Below is a long piece that I did not see circulated on the two (I did not receive it from either) listserv.  Read on!!!
 
Soffie
 
 
Deydaaaaaa......................Hydara Karaaraa!
 
By Saptieu Jobe
 
Who speaks the language of the dead
so I could talk through them to Deyda?
Who hears the voice of the departed 
so they could relay messages from Deyda?
Who has knowledge of the world beyond
so they could tell me what is with Deyda?
Who in a million Gambians
can interpret dreams I have of Deyda?
 
Who is so thin-skinned 
that they'd be offended by Deyda?
Who in their wildest dreams
would have thought they'll turn on Deyda?
Who in forty years of self-rule,
Has suffered the fate of Deyda?
Who defied all human descency,
pulling triggers that killed Deyda?
 
Who in our very young nation 
has cleared their conscience about Deyda?
Who among us journalists
would have taken a bullet for Deyda?
Who in our entire cabinet
would risk their post for Deyda?
Who among our leaders 
would speak the truth re:Deyda?
 
Who in a million us
now stands with the family of Deyda?
Who in an entire nation
could possibly forget Deyda?
Who among his peers
would step up and replace Deyda?
Who wishes him "rest in peace"
unavenged soul of Deyda?
 
March 16th 2005.
 

AN OPEN LETTER TO ALL GAMBIANS INCLUDING THE PRESIDENT

 
It is with a very heavy heart that I pick my pen out of retirement to add my voice to the hundreds who one way or another registered disbelief, disgust and disappointment at the gruesome murder of our colleague Deyda Hydara. As a woman I saw it fit to give his widow time to maybe not accept his passing but to at least come to terms with it. The prescribed period of mourning goes on for our loyal and faithful wife Mariam and we stand with her in her grief. We ask that she accept our sympathy and that she knows that we feel her pain and that of her children. Three months is a long time to continue to accept the line being forwarded by the authorities in connection with Deyda's murder. If the murder remains unsolved then my dear friend the SOS for Interior, The Inspector General of Police and even the President are telling us that they cannot secure our country. That is unacceptable. 
 
I deliberately picked a question-filled poem because I still have questions - one million of them and counting. I have questions and so should every single Gambian. The very core of our social fabric is being ripped-up from under our feet while we complacently sit around taking national security for granted. We as a society are making negative changes too fast by accepting violent cultures of neighboring countries. Change is necessary and can be good but only if it replaces the bad instead of the good in our society.  Violence, especially cold-blooded murder is absolutely foreign to Gambia. We have all witnessed the evils that have plagued our sub-region in the forms of war in Liberia, Guinea Bissau, Sierra Leone and closer to home in neighboring Cassamance. I am still haunted by the words of a female refugee that I interviewed five years ago when she arrived in Foni Jifanga to seek refuge. She tearfully confessed to having left one child behind in her dash through the back door, across the compound and on a journey through the forest late at night to seek refuge in Sibanor.  I asked her HOW she could leave her child behind? Only we Gambians who have never known war can ask such a stupid question. How indeed!  "A thousand gunshots rang out in the night," she said. She did what she had to do. 
 
Guns have never developed any society, just ripped it apart. Gambians beware! Most of us were first exposed to guns by way of the ceremonial gun salutes during Independence Day celebrations. Even that was enough to scare some of us to death. We have always been a peace-loving society to the point where we would rather "maslahaa" with each other than risk confrontation by giving an honest-to- God-opinion. Well the time has come to break the culture of silence and tell each other some hard truths. The time has come when we must look closely at what has gone so wrong in our society that a prominent, internationally-renowned journalist, well loved, well respected and well placed, in the traditional sense, could be gunned down in a premeditated, cold-blooded murder that defies comprehension and three months later, we still await justice. Three months on and we still can't find closure. That too is unacceptable.
 
Deyda was all kindness, all-gentleman, all compassion, all calm, all courage and all honesty. They say people like him don't live long least their character be polluted by the likes of me.  Deyda's behavior and comportment were too close to that of the holy prophet thus he became the 'chosen one'. Chosen that is, to be the conscience of the media fraternity as well as the government of the day. He knew that there was only one truth and that only "the truth shall set you free". Deyda and I had our differences back when I was serving as the first Director of Press and Public Relations at the President's Office during the transition. We edited rival publications and dished out venom at each other's paper. Through it all however, we would talk on the phone or sit together over coffee at one seminar or another. He would jokingly accuse me of selling out and advice me to follow my conscience at all times in the course of doing my job. We always re-assure each other that our differences in philosophy had more to do with the different masters we were serving than anything else. He kept reminding me that I "have a major role to play in the field of journalism being that you are one of a handful of foreign-trained female journalists". Did we ever fight over issues? You bet. It was never personal though. We sometimes disagreed and fought but there was never any mean or malicious intent. We understood and respected each other's position.
 
