Mr Sallah,
Believe it or not, I'm still open to persuation. The onus for that falls on
you though. I'm just a little worried about getting inundated with totally
irrelevant facts. The issues that myself and Hamjatta asked are pretty
clear. So really, you don't need to give us a day-by-day political diary of
the Gambia to answer these issues. That you had nothing to do with
planning/executing the coup is a given. But in your last piece, you went to
great lengths trying to prove what has never been in dispute anyway. They
say "old habits die hard," but if you can resist the temptation of engaging
in overkill, and just get to the meat, I'd appreciate it. Not to get
technical, but there is a concept in Accounting called "Representational
Faithfulness." It means basically that the information provided should have
a relationship
with what triggered it's generation in the first place. Therefore, the more
Representationally Faithful your response is, the better off we'll all be.
Besides, voluminous articles often cost you your audience. I'll personally
read anything you write -however long. But if you want to get to many out
there, you may want to be cognizant of this fact. This is just a thought.
Regarding the other political players, I've been thinking of ways of luring
them to this forum. Nothing would be better for the Gambia's political
future. Dr. Katim Touray has done a great service to the Gambia by inviting
the president to the forum. I believe, there will be a Rep of every Gambian
political entity as soon as the president gets a proxy on. I would love
nothing more than going at Darbo especially. Besides, his presence or that
of a reliable proxy like Waa Juwara would be very helpful b/c there has been
accusations and insinuations on this forum from some people that the only
reason for their opposition to Yaya Jammeh is on ethnic grounds. I believe,
they should defend themselves against such claims.
But personally, I'll ask questions of ANYONE trying to be a leader in the
Gambia anywhere I have the opportunity. If you think I'm asking you
questions b/c I don't like you, you're barking up the wrong tree. Not to
brag Mr Sallah, but I'm not your average Gambian. And never have been. I've
never been intimidated by anyone's name or title. The idea matters to me
more than the name or title behind the idea. So whether it's Halifa Sallah,
Ousainu Darbo, Yaya Jammeh or Bill Clinton, I won't bat an eyelid to ask
questions on matters relating to public trust. We all get carried away
sometimes, and throw certain words around, but when all is said and done,
you may not be so sure that I'm the dummy you think I am. My Fula ancestors
aptly call it "Ha Boya!" -Time Will Tell.
I'm I on an ego-trip? Maybe. But I'd like to believe that I'm asking these
questions b/c of my heroes. In one of your replies, you referred to my
"heroes" when talking about Sheriff Dibba and co. Yet nowhere in our
exchanges have I ever said Sheriff Dibba or any politician for that matter
is my hero. I have great respect for Sheriff Dibba, and his role in Gambian
politics. No apologies there. But he is not my hero, and never will be. My
heroes are people like my father who toil everyday against ineffable odds to
provide for their families; to guide their children on a righteous path, all
while protecting their honor in what is a very harsh world. In short, these
are people who can seperate the ephemeral from what is truly substantive.
You meet people like that with baskets/boxes on their heads every day on
your way to work. Call him Pa Sambu, call her Afolmow, call him Uncle Gibou,
call her Aji Ndey. It doesn't matter. They are the nameless, faceless people
who get duped by people like you and I with a college education - regime
after regime. The cliche' about "Old wine and new bottles" come to mind
here. When are we going to start exposing the wolves in sheep clothing? Are
do you tell the wolf from the sheep?
Some people are offended that I dare to ask you the questions I asked.
Somehow, I'm impugning your honor. Somehow, I'm rude to be asking you at
all. What nonsense! What hypocrisy! I'm not in the moral/spiritual business,
but we all can learn from Jawara. We have all heard people compare Jawara to
the prophet Muhamed. We have tapes of "DK Sabari" and so on, and so forth.
But in honesty, was Jawara truly what his sycophants were portraying him to
be? You tell me. So, while it's good for our ego, blind and baseless support
doesn't do any of us any good. My point? At the end of the day, you might be
a lot better off w/ critics like myself who force you to peek in the mirror,
than sycophants like Alpha Robinson, who tell you you're beyond reproach.
"No one can throw sand in our eyes ... we've seen ..." he puts it. What
nonsense! Where is the sand coming from? When has clarify your position
equate "sand throwing"? But, to be precise, are you beyond reproach Mr.
Sallah?
We've spoken quite a few times (though you can't remember,) and I've seen
you around town enough to gather a little bit about your lifestyle. But I'm
I totally convinced that you're incorruptible? No! Neither do I think that
someone is honorable simply b/c he doesn't wear any fancy clothing. That's
what some people want me to believe. To me, that's a very superficial way
of judging any one. Charles Keating was a "simple, decent, charity-giving,
church-going gentleman" according to all his neighbors, until they
discovered he had stolen two Billion dollars from public coffers. So, is
Halifa Sallah a Charles Keating? I don't think so, and I hope to god, you
never become. But then, I don't really know you beyond your public persona.
Do I? That's why I want to find out as much as I can about you FROM YOU, and
about any one wanting to be our leader. I hope to get the opportunity to
"feel out" all the major political players. But, until then, it's Halifa
Sallah's turn to be in the kitchen. For the shake of my HEROES, you may be
hearing from me for sometime to come. I just hope you're not merely paying
lip-service to welcoming real scrutiny. In any case, if you don't have
anything to hide, I don't see why you should worry. I have a gap in my
understanding of your role in Gambian politics since '94. Looks like,
there's at least a few others on this forum w/ similar views. To win our
confidence, you need to fill such gaps.
Good night!
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: Re: Reply to Halifa on Rejoinder to Hamjatta's Reply'
>Date: Sat, 11 Dec 1999 13:30:35 -0000
>
>Saul,
>
>What I could gather from your piece is that you have conceded that at least
>during the early stage of the coup I was not the manipulator with 'superior
>intelligence'. However, you insisted that I should explain what happened
>later. Okay, that is fair enough. In fact that is precisely what I have
>promised to do and I am doing everything on a chronological order, and I
>insist that up to the period that we were being taken to court for
>challenging Decree No. 4, no Gambian public figure ever challenged the
>AFPRC. You are talking about what people did later. Let me remind you that
>it is Halifa Sallah you put in the accused box. Halifa Sallah is,
>therefore,
>simply putting up a defence. Please don't come again and accuse me of
>focusing too much on myself. Allow me to do the explanation and I hope you
>will be fair enough to challenge other public figures to also explain
>themselves. Otherwise, I will begin to doubt your impartiality and
>objectivity.
>
>
>Halifa Sallah.
>
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