Bamba,
I agree with your feelings. It's sad that Ebou Jallow's allegations couldn't
get through to the Ceesay family or the Gambian people. We all would have
loved to paste his allegations on our newspapers, but provided they could be
substantiated by him or by us, in our own investigations. Jallow was already
in the US;there was no way he could be sought to confirm in a court of law,
the validity of his allegations. And we couldn't either at the time. Better
still, Jallow's allegations are one-sided, a narration of events, he
indicated to have been spoon-fed to him by those he alleged to have "killed"
Koro. Yes, it would have been nice to the Ceesay family or the Gambian
public, to have been told the "circumstances surrounding Koro's death"
according to Ebou Jallow. But what if Jallow's allegations turned out false?
Presumably, you've already made up your mind that Jallow's revealations are
true or are verifiable by his own narration of events. Personally, I think
that in as much as Jallow's allegations do give a glint of information from
within, about Koro's death, they, however, should be viewed carefully. They
may be true or false, but only a competent court of law or a commission of
inquiry can authenticate them. And those he alleges to have "killed" Koro
are "innocent" until proven guilty in a court of law or by a competent
Coroner's inquest. So to publish his allegations, which were one-sided,
unsubstantiated, unverifiable at the time, would have been legally costly,
if not, dangerous to a newspaper's existence at the time.
Recently, Jallow used the "Voiceout" column of the Gambianet to spread his
allegations. Now, his information is domestic consumption in The Gambia. You
think that if the Observer had carried his allegations, that probably would
have "compelled others with some knowledge of what happened to come forward
with their own version?" I doubt it. Quite recently, Local Government
Minister Yankuba Touray,whom Jallow alleges to have taken part in Koro's
death, villified the former AFPRC spokesman, rather than give his version of
the story pertaining to Jallow's allegations. Following Jallow's information
on Voiceout, the proprietors of Gambianet were summoned to the NIA, and
subsequently, Voiceout disappeared from Gambianet. Rather than speak on
Jallow's allegations and present their own version of the story, Jallow's
alleged culprits simply resorted to authoritarianism by clamping down on
Gambianet. Could a similar fate have happened to any Gambian newspaper which
published Jallow's allegations, especially if there were no substantiation
efforts on the part of the newspapers, and during those dark, lean days of
press intimidation?
Like I said before, newspapers have to be very careful not to publish
information they cannot substantiate when asked, in court, or by national
public opinion. In as much as we would have loved to render service to the
Gambian people by publishing Jallow's letter, we were equally restrained by
our bounden duty to publish something verifiable by us or the source of the
allegations.
I, personally, have written a lot in taking the AFPRC government to task for
foot-dragging on any investigations into Koro's mysterious death. I
interviewed the Ceesay family,and wrote a scathing column on the AFPRC's
false pretences of pain and misery over Koro's death, when they're unwilling
or unable to mount an inquiry into the late Finance Minister's mysterious
death.
Thanks for your comments. Bye.
Cherno Baba Jallow
Detroit, MI
>From: Bamba Laye <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: Bamba Laye <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Ebou Jallows' revelations
>Date: Sun, 26 Dec 1999 20:15:00 -0600
>
>Cherno,
>You wrote:
>"Upon receipt of Jallow's letter, Daily Observer's editorial board sat down
>to determine the publishability of Jallow's contents on KOro's death. We
>agreed that they were serious allegations concerning senior members of the
>Ruling Council. And since there was no way to validate Jallow's
>allegations,
>we decided not to publish them, but only to put out an 'overview' story on
>Jallow's resignation letter."
>
>This is quite an interesting revelation from your end Bro. I am curious
>(and I am sure many on the list are) to know why your editorial board
>decided to discard Ebous' revelations at a time when it could have served
>justice in giving Koros' family and the entire Gambia an idea of the actual
>circumstances surrounding Koros' death. Don't you think that publishing the
>letter would have compelled others with some knowledge of what happened to
>come forward with their own version? Don't you feel that you've done some
>disservice to the people by not publishing the letter or atleast hinting at
>why you think the letter should not be published?
>I am also interested in knowing if Foroyaa had a copy of this letter and
>what have been done about it with regards to their own investigation into
>the matter? I will be glad if Mr. Sallah could clarify this for me.
>
>Have a great week and stay safe.
>
>Abdoulie A. Jallow
>
>"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter".
> - Dr. M. L. King Jr.
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