03/07/2022
WE DO NOT LACK INVESTORS, WE HAVE SHORTAGE OF HONEST PEOPLE IN THE GAMBIA.
I met an African - American lady living in The Gambia and we became friends for two years now. Narrating her experience to me, I felt ashamed as a Gambian.
This lady gave money to a carpenter to make a bed for her for the guest house. Apart from charging her an incredibly high price, he absconded with the money and never delivered the bed. The lady inform me about it and I advice her to go and report it to the police. It was even worst, they did almost nothing about it. Frustration overtook her and she let it go.
In another instance, she boarded a taxi and decided to keep in touch with the driver to ease her movement. After a few rides, the driver propose love to her and continue harassing the lady. A welderman she assign to do some works also propose to her. To her, no Gambian does a favor for her without proposing at some point.
She decided to start a business in The Gambia. A grocery store and a Maternal clinic. She is a practicing mid-wife and the idea to setup the clinic came due to the high rate of maternal mortality in the country, Her idea was to bring well-trained nurses from the USA to serve. The process to register was not only tiring for her but along the way so many people extort money from her and never delivered as promise. She let them all go without any legal action because she lost faith in the police. To her, when she deals with Gambians, they don't see her as their own but as a rich American lady. I will write for hours about her encounters and won't still exhaust.
Frustrated and feeling helpless, she is currently closing down all her businesses and thinking of leaving the country. My question is, how can we protect our investors from all these scams and unfair treatment?