NEWS
Fataumatta Jahumpa Ceesay "Crying Too Soon" - says Fatou Jaw Manneh
INTERVIEW



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October 24, 2005
The race for October 2006 is warming up as the two contending sides begin
to take stock of the recent by-elections, and the highly anticipated
naming of the opposition coalition flag bearer.

Washington based Gambian political commentator, Fatou Jaw Manneh, who had
an interesting interview with the Independent last year where all her
predictions became true to the bone. Once again shares her insight on
Gambia's political situation.

Fatou Jaw Manneh, who is one of few outspoken female political activists,
in this fiery interview, deplores the entire women top-dogs of the APRC;
as she refers to them as "bad examples for young women political
aspirants".

Q: Hello Fatou.

A: Hello to you .

Q: The by-elections are over, the opposition wins 3 seats. Are you
shocked, elated or surprised?

A: Elated but not shocked at all. I knew that united, NADD can make Jammeh
history. This is the beginning of the end of Jammeh, God willing.

Q: The president is quiet at this moment after the elections. Why?

A: He is just scared to death. His hands are full with the Senegal border
issue, which escalated out of hand because of his arrogance and lack of
advisors. His coffers are empty. And now Gambians through this
by-elections are sending him a clear message that we have had enough of
him. That is why you are not hearing any boastful comments or Ramadan
gifts and Ramadan arrests.

Q: Halifa, Sedia and Kemeseng all have wide margins against their
opponents, actually far more than the last elections. How comes?

A: Easy. It is just the people showing more solidarity to their candidates
this time. This is a message that people are now sick and tired of Yaya
Jammeh and they are willing to get rid of him sooner rather than later.

Q: Halifa especially has a wide margin, did he change his tactics or is he
getting more popular?

A: Halifa has not changed one bit from the beginning of his political
career to now. What has changed is Halifa's constituency. His people. They
have come to the realization that they are a little too late in
recognizing what a talent, wisdom, intelligent and faithful man they have
as a candidate. Halifa has been with the Gambian people for the longest
time and his people just realize that they have to celebrate, recognize
and embrace him before it is too late. There is this saying in Mandinka
that, if someone stands for you in the sun, you better stand for him under
the shade. Serrekunda central is showing and telling us that they are not
going to trade Halifa for Jammeh. It is very inspiring.

Q: Hamat Bah lost his seat, what do you think was the reason?

A: Different factors. APRC did all they could from intimidation to bribery
to theft and I think those are some of the reasons. But you know what?
Hamat limping is far more capable than Yaya at his best. Whether he likes
it or not, Hamat is going to be very active in Gambian politics, and is
going to campaign in every corner against Jammeh come 2006. We salute him.
He is a hell of a fighter. APRC is eroding the moral, cultural,
traditional and religious fabric of our society. He has pitted community
against community, tribe against tribe, brother against brother and
neighbor against neighbor. It is high time that Gambians refuse to be
baffled by such an incompetent leader.

Q: Yankuba Touray tried to convince Jarra, that they should exchange their
votes for Baba Jobe.

A: Yes, and the Jarranka's proved to him that they are not slaves. You
see, Yanks lost his sparkle. APRC kills its babies and tries to rejuvenate
them, but with Yanks, he is a dead man walking. He has lost all shine.
It's sad to realize how desperately low he can go. He is a very pathetic
man.

Q: Sidia Jatta again claims victory.

A: Yes, you don't ruffle wulli feathers. Those people are clean of
fickleness.

Q: Sedia refused to touch the qur'aan at his swearing in. Is that an issue
in a Muslim nation?

A: Well he has constitutional rights not to. What is an issue is that, is
Sheriff Dibba fit to hold the qur'aan either. He is the most sleazy of all
Gambian politicians past and present.

Q: When do you think NADD is going to name a flag bearer? Do you think
that will become a problem?

A: Yes, I think there will be a little problem, but that problem is more
welcome than the APRC problem. The problem will be that of over
qualification. Each of these men are all more qualified to run the country
than Jammeh. Even on a lesser note, all the NADD guys are more handsome
than Jammeh. Jammeh is not easy on the eyes if I may add. But I hope with
maturity and patience, they will be able to come up with a candidate as
flag bearer, and we all pray that they can come to this decision
peacefully. If the decision gets too tough for them to make, then they
should opt for yearly rotation of the presidency, if our constitution
permits.

Q: One of our colleagues and parliamentarians Fatoumata Jahumpa Ceesay is
lambasting Halifa for claiming to be knowledgeable but not owning a book
to his name. Is she fair to him?

A: First of all, regardless of the fact that both Halifa and Fatoumatta
are politicians and public figures, I detest even giving a response about
her in the same paragraph. It feels blasphemous for me to compare or argue
about Halifa and Fatoumatta. If you understand what am trying to say.

