Mr. Njie, I frankly have never felt so insulted on G_L than I feel today
seeing you comparing me with Gassama and insinuating that Dr. Saine had me
in mind when he wrote the statement you quoted.  I do NOT think Dr. Saine is
into ‘name-calling’ and would call me a ‘blind opponent’ of Yaya.  Perhaps
what you do not know is that Dr. Saine sent his postmortem of the elections
earlier on and it was appropriately dealt with from this end.  His thesis
has been overtaken by events and facts have proven some of his theories
wrong; just as I told him earlier on that he was wrong.  The Parliamentary
elections show that ‘hugging’ Jawara is NOT necessarily a vote-loser.  In
the eve of the election Yaya vindicated Jawara and practically endorsed the
man.  Yet, APRC did NOT pay a political price for that.  So, just like I
said earlier on, arguments connecting UDP and Jawara vices and theorizing
that that union cost the Opposition the election, is simply nonsense.

‘Blind opponents’ tell lies, just like sycophants do.  Since I joined G_L,
NOT a SINGLE person point to me a statement I made to criticize this regime
that is untrue.  Out of over 500 postings, you will NOT find a single lie
that I told.  I am an opponent all right.  But my opposition is NOT based on
some ‘blind’ loyalties.  I am NOT concerned about political correctness.  I
am NOT a hypocrite that wants approval from AFPRC/APRC thugs and sycophants.
  They can go to Hell if you ask me.  They can sing AFPRC/APRC praises if
they want.  If I disagree with what they are saying, I will say so.  No one
can force me to say something ‘good’ about child murderers.  What do some of
you want?  You can (in the name of tolerance) lie down and let Gassama pee
over you.  Some of us will NOT.  You can call us intolerant or what have
you.  I for one will challenge anyone I feel is misrepresenting facts.  It
goes without saying that everyone is also free to challenge me and
contradict me.  I chose to come to G_L.  I can control what I write, but I
cannot control what others write about me.  Darn right I will vigorously
defend my point of view.

Some of you can be my guest and ‘deal’ with the Devil and ‘constructively
engage’ the illegal regime we have back home.  But do NOT force others to
‘engage’ the regime.  All you can do is lay out your successes, if any, when
‘dealing’ with the regime.  We on the other hand, have the prerogative to
point out that it does not make any sense to ‘engage’ the Dictatorship.
But, when we point this out people start calling us intolerant; and when we
counter by saying that they are ‘sell-outs’ for ‘dealing’ with the Devil,
they are all upset.

Going back to this morning’s discussion.  The purpose of any serious
Development Plan is to lift people from poverty.  The AFPRC/APRC
‘Development Plan’ is doing the exact opposite.  Gambians are POORER under
APRC/AFPRC.  Why should we be satisfied with this state of affairs,
especially when the very government is stealing from us, killing our
children, sacking government functionaries willy-nilly and incarcerating
innocent Gambians indefinitely?  What do we have to ‘deal’ with this
government?  And we do NOT want to hear crap about a mandate.  Yaya has to
steal to even have 52% of the vote.  He stole power from Jawara who had a
larger mandate.  Why should we respect Yaya’s ‘mandate’ when he disrespected
the will of the people (as expressed in 1992) in 1994?  Because he stole the
elections and got elected, we should not criticize him?  Are some of you all
right?
KB



>From: Ablie Njie- lekbi <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: A Recent Trip to Gambia
>Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2002 11:29:42 -0500
>
>Mr. Saine,
>
>Your analysis from the October 2001 Presidential Election in The Gambia,"
>(p.27) clearly represents an honest observation and  summary of the
>situation and urgency of Gambians at home. However, what I find
>increasingly interesting and factual is the point below.
>
>Mr. Abdoulaye Saine Wrote:
>
>"Blind opponents or devotees to Jammeh do not help the situation much."
>
>It solidifies my belief that regardless of how convincing and balanced
>one's assessment of the current situation is, there are those who will do
>all they can to ignore them.   For example, as harsh as Dampha is
>sometimes, he often and most of the time make very reasonable and relevant
>points,just like Gassama and I have to say, it is minds like that we must
>continue to nurture, but with guidance and suggestions here and there.
>

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