Like most Gambians, I first met Deyda on the airwaves because of Radio Syd. Who could forget his well-known midnight baritone announcing "A day is gone, a new day is born......"  In the early seventies, those lines were as much a part of Gambia as the river itself. Every time I heard him repeat the midnight call in French, I would try to repeat after him. His French was so good. I wanted to meet him and my late father who built Radio Syd introduced me one day because of my interest in Journalism. Five years ago when dad passed away, veteran journalist, Swaebou Conateh, Pap Saine, D.A.Jawo and Deyda Hydara came by the house. Deyda told me that my late father saved Radio Syd because he advised the proprietor to build an expensive sea wall around the waterfront. This was way back when the sea was in a non-threatening distance away from Radio Syd. "Your father's foresight might have saved this historic structure when the rest of the waterfront was swallowed up by the advancing sea" he said. That was Deyda! He saw good in the little things people did and he not only appreciated such contributions, he also let them know. In 1992 when my right to free speech was censored by the former regime resulting in my sacking as Editor, AWA MAGAZINE, his newspaper THE POINT, headed by Baboucarr Gaye, mounted a fight on my behalf unprecedented in those early days of the development of the independent media. They mobilized the press corps and fought tooth and nail to get me re-instated to the embarrassment of all who had a hand in my sacking. They arranged several interviews for me, with the international media, to expose that illegal act of censorship and in the end, press freedom won.  I was reinstated. I was not even a member of the Gambia Press Union but in the media, we are "a band of brothers". They knew that turning a deaf ear to the harassment of any journalist anywhere, would lead to more harassment of more journalists everywhere. Henceforth, he took up arms for press freedom but his pen as his only weapon.
 
Let me refer you to a famous 1990 caption across TOPIC MAGAZINE's photo of a gun-toting- soldier which angered some members of the armed forces including the then Lieutenant Yaya Jammeh. "PUT DOWN THE GUNS", it reads. The caption is as relevant today as it was fifteen years ago when we published TOPIC. The spate of un-addressed killings that have let flow fountains of blood in our peace-loving country include the murders of our young and intelligent Finance Minister Ousman Koro Ceesay, the polite and hard-working, Journalist and Red Cross volunteer Omar Barrow, our young unarmed children gunned down during the student demonstrations of April 10th 2000 and now, the champion of press freedom, Deyda Hydara. This too is unacceptable. We must not continue to be quiet over issues that affect all of us as Gambians. Gambia bleeds. Guns continue to sow seeds of hatred in our society that has known nothing but unity and peace. Gambia has never been as divided as it is today. We do have differences of opinion, which we are all entitled to in a democracy if we know what democracy means. Differences in opinion however are just that and should not be interpreted to mean dislike or hatred. As a society, we need to stop encouraging people who tell us we are all the things we know we are not. When we go to bed at night, it is our head on that pillow and of course we cannot get away from our consciences. Question is: Are our consciences clear enough that we can get a good night's sleep.
 
Finally, we need to forgive and seek forgiveness from each other, turn a new page and start all over. So much bad has happened and continue to happen in our society that calls itself God-fearing. Most of the time, even some religious leaders would rather look the other way for fear that they be labeled anti-government like Imam Baba Leigh has been labeled. Well, Imam Baba Leigh's father was a truthful, god-fearing Imam who served only one master - the almighty Allah. His son couldn't possibly do otherwise. He wasn't raised that way and I should know. We grew up together. Oftentimes we step on toes in the process of doing our duties as government officials and so we need to send a blanket apology to each other since we sometimes hurt each other unintentionally. Let me take the lead by seeking forgiveness from everyone especially former President Jawara & family, members of his government, all of my colleagues in the media and any one I have ever hurt in the course of doing my work - official and otherwise. We have all done things that, years later we wish we had done differently. I hope that all Gambians will follow suite and seek forgiveness from each other starting with our Head Of State, President Yaya Jammeh. 
 
'Kanilai', you are not infallible. No man is. You may recall that day you confronted MID's representative Kebba Fanta Comma at a State House meeting of opinion leaders from his area. You publicly and rightfully chided him for having coined the once famous "No Faulta" - a name he called President Jawara implying that Jawara was faultless. Mr. President, please stop listening to my friend Effery M'bye and Fatou Jahumpa Ceesay who constantly tell you that you are perfect then write self-promoting letters to the editor using fake names to ensure publication of such letters. The trick is as old as the sky. You probably know that they don't care about you just what they can get from you in the form of money and position respectively. Think about it. The very people who were so close to President Jawara and family have publicly denied that friendship and are now wrapping their web of deception around you. What makes you think they will treat you any better than Judas did to Jesus Christ. No position is permanent. You Mr. President can tell the story of the conclusion of the Jawara presidency better than anyone. 
 
Gambians loved and supported you through the transition years. I remember when you couldn't get to the end of a circle without everyone trampling on each other trying to shake your hand or to just get a glimpse of you. But then, politics got in the way. Today, there is more "jallibaaism" going on than genuine support for you. If my words upset you let me refer you to your very first press conference where you asked us journalists to feel free to criticize you when we see you go wrong. I am very sincere in my criticism and you of all people know how sincere I am. I don't NEED anything from you. Be your own keeper Mr. President and address the bad blood that is building up among your people which, left unchecked might see us seeking refuge in neighboring countries instead of sheltering refugees as we have always done. 
 
Hon. O.J. Jallow is not your enemy nor are Halifa Sallah, Ousainou Darboe, Waa Juwara and other opposition members. They just want to try something else which is their vision for our country. These are honorable people who have never been known to possess the "jallibaa" mentality of the likes of some people in your "close circle". Now, you can listen to the deceitful people around you or you can listen to your critics who can only make you better if you have the political will.  Alternatively, you can look in the mirror and see for yourself the faults that God assigned you just like he assigned every human being he created. For my over-indulgence I seek your forgiveness and that of every Gambian.  Your critics may in the end turn out to love you more than you know. I will also tell you what I told President Jawara over fifteen years ago resulting in years of exile in Canada: A DEMOCRACY CANNOT FUNCTION WITHOUT A VIBRANT FREE PRESS.
 
CC: Editor, The Point
       Editor, Daily Observer
       Editor, Independent
       Editor, Gambia Daily
       Editor, Foroyaa
       Editor, News & Special Report
        
 
 
 
 

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