Joe, my brother. You reminded me of the Bob Marley song ...'"Who are
the real revolutionaries?'" Time will tell.
-----Original Message-----
From: Bamba sering Manka Mass <[log in to unmask]>
To: GAMBIA-L <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thu, Oct 18, 2012 4:52 am
Subject: Re: [G_L] [>-<] Freedom at Mile 2 for Sale to Highest Bidder -
GOOD READ
Valid points my Brother but I belief for Minister Janneh has learnt his
lessons. This has been my take all along. It is the so called
intellectual class that fuels the Tyrant and still continues to do so.
When ever his satanic mind goes against them they cry out to us for
help after betraying their country for positions.
I hope Dr. Janneh would personally call Nyancho Fatou and apologise to
her for failing Journalists during his tenure as information minister
and the to the entire media fratanity for thanks to us he is where he
should be today that is a free man fighting for freedom if others.
Gambians are very forgiving people you see no one attached our great
Dr. during his arrest, incarnation. But now that we have all won, it is
important he realise that he too failed just like others amongst us.
They are forgiven but they must also do the honourable thing to
apologise to Gambians. I do not mean those who stole from us now
pretending nothing has happened? No those must be screened first.
Sent from my iPhone
On 18 Oct 2012, at 01:31, "Joe Joe" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Che, Saikou misspoke or bought into the propaganda as to how Amadou
ended up in The Gambia and later Mile 2. He skipped over how Amadou
ended in Banjul to help spread a lie of "Service to Nation". No, the
trail of how Amadou ended up in Gambia is not going to be re-written by
anyone. Literally thousands are life witnesses on this and other distro
when Amadou who hopped from state to state telling anyone who wanted to
listen the Badness in Babili, only to wake up one morning to sell his
soul to the Devil to announce that he had decided to join Yaya Jammeh
for the development and progress he was doing in the Gambia. By that
time, the Students and Mr. Barrow were gun down; Koro Ceesay Roasted;
many murederd in jail; hundreds dissapeared; countless fired, tortured,
and in all kinds of dungeons, etc, etc. Amadou sold his soul to Yaya
because of NO SERVICE to NATION, but GREED. While in Gambia, Fatou Jaw
Manneh was arrested and languished in that country, did SOS Amadou
Janneh consider her plight? No, he was busy socializing with the
Butcher while his fellow Gambians were traumatized in their
hundreds. Also as SOS for Communication or Information, he was there
when the attacks of journalists were the most severe and he did
zilch. So, what is this nonsense that is being peddled that Amadou went
to give back to his country?
Like many a turncoat in our midst that were in fellowship with the
Butcher, Amadou is not going to come in our midst without apoligizing
to Gambians and telling us what went down during his tennure with the
Devil and the role he played. I know hypocrisy gets the better of the
New Gambian, but does it not concern you what Amadou the Pipe Piper
voluntered in terms of information about Diasporans before he was
accepted in the midst of the Devil? How the hell is the real struggle
just starting for a known turncoat? Amadou is no one's leader and he
should not be heard from much more seen. Yes, he is a Gambian with all
rights to citizenship, but that right stops where mine begin and Amadou
is being served a notice. If you are going to parade around as the
Gambian Ghandi or Dr. King, you will be confronted in public and you
can take that in the bank. After what you did to Gambians and in the
midst of what is going on in the Gambia, if you are going to start
speaking on behalf of any gambian, you better start with where you left
off with us - when you became a turncoat.
Joe
Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2012 15:31:29 -0400
Subject: [>-<] Freedom at Mile 2 for Sale to Highest Bidder -
GOOD READ
From: [log in to unmask]
To: [log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask]
Freedom at Mile 2 for Sale to Highest Bidderafrica » gambia
ex-Minister Janneh
Tuesday, October 09, 2012
When reports emerged that Lebanese-born Yusuf Ezedeen has bought his
freedom, leaving his Gambian co-convicts to rot in Mile 2, some critics
of the government were whipped up into a froth of nationalist frenzy,
though low-key. One commentator even sounds upbeat about the possible
release of the embattled former defence chief Land Tombong Tamba and
six other top Gambian security officers and businessman, who were
convicted for treason together with Yusuf. This was since late 2010.
