Sister Jabou,
Thank you very much, for hitting the top of the nail. The real fact is that the land issue needs to be
revisited, for equal rights and justice to prevail.
Elhajj

Jabou Joh skrev:

> In a message dated 7/5/2001 3:02:25 PM Central Daylight Time, [log in to unmask]
> writes:
>
> << Good evening,
>          Is it OK if I may ask where the people asking about Traditional Land
> Ownership
>  originate from (town or village in The Gambia). I shall then do my best to
> answer your PERTINENT questions.
>  I ask this, for I think where one comes from is fundamental in grasping the
> emotions behind Land Ownership.
>
>  Good evening
>  Manneh >>
>
> Manneh,
>
> I was born in Jangjangbureh, as were the rest of my family, except one, and
> when I was 9, my family moved to Gunjur.
> I want to thank Dr Jeng and Malanding for their explanations.
> However, i also want to say that in our fight for justice, let us not be
> selective. If we seek justice, we must be prepared to seeek it in every
> aspect pf Gambian life. It has become too easy for folks to just  try to use
> the word tribalism as a scare tactic to shut others up because they think
> that everyone will consider it politically incorrect and run and hide.
> If there are certain groups in The Gambia who claim certain lands, and others
> have no such claim, then something is very unfair and wrong here, and I hope
> I am not the only one who sees that. We have to be careful about being very
> eager to address only those wrongs that are not to our advantage and try to
> ignore, cover up or pass over those that directly involve our personal or
> family, or group interests. One cannot afford to seem to give the imptession
> of being cunning at the expense of other people.
> If we are all Gambian by birth, then we are all entitled to have claim to the
> land, not because we have used it longer, but because we were born in Gambia,
> period. If the latter was the norm throughout the World, the Native Americans
> could step forward and regain their land. In this regard, I resent the
> question of where one is from that was asked by Mr Manneh. What is that
> leading to? It angers me the same way that people anger me when they atart
> talking about people's parents not being from Gambia, and therefore they are
> not Gambians. One is the citizen of a country because one is born in that
> country.
> I am no tribalist, but I think that this land affair is something that
> definitely needs to be looked at. It just does not make sense to me that some
> Gambians can have claim to certain lands when this is not evenly applied as
> far as every group in Gambia is concerned.
> Am I to believe that my Gambian brothers and sisters whose klans, groups, etc
> can lay claim to  land and  other groups are not entield to the same
> priviledge actually consider that just? If we are all Gambians, then I think
> we need to revisit this land issue and make sure we put a fair system in
> place where every Gambian can acquire land in a uniform manner. I cannot see
> myself as comrades to people who say they abhor injustice and are fighting
> for justice with me, but who at the same time conveniently chuck this land
> issueto tribalism when it is very clear that definitley not all Gambians have
> equal rights when it comes to this issue.
> These are some of the issues that cannot be swept under the rug people. Let
> us debate them and formulate solutions instead of focussing on some of the
> problems while trying to step over the others that are bound ot be
> problematic later.
>
> Jabou Joh
>
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