Peter,

That's precisely the point. We cannot trade one monster for another and
everyone claims the grass is greener on their side, but unless and until we insist
on leaders with an impeccable character and who will not turn into revengeful
monsters and proceed to plan to stay forever surrounded by parasites whose
only prupose is self interest, and which results in all sorts of abuses and human
rights violations, we are fooling ourselves.
I relay stories of my experience during the Jawara era, not altogether
non-cognisant of those who are trying to focus the attention away from the  ever
worsening disastrous record of the APRC regime, but to condemn all inept
leadership that we have been plagued with in the past and continue to be plague with
now, and will be plagued with in the future if we do not cease and desist from
enabling tyrants and attmpting to cover up for them just so we can get a piece
of their looting of the people's meager resources.
As to why people do not vote for the politicians who clearly have the
interest of the people at heart? I sometimes wonder if we do not secretly like the
condition that these corrupt leaders inflict upon us, or maybe we have come to
the conclusion that tyranny and corruption are the norm in leadership since we
have witnessed nothing different since the advent of our so-called
Independence from our colonizers. Every day, one sees able bodied, intellingent people of
supposedly sound mind trying to explain away the unexplainable in relation to
these leaders who by anyones' definition, are simply engaged in everything
other than the kind of activities and posses the kinds of character traits  that
leadership calls for. It  sometimes makes me wonder if right and wrong had
switched places in our society while no one was looking or something.  That is
one that I puzzle over all the time.
By the way, my name is Jabou.

Jabou Joh



In a message dated 11/16/03 12:09:06 PM Central Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
>
> Dear Jahou,
>
> You are a courageous woman for exposing the evils that were meted to you
> during the previous regime ( e.g. passport case). Sometimes i come close to a
> point of sympathising with Jammeh and then make a U-turn again. Jammeh like all
> of us was in the Gambia during Jawara's regime and perhaps, closer to the pa
> more than many of us. He knows why he staged his coup. Good reasons by the
> way!
>
> However, he quickly demonised these very genuine reasons into a campaign of
> terror, intolerance and elimination. This ranks him no one evil man. These
> are evils that are making some people to hail Jawara and his gang of crooks
> (read Sana Manneh's Cases. Also errand boy sanneh who told Alghali commission
> that he fulls tax payers money in a big bag for distribution. this is from the
> horse's mouth) as angels. This is a wrong signal As far as i am concern, a
> criminal is a criminal and should not at any point be made to feel other wise.
> By so doing, we will never give credit to hard core bandits of the 90s to
> look like heros.
>
> I bet all of you that some of the people making noise in the Gambia today,
> would become worse than Jammeh if they assume power. Their records have shown
> that their tempers were hotter that that of Jammeh. They have never been
> trained as soldiers, but they can slap and kick anybody anytime. And we want to
> make these people saints today.
>
> Please, lets not betray our conscience. Lets be honest with ourselves. Lets
> read the profiles of all the candidates and i don't need to tell you the
> candidate with a clean profile. Let us not support people because we need to set
> a thief to catch a thief. this will prove disasterous in the long run.
>
> I remind you again, you cannot trade a monster for a monster.
>
> PG
>
>
>

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