your borders to some products is bad economic policy which will affect other industries, such as peanut production and export. Why force the hopeless youths to go back to the farm when they have no markets to sell their products,…when the Dictator’s bad governance, human rights record, and adversarial foreign policy, is turning the world against the country?.
Basic economics dictates that, if it’s cheaper to import rice or any product that is exactly what Gambia should do, and not engage in foolish and costly nationalism, twenty years late. The government needs to create the free market environment, through responsible policies, where people on their own, can afford the basic necessities of life without sacrificing their wealth and limb to the government! Don’t you think? Just saying…
The Vision 2016 or shall we call it Delusion 2016, is the biggest confiscation, largest land grab, nationalization, and transfer of wealth ever, from poor farmers to the Jammeh regime and family holdings (KGI). The only source of assets and wealth for Gambians, especially, farmers, is ancestral lands or plots. These pieces of fixed assets can always be converted into needed cash in times of emergency or need, either to invest in business, build a new home, pay for the education of their children, or simply to travel. These lands can also be bequeathed to future generations as wealth. Yaya Jammeh has no understanding of the land tenure system, and cares less about the fundamental pillar of capitalism, which is the private ownership of property and capital. He has tried and failed to impose development from the top, now he has realized, twenty years later, his subjects are starving and getting thinner , and sicker by the day, so he concocted this visual and illusion to create rice fields to rival those of Thailand, Japan, or Malaysia, but our land is not as blessed with water! If this policy is not reckless and irresponsible, I don’t know what is.
What happened to the evaluations and budgets of the past Visions? What other Visions can we expect in the future? How about the Vision to provide reliable, dependable, affordable, evenly distributed, energy supply, the driving force behind development and capitalism? The only place enjoying uninterrupted supply of energy is Kanilai, at our expense, while major industrial areas are left wanting….Need I say more? I rest my case…The PPP will continue to link Jammeh’s bad and misguided economic policies, which do not discriminate, to our suffering. You and I are having to send more of our hard earned moneys to families back in Gambian just so they can maintain a modicum of dignity. The PPP will continue to make the case that change and an opposition coalition are past overdue.
Please Share on Facebook, Like us, donate, or inbox us to join the PPP. Please come back for more, …because we got a lot more from where that came from. There is no slow or bad news day with Yaya Jammeh. ..
By PPP Media (Forwarded by Mr. Kebba Samateh, Atlanta, Georgia).