When the storied Griot  Jali Lallo Kebba Drammeh gave the the definitive oral
history  of a man named Ansu 'Machine' in the 1970s,  radio Gambia audiences
were regalled with the life vicissitude of a colorful character who rose from
a small village tailor/shopkepper  to chief of his area. Amid the gusto,
intrigue and ambition attributed to this rather unlikely hero, the thing that
still fascinates me is a quip he is said to have made regarding a meeting he
was scheduled to have with the then white governor of his region. In colonial
Africa, a fate-deciding meeting with an all powerful colonialist was not an
undertaking most people looked forward to. But Ansu 'Machine' we are told
gathered his neighbors and friends and said this "the governor has scheduled
a meeting of the entire region to settle once and for all who the chief would
be from amongst the various people vying for the job. It will be this coming
Monday and at this gathering I can tell you two things with certainty; first
Monday will come and second I intend to be at the meeting.' The essence of
the quip was to assure his people that if there was going to be any backing
down in avoidance of a potentially deadly meeting with a governor who favored
someoneelse, it would have to be the governor himself . The moral for the
rest of us is that certain principles are worth fighting for even if it means
paying the ultimate price.
        In a similar vein, the Gambian parliament has June 26 2000. In the
Grace of God that day will come . The people of our country through the
handful of opposition legislators will on that fateful day insist on the
constitutionally prescribed procedures of thoroughly investigating  a
documented case of corruption, abuse of office and other serious felonies by
the President. Simply put , we will not settle for anything that is remotely
designed to impede, obscure , delay or otherwise pose a hindrance to  a swift
and proper adjudication of the matter . Legislative dirty tricks such as the
ones employed by the majority to stifled debate or summarily voting down
important issues aimed at exposing this vile government would not cut it
either. We already know  that ruling party members of parliament have no
regard for their responsibility  or for the nation for that matter. The only
thing that drives them is self preservation because they know  they lack what
it takes to emerge in contemporary Gambian society solely on merit. This is
why they can go to their constituencies where their brethren are literally
starving and with a straight face extoll the virtues of this government. They
are not the right people for the all important position of putting the
interest of others first. For the most part they just weaseled their way to
elective with no intension of making the slightest difference in the lives of
the people they purport to represent. With the shinning light of the private
media brightly lit on them, the nation would have a better portrait of the
lackeys who are passing themselves as legitimate leaders. They have
consistently cheered on a murderous regime as it plunders the nation, happy
to draw on a salary and always looking for ways to lie to the people about
how sincere they are in defending their rights. List members can look forward
to a coverage of proceedings in the House. I expect ruling party MPs to  do
nothing to advance the course of justice. Instead we can look forward to
antics that would consequently crown the already sullied reputation of a
discredited House of Parliament.

Karamba

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L
Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html

----------------------------------------------------------------------------