Conteh,
Very pertinent questions indeed, and the answers are very apparent to all
Gambians.
I infact forgot to touch on the issue of embracing Gambians who have worked
in the regime but are no longer with them. I have long maintained that one of
the important purposes of working to expose this regime is not only to educate
our fellow Gambians who are not with the regime, but also to convince our
brothers and sisters who are with the regime to do a retrospective and reconsider
their position and to refuse to be part of a government that is criminal and
that has the blood of Gambians on their hands, and to join hands with the
people.
Jabou Joh
In a message dated 3/31/04 9:45:44 AM Central Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
>
> Sister Jabou:
>
> As we evaluate our strategy and categorically analyze our goals and
> objectives, we
> should ask several what if situations. What if we fail to extend and olive
> leaf to
> those who fell out with yahya? What if we are too proud to accept our
> fallacies?
> Oh my God, that will be terrible. A friend of today is welcomed than an
> apparent
> enemy who continues to terrorize us.
>
> The question is, if Baba is convicted of economic crimes, how about yahya?
>
> Where did yahya get the money to build a mansion in Kaninlai?
>
> Who gave yahya millions of dollars to buy a plane?
>
> Who appropriated all those capital expenditures for Kaninlai?
>
> How much was yahya worth before he overthrew a legitimate government?
>
> How much is yahya worth today?
>
> How much did yahya earned as a dictator?
>
> Is yahya above the law?
>
> These are important questions that must be answered. If we fail to
> understand that
> yahya is corrupt and that he enriched himself by looting the Gambian
> treasury, then
> we have endorsed his behavior. If Baba is convicted of economy crimes, then
> when
> will yahya face justice?
>
> I again want to thank you for being objective.
>
> Naphiyo,
> Comrade ML Jassey-Conteh
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jabou Joh <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Mar 31, 2004 9:21 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Who Would Have Thought/ Conteh
>
> Conteh,
>
> Political maturity, to have a clear vision of your goal,the ability to see
> the bigger picture, to focus on what is important in achieving ones' goal
> and
> forging the required strategy and alliances to achive it has to be teh mark
> of
> those who seek to ultimately liberate us from hegemony.
> Thank you for your ability to focus on what is important, something that
> seems to elude most of us.
> I have been pondering the fact that regardless of the fact that some of us
> have been ploughing this list for years expressing our sentiments on the
> APRC
> regime, the instant any of those same people writes an opinion on the
> violation
> of the rights of anyone within the APRC regime, they will be regaled with
> all
> sorts of accusations of being an APRC sympathizer. I think that even Jammeh
> in
> his worse nightmare will not arrive at the conclusion that I, for example,
> am
> an APRC sympathizer.
>
> However, I mention this, and it has happened more than once, because it is a
> good example of our inabilities to analyze a situation and take individual
> items within that situation and put it into their proper context. In other
> words,
> some of us seem unable to look at the Baba Jobe case and see that perhaps
> while justice has been served in his incarceration because he is someone who
> has
> clearly violated many laws in our country, at the same time, greater
> injustice has been done to all Gambians because during the tenure of his
> case, much
> has been revealed that should have also resulted in the trial and
> incarceration
> of others, Yaya Jammeh included if the rule of law and the Gambian
> constitution had not been rendered useless by the APRC regime.
>
> Further, that if Gambians do not see the violation of Baba Jobe's rights as
> an assault on the human rights of every Gambian simply because it further
> erodes the rule of law that is supposed to protect every Gambian, and are
> not able
> to separate that from his crimes, then our understanding of the need to
> protect our constitution as an instrument for the protection of the rights
> of every
> one of us is also not understood.
>
> Aside from the initial admission by Yaya Jammeh that YDE belongs to him,
> there is no doubt that the daily court proceedings of Jobe's trial revealed
> information that pointed to many violations of the law by persons within the
> Ministry of Finance who issued duty waivers to clear goods at the customs,
> as well as
> the person who directed them to issue those waivers. While no direct
> evidence
> was presented that pointed to Yaya Jammeh as the issuer of those orders,
> Gambians can safely assume based on our observation of how thsi government
> operates, that Yaya Jammeh is the issuer of those orders because he is a
> dictator and
> he directs everything in this government, including even the purchasing of
> goods by various government departments.
> