It is no good news that the cases of mental and
emotional disorder are on the increase in alarming
propotions in The Gambia.As I am not an expert in this
field,I only write to thank the psychiatrist, Sonko
,for bringing up the issue on the media.The public
debate on the issue is HEALTHY.I also thank the expert
contributors for sharing their knowledge.Those of us
who simply express our concern or give our opinions
must be careful and note that "opinions are the
cheapest commodities on earth".Uneducated and
uninformed opinions can only be
harmful to the public.

AIDS activists complain about a culture of denial
among Gambians.It seems that it may affect serious
ailments like mental illness.I agree that the
production of knowledge must be guided by intellectual
credibility but we must not deny anything before
testing it against the conventional intellectual
yardstick.Hence,Gambian experts on this field are
challenged to verify this alarming revelation.Until
then, I count myself as a potential member of the 60%
of Gambians who have lost their mental or emotional
equilibrium and I doubt that of the First Gentleman of
the Republic.

Perhaps, the positive thing we can get from this issue
is to hold on for a moment before fighting among
ourselves considering that the other may be
psychologically deranged and we can blame it all on
the Jammeh regime for oppressing the people.Thus,
there will be less fights in the short run.

I don't think that the media should be blamed for
irresponsible journalism for not confirming the story
by some scientific means before publishing the it.We
have to accept the realities of the day.Sonko could
have posted the story on this forum (Gambia-l) and
nobody would have been blamed for not editing it.

"I MAY DISAGREE WITH WHATEVER YOU HAVE TO SAY BUT I
WILL FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHT TO SAY IT"


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