Hello Saul,
Thanks for a very good summary of this shameful meeting. A leader who has a
sense of direction and who means well for the development of his/her country
will not entertain such a meeting nor be part of it. The whole affair tells
a lot about the quality of leadership we now have in our home.
I am particularly impressed about your honesty with respect to the tribal
agenda that Yaya has been accused of. From what I have seen when I was in
The Gambia in June/July of this year, it is some of the Mandinkas in our
country who connive with Yaya to persecute their own people. In my opinion,
this is done simply for material gains, be it cash or position. The truth
is that we have some very selfish individuals in the Mandinka community at
home who are myopic in their pursuit of power and wealth. Yaya should not
be blamed for all of the tribal animosity that is now going on in the
country. The fact of the matter is that Yaya has some willing
collaborators, who both incite him and who are eveready to betray their
conscience and their fellow decent Gambians, who happen to disagree with
their misguided policies.
Well done.
Bakary J Sonko
-----Original Message-----
From: Dampha Kebba [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, September 22, 2000 7:34 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: A short overview of Yaya Jammeh's "100 ft deep speech"
video
Saul, thanks once again for a brilliant piece. I was looking forward to it
because frankly I cannot bring myself to watch the moron make a fool of
himself. You captured the situation in a way only you know how. You are
right about Samba Faal. He was a boy-boy of the former Mayor James Gomez.
Showed the same type of puppy-dog loyalty to James. This Faal character is
even afraid of his shadow. They are all cowards. We should not lose sleep
over the people that surround Yaya and their mutual incitement. These are
the same types of people that surrounded Jawara and would attempt to
surround our next leader. We should just work to make sure that next time
around, we would not tolerate the activities of such parasites. That person
that said that they were all marked men/women made a very astute
observation. We will not spare them when we get rid of Yaya. They all have
to account for their actions. You are also right about Yaya's tribal agenda
or lack thereof. The simple truth is, the moron does not have a single
coherent agenda. He's like an animal that just does thinks spontaneously.
Think about all the contradictory things he has done over the years. Thanks
again for your contributions.
KB
>From: saul khan <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: A short overview of Yaya Jammeh's "100 ft deep speech" video
>Date: Thu, 21 Sep 2000 20:43:33 GMT
>
>Because I'm drowning in a sea of assignments, I'll be brief. Having
>watched
>the "100 feet deep" video which is several hours long, I have to say that
>our tiny nation call Gambia is in serious trouble. First, as I've said many
>times before, Yaya Jammeh has NO business running anything of substance,
>much less a country. But even worse (if this video is anything to go by,)
>Yaya is by no means a lone marauder. Yes, people kiss up to power
>everywhere. However, that sorry trait is turned into an art form by too
>many
>people back home. As sad as it is, that "too many" people include some very
>elderly people. To most of us who look to our senior citizens as the
>repositories of wit and wisdom, conscientiousness and honor, this video
>offers no solace in that direction. To the contrary, it's an indictment of
>Gambian grandees.
>There has been a lot of broo-ha-ha from our end regarding Yaya Jammeh's
>"incitement" to the group to take the law into their hands. In truth, Yaya
>hasn't incited the group any more than they incited him against the UDP.
>(From the video, one might as well assume that there is no other opposition
>party in the country apart from the UDP. Every single lash at the
>opposition
>was directed towards the UDP.) But overall, it's as if Yaya on the one
>hand,
>and the cadres on the other, were engaged in a contest to decide who could
>outdo the other in terms of being the most outrageous. There's something
>truly surreal, and sickening about the whole affair considering the status
>of one of the participants. I'll give a brief overview of what I recall
>from
>the major speakers.
>
>First, the sitting arrangement: Samba Faal (Bjl Mayor) was seated at the
>extreme right; Yaya Jammeh (R) and Yankuba Touray ( L) are in the middle;
>and Baba Jobe sat at the extreme left of a long table facing their troops.)