If Halifa should claim a book, that will be easy. All that journalists and
historians need to do is make a compilation of Halifa's articles
throughout his life. This will be helpful to the next generation, not just
to NADD or APRC, but it will be a very helpful educational tool. It can be
titled WORDS OF WISDOM. We have such books of leaders like Martin Luther
King, Malcolm X, Mandela and many more that are being used in history and
literature classrooms throughout the US. We as Africans need to take our
serious community leaders seriously. We do not have to wait until they are
not around and start naming all our children after them. Now that Halifa
is back in the house, let's see what happens.

Q: The same Fatoumatta claimed the under-17 as Jammeh's babies and that
the opposition is trying to tarnish the good name of Jammeh and his
support for our footballers.

A: First of all what you should understand about Fatoumatta is that she is
a reject even in the APRC camp but they cherish her as a baggage handler.
The girl talks idle and crazy. She predicted that the opposition is only
going to win one seat and that turns out to be true for her party. We
should not take her words seriously.

The Under-17 are Gambia's babies and not Yaya's. Unfortunately Jammeh is
not seeing it that way. Using these talented boys for another political
instrument was very detrimental as usual to his party and sour to the
whole country's taste for sports. He could never separate foolishness from
reality. It is always utter blunder upon blunder upon blunder. His
comments about the team was very unfortunate and we are all sad that the
boys did not make it through. We are still very happy and impressed with
their efforts though.

Q: Fatoumatta claimed to be attacked by NADD supporters. You think that is
true?

A: Nine out of ten, it is not true. The lady is just scared and I think
she has started crying too soon. No worries, because I don't think if NADD
should win the general elections in the Gambia, they will succumb to the
politics of revenge and brutality, the style that the APRC has introduced
to the Gambia. That is too backward, and Gambia is in a hurry to bury that
part of our history and reach out to the civilized world.

Q: But there are more Gambian women in the Jammeh government than were in
the Jawara government.

A: The women who held high positions really commensurate with their
character. Remember Satang Jow? Mrs. Louise Njie? Unlike these APRC women
who are just like their boss Jammeh. They are equally corrupt and
misleading. I almost passed out reading about Susan Waffo-Ogoo's comment
before the by-elections that Jammeh has brought about peace to the Gambia.
If she were Koros's mother, she would not have uttered that and obviously
if she was Deyda's wife she will not utter that. If she was a mother to
any of those school children murdered in the name of national security,
she will not utter that. Jammeh has brought Gambia endless grieve and
grievances, not to mention enemies, from the Senegalese crisis, to Guinea
Bissau, even in the international arena.

Isatou Njie Saidy the one who pretends to be quiet and straight is caught
up with 21 homes registered in her name, in Jammeh's 10 years rule. Which
might be only a tip of the ice-berg. And you want to tell me that Neneh
Macdoll is going to bring us any trade polices that will open up
investment in the Gambia? And let us not even name her. The new education
minister, you think she will or can do jerk about Gambia's pathetic
education policy? These women are all a joke. They are no heroes because
all they do is repeat and represent things that Jammeh boasts out to them,
setting bad examples to young women political aspirants that for a woman
in government, when the president asks you to jump, you say how high not
considering the ground on which you are going to fall back on. These women
led a march for Jammeh last year called Jammeh appreciation day, and one
of the advice that Jammeh gave them was to abandon their useless husbands
if they refuse them to come to the APRC meetings. He will give them good
husbands. He uses them to introduce the FUTAMPAFF attitude to our
mainstream culture. This is insane. And he calls himself a Muslim! No
wonder he holds his prayer beads in his left hand. Ha!

Q: What is the stance of Gambian journalists abroad? What and how are they
doing?

A: Gambian journalists are doing very well abroad. We all are still in
shock from Deyda's murder, but all the sad news from the Gambia about
journalists are giving the journalists abroad the zeal to continue their
profession and are more determined than ever to write and talk about the
brutality of the APRC government. They are all excelling in their
professional fields and are getting ready to come back to the Gambia to
contribute their part towards national development. With the help and
leadership of Joe Sambou, a private media fund is created to help the GPU
in running the affairs of journalists in the Gambia.

Q: What's your view about the latest developments at the Observer, your
former employer? Sanyang and Lamin Cham's firing, etc.

