F Camara,

Always good to hear from you. By the way, I got a surprise phone call the
other day, from the Mr........and Cherno Baba Jallow in Michigan, US. I
didn't expect to get a call from him in Michigan. I hope you are not already
crying or missing him. (laugh)

F, actually, I have always spoken and written good French whenever I have
had cause to use the language. In fact, I deliberately used French on the L,
to the demystify it, and also to surprise people like you.

Language, to borrow a phrase from Halifa Sallah, is not the property of any
race or people. It can be studied and mastered by anybody. An assignment for
you: Find out where I was between 1986 to 1989.

I remember in 1992, I was with Pap Saine of The Point newspaper covering the
African Cup of Nations in Dakar, Senegal, and he too was taken aback when he
heard me ask questions in impeccable French at a CAF Press Conference,
conducted entirely in French.

If you were to ask Pap Saine, or Sheihk Muktarr Kanuteh of the Daily
Observer, they would tell you that 'Coach has always spoken French'.

And, in fact, be now informed that there are so many Gambians who speak
excellent French, but because they do not use it often, people do not know
about them. In 1991, when I was working for the then Gambia Weekly
newspaper, with the cooperation of Alliance Francais in Banjul, I worked on
a piece on the number of Gambians that were speaking French at the time;
and, believe me, the number was enormous.

If I remember very well, I divided them into three groups. You have those
who studied in France - the Blaise Jagnes, the Musa Sillahs, Dr Sedat Jobes,
the Cherno Jallows, the Eta Baldehs, the Therese Drammehs, the Hassan
Gibrils, the Amie Dibba, the Amie Nyanko Njies etc - and for some reasons
those who studied in France are the ones who are most known when it comes to
speaking French.

Then you have those who attended French Primary schools, Secondary Schools
and Universities. And these are the Deyda Hydaras, the Mbye Sohnas, the
Sabelle Badjan-Jagnes (now Head of News at Radio Gambia), the Bekai Keitas
now in Atlanta, the Neneh Fayes, the Sheikh Muktarr Kanutehs etc.

And, finally, you have those who studied or hold degrees in French from
Universities in English speaking countries. These include the Mam Sillah
Chams, the Ebou Mannehs, the Momodou Senghores of Shell, the Abdoulie
Sallahs who is the present Secretary of State for Health, the lawyer Musa
Bittayes, the B.B Dabos, the Ebou Dibbas (the author), the late Njie-Bahs,
the Bola Carrols etc.

So, F, take it from me, that there are SO MANY Gambians who speak articulate
French, but, for some reasons, they are not as known as the Ebou Khans, the
Kebba Jarjues, the Njogou Bahs, the Lamin Mannehs, the Alagie Ceesays, the
Sedat Jobes, and the Bolong Sonkos.

By the way, in the Gambian Media itself, a reasonable number of them speak
French. Would you be surprised to be told that your former boss, Baboucarr
Gaye, speaks and write very good French? So does Nana Grey Johnson.

I do not have to mention Sidia Jatta of Foroyaa, Deyda of The Point, Sabelle
Badjan-Jagne of Radio Gambia, Mariama Darboe, formerly of the Department of
Information and UNIFEM, Fatou Jobe of Gambia TV, Kanuteh of the Daily
Observer, because everybody knows that these people speak excellent French.
Anyway, enough about French!!

Omar Drammeh: Great to hear from you!! I'll give you my thoughts on the
African Cup Nations, one of these days. Yes, it was sad to see Kanu and
Ikpeba miss their penalties. Actually, Victor Ikpeba's penalty was
definitely a goal, but, unfortunately, the ball was too fast for the naked
eye of the referee to catch or see.

But camera replays confirmed that the penalty was indeed a goal. In fact,
presently, in England, there is intense debate as to whether or not,
referees should now be allowed to consult touch line cameras if they have
any doubt about a foul or a goal.

African Football, in my view, has progressed quite healthily and soon it
would be our turn to win the world cup. In 1992, I had interviewed Stephen
Keshi, then captain of Nigeria, in Senegal, and he said to me, among other
things, that while it was true to say that African football was progressing,
it was equally true to say that the standard of African refereeing was
declining.

Well, Omar Drammeh, what Keshi told me in 1992, still holds some water. I am
afraid to say this, but if the recent African Cup of Nations is anything to
go by, then I must say that the standard of African refereeing is still
poor, and it definitely needs improvement.

Yes! yes! Aghahova is already a talent. I don't know his agent, but if he
has a good one, he, the agent, can work a very lucrative deal for him. I am
also happy for Tijani Babangida. He has now regained his lost form, and I
hope Ajax would retain him, if not I'll buy him for Arsenal. (laugh).

Sidi Sanneh: Good to have you back on the L. Your perspective is always
appreciated. Keep it up!! By the way, I know you were one of those "Kotos"
who went to the USA so early, but when I read - in one of your articles the
other day on the L - that you attended a programme or whatever, at Harvard
in 1967, I said to myself "wow"!!!!

By the way, I've noticed that Jeffrey Sachs, of all people, who himself was
the architect of the disastrous programme of "Shock Therapy" which was
forced through Russia and Eastern Europe in the early 1990s, has been
constantly taking issue with the IMF.

If I also remember well, during the Asian financial crisis, he, Sachs, had
attacked the IMF for what he called the "harsh deflationary measures" it
demanded of South Korea and other tiger economies in exchange for lending
them enough money to keep afloat and repay their Western creditors.

He was also quoted in London Financial Times as having said at the time,
that:..."the IMF has decided to impose a severe macroeconomic contraction on
top of the market panic that is already roiling (sic) these (tiger)
economies. Consider the Korea programme...The Fund argues that these
draconian monetary measures are 'to restore and sustain calm in the markets'
and to demonstrate the government's resolve to confront the present crisis'.
It is hard to see how recessionary monetary measures will restore calm.
Indeed the panic has so intensified since the signing of the agreement that
Korean banks may now be on the verge of outright default"...

Interesting and very frank quotations coming from Sachs at the time. Sidi,
maybe after you and others have exhausted the useful topic of Privatisation,
we should then debate/discuss the present state of the World economy and
Africa's role in it. I read a piece written by Alex Callinicos (who is a
leftist) on a similar topic as the one being proposed by me, and it
certainly makes interesting reading and frightening revelations/predictions
at the same time.

Amadou Kabir Njie: I saw your reply the other day, and thanks a lot for it.
Many of us are definitely enjoying reading the postings you and Madiba are
forwarding to the L, and certainly you guys deserve to be commended.

Ebrima Ceesay,
Birmingham, UK.


>From: fatou camara <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Where are you?
>Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2000 12:21:37 PST
>
>Hi Ebrima Ceesay,
>Since when did you start writing in french,anyway am impressed and i
>hope you will give me hints as to how it all started.
>I really want to learn french.
>Fatou Camara.

______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L
Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html

----------------------------------------------------------------------------