>Yaya, (in his usual make-belief "am Mr. Pious" role) wore an oversized
>Warramba, and white Muslim cap. (The man reminds me of my grand father on
>Fridays - only he is at least forty years younger.)
>
>Acting West Jarra Chief Yaya Jarjusey chaired the meeting, and like all
>Chairmen, he had a few words to say after every speaker spoke. Let's just
>say that the Jarra blood in me makes me want to puke each time the
>charlatan
>spoke! But he wasn't the biggest disappointment. Read on.
>
>Samba Faal - This was my first time to see this fellow. But, as APRC cadres
>come, he didn't disappoint. Mr. Mayor might as well be re-named "Chief Ass
>Licker." Both the posture of the fellow -when he had the floor, and his
>utterance, reveal a man who would tell Yaya anything he (Yaya) wants to
>hear. He rambled on about "the politics of development vs. the politics of
>deceit." I don't need to tell you which type of politics he said they were
>engaged in. When he was done, I seriously doubt if anyone had a clue about
>what he was trying to say.
>
>Speaker x - Due to the noise in the room at the time, I missed the name of
>some fellow from CRD who gave us a very frank view of their movement. This
>guy, who was commending the "job" the "boys" have been doing since '94,
>betrayed the semantics involved in the APRC Name Games. Speaking in
>Mandinka, he said "...at the time, we were called July 22nd Movement." I
>said
>"Yes! Gotcha!" So, the word is out: "APRC Youth Wing" is the SAME as "July
>22nd Movement!" The fellow, like many speakers after him, went on to praise
>their Assistant Commissioners for the wonderful job they were doing. It's
>on
>video.
>
>Alh. Banta Camara - This old man is one of the biggest disappointments of
>the video. I was really struck by his old age- grey beard and all. He's
>clearly a lot older than my own Dad who is in his mid sixties. Yet, some of
>the most disgusting ideas and confessions in that video came from this old
>man. He spoke of his role in Basse, and how he has been reporting disloyal
>civil servants to no avail. "Until today, nothing has happened to them," he
>lamented in Mandinka. He kept asking "why, why, why?" But as if that isn't
>enough, the old man started quoting the Quran to back what he was saying.
>He
>was particularly emphatic about Yaya meting out retribution against his
>enemies. "Even Allah, who has made us all," he said, "doesn't forgive those
>who transgress against him. That's why some people will go to hell." He
>therefore incited Yaya to take action against those who disparage him. He
>recalled the Basse incident, which he apparently helped forment. At some
>point, he tried to quote some verse from the Quran but couldn't. "How do
>they say it again?" he asked his cohorts twice. It wouldn't be too bad if
>this is an aberration, but the reality is that, we have many Alh. Banta
>Camaras in that tiny country: people in their twilight of life, who instead
>of frowning upon worldly perquisites in favor of basic decency, choose to
>wallow in hypocrisy with reckless abandon. "Keep the fingers crossed for
>The
>Gambia" is all I can say.
>
>Modou Soma Jobe - Well, Soma Jobe won't be himself if he didn't combine the
>charlatan with the Brutus. He was really brief (for which I am thankful.)
>He warned against ethnic baiting, and gave the group one of his trademark
>one-liners. Quite uncharacteristic, this speech was for Soma Jobe.
>
>Mafuji xx - I didn't catch this fellow's last name, but I gathered from
>someone that he works for the Health Dept. One thing though, he speaks
>exactly like Soma Jobe: the fanaticism, the arrogance, the ignorance, the
>hypocrisy, and the works... This Mafuji fellow ranted about civil servants
>that dare tell him "your government." He wondered why those people don't
>resign their government positions and wait for "their government's" time.
>Yaya Jammeh interrupted his speech to ask him to give him the name(s) of
>any
>civil servant who dares voice his/her cynicism about the APRC govt. On
>went
>Mafuji...
