Defiant Dignity and Dangerous Dependence: the Perplexing Motivations of an Easy-to-Enter African Country
In an average quiet residential neighborhood of west London, a little building just like any other around it had a massive national flag of Gambia flying from its second floor. A little plaque at the front door denoted it as the "Gambian High Commission in London," as anyone who did not deliberately came looking for the place surely would have been very much confused as to why there would be such a big flag flying in a random neighborhood of the metropolis without any other diplomatic presence.
Yet, inside the three floor building was a no-nonsense conversion of a house into a small yet fully functional diplomatic compound. The living room was a reception, with its sign-book, black leather sofa for waiting guests, and a big-screen TV plus the latest editions of Gambian official tourist magazines to help kill time. Next door, the kitchen/dining room is now the secretary's office, where two friendly middle-aged ladies went about the usual paperwork.
Upstairs, the usual bedrooms are converted into one-man offices for various officials of the High Commission, ranging from the Commissioner him/herself to the Financial, Consular, Publicity, Welfare Officers. A little more than a half dozen people made up the entire staff of the country's sole diplomatic mission here in the British Isles. To represent a country of less than 2 million people that rarely gets non-expat visitors, the manpower present is definitely enough.
However, as much of a dignified presence the small African country manages to put up on the quiet side of London, its peculiar appearance, or lack there of, does betray the sense of poverty, and more importantly, the lack of self-importance due to the country's status as a third-world small country inconsequential in global affairs. The self-delegated insignificance becomes even more evident when one attempts to apply for a visitor's visa to enter the country.
The entire process takes a mere 20 minutes and 40 pounds in cash. The applicant, with no documents but his/her passport, is given a one-page application form to fill in on the spot. After filling in all the usual biographic information and handing in a passport photograph, s/he goes upstairs to meet the financial attache who takes the money in exchange for a quick stamp in the passport. The process "goes without a hitch"...no confirmation of income, insurance, travel itinerary...
As much as the applicant rejoices in having obtained the visa so fast and completely exempt from the headache-inducing mountains of paperwork normally associated with visa applications, the fact that the process is so loose, so flexible, and so painlessly smooth at he same time casts a serious doubt on the viability of self-protective administrative capacity in a country like Gambia. After all, what sort of an environment is there if any foreigner with a passport can enter for 40 pounds?
Surely the easy visa process will encourage more Western tourists to seek out the (reportedly) pristine beaches of the Gambia River delta along with cheap resort prices, but at the same time, would not increase in Western tourism would also be followed immediately by, say, an influx of foreign Islamist fighters seeking out those Westerners? Certainly that would not be difficult in a majority Muslim country like the Gambia where friendly relations exist with the Middle East?
Fears of terrorism targeting Westerners aside, what about inciting domestic economic instability with a Western influx? Tourist numbers can fluctuate quite a bit in a relatively unknown destination like Gambia. If locals become more and more dependent on Westerners coming ashore with their easy-to-get visas, he country may extremely hard-hit if economic conditions thin out the wallets of those Westerners. Perhaps the dignified facade of the Gambian High Commission here in London is a complete mirage after all...
Yet, inside the three floor building was a no-nonsense conversion of a house into a small yet fully functional diplomatic compound. The living room was a reception, with its sign-book, black leather sofa for waiting guests, and a big-screen TV plus the latest editions of Gambian official tourist magazines to help kill time. Next door, the kitchen/dining room is now the secretary's office, where two friendly middle-aged ladies went about the usual paperwork.
Upstairs, the usual bedrooms are converted into one-man offices for various officials of the High Commission, ranging from the Commissioner him/herself to the Financial, Consular, Publicity, Welfare Officers. A little more than a half dozen people made up the entire staff of the country's sole diplomatic mission here in the British Isles. To represent a country of less than 2 million people that rarely gets non-expat visitors, the manpower present is definitely enough.
However, as much of a dignified presence the small African country manages to put up on the quiet side of London, its peculiar appearance, or lack there of, does betray the sense of poverty, and more importantly, the lack of self-importance due to the country's status as a third-world small country inconsequential in global affairs. The self-delegated insignificance becomes even more evident when one attempts to apply for a visitor's visa to enter the country.
The entire process takes a mere 20 minutes and 40 pounds in cash. The applicant, with no documents but his/her passport, is given a one-page application form to fill in on the spot. After filling in all the usual biographic information and handing in a passport photograph, s/he goes upstairs to meet the financial attache who takes the money in exchange for a quick stamp in the passport. The process "goes without a hitch"...no confirmation of income, insurance, travel itinerary...
As much as the applicant rejoices in having obtained the visa so fast and completely exempt from the headache-inducing mountains of paperwork normally associated with visa applications, the fact that the process is so loose, so flexible, and so painlessly smooth at he same time casts a serious doubt on the viability of self-protective administrative capacity in a country like Gambia. After all, what sort of an environment is there if any foreigner with a passport can enter for 40 pounds?
Surely the easy visa process will encourage more Western tourists to seek out the (reportedly) pristine beaches of the Gambia River delta along with cheap resort prices, but at the same time, would not increase in Western tourism would also be followed immediately by, say, an influx of foreign Islamist fighters seeking out those Westerners? Certainly that would not be difficult in a majority Muslim country like the Gambia where friendly relations exist with the Middle East?
Fears of terrorism targeting Westerners aside, what about inciting domestic economic instability with a Western influx? Tourist numbers can fluctuate quite a bit in a relatively unknown destination like Gambia. If locals become more and more dependent on Westerners coming ashore with their easy-to-get visas, he country may extremely hard-hit if economic conditions thin out the wallets of those Westerners. Perhaps the dignified facade of the Gambian High Commission here in London is a complete mirage after all...
The dependence thing is defintiely a big problem. I still think opening up your borders and encouraging tourist flows is a net positive, but when you have locals switching jobs into hotels, tour companies, tourist "industries" like handcrafts, etc. , you tend to be screwed when a Western recession hits, or even when people's perceptions of your country changes (i.e. Mali has been suffering a lot in the last few years just because of a few al-Qaeda attacks in its eastern deserts)...
ReplyDeleteso basically the process goes like this:
ReplyDeleteeasy visa → Western tourists → economy becomes tourism dependent → few attacks against Westerners → Westerners get scared and leaves → Tourism industry (and the whole country's economy) gets screwd over
yep, someone better start being more careful about giving easy visas...