My apologies for the many spelling errors in my post. Here is a corrected
version


Jabou Joh

>
> Gassa you wrote:
>
>
> > The Gambia's population is more than 1.3 million of which more than 40%
> > (more than 520,000 people) are adults of sound mind who have lived in the
> > country continuously at least for the past 25 years. This group of people
> > do
> > not need people, for reasons best known to them, instigate violence or
> > chaos
> > in our midst, in the name of democracy or human rights. If more than
> 99.9%
> > of our population have never been visited by the NIA or shot during the
> > past
> > 7 years, but instead you have less than 0.001% who want to matyr
> > themselves,
> > I say they are welcome."
>


And i say that it is rather tragic to hear such statements from intelligent
>
>  Gambians. Even one Gambian who falls prey to what I have described is one
>  too many, and it saddens me to see that you have chosen to close your eyes
> to this.




> > You also wrote:
> >
>  "Whereas there are people who do not support this
> > government, and those of us who do recognize that it is their inalienable
> > right to do so, there are others who would not, under any circumstances,
> > recognize the legitimacy and inalienable right of those elected by the
> > overwhelming majority of our peoples to rule"
>
>
> This is utter nonsense and is also the excuse those who are bent on
> labelling
> those of us who criticize the undesirable tactics of this regime
> continually
> use as the reason for thier defense of the indefensible. I said as much in
> my
> previous post, and here you are still peddalling the same old excuse.
> Please
> do read my piece again. it is not a matter of refusing to let those chosen
> by
> the people to rule, but rather the methods by which they rule being the
> criterion by which we must judge them for the sake of our country and our
> people.
> We must also remember that in our country, many factors influence the
> reason
> people choose to vote for someone, and at the present time, fear, poverty
> and
> the bait of a few dalasi to already suffering people, as well as coercion
> cannot possibly be discounted as contributing factors to the choices made
> in
> our elections, and if you doubt that, just take a look at the firing spree
> the president went on right after the elections. How can any intelligent
> person defend the rampant firing of people based on their party and voting
> affiliations? i guess in Africa there are some of us who will continually
> defend the indefensible for many twisted reasons, but definitley  NOT
> because they
> care to safeguard the electoiral process and the rights of the general
> populace.
> No Gassa, it is convenient to say that the majority chose freely but we all
> know that many factors contributed to their choices, and the  unscrupulous
> amongst us will sadly continue to present that as absolute evidence as to
> the
> reason things went the way they did when the truth is always apparent. We
> do
> owe it to ourselves to be truthful in every situation, even when it is not
> in
> our own selfish interest. it is through the continued sacrifice to attain a
> greater good for all and not just for self that we can forge a society that
> will benefit all in the long run, and believe it or not, this is good.
>
> You also wrote:
>
> "When the president during his inauguration admitted that we have all
> wronged
> each other during the past and asked for mutual forgiveness and
> reconciliation, he did so passionately and genuinely. "
>
> Well, this is simple to verify. All we have to do is watch and see if and
> how
> this genuiness is manifested. It is not just enough to say that one has
> forgiven former politicians and then build a few shiny buildings. There are
> many
> things that transpired in our country since Jammeh came to power and some
> of
> those ugly truths invlove the spilling of Gambian blood, and the
> incarceration of Gambian sons who are yet to be charged or have not been
> charged with anything worth their incarceration and the denial to them of
> due
> process quickly. None of these things have been satisfactorily addressed
> and
> addressed they must be if this government i ever hopes to be taken
> seriously and believed when they  come before the people and talk about
> forgiveness and reconcilliation. You do not just kill people and disrupt
> their lives and jail them for years without providing evidence or charges
> that are justifiable according to the laws of our constitution and then
> just
> say " please forgive me and now let us move forward". Only fools believe
> that
> can ever happen. Someone killed and maimed those kids for just exercising