>
>Hon.? Jones (Bjl MP) - I have to say that Jones was the biggest
>disappointment to me. Why? Jones left his Qualified Teacher job to dedicate
>his life to PDOIS. But something went wrong somewhere. And I'm not talking
>about his fall-out with PDOIS. MP Jones went on about the inadequacy of the
>Parliamentary System, never really spelling out what he wants done to the
>system. He said the system is serving the interest of the former colonial
>masters rather than the ordinary African masses. That the masters have
>realized that it's easier to control (African) nations by hand-picking a
>few
>people, and using them to accomplish their designs without having to go
>through the masses. I couldn't believe what I was watching. Even a PDOIS
>renegade could do better than that. I find his assertion ridiculous, if for
>nothing else, but that, the system he was ranting against, is in fact one
>that feeds him. It would be more appropriate if he had resigned from
>parliament, and denounced the system as a marionette of the "masters." But
>"eating the cake and having it" simultaneously turns many off, as it did I.
>And for good reason. He then went on about how the youth should "Japalleh"
>Yaya Jammeh in what he is doing to develop the country. Some things are not
>meant to be understood folks! Apparently years of being Halifa Sallah aide
>hasn't done much for this fellow.
>
>Mrs. Yaya Jarjusey - If one thinks the great Seyfo is out of his rockers,
>one hasn't tried the Madam! She gave the most memorable speech in the video
>lamenting their leader's silence about reports in the media. "They give
>interviews in the Observer, you keep quiet; they give interviews on BBC,
>you
>keep quiet; no one hears your side; that's very disheartening; ... they've
>recognized all of us now, so if this 'thing' rocks, we're all in for hard
>times; ...you have to be on our side - you cannot be neutral; you have to
do
>something about the 'short man' (an obvious reference to Ousainu Darbo.")
>Blah, blah, blah!
>
>Yankuba Touray - I have to say that I was really disappointed by Yankuba.
>I
>was expecting Yankuba, the Loose Canon-cum-demagogue. I didn't see that. In
>truth, Yankuba gave the most coherent and responsible speech at that
>meeting. He spoke of how they (the cadres) could help their party instead
>of the empty revolutionary mumbo-jumbo. And he did raise a few discipline
>issues. Overall, I have no quarrels with what the guy said. If he can
>influence his people to behave the way he was exhorting them, our nation
>will be the better for it. Deep down though, I have doubts about the guy's
>sincerity in that speech. We'll see if his actions match his words. But I
>respect what he said in that video.
>
>The big Kahuna- Uncle Yaya took over, and the gist of his speech as
>published by Gambian newspapers, will go down in history as one of the most
>crude, and vile speeches ever given by a Head of State. However, those of
>us
>who subscribe to the notion that Yaya has a tribal agenda (and I belong to
>this group) need to "chill." Yaya simply has a lot of help, like I've said
>many times before. From the makeup, and look of that tape, most of the
>speakers are Mandinka people. Yet, to the last person, they were all
>inciting Yaya against Ousainu Darbo, who is one of them! So, in honesty,
>it's unfair to heap all the tribal disharmony blame on Yaya Jammeh. What I
>SAW on that tape isn't a group of people who were being coerced by Yaya to
>say crazy things. Rather, it's a group of otherwise responsible adults who
>are offering themselves as Yaya's WILLING executioners and tormentors of
>their fellow Gambian citizens. There is nothing that Yaya said at that
>meeting that is extraordinary within the scheme of things. In isolation, we
>cringe at the foul and uncouth language, but that was what his audience
>asked for. Yaya simply gave his people what they wanted. The only problem
>was he insisted that the entire country see the show. Quite unfortunate.
>It's sad and tragic, but that's what I gathered from this horror movie. I
>did see Koto Modou Pikka on the tape. He's definitely not the man he used
>to
>be. For lack of time, I've gotta go!
>
>Good day!
>
>Saul.
>
>
>
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