Yet, Jammeh's blind followers are still jumping to the rescue, and labelling
the rest of us who share this very sentiment, and dare to express it as
"unpatriotic troublemakers", even as he continues to tell us that he is the
best thing that has ever happened to our country.l promise you, even those
defending the farce know that it is a farce.

Jabou.

<< The real Y2K problem for The Gambia

 Recently I came across some interesting articles on the
 Internet regarding President Yahya Jammeh of The Republic of
 the Gambia. In one article entitled: 'Government Celebrates
 Fifth Anniversary of July 22nd Revolution Despite Criticism
 from Opposition Parties'. Jammeh "outlined his government's
 commitment to democracy but based on what he called homegrown
 principles."

 So, I ask, what are these "homegrown principles" that Jammeh
 was speaking of? If he's referring to the times following
 colonial rule and up to the 1994 coup d'etat, yes, we did have
 a homegrown version of democracy (certainly not a perfect
 version, but we were learning) but, if he's referring to the
 post coup years then I must repeat my question, what are
 "homegrown principles"?

 In trying to answer my question, I've looked back to the days
 of, and since, the coup and it appears to me, that according to
 Jammeh, it must be that:

 * "homegrown principles" deprive the free speech of all the
   Gambian people,

 * "homegrown principles" allow for the detention of innocent
   people without trial,

 * "homegrown principles" denies free press by not allowing
   Gambia news reporters to report what they see or hear and in
   one instance, allowed for the deportation of a certain
   newspaper editor,

 * "homegrown principles" allow the kidnapping of opposition
   party members

 * "homegrown principles" deny the right of the people to elect
   their own village and religious leaders by rejecting the
   peoples vote and forcing them to accept new non elected
   leaders,

 * "homegrown principles" allow the brutal killing of a minister
   and the fabrication of such an astounding story about the
   circumstances of his death , that no Gambian citizen, in his/
   her right mind, could believe,

 * "homegrown principles" allow for the unwarranted search,
   seizure and arrest of people, often times from their homes in
   the middle of night, to be taken to the N.I.A office for
   interrogation,

 * "homegrown principles" deny certain Gambia citizens the
   opportunity to join, or form, an opposition party,

 * "homegrown principles" allow for the detention of a certain
   solider (a former coup leader) for four years without trial,

 * "homegrown principles" allow terrorization, beatings and even
   murder of opposition members while coming from campaigns or
   from meeting places,

 * "homegrown principles" allow Government leaders to be elected
   by the people but only under threats and force by the
   military.

 I ask myself, am I right? I looked back again into the old
 newspapers, I remember the radio reports and I talked to so
 many others who experienced those days and then I am able to
 answer...YES!!! I am right!!

 In another Internet site I discovered an article from the
 Washington Post, dated February 18, 1999, and in that article
 Jammeh was quoted as saying that "not even a dog died" [during
 the 1994 coup d'etat]. Now, I don't know who wrote that article
 but he/she must surely have been blind or else was absent from
 the country during those days. It may well be true that "not a
 dog was killed" (as most of us remember, during those days
 there was certainly no time to check on the fate of animals)
 but the same cannot be said about humans. Were all the grieving
 family members and friends lying or crazy? Is it true that
 there were no killings at Mile 2 or at the Army camps in Bakau
 or Yundum? Were those people lying, who witnessed trucks coming
 from the Bakau camp and said they saw bodies in the back of the
 trucks?

 I was there...I know what I am saying is true. But, so many of
 you were there too. Are we going to accept Jammeh's "home style
 democracy" when we vote in the year 2000? Or are we going to
 vote for true democracy, which is for the people, by the people
 and of the people?

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