A: Yes I heard about it but that is the trend at the Observer now.
Observer is cursed since Kenneth best left. I read Dr. Owl's comments the
other day on the observer and it said that "no one can do anything to you
if you did not allow or accept it". They should apply that in their
office. I don't think we have to sympathize with the Observer staff. They
should know better. Winston Churchill once said "courage is the first of
human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees all others".
The Observer staff should not be intimidated by a lost professor called
Dr. Saja Taal. They can put Saja Taal out of work tomorrow, if they all
resign and go and form another paper and name it the new observer. Taal
can hire Jammeh boys to come and do the reporting for him. They have the
power because they have their pens, and of all the shortages in the
Gambia, there is no ink shortage. Jammeh should hire slaves if he wants
total control of the paper, because journalists have to report on events
whether it favors the government or not. But on the other hand if they
don't want to resign and keep their integrity, then they should stop
complaining.

Who is Saja Taal to dictate to anyone anyway? No wonder Africa will never
develop. If we have political science professors with doctorate degrees
intimidating young journalists to cower to the dictates of a brutal and
autocratic government like APRC, then God help keep us all out of school.
These are what you call intellectual hypocrites, driven by greed and
cowardice. His likes keep the continent backwards. This is the malady with
the Gambia. Those who you think should defend the country out of insanity
are busy covering themselves under the table waiting for Jammeh's orders.
It is a shame. I feel sorry for Saja Taal. He seems very desperate,
because if the only job that his PHD can secure for him is printing
dictates from a tyrant, then god help him. He is a sad study and indeed a
very ragtag and deadbeat professor.

Q: And your friend Dr. Amadou Janneh, the former communications minister.
You predicted that he should get his timberland boots ready for the run
when he was hired. He is now fired and threatened.

A: Yes indeed. That is the pattern and formula to go through if you work
for Jammeh. Hired =fired=jail sentence. He is another PHD holder who
doesn't know where and how to utilize his degree. He did his part in the
Jammeh misrepresentation spin cycle and is now faced with the
consequences. Jammeh knows how to tarnish their resumes and integrity if
they have any. Am quite convinced that he has his timberland boots ready.
He was as usual in the Jammeh camp, trashed fiercely. I hope he bounces
back with a positive mission. Let's pray for him.

Q: What are Gambians in the diaspora doing about Gambia's political
situation?

A: Well, I am a member of a non-profit group called save the Gambia
Democracy Project(STGDP). The group is closely monitoring Jammeh. We are
not going to leave any stone unturned on him. We are doing whatever is
possible to bring this shameful regime to an end. We are sick and tired of
endless rants on Jammeh. We are taking actions. We are raising funds for
NADD and have started lobbying our case for Gambians abroad to vote, among
other things. We are encouraging all Gambians to join us in the fight to
bring sanity to our motherland. You can log on to the website
www.sunugambia.com, or freegambia.com internet radio , to get details of
the organization and to have an idea as to what we are doing. We also have
a radio program called Voices Of the Gambians in the Diaspora (VOGD),
where you can tune into 9405 khz (9.4mhz) on the 31 meter band of your
short wave radios and listen to opposition members and your brothers and
sisters abroad. The program airs every Saturday evening 8:30 pm Gambian
time. We want Gambians to know that we got their back, but we all have to
be committed if we want to see a meaningful change in our country. We have
to get rid of sharks and wolves and thieves. Gambians have to realize that
it is very, very easy to get rid of Jammeh. They just don't have to vote
for him. It is very easy. The power lies with the people and not Jammeh.
Gambians should muster courage and trash Jammeh. We should stay away from
politics of cowardice, hypocrisy and childishness and come together with
one voice to make APRC history.

Q: But you guys are regarded as self -exile unpatriotic citizens, and that
your organization members are all hungry for political positions post
Jammeh.

A: Thank God and to the Gambia that we are abroad. We run Gambia's economy
not Jammeh. It would have been catastrophic for the Gambian community if
it were not for family members abroad sending money to buy the inflated
goods and services in the Gambia. We are saving the Gambia from hunger and
malnutrition and international stage humiliation.

Secondly, I want to make this clear. The majority of the STGDP members are
professional job holders who are not struggling at all for survival
abroad. We are just sick of sad stories and a horrible economic condition
in the Gambia which is having a tremendous impact on our purses and sanity
here. But even if there are political aspirants among us and then so what?
Gambia is for all of us, and NADD or no NADD, this organization is going
to continue watching and taking steps if necessary to bring back democracy
to the Gambia. Jammeh is a joke, and to the pessimists we say, bring it
on.

Q: What do you say to Taiwan's continued support for the Jammeh regime?

A: We are going to reach out to Taiwan on this matter. Taiwan should be a
friend and helper of Gambia, not Jammeh. We will also reach out to China
and the international community. We are not intimidated. We are focused
and convinced that Jammeh's time is up. We are going to trek this road to
freedom with him, taking him on, the whole nine yards, one day at a time.

Q: Thanks Fatou

A: Thank you too.



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