Mustapha K. Darboe
In the last couple of years, Gambia has been severely affected by inflation. The figure, though going down, was at 10% as of January, according to the Central Bank of the Gambia.
In the past week, the bakers across the country have announced that they are going to increase the price of bread by D3. They blame rising inflation as a factor.
The news brought food commodity price inflation back in the news as negotiations began between the bread bakers and the government.
Claim 1
In an interview with Peter Gomez on West Coast Radio, the lawmaker for Foni Kansala, Almameh Gibba, had his say on the ongoing conversation. Gibba suggested that while President Adama Barrow failed to control prices of basic commodities, ex-president Yahya Jammeh had succeeded in keeping prices down during his tenure.
“We have seen that they have failed woefully in (controlling) price… When (ex-president Yahya) Jammeh left, a bag of rice was around D800 to D950. In the eight years of (President Adama) Barrow, it is D2250 to D2300…It is alarming,” Gibba said at the 11th minute of the interview with WCR. Watch Below:
Fact-check
Neither under Jammeh nor under Barrow was Gambia ever in a position to control the price of rice, as its best performance— according to the Ministry of Agriculture— has seen a production of only 19% of the country’s rice needs. Only about 46, 000 of 275, 257 tons of rice Gambians consume are produced locally.
When Jammeh came to power, a bag of rice was hovering around D150. By the time he left, the price— depending on the variety one desires— was hovering between D950 to D1400.
Public records have shown that as of February 2016— about ten months before Jammeh was voted out— the price of American rice was between D1050 to D1, 150 for a 50kg bag. A Foroyaa newspaper publication shows it even shot up to D1200 a bag as of 2015, though it came down later. The D50kg bag of Sadam rice was going for D1400.
The cheapest, less popular varieties such as the red and pink bags of Pakistani rice were going for D950 and D1000 at some places.
Verdict: Not only was it false to suggest that the price of a bag of rice was between D800 to D950, it was misleading to suggest that Jammeh controlled its price under his 22–year rule.
Claim 2
In the same interview (watch video below from 19 minutes), the Foni Kansala lawmaker claims the rebel ambush near Ballen in which 2 soldiers lost their lives was caused by Senegalese based in Bwian.
“…I don’t hear activists in the country talking about what had heralded the full-force hitting of Macky Sall (attack) in the border region. It was caused in the Gambia. Those in the Bwiam checkpoint were the ones who pursued a lorry to Kappa and Ballen. The people of Ballen told them where you are headed is a rebel zone… It was the Senegalese soldiers in Foni who caused that terrible war. This was why Macky came in an all-out war with the help of Adama Barrow.”
Fact–check
One of the longstanding security issues between Senegal and Gambia is the latter’s complicity in smuggling of illegal rosewood from Casamance for export to China. Former President Jammeh and his company, the Westwood, were a huge beneficiary of this illegal trade which ravaged the forest cover of Senegal’s south.
Senegal considers illegal timber smuggling as one of the major sources of funds for the rebels. When Jammeh was voted out, part of the immediate strategy of the Senegalese administration was to have a good security presence in Gambia to ensure an end to the rosewood trade. Several thousand tons of confiscated timber were later sold in a joint operation between Senegal and Gambia.
In 2018 — about 2 years after Jammeh was voted out— former Senegalese president Sall brought his ambitions to stop illegal rosewood trade to a joint meeting with President Barrow. The two leaders signed a communique— which was also a joint security cooperation— to work together to end rosewood trafficking.
Thus, the soldiers who were killed were not just pursuing a lorry. They were pursuing a truck believed to be carrying illegal rosewood cut from Senegal only for the driver to lead them into a rebel ambush. And the soldiers were merely implementing the policy of the Sall government which was agreed to by the Gambia government.
Verdict: The comment was misleading as it left out several vital pieces of information necessary to understand the reason for the deployment and the reason for the pursuit of the truck which led soldiers into an ambush.
