Hi folks,

First, I'd like to say a big "Thank you" to Jabou Joh, Tapha Fye, Malamin Barrow, and
all the rest for your wonderful insights and contributions to the post-election
dialog that's been going on for the past few days.  It warms my heart to read the
thoughtful opinions and ideas that have been expressed on this forum.  Please keep it
up.

Second, I'd like to say that like many of you, I've been pondering the
recently-concluded presidential elections that President Jammeh won.  I'd like to
join all of you in congratulating him on winning the elections, the opposition
parties for their brave fight, and above all, the Gambian people who spoke so loudly
in a relatively peaceful elections.  After all is said and done, we can at least be
proud that we still have in us the ability to engage in civil politics.

I must however, say that I whole-heartedly disagree with the verdict of the majority
of the Gambian voters.  Irrespective of President Jammeh's significant margin of
victory, I still maintain that he is unfit to be our President, and that I fear that
our dear country will pay a heavy price for this massive error of judgment.  May I
also add I am not impressed by all this talk about olive branches to and from
President Jammeh.  My lack of faith in his leadership qualities is not dependent on
how many people voted for him.  It is a decision I have arrived at after a review of
his terrible record of killings, corruption, arrogance, and outright incompetence in
the 7 years he has been at the helm of our nation's affairs.

I suppose many people will now be questioning their commitment to The Gambia, now
that so many people have voted for Jammeh to serve a second term as president.  But,
people, if ever The Gambia needed help, it is now.  In my mind, the results of last
weeks elections were meant to test our commitment to our nation.  We'll just have to
re-double our efforts, and prepare to continue the struggle to bring sanity, good
governance, tolerance, and prosperity to our country.  Given that President Jammeh
was arrogant when he had a relatively less credible mandate after the 1996 elections,
you can all imagine how easy it will be for him to be even more arrogant given that
he's been handed a resounding mandate by Gambian voters.

All this reminds me of a dream I had on Thursday night, the night of the elections.
I went to be late that night, after it was pretty evident that President Jammeh had
won the elections.  In my dream, my apartment developed a leak in the plumbing, and
when I called maintenance, guess who showed up?  Tombong Saidy!  Now, I've never met
Mr. Saidy, and I have no idea what he looks like.  But I remember thinking to myself,
my dream, that "Oh, so this is the Tombong I've been hearing about!"  At any rate, I
started our conversation by telling him that I'd like to congratulate them for
winning the elections.  I then added that having said that, I would like to inform
him that what the elections mean is that we're just going to have to continue the
struggle we've been waging against the injustices and excesses of the Jammeh
government.  That's about all I remembered of my dream.  As it happens, part of my
dream is very much the reality now: we'll just have to keep plugging away.  Sooner or
later, the people will get rid of President Jammeh.  And just like they surprised a
lot of us last week, they'll surprise us when that happens.

That's about it for now.  Again, thanks so much for the wonderful dialog.  Please
keep it up, and best wishes.

Katim

----- Original Message -----
From: Jabou Joh <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, October 21, 2001 11:39 AM
Subject: Re: AN OLIVE BRANCH FROM JAMMEH


> G-L,

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