Today, just a little under two years on, Gen. Tamba and Co, as the
press refers them, seem drawn closer to the firing squad. At the same
time, if the reports which the government neither denies nor confirms
are anything to go by, Yusuf is exploiting his freedom in
Lebanon.Fast-forward to August 2012. The widespread uproar that greeted
President Yahya Jammeh’s government’s controversial execution of nine
prisoners in August was unprecedented. The executions were the
country's first in 27 years and were widely criticised as arbitrary.As
one American-Gambian puts it, "For the first time in the 18-year
tyranny in Gambia, the US Congress is being engaged in a manner that
hopefully will lead to a better understanding of serious human right
abuses committed against a defenseless population by the current
regime."A blessing in disguise For two Gambian-Americans, however, the
execution which is believed to remain a subject of controversy in the
country’s political and diplomatic scene for the foreseeable future is
a blessing in disguise. Tamsir Jasseh, only 54, but who put on
octogenarian bears after six years in jail had his lengthy jail term
brought to an unexpected end together with a lifer, Amadou Scattred
Janneh, who turned 50 on the day. This was after a revered US civil
rights activist negotiated their release from The Gambia’s central
prison situated at the outskirts of Banjul.Rev. Jesse Jackson had, in
the wake of the executions, reportedly been in contact with President
Jammeh on a daily basis for two weeks before the Gambian leader invited
him to Banjul to meet face to face. The leading US advocate arrived in
the country on Sunday Sept 16. On Monday, he held a one-on-one meeting
with President Jammeh for hours, from bright daylight to deep dusk. On
late Tuesday night, he left for the United States with Jasseh and
Janneh. “Those who were expected to die are now expected to live and
those who were in prison are now home,” Jackson says upon arrival in
the US. Both Jasseh and Janneh were born, raised, and started their
first pay job here before traveling to that superpower nation of a
country, whose citizenship they were conferred after several years of
recognised services there.Tamsir Jasseh was born in Banjul to a retired
police officer. He graduated from St. Augustine’s High School and
worked at The Gambia Airways for years. While in his prime, he left for
the US where he joined the US military. Jasseh was among the 500, 000
U.S troops – Operation Desert Shield later Operation Desert Storm -
that, within 100 hours onslaught, declared Kuwaiti liberated from
invading, occupying Iraq forces of Saddam Hussein.Dr Amadou Scattred
Janneh, on the other hand, is a native of Gunjur village, Kombo South
district. He started journalism at the age of 17 at Radio Gambia before
he left for the US where he bagged a bachelor’s degree in journalism,
masters and doctorate in political science in 1990. He was a professor
of political science at the University of Tennessee. Today, The Gambia,
a tiny West African country with a human population of less than two
million has over 65, 000 of her citizens who are experts in the
Diaspora, according to a World Bank report. Perhaps majority of them
have less cozy opportunities than Jasseh and Janneh. There is, however,
no sign of majority of them taking the decision Jasseh and Janneh took.
Pursuit for greener pasture is cited as the main reason for their stay.
But the hostile political environment is also blamed. Yet Jasseh and
Janneh had forgone relative more comfortable life in the US and
returned to their monetarily poor motherland to help improve things. On
his return to the country, Tamsir Jasseh served as police adviser
before he was appointed Inspector General of Police and then Director
General of immigration. In 2006, he was charged with treason following
a failed coup attempt led by then-defence chief Ndure Cham. The veteran
US marine was found guilty even though had maintained his innocence
throughout the trial. Dr Janneh, for his part, returned when he still
had a lot to offer. This was in 2003 when he came to work at the U.S.
embassy in Banjul as political assistant. Six months later, he was
appointed by President Yahya Jammeh as communications minister. He was
unceremoniously removed in 2005. Typical of the Jammeh regime, no
reason was advanced. For many observers, this was a warning shot to Dr
Janneh that the battle line with President Jammeh had been drawn. But
the easy-going, soft-spoken political scientist seemed poised for any
duel. This was manifested a few months prior to his saga. He was
outspokenly critical of the Jammeh regime in a way no other former
minister had been. On Tuesday, June 7, 2011, while at his computer
retail business COMMIT enterprises, he was arrested. He was later
accused of planning to stage a regime-change mass protest akin to the
Arab Spring. All other things equal, Tamsir Jasseh and Amadou Scattred
Janneh’s saga, though separate, have so much in common. For instance,
it was a patriotic move on their part to return home from home. They
were to help improve things after signing up with the government, but
ended up dramatically turning against the regime. Public sympathy
towards both of them was overwhelming. Both are lifers, expected to die
in prison where death is frequent in recent times. But both are now in
the U.S – a home millions of miles away from home. But even after the
life-threatening ordeal they underwent in the hands of a regime that
have come to master the art of countering such insurgencies, both
Jasseh and Janneh seem undeterred from pursuing their new found way of
‘doing better for oppressed Gambians’: activism. “Freed at Last!
