I do not think we should waste our time on why Jawara did not lobby for an amnesty for his colleagues.  The real issue is the legality of the amnesty itself.  How can some one who insults Gambians by telling them that he put his life on the line for them and runs Gambia as his personal property give an amnesty for alleged crimes he shamelessy and routinely commits.  It is a joke when Yahya Jammeh goes about dishing money that he cannot account for all over the place giving amnesty to someone for corruption.  All the crimes that Jawara and his team are alleged to have committed in thirty years Jammeh and his cronies have surpassed in eight years.  As far as I am concerned Yaya Jammeh is worse than Jawara.  If there is anybody who should face a commission into corrutption it is Yaya Jammeh.  After all some of the very people whose properties were seized had them not only returned but even promoted.  Jammeh has shown that he is not interested in justice for Gambians.  All you need to do inorder not to face the commission is to join the APRC and heap praises on Yaya Jammeh.

The idea that that Yaya is doing those alleged to have committed economic crimes a favor is absurd.  Nobody should face a commission when Yaya will not.  I challenge the judiciary and the legislature to ask Yaya to face the same commission.  Otherwise we should forget about the amnesty crap.  Where I believe Jawara made a mistake is not the fact that he did not negotiate for the inclusion of others in the amnesty.  Rather it is the fact he took the amnesty itseff.  Just like the politicians who went into hibernation until Yaya lifted his ban, it wolud appear that Jawara is in The Gambia because of Yaya's benevolence.  It is a sad feeling that Jawara went to The Gambia at the pleasure of someone who took power by force and committed committed crimes worse than Jawara.  Rather than accept the amnesty, Jawara and all the alledged criminals should if they choose go to The Gambia and agree to face the commision only if Yaya and his cronies will do the same.  I called on all those accused of crimes under Jawara not to accept any offer of amnesty from a government whose leader is the embodiment of corruption.  To accept an amnesty from Yaya Jammeh is an insult.

Lamin Sanneh



---------------------------------
Do You Yahoo!?
Sign-up for Video Highlights of 2002 FIFA World Cup

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~