>> Ebrima Ceesay,
>>
>> At a typical Bantaba, one quickly earns a reputation as either being
>> always credible , sometimes credible, or never credible. Armed with that
>> knowledge, one will cautiously scrutinize information depending on the
>> reputation of the source. I am surprised that you had always been blind
>> to the incredulity of your audience. Please be reminded that the
>> audience of this Bantaba has always been 'critically minded' and
>> 'politically mature'. On that note, I'm inclined to believe that your
>> so-called top government insider is none other than our dear friend '
>> Radio Kankang'. If infact your source is a top government employee, then
>> that goes to show that some, if not all of the officials who served during
>> the former regime should be uncovered and sacked immediately, because
>> they clearly do not have the country at heart. I am sure we still have
>> some bad apples within the system and if President Jammeh will ever read
>> this piece, to take a second look at all of the old cronies.
>>
>> Being a staunch supporter of the present regime, I take it upon myself to
>> thoroughly seek facts before I present them to Gambia-L. This list will
>> recall my top ten lists that result from my frequent trips to the Gambia
>> to see for myself what is on the ground. After reading your piece about
>> Essa Sey's appointment as Ambassador to France and the general nature of
>> The President's civil service appointments, I did my own research on Mr.
>> Essa Sey's background in order to compare and refute your 'radio kankang'
>> stuff. The reason I call your stuff 'Radio Kankang' is threefold.
>> First, because you're a political refugee in Birmingham who obtains his
>> news from a wolf in a sheep's clothing within the regime. Secondly, your
>> top government source may be just a fictitious character. Thirdly, the
>> daily Observer, your news source is in my view the least credible of all
>> the newspapers in the Gambia. I think we all remember the recent Mass
>> Lowe/Youssou N'dour and Pa Sallah Jagne snafu when these two men publicly
>> condemned the Observer for writing incorrect material albeit a 1995
Observer
>> article by the renowned Mathew Jallow that dubbed Mr. Essa Sey as "A
Poet With
>> a Difference".
>>
>> Even though I cannot claim to know Mr. Essa Sey personally, I do however,
>> know some of his relatives back in Kuntire Village. You claim to be very
>> close to his wife and family, hence the credibility of your account, but
>> my sources tell me that neither Mr. Sey's family, now in Sinchu-Sori
>> Village nor his wife's relatives know your whereabout. It is my
>> obligation and conviction that to maintain social justice, one needs
>> to make credible utterances because history will immortalize our words and
>> action. I further take it upon myself to be as honest and objective in
>> what I write because the issue at hand is not a litmus test for Essa Sey
>> or Ebrima Ceesay. Safeguarding the prosperity of The Gambia should be the
>> order of the day.
>>
>> In your piece on Essa Sey, you stated that Essa Sey is presently a deputy
>> permanent secretary, this is not true. Essa is infact is a Counsellor
at the
>> permanent mission of The Republic of the Gambia to the United Nations.
>> Prior to his appointment at his current United Nations position, he served
>> as a First Secretary at the embassy in Paris ( 1995-1996) and later as
>> Charge d'Affairs at the same embassy. My understanding is that he was
>> very instrumental during the negotiations that led to the launching of the
>> Gambia Television Station. My investigation into his educational
>> background reveals that he did complete Gendermarie academy before taking
>> off for further studies in France, a fact that your impeccable sources did
>> not tell you. His linguistic prowess is manifested by virtue of his
>> stint as a French teacher at Nusrat High School, and subsequently, as a
>> student at Dakar University (1991-1992), University of Sierra Leone,
>> Institute of Public Administration and Management (IPAM) - a diplomatic
>> training institution sponsored by the Commonwealth Office, and the
>> University of Besancon Centre Linguistique Appliquee in Paris (1992-1993).
>> I think you can tell by now that I did my homework on Essa Sey to set
>> the record straight. By the way, I did make sure that my phone card
>> allowed me to talk to multiple sources including both Essa and his Wife's
>> families. I'd be much obliged to mail you a few phone cards next time you
>> want to talk to your impeccable sources. You made another blunder by
>> saying that Dr. Saja Tall was sacked for the second time. My friend what
>> kind of impeccable sources do you have?. To set the record straight, Mr.
>> Taal was reassigned to Permanent Secretary at the Presidents Office. I
think
>> this list will agree with me that you source of information is purely
'Radio Kankang
>> at its best'.
>>
>> I would have loved to personally interview Mr. Essa Sey but my sources
>> here in the U.S who know him describe him as an intellectual who would
>> trivialize this barrage of political demagoguery from an aspiring
>> journalist. I'm sure Essa Sey is aware of the Internet as a tool
>> available for anyone who wants to support or oppose a government, head
of state,
>> policy, or legislation in a democratic domain and would not deem your
>> disapproval as a personal attack. Democracy is in the Gambia to stay and
>> even refugees have the right to criticize policy or policy makers.
>>
>> On the issue of experience, you mentioned that "...in honest opinion, you
>> believe a more seasoned, a more experienced diplomat should be sent to
>> such a key Embassy like Paris... because Essa joined the foreign
>> ministry in 1993..." after a stint with the Gendermarie. What your
impeccable
>> sources failed to tell you is that Essa is not only adequately qualified
>> for such a position but also a loyal ally of the revolution who served
in the Gambian armed >> forces along with His Excellency the President. He
is a seasoned veteran of impeccable >> character and a APRC stallwarth.
The latter being of more importance in any political
>> appointment. Please be advised that an Ambassador is a political
>> appointee who sees eye to eye with the policies of the regime in power. I
>> have to give you examples of some of the more celebrated U.S Ambassadorial
>> appointments in recent times. Bill Clinton's former Ambassador to France
>> was Mrs. Pamela Harriman, whose only claim fo fame was being a
>> multimillionaire donor to the Democratic National Convention (DNC). Jean
>> Kennedy-Smith, sister of U.S Senator Ted Kennedy was appointed as U.S
>> Ambassador to Ireland based only on her loyalty and connection within the
>> Democratic party. Both Mrs Harriman and Kennedy-Smith went on to server
>> the U.S. with distinction. Who would forget the excellent job that
>> former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young did as the U.S Ambassador to the United
>> Nations under President Carter. He rose to the occation without any prior
>> diplomatic experience. Ebrima, sometimes we get so caught-up in our
>> contempt of an institution that we tend to loose sight of the big picture,
>> the big picture in this sense being the relativity of precedence.
>>
>> Ebrima, some of the people that we call seasoned, or intellectuals, will
wash
>> dishes for a living if they come to the United States where a real skill
>> is what matters. In this country, verbosity alone will not vault you to
>> the top. Let us stop this nonsense of personal issues and work for
>> a better Gambia. Everyone makes mistakes. Clinton is arguably the best
>> U.S. president that we ever had but his administration is marred by speech
>> and behavior snafus. I couldn't help but laugh at your reference to
>> Ambassador John Bojang's alleged snafu. Ebrima, how many times have your
>> writing/speech been less than perfect. Probably more than you can count.
>> I hope you can at least try to smell the roses down there in Birmingham.
>> Life is short, have fun.
>>
>> Regards
>> Malafy "Mafy" Jarju
>> Software Engineer
>> Delta Air Lines
>>
;;;
lll
;;;
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