Ever since the inception of the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD), President Yahya Jammeh had predicted the inevitable failure of NEPAD, as it is an institution created and imposed upon Africans by the Western powers. He has always foreseen its shortcomings, well before it kicked-off.

To this end, the confirmation by President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal that NEPAD has failed, is an attestation to the foresight of our visionary leader. President Jammeh predicted that NEPAD will fail, because it was not built on a genuine foundation and his prophecy has come to pass.

President Jammeh has once again proven critics wrong. During the inauguration of the said partnership, several criticisms were levied against his decision not to join NEPAD. Fears were raised that The Gambia would lose economically if it did not join, but today the President has been proven right.

If after all these years, President Wade could confess that the true concept of NEPAD is yet to be understood and that there is a need to convene a regional meeting in Dakar to revisit the whole thing, then there is ample evidence that not much homework had been done prior to the signing of the agreement.

Gone are the days when we Africans had to take things at face value. Not all that glitters is gold. We should scrutinise programmes coming from the West in the name of development for the African continent; weigh the pros and cons before implementing them.

Since NEPAD was modelled on the form of the European Union, it was doomed to fail because those who spearheaded the setting up of NEPAD failed to take into consideration the environmental differences that exist in Africa and Europe, ranging from socio-economic, geo-political and cultural differences.

NEPAD was bound to be a fiasco from the onset. Some obeservers even believed that NEPAD was hastily and prematurely hatched.

For NEPAD to work and for any continental institution to work, the people must be fully aware and be fully involved. The problem with African unity has always been the lack of participation of the masses. When continental bodies like NEPAD are being created, it is absolutely neccessary that Africans are sensitised and made to understand the importance of such institutions so as to make it their own creation rather than have them imposed upon them from outside.

In conclusion, it is fitting to say that President Jammeh has once again been proven right, both nationally and internationally, thus demonstrating his leadership qualities as a visionary.