Haruna…If you look closer, the one who hollers tribalist is the vrai tribalist. Just a loser, but a tribalist nonetheless

Suntou/Haruna,

I kinda expected this from the both of you, so I am not disappointed. The experience here is such that any criticism of UDP and Ousainou Darboe, can expect a duality of reaction from the both of you. As usual, you both seem to feed of each other, seeking validation for your views from each other, and in the process, feeding the perception many have of you as fomenters of tribal insensitivity. You do not see how it appears when you give to yourself the license to defend or even as it seems, act as the spokesmen for the UDP. The UDP is a Gambian political party, as such, I for one, will seek no one’s consent to write and criticize it in any way I choose. I could care less what anyone says, thinks or does. Your agitated barking and snarling, rather than preempt my criticisms of both the UDP and Ousainou, will instead exacerbate them, might I say. The advice I wrote to UDP has so incensed you that you took a psychoanalytical adventure to find motives in what I wrote. The way I see it, you both either have no clue or a proper understanding of what Gambia was like during the Jawara years, particularly as it related to the way our tribes coexisted to each other, specifically at the realm of governance and politics, or perhaps you just want to sweep that ugly period under rug. Well, I will not. I like many others, was a victim and a causality of that era, and as such, it was my reality then, and a part of my life story now. I will write about issues of tribalism, especially how the Mandinkas and Banjul Wollofs pillaged and looted billions of dollars to bankrupt two foreign funded development banks and nearly ten revenue generating government agencies. I will stop writing about tribal issues only when The Gambia becomes like Senegal. Then there will be no audience for my tribal awakening cause, but as of now, one only has to look at the brutal exchanges that both of you frequently engage in with some of Halifa Sallah’s talibans to see how much progress we have made in this issue. Even a fool can read the nasty tribal bend embodied in your exchanges. 

For some reason, Suntou has convinced himself that when I write about tribalism relating to the Mandinkas experience, it is fear. Fear of what, might I ask? Are you kidding me? I am an equal opportunity critic of both the Wollofs and the Mandinkas experiences in our country, especially during those dark Jawara years when the Mandinkas wanted it all, and some orchestrated elaborate schemes to exclude everyone else from our nation’s meager resources. And, you wander why, first, Kukoi Samba Sanyang burst onto the scene, and when that failed, Yahya Jammeh came along. Things don’t happen in a vacuum. True the Wollofs were notorious for treating the Mandinkas as second class citizens; Mandinkas too were later notorious for treating everyone else as foreigners in their country. When I was in college, I had no concept of tribalism, and my best friends were Mandinkas for the most part; Sarjo Sonko from Essau, late Lamin Jobarteh from Kaur Janneh Kunda, and Musa Trawalley from Georgetown. Musa and I were so close, I spend Xmas and Easter holidays with his family in Bakau, and we were always posted to the same schools when we were teaching. Everyone understood how so bound together by friendship we were. By the mid-80s, I was no longer naïve, for I had became aware of the tribally motivated rivalries in the country. And I lost count of how many times I heard Mandinkas saying; Gambia mandinkol la banko leti; and ridiculous and irritating as that sounds, some hold on to that stupid way of thinking.

The other point I want to make is neither of us are aware of what I believe the real reason for Saihou Mballow resignation from his UPD position. During the U.K. demonstrations over the incarceration of Femi Peters last month, Gambians in the U.S. missed Mballow’s organizing skills with which he mobilized us to confront the powers that be at the U.N to seek justice for Mr. Peters and other causes. It took Saikou Mballow years to develop and bring to bear the combined efforts of many Human Rights organizations in the New York area, now all that effort seems to go down the drain. Mballow selflessly led the charge to organize marches and demonstrations at the UN and other venues with supreme success in the name of the UDP. Gambians in New York rallied in droves to his call in support of the causes he was involved in as representative of UDP. For the first time, we in the U.S did not organize demonstration on behalf Mr. Femi Peters, because the Ousainou Darboe, decided for reason to make the U.D.P a family business by-pass Mballow and the great infrastructure he helped built for UDP/NRP over the years, and instead send all official communications to his brother Yahya Darboe. Mballow I am told by reliable sources felt marginalized and decided to quit, rather than hold on to a thankless job. Now, he can stay at home, drink attaya, watch TV with friends, and enjoy his family, rather than suffer the hassle and bustle of crowded New City trying to coordinate demonstrations. Yaya Darboe his replacement cannot convince Gambians to drop all their work in order to join him in a downtown Manhattan demonstration on behalf of UDP for the good of our country. UDP will see what took Mballow many years to build, suddenly collapsed to nothingness, all because Ousainou Darboe decided to practice nepotism with his brother. It is the typical African way of governing. I wanted to write about this mini-quake a while ago, but I was convinced not to for fear of the political repercussion at home and abroad. You two might also want to know that when Ousainou and Yaya Jallow came to the U.S. some months ago, Yahya Darboe I am informed, tried to control what Yaya Jallow did; just acting like UDP was a family business he could control. The UDP may have Fulas like Yaya Jallow, but who can Yaya convince to vote for Darboe. Most Fulas don’t know him. But O.J is a different matter. As for Hamat Bah, he has a successful business to protect, and I will not count on him to be brazenly political against Jammeh. 
One more point I will make is that many of the folks Haruna calls UDP technocrats, were part of the failed Jawara regime; consisting of a few notorious tribalists, many people of mediocre intellect, whose primary qualifications during Jawara years, was Mandinkaness. Finally, analyze and criticize all you want, it ain’t gonna have any impact, whatsoever, on what I write, when I write, or how I write. So you will do yourself a great service if you save your breath and energies. For trying to restrain me in matters of Gambian politics is like talking to a wall. Can’t hear ya buddies. 





 

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