Hi Bamba, I fully agree with you,and I think we are addressing the same
concerns in the same light. I appreciate the fact that Jammeh needs to
refine his tone and be very selective for his choice of words.

Any head of state that needs to win the respect of the people both at home
and abroad needs to develop diplomatic tact.For no country can afford to
have a leadership that would be deemed offenssive for the things he says. It
may be easy for Jammeh to say whatever he wish in any form or shape, but he
should be made to be aware that, as a head of state his audience are not
just at home. Whatever he says is reported around the world, hence the need
to be selective in choice of message and word. The media after all is very
sensationalist and would be eager to  seize upon anything that would capture
the headlines. And Jammeh with his approach at the moment is god sent for
all the hype he generates. To avoid giving the impression that Gambia is
being led by an immature leader I hope and think that the leadership will
reflect upon all public statements,  and ensure that they are  palatable for
universal consumption.

The type of crude and raw  language that was or is  typical of Jammeh  ought
to be replaced with something more refined, diplomatic  and worthy of a head
of state.

After all Jammeh  has already been in the job for seven years and should be
aware that statements of   threats and harassments will only generate a lot
of media reporting and that does no good,  but only creates anxiety as well
as tarnish his image.

By and large I do agree that Jammeh needs a lot image building, for it
cannot serve any purpose, if he is being constantly quoted as issuing
threats to kill people. I think, evenwheras he does not mean to do so, to
avoid controversy and misunderstanding he should refrain from making such
apocalyptic remarks. I hope some form of training will be provided for him,
so that he can define the bounds of what he can and cannot say. At the
moment he seems to have a laissez faire attitude towards the things he say.
As for the use of the term, my this, my that, you must understand  that
Jammeh learnt all these from Jawara. He seem to think that the country and
all its contents belong to him as a head of state and that is why he goes
about my, my ,my not appreciating the fact that it is the people that pay
direct and indirect taxes to enable him to build those projects. With a
little bit of understanding he would have appreciate this fact but then it
was historical circumstances that created Jammeh. It is not as if he was a
seasoned politician who was aware of the needs and aspirations of the
people. He came into politics through the back door  with a set mind and an
agenda, hence we should  expect a lot of short comings. Nonetheless, we
should try to influence his personality and direction, after all failure to
do this can only antagonise him and this  will yield no fruits. I hope
people understand and appreciate the term constructive opposition, we must
try to out witt Jammeh and no pursue him on his remarks. We should treat his
statements with a pinch of salt, afterall Jammeh is an extrovert who loves
the  limelight and there si nothing we can do about that.
I hope from now on we shall focus on the things he is doing, if they are
good and improving the living standards of the people, then we can be proud
that as an opposition we are doing our job as the nation's watch dog. If he
renages on his promises, we can still hold him to account by constantly
exposing him.

As well as doing this we should have an agenda for progress,  an agenda that
would drive for mechanisation of agriculture as well as linking agriculture
to industry . An agenda for  job creation and self sufficiency. An agenda
for more democracy and the respect for the rule of law. An agenda for people
centred development programmes, in a not shell we should be proactive in our
opposition and talk about the issues. After all Jammeh is not the issue, he
just happens to be  the protagonist in the whole theatre. And being in such
a commanding role people are confusing him as the power, whiles the power
rest with the people and that is precisely why people went to elections so
that they can dettermine who will lead them. If we can demarcate and
distinguish wherin lies the power then we can know who our target audience
is, for our audience must not be Jammeh and that is precisely the mistake by
many, instead of focusing on addressing the people we constantly make Jammeh
  the subject reacting to his statements and just belabouring on them
constantly. In other to be formidable we must cease trailing after Jammeh
and devise tactics and methods to dilute him. After all soon will come the
parliamentary elections and the opposition needs it now more than ever to
strategize in other to ensure that the house is no longer a rubber stamp for
the executive but an active institution that will initiate and monitor all
erstwhile programmes.

These are the sorts of issues we should elaborate upon so that the Gambians
may benefit and  we desist from the politics of parochial chauvinism,
nihilism and fatalism.
>From: Bamba Laye <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Malik>>Re: Joe Sambou: call for restraint on abusive adjectives
>Date: Sun, 11 Nov 2001 12:08:46 -0500
>
>Mr. Kah,
>
>I agree that discussing the issues is what will help to portray the
>opposition in a better picture at this time of the resistance tothe tyranny
>we have back home. One of these issues is Jammeh's personality as a head of
>state. You will undoubtedly agree that he is arrogant and sometimes beyond.
>As a head of state, such personalities has rippling effects on every aspect
>of governance,thus indirectly to daily life in Gambia. Disecting and
>analysing such characteristics in ahead of state is a well founded approach
>to removing decadence in ours'. By doing so, no one is claiming to have the
>answers. We are only trying to understand what we see and hear.
>Check this out, he - Yaya Jammeh - pres
>ents himself as the state, the
>government and the APRC (Arrogant President Ruling a Country). He, on many
>occasions, utters scornful and condescendingly proud invectives such as 'my
>hospitals', 'my schools', 'my roads','if you don't vote for me I will make
>sure you suffer'. Do you honestly think that his personality should not be
>an issue? The same goes for those very close to him, those who take the law
>in their own hands without much done about it. They see themselves and act
>like they are the authority because they are "loyal" to Jammeh and
>thus "patriots".
>The cleansing has to start with the personalities - personailities that
>determine how a leader will succeed in bringing everyone together for a
>better and prosperous nation.
>
>My Opinion.
>
>Good day to you.
>
>Abdoulie A.Jallow
>(BambaLaye)
>
><<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>
>
>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]
>
><<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>


_________________________________________________________________
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]

<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>