Barrow,
Now that I am a little bit free I will respond to your irrational post of a
few days back. First of all I will respond to what you wrote in your last
paragraph, that is:
“If some of us have become so irksome to you, pack up and leave. No one is
holding an M16 to your head. Stay with Jammeh 2001 for a change. Some of us
don’t waste our time on there”.
Barrow, from this sentence one can tell that you are really becoming
paranoid about my presence on the L. What makes you think that anyone can
hold an M16 to my head in cyber space? No, Bro. I am staying put. If you
don’t like it, you may leave.
You wrote:
“Kebba Joke,
Again, you started on the wrong footing. Who said anything about anyone
loving The Gambia more than the next man? You ranted and raved just to vent
some of your frustrations you harbor for others in this mail. What’s wrong?
Too much fire water ha?”
You see Barrow; the likes of you make me feel very sad. When you are short
on ideas, you tend to insult and call people names just to get them off your
back. I can feel the anger and frustration in you but that is your own
doing. One thing I know Barrow, is that the one who is frustrated and
ranting and raving is certainly not me. I have a lot to be happy about
especially now that the presidential elections (the big Prize) has been
firmly secured and the celebrations over. The time for nation building has
started and all well-meaning Gambians are invited to join in. If that is too
much to ask of you, then stay where you are.
You also wrote:
“I know you are not the one without clean drinking water and electricity at
your home. Pretending to care for those who don’t is mockery at best.”
What on earth are you insinuating here? Are you trying to imply that when I
lament the misery in this country I am faking it? You’ve really gone bananas
Barrow. My friend, I don’t have to feel the pain to know it hurts. I applaud
the government’s efforts in trying to provide easy access to education for
every Gambian because I am convinced that The Gambia’s salvation lies with
The Gambian people. I also know what effect education can have in helping us
realize our dreams as the years go by.
When a school is built in Sare Bojo or Dankunku and I appreciate it, it is
not because my children will be the ones attending them. No Barrow! I am one
of the lucky few whose children attend one or the other of Mrs. Ndow’s
schools. These schools, I am sure you know, are among the very best private
schools in the country. My appreciation of government’s efforts in providing
cheap and easy access to education for all Gambians regardless where you
live stems from the fact that government is making good its promise to make
education one of its priorities.
You see Barrow, I am not a hypocrite and I have proven that many times on
the L. I have surprised many here by sticking to my guns and telling it as
it is regardless of all the personal attacks and without caring whether the
views I express may be contrary to government or popular view. You can take
it from me that I will never lie about this country by trying to paint a
picture that I know is contrary to the reality on the ground. No, I will
never do so!
Another thing you ought to know about me is that I practice what I preach.
Ask anybody in Gamtel and they will tell you that all staff are entitled to
join an insurance scheme that qualifies us and our families to undergo
diagnosis and/or treatment from any of the 18 best private clinics and
hospitals in the country. And guess what, Barrow; I opted out of the scheme
because I am very satisfied with the services being rendered at the
polyclinic and RVH hospital. If you don’t believe me, make your own enquiry.
You also wrote:
“I thought your boss declared that he was electrifying 98 percent of The
Gambia. What happened to that?”
You cant tell me anything about poverty in The Gambia because I
Feel its effects everyday where I am. Those unsanitized waters and
pitch-black nights, I was born and bred in those conditions. I may be far
away from The Gambia but I have not lost touch with what is happening
there”.
Barrow, you cannot know any of the things you mentioned above more than I
do. So don’t try to pull wool over my eyes. Unlike you, not only am I born
and bred here, I am living right in these conditions and I see and feel the
hardship every day. This is one of the reasons why I fully appreciate what
the government is doing to alleviate the situation.
As for electrifying 98 % of the country, all those who are familiar with
project management know that time and cost over-runs do occur with projects
of this nature. What should be appreciated is the fact that not only does
the president recognize the problem, he is trying his best to solve it. It
is a known fact that Nawec’s generating capacity has more than doubled in
the past seven years and much of their transmission network is being
rehabilitated. It is also a known fact that only a few years ago one could
directly stare at a 100 Watt light bulb from less than one foot away in
areas such as Dippa Kunda, London Corner and Bundung, just to name a few,
without even blinking. The problem with you is that you cannot appreciate
anything that this government does, but that is your business.
You also wrote:
“As small as our country is, we have one of the highest rate of brain drain.
Do you think all these people deciding to rather stay away are wrong?
Jammeh fires people willy-nilly and no one cares. Do you think these people
will put their families at risk like that.”
Barrow, when the s**t hits the fan, some run for cover while others stay. It
is when people like you, who can’t stand the conditions here but instead run
away, try to prescribe to us what we ought to be doing right that I start
questioning your sanity. While we appreciate some of the ideas from people
in the Diaspora, we do not need anybody to tell us how we should survive. We
are doing it.
Secondly, do you want to tell me that the “nerves syndrome”, “Babylon” and
what not, are a creation of Jammeh? My friend, get real. We have had
economic migrants for years before Jammeh was even born. If want to tell me
that by going away our problems will be solved, let me put it to you that it
is not so. No body will develop this country for us except ourselves. Those
of us living here are doing what we can, when we can. Now imagine this; we
have been advertising the vacant position of a senior engineer for our
planning unit for more than FIVE WEEKS and we are yet to receive a single
application? Now if under those circumstances people with less qualification
or experience try their best to deliver but could not deliver as expected,
what right has any qualified person living abroad got, to criticize them? We
criticize our National Assembly members and yet we don’t want to stand for
elections. What sort of logic is that?
