Mr. Sallah,

These rules are vintage Ann Therese Ndong! Her hand writing is all over
this. Ask anyone who attended St. Peter's High School under her watch. I was
the Deputy Head Boy down there in '85 when Fr. Vincent Coma appointed this
woman the Acting Principal above the Heads of some very qualified members of
the staff. See, there were several Teachers with college degrees, Therese
Ndong doesn't have one. So, don't ask me why Fr. Coma did what he did. The
Rev. Father who is a friend of mine (he actually gave me my first job just
when I left the Sixth Form,) had previously sent Ndong to this US of A to
study. She stayed two years, and went home with a child. I don't want to go
into the details of that unless I have to. But the point is, the good Father
still took Ndong under his wings, and gave her a chance. He later appointed
her full Principal some time in '86, a job that became the launch pad for
her present position.

Yet despite this woman's own indiscipline, one couldn't snort without her
launching into a tirade about how "indisciplined" students are. I'm speaking
from first-hand experience. If I were in a lower grade when she took over,
she'd probably have expelled me 'cause she used to call me "cocky" for
protesting about things. She actually suspended me for leading a protest
against a teacher who only comes to class to talk about how people in Ghana
missed him. No joke. After about six weeks, I had enough, and told Mr.
Yen-nyi (his real name) that we were not there to hear about his biography,
but to learn. Of course the man was livid and asked me out. I refused and he
headed for Ndong. She loved it, 'cause she already had daggers out for me.
The previous week, I had organized a protest against the school's market
sellers. Prices were going up in an inverse relation to the size of the
foodstuff. Get the picture? So I had to bring my parent to be accepted back.

To her credit though, St. Peter's overall grades really took off when she
became established there. I'm not sure if that's the trade-off we're looking
for.

Because I'm dog tired, I'll quit here, but don't be surprised at all by any
of these draconian rules coming out of Education. Ndong has one thing in
common with Yaya Jammeh: they both believe in showing everyone who's in
charge. Tyranny as you've never seen it. Just ask around.

(BTW, I tried calling her office to tell her how sick I was about her
comments that the govt. should be commended for the way they handled the
protests. I couldn't get through. Maybe that's the best for the both of us,
because each of us thinks the other is a nightmare. You're most welcome to
ask her about any of these.)

Good night.

Saul.



>I can't believe my eyes. This is outrageous. On top of
>>as such
would not have
>>happened

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