This is the sort of nonsense I cannot stand. And when you attempt to put the
record straight, you hear whining all over the place. I am beginning to
believe that IT is perhaps in the water we drink in Gambia or the sun does
SOMETHING to the brain-cells after staying in Gambia for awhile. If Dr.
Saine does not have the time or the inclination to write a well-balanced
piece about issues in the country, he should be prepared to withstand
criticism (albeit harsh) of his pieces. I will save the whiners on this List
some trouble and just tell them that not even our good Dr. Saine is immune
from criticism if he wants to join the ranks of AFPRC/APRC sycophants and
start exaggerating things on G_L.
Just take for instance Dr. Saine’s statement: “the coastal road network,
among others, is impressive.” To the naked eye this might look like a benign
statement. But to me, it tells me that this man is exaggerating unless he
tells us what the ‘other road networks are’. “the coastal road network,
among others”. What are the “others” that impressed Dr. Saine?
I also knew that Dr. Saine was a smart man, but I did NOT know that he was a
mind-reader too. I mean, how can the man tell if Yaya is ‘genuinely
popular’. Why did the good doctor have to qualify Yaya’s ‘popularity’ by
choosing the word ‘genuinely’? I am genuinely eager to learn how Dr. Saine
came to the conclusion that a man that had to steal to win 53% of the vote
can be ‘genuinely popular’ in the country. Is this another exaggeration? Did
Dr. Saine poll Gambians with probing questions about their ‘genuine’
feelings about the man that rendered them poorer than they were seven years
ago and ordered the slaughter of their children; the High School drop-out
that is stealing from them? Who is Dr. Saine talking to in order to come to
such ridiculous and baseless conclusions?
I also wonder what “police-state atmosphere” Dr. Saine expected in the
country. Before he tells us that the police-state atmosphere he expected in
the country is nonexistent there, it is only fair that he tells us what he
expected in the first place. Without that, his ‘clean bill of health’ he is
trying to give to the Dictatorship, means NOTHING and is mockery to the
people (like Dumo) that are suffering from APRC/NIA Gestapo tactics. Yes!
Dr. Saine might not have been visited by the NIA (yet), does that mean that
Gambians are not living under a ‘police-state’ where lawlessness is the
order of the day? Do people have to experience certain tactics from the NIA
in order to recognize that the NIA take the law into their own hands,
disregard court orders and incarcerate or execute Gambians without just
cause? What is Dr. Saine’s definition of a “police-state atmosphere” – the
one that he says does not exist in Gambia? In my book, if the NIA can
disregard court orders and abduct ordinary Gambians and incarcerate them for
months, incommunicado, then we are dealing with a ‘police-state’. If we have
office-mates telling tales against each other and Yaya acting on that
information to dismiss civil servants willy-nilly, then we are dealing with
a ‘police-state’. If we have a country where top civil servants are
dismissed without just cause and you have them holding a loudspeaker in
public saying that they are 100% behind their tormentors, then we have a
‘police-state – because in my mind, these former civil servants are speaking
out of fear. I can go on and on about the many abuses (torture of
journalists etc.) that go on in that country.
Needless to say, Dr. Saine is free to write whatever he wants and
support/rationalize whatever argument he wants to espouse. It is also our
prerogative to put the record straight. When people tell us about roads, we
have the right to ask for specifics. When people want to tell us that
Gambians genuinely support Yaya, we have the right to point them to the
elections results and the shenanigans surrounding the elections and also ask
them to tell us why they think Gambians they spoke to were not speaking out
of fear or selfish motives. When someone wants to tell us that the NIA is an
OK outfit, we have the right to point to them that Dumo et al are STILL
languishing in jail.
KB
>From: Abdoulaye Saine <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Dr. Abdoulaye Saine
>Date: Sun, 17 Mar 2002 17:24:44 +0000
>
>Joe Sambou:
>
>Many thanks for your message. I am doing well and keeping busy but also
>making time to visit friends and family. It is very warm and I like it. I
>will share with the bantaba my impressions about The Gambia later. Suffice
>to say that Jammeh is genuinely popular here and the police-state
>atmosphere
>I expected is not the case. Gambians, despite, economic hardship are still
>very kind and loving. A lot of private construction is taking place and
>the
>coastal road network, among others, is impressive. More on all these
>later.
>
>Regards,
>Abdoulaye
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