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Gambia News : Gambian president opens 2010 legislative year
Gambian President Yahya Jammeh, has said that the attain ment of Vision 2020 remains the central focus of his administration's socio-economic development, saying that half of the targets set in the programme had been attained.
Speaking at the official opening of Gambia's legislative year 2010, the Gambian leader pledged to put in place concrete plans to monitor performance and progres s with a view to achieving 2020.
By all standards, including the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), President Jammeh said government had made significant progress in socio-economic developmen t with particular reference to macro-economic stability, health, education, infrastructure, water and electricity.
'For the achievement of Vision 2020, my government shall introduce a national development plan that I call the 'Programme for Accelerated Growth and Employment (PAGE)'," President Jammeh said.
He said the primary objective of PAGE was to fast-track the realization of Vision 2020, adding that this was intended to plan the economy with a more concerted effort to ensure a higher growth trajectory above the 5 per cent GDP growth registered in 2009 and even higher than the 7 per cent growth recorded in 2006.
The Gambian leader said attention must be refocused to improve the livelihood of Gambians, noting that this was predicated on a sound economic management, good governance, positive national and international support.
He said that the government's fiscal policy that would support PAGE was the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), which is contained in the recently-introduced Public Finance Management reform policy.
According to him, "MTEF is intended to link development plan to the budget and usher in programme budgeting as opposed to line item budgeting that does not
itself readily to performance measurement.
Jammeh said the key element of MTEF was monitoring and evaluation which provide feedback that would justify continued allocation of resources.
He disclosed that the African Development Bank (AfDB), in its African Economic Outlook 2009, reported that The Gambia was the only country in the whole of Afric a expected to achieve seven items under the MDGs.
On foreign policy, President Jammeh said that the government would continue to p ursue an open-door, non-discriminatory policy in relations to the rest of the world, based on the principles of justice, equality, non-alignment, mutual trust and respect.
'We will continue with our zero tolerance to hate, racism, double standards, and gun-boat diplomacy in the resolution of conflicts. We will maintain the polic y thrust of contributing effectively to international peace and cooperation. In the same vein, we condemn terrorism in all its forms, and shall continue to collaborate in all efforts to eliminate terrorism. We will also maintain a continuous and active participation in international and regional peacekeeping operations," hepledged.
President Jammeh disclosed that the Gambian government would continue to engage in friendly contacts with the government of the sister republic of Senegal for a more collaborative and peaceful coexistence, adding that talks between the two countries would culminate in the establishment of the Sene-Gambia Permanent Secretariat to further cement their strong bonds.
He emphasized that honesty and sacrifice were the core values for all Gambians, including public servants, and called on legislators to judiciously scrutinize all bills tabled before them with a view to adding value to them.
Jammeh said the judiciary was expected to enforce the law to deter criminality, especially crimes that create national discord or destroy the social fabrics of the Gambia such as murder, rape, drug peddling and subversion.
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