> their constitutional rights, and someone  killed Koro Ceesay, and someone
> jailed Dumo Saho all these months without any tangible explanation that can
> be
> taken to a court of law and defended successfully, and someone  does
> turture
> Gambians for no justifiable reason. These things have to be brought before
> the courts of our land and proof or lack thereof given, and the verdicts
> rendered according to the law. Otherwise, we have a bunch of outlaws
> pretending to be sincere good guys who committ atrocities just because of
> their positions and think all they have to do is say I am sorry and life
> goes
> on. But the worse is not just that, but the fact that people such as
> yourself
> are bent on  continaully telling us that all this should be acceptable
> under
> the guise of so-called progress.
>
> YOu wrote:
>
> "Despite all the hulla baloo over the intimidation of the
> independent media, the reality on the ground is the total opposite. Our
> newspapers are a hundred fold more vibrant during the past two years than
> ever before, the number of private and community radio stations in the
> country number more than 30 and the number of newspapers and journals
> number
> atleast a dozen. Common guys, lets face the facts and not be too
> sentimental
> about certain issues."
>
> Goodness Gassa, what do you call sentimentality, the freedom to "print all
> the news that's fit to print" as the Motto of the New York Times states,
> and
> not have to look over one's shoulders in case someone comes for you just
> because you told it as it is? If some  journalists in our country have
> reached the point where they have to give up reporting the news as they
> unfold to appease the powers that be, then that is a sad thing indeed, and
> I
> cannot see how you find that acceptable.
>
> You wrote:
>
> "They developed the public media to unprecedented levels and
> provided the enabling environment for the private mdeia to develop and
> flourish. This they did in order to promote dialogue and the free exchange
> of ideas for the common good of all Gambians regardless of political
> affiliation.
> "
>
> Who are you trying to convince to believe this in the face of all of those
> people fired from their jobs just because they did not vote for Jammeh or
> dared voice their affiliation to other political parties? The evidence is
> there as seen right after the elections. As for free exchange of ideas, how
> many gambians other than the appointed public relations peddlers such as
> your
> good self dare publicly criticize the government openly without being
> visited
> by the marauding bands under the guise of law enforcement in the night, or
> even broad daylight. Are all of these things figments of our imagination
> Gassa?
>
> Again you wrote:
>
> ". The APRC government is willing to listen
> and learn from its mistakes. They have always listened to the voices of the
> people otherwise they would not have shortened their transition from four
> to
> two years."
>
> Now this is truely laughable. They did indeed shorten it and then Jammeh
> took
> off his uniform and ran for office. That is all well and good, but what he
> has done to the rights of individual gambians since can only be labelled as
> "listening to the voices of the people" by the appointed spokespeople like
> yourself, and it saddens me to no end.
>
>
> Again Gassa, for God's sake and for the sake of our people and country's
> future, try to refrain from disregarding the things some of us are critical
> about when it comes to this government and which  are so clearly made every
> time, but which you deliberately  ignore, while continuallyadhering to
> baseless and unintelligent arguments that those who are raising their
> voices
> are motivated by less than honourable desires, and that material progress
> is
> enough to make us ignore the protection of  very basic rights that are the
> backbone of any free  society , but which this regime continues to abuse at
> every turn while telling us they are extending the hand of reconcilliation.
> All that some of us who refuse to be hoodwinked are asking for is that this
> gesture of reconcilliation be made a real one by addressing the burning
> issues i mentioned and that others have mentioned, and which are very real
> indeed. We did not invent all those atorcities, and it is time to address
> them if we are to believe all the gestures, otherwise they are just
> senseless
> gestures of a sly wolf while he continues to devour the sheep.
>
> Jabou Joh.
>




Regards,
Mrs Jabou N.Joh,
President/ceo,
Cumberland Investment Group,
557 Holt Valley Rd,
Nashville, TN, 37221
Tel: (615) 269 6949
Mobile: (615) 573 1785
Efax: (240) 371 5557 / (702) 995 0969

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