Mr. Sallah,

It's good to hear from you. I hope you've had a good tour of the country.
And listened to the people. And I hope (against hope?) that you've finally
come clean with the people regarding your special relationship with Yaya
Jammeh.

I'm a little surprised by your provocation though, because when I red your
reply to Joe Sambou's appeal, I sincerely thought you were fed up with our
debate (which had bogged down anyway -as Joe rightly pointed out.) In fact,
if I recall right, you did say that as far as you're concern, we should
agree to disagree and move on. That, because you've been placed in the
witness box, you're forced to reply to our allegations/contentions. I sensed
your desire to do what you do best: preach to your choir! I really don't
think you care  about winning over skeptics or new converts. So, I felt I
shouldn't stand in the way. Apparently, Hamjatta came to the same
conclusion. We told you where we stood, or where we were coming from. End of
story from this side.

Considering that you have deftly ignored the main questions thrown at you -
especially in the latter part of the debate, what are we going to learn this
time around? One simple question I'm dying to hear you address emanates from
this scenario: AFPRC announced a 4-year Timetable in 1994; Gambians said NO!
in one thunderous voice; Some external observers did their nudging of the
Council; The Timetable was reduced in half. Why do you find a replay of this
scenario regarding the 1997 constitution implausible? You've never said.

You're now alluding to our inconsistency in terms of principle. I cannot
speak for Hamjatta, but mine is based simply on trust. And truth. Like many
Gambians, I was disgusted with the PPP regime. So, I totally supported the
coup. When Yaya Jammeh said he had no intention of becoming president, I
said "this is my man!" But, when it became clear to me that, the guy was
going to run, I turned against him. I just can't stand liars, especially if
they're so-called leaders. Unlike you, who doesn't see anything wrong with a
"leader" lying to his people, I was infuriated by Yaya's betrayal of the
trust many of us had in him after he kicked out the PPP. I knew with all my
heart that a Yaya Jammeh presidency is bound to wreak havoc on Gambians. I
wrote in the Summer 1996 article you refused to publish (because it's
"undemocratic" ) that "...Should Yaya rig the elections, and history is
anything to go by, things would only go down hill from there."  Not to blow
my own trumpet here, but how prophetic! The Yaya Jammeh Gambia I warned you
about is exactly what we're stuck with now. Reading that article -of which
you now have a copy, I cannot for the life of me, understand how YOU
couldn't see what I was saying. You are supposed to be the social scientist,
the seasoned politician, the one who understands the intricacies of how
government works. So, what happened? Why the sudden blindness?

It is for this reason that, I believe you have other motives that you
haven't told either Gambians  generally, or your supporters. You took stock
of Yaya Jammeh for two years (1994 - 1996): the man's mentality, his
immaturity, his utter crudeness, his abrasive personality, his fiery insults
of his opponents, his pitting of Gambains against each other, his scary
threats of turning the Gambia into another Rwanda if ..., the brutality of
his regime, the escalating corruption, and more. You had a first hand look
at all that, and still found nothing wrong with him turning his Council into
a political party, and making a joke of the elections. I told you exactly
what was going to happen in the elections and thereafter. You totally
dismissed my advice and prediction. And you're someone who has spent a
decade -at the time, telling Gambians how bad the Jawara administration is,
and how we can create true democracy in the Gambia. And you want to talk
about inconsistency in principles?


In fairness to you, you deserve the opportunity to rebut my "final thoughts"
and Hamjatta's. And if you are sincere about continuing the debate, then
declare that, so that people like Joe Sambou would not reach the wrong
conclusion. It's totally voluntary. And more important, if we are to
continue this debate, let's lay down some ground rules: You tell your
sycophants to either back off, or ADDRESS the specific issues in contention.
Every member of the List is welcome to join, as long as they're ready to
focus on the issues. Because, if we have a replay of situations where people
just haul lies at us like  we're the "cronies of the new generation of
politicians," or words to that effect, or that these "attacks" are
"personal," then things are bound to get ugly. Very ugly. So, in the
interest of probity, and civility, you tell them to adhere to basic truth.
Or you can take this opportunity and move on altogether. I just don't want
you to feel pressured to go on with the debate. Or feel like the victim of
unwarranted assaults (some have been portraying you thus.) [ Sahir Drammeh
wrote  just last week that we're merely been personal in all this. He has
declined to answer a simple question that I posed to him. We should all be
relieved that he never got back to me. Believe me.] If  we are to have
national discussions, it would be helpful to hear from people who know what
they're talking about. That, however seems to be too much to ask. But,
"every dog has it's day," or so they say.
On the other hand, you can give us your ok (by engaging us,) and we can get
the ball rolling. Believe me, I'm yet to talk about all and everything. That
will be coming. The more I look at your style, the more disappointed I get.
I'll love to share those observations with you and this List. You decide
which way we'll be going.

Good day!

Saul.


>From: foroyaa <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: To Hamjatta
>Date: Fri, 4 Feb 2000 12:50:25 -0000
>
>Hamjatta,
>
>We came back from a 16 days tour only to discover that you are yet to
>address your contention that the indemnity provision in the C
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