Dr. Ousman Gajigo, Economist formerly ADB
By Dr. Ousman Gajigo
Recently, the destruction of a part of the Salaji Forest to benefit a political patron of President Adama Barrow has been getting a lot of deserved attention. Taking a large segment of the few protected forest parks in the Kombos is a brazen act of elevating personal and political benefit over national interest.
The story about the Salaji Forest represents an intersection of two unfortunate trends under the Adama Barrow regime. The first one is not just the neglect of the environment as a sector but the acceleration of its destruction. The second issue is that of state capture by a few highly connected businessmen such as Hamidou Jah of Jah Oil and Abubakary Jawara of GACH.
The government issued a press release about the granting of theprotected land that made incoherent points about “expanding supply base”, “national priority” and Salaji supposedly being an “ideal location”. None of these points make any sense at all – in anything, they are insults to our collective intelligence. Expanding the supply base of basalt does not depend on that particular location in Salaji Forest park. The Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Natural Resources knows this but their disregard for the public is so high that they do not bother to craft even a plausible narrative.
The fact of the matter is GACH is a private business. Like all other private enterprises that need a base of operation, investment in a suitable site is one of the primary activities that the business must undertake from their own balance sheet. There is no shortage of businesses in Gambia that would greatly benefit from having a location in close proximity to the lucrative markets of the Greater Banjul area. But it is not the role of the government to subsidize a business. Especially when it involves a well-financed businessman destroying a protected forest in the process.
Mr. Abubakary Jawara is involved in numerous successful businesses in the country. The purchase of basalt, even when it was done by individual trucks from Senegal was profitable. There were several businesspeople who were buying basalt through individual trucks and storing the product in private locations and they remained profitable. None of these businesses received any assistance from the government in terms of being allocated public land – much more land in the few forest parks in the Kombos.
What’s more, Mr. Jawara’s business is supposed to buy basalt in bulk, which is presumably why he needs a large area. But that fact also means that this line of business face economies of scale, which should reduce the cost per unit relative to otherbusinesses that were buying basalt by individual trucks. Through his numerous income streams, Mr. Jawara should have no trouble buying land openly and cleanly in a private transaction without any government involvement beyond standard regulation enforcement. Purchasing or renting land in the private market should be part of his business expense, just like manyless fortunate Gambians had to do when they needed land for agriculture or other businesses.
The idea that an importer of basalt requires land allocation by the government is laughable. Furthermore, taking land from a protected forest park is a slap to the face of environmental protection and thousands of Gambians who actually need government help for a basic necessity such as a dwelling. To also claim that the allocation is “temporary” added insult to injury. The damage that will be created by GACH’s basalt operation may be mitigated at some level but cannot be reversed because he cleared an area of a protected forest reserve. This distinction is not immaterial.
To understand the level of disregard this government has for the environment, please consider the state of the Nyambai Forest. There is hardly any sustainable forest management practice there as trees are cut randomly and excessively. The Kiang West National Park is hardly known by any young person in The Gambia today because its safeguarding has not been a priority by this government. One could go on and on with regards to other nature reserves.
There are numerous areas in The Gambia today that are prime candidates for a nature park or reserve. Yet, to the extent that they exist today, it is in spite of this government rather than because of them. We are not talking about creating more reserves and parks but the simple task of safeguarding the few existing ones is proving to be a challenge. Why should that be difficult for the government of the day that actually cares about environmental protection?
To see any sustained activities in forestry management or tree planting, one needs to look at private initiatives. While there is a high degree of deforestation in the country, it is heartening to see youths and other local communities engaged in tree plantingannually. These private initiatives are the only hope for environmental safeguarding in The Gambia today.
I mentioned above that the allocation of a protected area of Salaji to GACH is the confluence of two unfortunate realities in the Adama Barrow’s regime. The other reality is that of state capture. I have written about the issue of state capture when it comes to Jah Oil, which was evident through the government’simplementation of a policy that was designed for the sole benefit of one company, Jah Oil. The government persisted in it even though it was evidently detrimental to the general consumer welfare since it drove out of business the competitors of the political benefactor of Adama Barrow. This Salaji Forest story is another prime example of similar state capture by AbubakaryJawara, the co-owner of GACH.
This is not the first time this businessman has been involved in a questionable business dealing where the role of the government is inconsistent with the national interest. Blatant political patronage between this businessman and Adama Barrow first came to light when the company was given an unusually lucrative contract of selling ore that was already mined. The Malagen newspaper did a thorough reporting of this arrangement. The terms of that arrangement are inexplicably far more lucrative than what is typical in a mining concession where the company involved did the actual mining. However, GACH did not undertake any mining before it was awarded that government contract to dispose of the ore, which was done in a non-transparent way. That whole arrangement was a picture-perfect demonstration of a political patron of the sitting president earning returns on his political investments.
It says a lot when a private businessman is launching a lucrativesale and he personally and publicly praises the president, while a high-level civil servant such as a permanent secretary stands by to echoes the businessman’s talking points. Such was the scene when GACH unveiled its basalt business. We have seen almost identical events play out during the cement crisis when the government forced out the competitors of Jah Oil.
The government did not care that their intervention in the cement market was detrimental to infrastructure investment and consumer welfare, as well as being antithetical to competition.Similarly, this unfair allocation to GACH is detrimental to competition and consequently to infrastructure development and the welfare of Gambian consumers. After all, does anyone believe that the next private individual interested in basalt importation but did not contribute to Adama Barrow and the NPP would be given a prime location free of charge? Would that company be able to compete with GACH on a level playing field?
The government and GACH need to do the proper thing by dissolving this arrangement. Both parties should contribute to re-planting the areas that was cleared. That is the least that is required. The environmental groups that have been tirelessly publicizing this badly conceived idea deserve our collective commendation and gratitude. We cannot all remain silent.