Dr Mohammed Ibun Chambers, President of the Ecowas Commission who is currently in the country on a working visit has commended the government and people of The Gambia for recording an impressive economic performance and achieving all the four Ecowas convergence criteria.

The top Ecowas official made these revelations yesterday in an interview with newsmen soon after his audience with Dr Aja Istou Njie-Saidy, Vice-President and Secretary of State for Women’s Affairs in her office at State House.

According to him, “if one look at the fundamentals, The Gambia is on the solid part: economic reforms are deepening, inflation rate has come down substantially and deficits narrowed,” citing that The Gambia has achieved all the four primary convergence criteria for Ecowas. “The Dalasi is appreciating visa vie the Dollar and the Pound Sterling. These are all signals of good economic governance which must be continued, and we commend the government and people of The Gambia for this very impressive economic performance. This will greatly help in deepening the process of integration in West Africa. We appreciate The Gambia’s deep commitment to integration and we want to see The Gambia to continue to provide this good example,” he said.
According to Dr Chambers, at the last meeting of the Convergence Council, The Gambia was one of the two countries that had achieved all the four convergence criteria, describing it as good leadership and a very good example. He, on behalf of the Ecowas Commission commended and encouraged The Gambia to keep up the momentum.

He also urged the government to continue to provide this leadership and example on good economic management, which is necessary for Africa’s fight against poverty and to create job opportunities for the youths.

“The economic reform process needs to be deepened in our region, alongside the good strides we are making in peace and security and the development of the democratic culture and tradition in West Africa,” he said.

Asked to express his point of view on continental integration, which was the agenda at the just concluded AU Ghana Summit, Dr Chambers emphasised that, he was “one of those who came out of the meeting feeling very optismistic about Africa, because in his own view, that meeting was a rallying point for all African leaders. And for the people to see that Africa’s future is in pooling our resources together and working collectively to ensure that we can build a strong viable continent and give dignity to African people”.

He then noted that “what was very encouraging was that, this time around, in contrast to 1963, when some African governments who did not believe in African integration and were opposed to the ideas of Kwameh Krumah, who wanted to see Africa unite and stand as one strong continent, this time around, the reference point of all Heads of State without exception, was Kwameh Nkrumah and his ideas. So to me, we have come a long way. What we need to do now is to get serious about implementing our commitments- whether at regional or continental levels. We need also to be very precise on what should be done at each level. In other words, as we talk of integration, we have to understand that, there is shared responsibility.

At the country level, there are things that we need to do to deepen the integration. And at the regional level, there are commitments that we must take and implement. I believe this is the work that the task force that has been set up, is supposed to do. Let us define very precisely what needs to be done by the African Union? What are the tasks that we want to assign to? What is the mandate we want to give it?  Then at the regional level, let us also define a precise mandate for regional, economic and political communities and we make sure that when we set up regional organisations, we give them the means to be able to achieve the mandate we have assigned them. We must also appreciate that, ultimately, it is what member states do to anchor to support the integration process that will determine success or failure.

Therefore, at the national level, we must also be keenly aware of the responsibilities, the task that we have to undertake, and ensure that we play our role in implementing and domesticating continental and regional decisions and programmes so that Africa can continue to move forward as a united continent because our strength is our unity,” he emphasised.

The Ecowas Commission President then stated that, during his briefing with Vice-President Njie-Saidy, he had transmitted his greetings to President Jammeh and briefed Vice-President Njie Saidy on the issues of peace and security in West Africa, “which they have to be optimistic”.

He added that with the possible exception of Cote d’Ivoire, there are no longer active crises in West Africa which is very good. “Even in Cote d’Ivoire, good progress is being made in the peace process. So, we are witnessing our region making transitions from the period of crises now to a face where we are working to consolidate, to deepen democracy and concentrate on fighting poverty, development of our region and growing our economies, which is very good for the integration process. We need to work to create an open space in West Africa, allow our people to move about freely and harness the tremendous resources of West Africa to fight poverty, create job opportunities for our youths and prosperity for our people,” he concluded.

Dr Chambers was accompanied to State House, by Bai Ousman Secka, Permanent Secretary, Department of State for Foreign Affairs and Nuru Jobe, Finance and Administration Officer, Ecowas Zone One.