Turned 50 too," undeterred Amadou Scattred Janneh says on his Facebook
page, upon arrival in the U.S. And the following day, he warns: "The
real struggle to end dictatorship in The Gambia has just begun. Stay
tuned.”Yet, in spite of Jasseh and Janneh’s seeming unwavering
determination to continue the campaign to ending what they call
dictatorship in the country, many Gambians, though welcome their
release, are critical of it. Some criticisms were even directed at Rev.
Jackson, details of whose ‘private’ mission are shrouded in mystery,
especially as his trip was bankrolled by President Jammeh. Commenting
on FREEDOM newspaper, an American-Gambian, A. Koroma writes, “Given the
human rights record of Yaya Jammeh and his reputation within the
international community, no private mission of mercy to Banjul should
have been taken without either being sanctioned by the U.S. government
or a recognized national or international entity with a mission that
addresses the larger governance picture of the country.”Not only are
the thick clouds that shroud Jackson’s trip the bone of contention
here. The Gambia government too has come under fire for the okaying of
the release of only Americans, while a number of Gambian political
prisoners remain caged. Small wonder when human rights activist cum
journalist Saikou Ceesay offered his opinion, there was a rare fury in
his voice. “How about the [rest of Gambian] political prisoners who are
victims of unfair trial,” he said, wryly. He was not alone with this
feeling. Veteran journalist Demba Ali Jawo was speaking from the same
hymn sheet when he says: “…the release of the two, while welcome,
raises quite some pertinent moral questions. Is it morally right for a
prominent American like Rev. Jesse Jackson to come to The Gambia and
request the release of only two American citizens when there are
several others incarcerated in that hell-hole of a jail? No doubt many
people would have wished that he instead also requested for the release
of several others, in addition to the American citizens.”In fact, Dr
Janneh was convicted alongside three youths – two Gambians and one
Nigerian – who were sentenced to a two-year jail term after they were
found guilty of sedition. All of them printers by profession, the
youths, according to the evidence adduced before the court, were
contracted by Dr Janneh to print 'Coalition for Change the Gambia, End
Dictatorship Now’ on the T-shirts which Janneh randomly distributed.
The two Gambian youths, Modou Keita, Ebrima Jallow, are currently
serving their terms in prison while the Nigerian, Michael Ucheh Thomas,
who married a Gambian, died in prison. He was 37.Tamsir Jasseh’s case
is indeed similar. The many Gambians he was jointly tried, most of them
lifers are currently serving their jail terms. Besides them, there are
many other Gambians jailed on widely-believed politically-motivated
allegations. Furthermore, reports have it dozens of Gambians are being
detained, some of them since 2005, for no publicly known offence. No
trial! Journalist Jawo, therefore, was at pains to understand why
President Jammeh had the heart to pardon Janneh and Jasseh, refusing to
extend the amnesty to ‘all the others in similar circumstances.’
According to him, “It is quite unfair to pardon Janneh and leave those
young men who were convicted with him or to pardon Jasseh and leave his
co-convicts in the coup attempt for which they were tried and
sentenced, just because they are lucky to also have American
citizenship.”If it is true that Yusuf had bucked Gambian authorities
with dollars to bully his way out of harsh Gambian jail, what price did
the U.S activist Jesse Jackson paid to get the American citizens out?
Friendship? Because Jackson himself was quoted as saying that he is a
‘friend to The Gambia and likes the country’? Or diplomatic influence?
Because even though Jackson’s visit was private, denying him his
demands could tantamount to antagonising the US government – and in the
words of President Jammeh, The Gambia will never be an enemy to the
U.S. Answers to these questions are hard to get. For now, what seems to
be truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, is that the back
gate to the prison is wide open, though only a carefully-chosen
influential few are passing through to freedom. But is freedom in The
Gambia for sale to the highest bidder? Journalist Demba Jawo would not
disagree much. He even suggests that Nigeria, a country that has more
advantage over Gambian than any other country, should start flexing her
muscles to buy their men out. Perhaps Senegal, who he says, was only
awakened to gross human rights abuses in the country after the
execution of two Senegalese could be next. Unfortunately, Gambian
prisoners a bulk of whom many believe, from the outset, should never
have been convicted or sentenced, seemingly lack a civil society or
patriarchic family that has the financial wherewithal or the diplomatic
muscle to help them elbow their way into freedom. And if the current
trend of death in the prison continues even those who would have lots
to offer to The Gambian society after the expiry of their prisons terms
may come with their bodies covered in a deeply-tanned product of ‘keno’
tree.
Author: Saikou Jammeh
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