A Banker’s Guinea-Bissau Diary
By Yankuba Mamburay
The assassination of Guinea-Bissau’s two most powerful men, President Joao Bernardo Vieira and army chief of staff, General Tagme Na Waie, reminded me of a business trip I made to the country some years ago.
In 1999, while working for the Arab Gambian Islamic Bank Ltd. as its Investment Officer, I was part of a team sent to Guinea-Bissau to conduct a feasibility study of the Bissau-Guinean economy to determine the viability of establishing an Islamic Bank in that small West African country. During our stay we met with government officials and other stakeholders, performed reengineering analyses of the banking industry, and developed a methodology tot help us to analyze the business, operational and industrial environments of the country.
Our project team included Mr. Momodou M. Jobe, the Bank’s Investment Manager, Sheikh Ahmed Tijan Sylva, then Operations Officer, Mr. A. B. Njie, former Governor General of the Central Bank of The Gambia, who represented Sahel Investment as the outside consultant for the bank, and me. When we arrived in the evening, some government officials and businessmen met us at the country’s very small airport, and the sight of numerous military personnel confirmed the tense nature of the country at that time. While there was a period of calm in Guinea Bissau, one could easily sense the palpable tenseness of the political environment. During the time of our visit Nino Vieira had fled into exile and elections had already held and Koumba Yala had already won the November 28 election against Malan Becai Sanha, although he would not officially take over until February 2000. An interim government was in place pending the hand over to the duely elected party.
Riding to the city we saw the ravages of the war everywhere, especially in and around the capital, Bissau, where many of the major buildings were in ruin. We were shown a major flashpoint between the Senegalese forces and those of the late Army Chief of Staff, General Ansumana Mane, with destroyed military trucks and tankers lying idle. The government officials had already booked us into the Septembre Vingt’et Quarte hotel, which was a beautiful hotel, juxtaposed with General Ansumana Mane’s house. We were each checked into very expensive presidential suite and ordered very expensive dishes for dinner. It didn’t take us long to change the king-like treatment we were receiving because the bills were to be settled by our bank. The following day we checked out of the suites and into more affordable rooms. We only stayed for one week but it was a very busy week with daily schedules organised from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM.
We woke up early the following morning and started TO hold meetings and discussions, and researching various departments, including the Ministry of Economic Planning, the Central Bank (BCEAO), the Chamber of Commerce, the Fisheries Department, etc. We were offered a driver and Land Cruiser SUV by one of the top businessmen of the country, Alhaji Jakite whose driver, Fati, and the vehicle were at our disposal during our entire stay. I was appalled to learn that there was technically only one bank in the whole country, as the second one was a subsidiary of first. In fact, the only bank, which played a prominent role, was BCEAO (Bank Centrale des Etats se l’Afrique de l’Ouest – Central Bank of West African States).
During this time the only generally accepted means of exchange was the CFA Franc, since the peso had been eliminated. This explained why the business community was so hungry to have a vibrant banking industry. During our meeting with the business community they lamented upon the uselessness of the banking sector and expressed the need for us to establish a bank in Guinea-Bissau. They explained to us that their only bank had a complete monopoly, which made it very ineffective. For example, when one needed to withdraw a huge sum of money, at least a one day’s advance notice had to be given to the bank and sometimes, even with notice, the bank would say they had no funds. When the question was posed to them as to whether they would be able to fund the capital requirement to set up a bank so that they could be shareholders, I was amazed by the overwhelming affirmative response. At least two businessmen pledged to buy US $1 million worth of shares and several others pledged to buy several hundred thousand US dollars worth of shares. I began to wonder how these people managed to have such huge amounts of money under the circumstances.
The following day we paid a visit to country’s biggest market, the Bande. Several men and women were busy trading a variety of items, from foodstuffs to clothing to building materials. One side of the market was in a sorry state of dilapidation, bombarded by artillery shellfire and we were told that several people had been killed on that spot. The general mood in the country was however, very optimistic. The elections which had just been held were relatively peaceful and everyone was looking forward to a fresh start.
On our fifth day we travelled to the hinterlands, all the way to Bafata and Gabu. One thing I observed in Guinea-Bissau was that the road situation was the opposite of most poor countries. In most developing countries, the roads are better around the capital city and the urban areas than in the rural areas. In Guinea-Bissau, it was the opposite, with the road networks outside the capital and the provinces being very good. However, cars could hardly move around in the capital. We held a meeting with the business community in Bafata. Thereafter, we proceeded to Gabu. The government personnel handling our affairs were very good at organizing, for we always found that our hosts were already informed in advance, wherever we went. Gabu nestles close to both Guinea Conakry and Senegal, and I loved this commercial district. I was surprised that most of the goods bought and sold in the markets there were either Gambian products (from Sankung Sillah’s soaps to Armanti Mayonnaise) or brought in by Gambian businessmen. We met many Gambians there. I felt very much at home in Gabu as the markets looked so much like those of The Gambia.
By our second day in the country Sylva and I (I was the youngest in the team, then Sylva) knew our way around the city. We discovered one restaurant owned by a Senegalese woman and, from that point onwards, we took our dinner in her restaurant. We loved her Benechin, domoda, Super Kanja, and Plasas very much and they made our stay much better.
The day before we left, we were taken to a big cashew plantation. We had already visited many other production centers including the fisheries sector just by the Atlantic Ocean. This cashew plantation was a huge one. It was during this visit that I learnt that many of the cashew nuts marked “produced in India” were actually produced in Guinea-Bissau. They were only roasted and packed in India. Indians used to bring tons of rice and exchanged each bag of rice for a bag of cashew nuts.
On our last day in Guinea-Bissau we had a very light schedule. One very important thing about by trip to the country was the extremely positive impression I left with. Prior to my visit I had a very negative perception of the place and only associated its name with war. After my trip, I felt that if only it could maintain peace and stability, Guinea-Bissau would certainly make it. During my trip, I saw some of the most enterprising people in our region.
Yankuba Mamburay is the author of The Search for a Lost Brother.