You also wrote:
“Your statement that majority of the Gambians support Jammeh cannot be
further from the truth. The only time I will respect Jammeh as the
legitimate head of state is when he wins legitimately. I know you heard of
the Casamancers caught with Gambian voters cards but being the sycophant
that you are, you ignored that and other irregularities. It does not matter
how many hospitals and schools Jammeh builds when the majority of Gambians
are faring worse than they did a year ago. Safe the claptrap about
developments for the susceptible types on Jammeh 2001. I know better”.
Well Barrow, whereas you have every right not to recognize the legitimacy of
Jammeh’s re-election, and no one can force you to change your mind, others
do. As for saving you the claptrap about developments taking place here,
rest assured that I would not. Instead, here are some more endorsements of
the past election and some development reasons why the majority of Gambians
re-elected the president Jammeh.
1. 1. The Gambia having successfully hosted the world conference of Mayors a
few months back is currently hosting a four-day international workshop on
the fight against social and economic exclusion and poverty at the
Senegambia beach hotel. The participants come from Europe, The Caribbean and
Africa.
2. The Gambia was UNANIMOUSLY elected to the presidency of the International
Maritime Organization (IMO) for a two-year term, when the UN Agency with 160
member states held its 22nd assembly meeting in London last week.
3. The farm-gate (Secco) price for groundnuts this season has been fixed at
D2, 650.00 per metric tonne, and the 2001/2002 groundnut trade season will
officially commence on Friday 7 December. The announcement was made by ASPA,
the Agri-Business Service Plan Association that comprises all stakeholders
in the groundnut sub-sector in consultation with government and supported by
the EU. The price is said to be favorable with those in the sub-region. A
bumper harvest is also expected this year.
4. The World Health Organization (WHO) last week presented 1,500 mosquito
bed-nets, 275,000 doses of Meningitis vaccine, a mammography machine for the
early diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer, a full compliment TB lab
consisting of an incubator, aspirator, dispensator and all accessories, two
laptops, two brand new ambulances fully loaded with complete emergency kits,
heavy duty laundry machine, 5 blue trunk libraries and 6,000 copies of
translated health materials in Wollof, Mandinka and Fulla, all valued at
almost 4 million Dalasis.
5. The UNDP and Gambia government have decided to set up a National
Environment Youth Corps, as a three-year project, based on the
recommendations of a UNDP-funded workshop on Youth and Environment held in
Banjul last month. The UNDP has provided US $600,000 and more resources will
be mobilized from elsewhere.
6. Work on the Dual carriageway between Old Yundum and Westfield junction is
in progress, the stretch between Mandinaba and Old Yundum having been done
earlier. Work on the Mandinaba to Soma end will commence as soon as the
contractors, Tetrax, finish setting up.
7. Work on the EU funded Soma to Basse road rehabilitation project is also
to start soon.
8. In another development, the Director General of the Kuwaiti Fund, Mr.
Bader Al Humaidi is in the Gambia to sign the agreement for the construction
of the Fara Feni to Lamin Koto Road at a total cost of US $10 million.
9. Even though the implementation of Rural electrification project is yet to
start in earnest, the icing on the cake will come when that project is
completed successfully and Gamtel provides telephones services to over 150
villages during the course of the next few months. This means that virtually
every settlement with a population of about 1,500 people or more will have
access to telephones.
If all these things happening even before President Jammeh’s inauguration
are not impressive, then I don’t know what is. With this information, what
some of us expect from you people in the Diaspora is to see how best to take
advantage of these developments for the development of our country. It does
not make any sense for our hard earned taxpayers’ monies to be invested in
providing good roads, good communications and reliable electricity when the
main beneficiaries would be foreigners. We expect some of you people to
provide us with the necessary tools or better still come and invest in your
own country. Last year Western Union transfered over US 15 million to The
Gambia from people in The Diaspora. Ever wondered what happened to all that
money? I can tell you that most of that was wasted on ceremonies and other
unproductive ventures. Imagine most of our welders, taylors, carpenters etc.
are all non-Gambians. Even the taxies are steadily being taken over by
non-Gambians. Unfortunately, we are looking on as if it does not matter. My
friends, it matters very much because if we Gambians sit on the sideline
while these foreigners are creating wealth for themselves through hard work,
we might find ourselves in the same predicament as the people of Ivory
coast. Sooner or later our lavishness towards each other will become less
and less as we catch the capitalist disease. As the free handouts start to
dry out, we start becoming jealous of them. We will then start to blame them
for all our woes and that could be a recipe for disaster. This, my firend,
is my take on these developments. The constant yapping from some of you is
not going to change our situation but will only make it worst. But then
again, you can take the horse to the river, but you cannot force it to
drink. You see Barrow; we are not blind supporters of the government but
pragmatic realists. It is up to you to see the light or still pretend that
it is nighttime. For me, am outta here.
Have a good day, Gassa.
_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp
<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>
To 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]
<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>
|
