Culled from AllAfrica.com.  Folks, the people are speaking out while the
Kora/Bugarabu Rythm Productions continue their duet in silence.  Uh! Uh! Uh!
  Please read on.

Returned Ex-President Under Fire From Party Loyalists

The Independent (Banjul)

June 7, 2002
Posted to the web June 7, 2002

Banjul

Wall of silence develops between Jawara and disaffected loyalists

Disenchanted Gambians who were the 'crunch and cream' of the PPP regime have
declared that they are engaged in a 'silent protest' against Sir Dawda for
his alleged failure to insist on a blanket amnesty that would have covered
not only him but also other members of his erstwhile administration who are
still in exile for his own sake.

The disgruntled top guns of the PPP some of whom had constituted the cream
of his regime said since Sir Dawda returned from exile last weekend, they
have opted to 'erect a wall of silence' between him and them in protest over
what they called his hands-off attitude towards those who have suffered
disconsolately after the 1994 coup for his own sake but were excluded from
the benefit of amnesty.

Discontentment is said to be running high within the PPP hierarchy some of
whose members have said they will not visit Sir Dawda because he has decided
to return to The Gambia, leaving behind some of his most trusted loyalists
who 'sacrificed their whole lives in their love for him and the Gambian
people'. The disgruntled individuals, who declined to be named, accused Sir
Dawda of 'lending himself as a tool to be used by the APRC for political
reasons'.

Since he returned, Sir Dawda has been cocooned in security, making it
impossible to either seek for a face-to-face or a telephone interview with
him to sound out his own appraisal of the situation.

Meanwhile The Independent has been reliably informed that up till Wednesday
former PPP ministers and senior officials have not communicated with Sir
Dawda nor did they visit him since he came on Saturday, signifying what has
already been described as a 'silent note of protest' against the ousted
Gambian leader for allegedly overlooking the need to extend the amnesty
given to him to other members of his sacked Cabinet, holed up in exile
around the world. They said they would like to impress upon Sir Dawda that
he has not done any thing substantial to ensure that those who were exiles
like him benefit from the same amnesty, which paved the way for his safe
return.

A former PPP parliamentarian among the disgruntled group claimed however,
that Sir Dawda's homecoming was arranged by a certain businessman resident
in The Gambia and that the embattled former leader had not consulted any of
his PPP officials before his arrival.

'It is wrong that only he stands to benefit from such an amnesty when others
under him have suffered the same terrible fate. What else can one say other
than the fact that he has no consideration for those he left behind' he
charged, adding that former vice president Saihou Sabally, Mbemba Jatta,
Bakary Darboe, Ndow Njie, Sara Janha, Alieu Mboge and some others are left
in the lurch, aggrieved as they always were.

'The whole truth is that in the course of the political upheaval we have
been harassed, detained and tortured for our unshakable loyalty to him.

Our properties were seized, our work interrupted all because of our love for
him but since he came he has been quiet.

'We would not be true to ourselves if we fail to show him how wrong he is to
have accepted to come without the others' he remarked.

When contacted the chairman of the PPP steering committee Omar Jallow alias
OJ said he was reserving his comments over the issue. However, he emphasised
that he has been 'advocating for Sir Dawda's return two weeks after the coup
when everybody was under his bed and I was detained for 14 months because of
that'.

Meanwhile PPP sources have told The Independent that the PPP executive were
to convene a meeting two days ago, which was abandoned after it became clear
that they were not informed about the agenda.

Sir Dawda returned home last weekend from an 8-year exile in the UK.




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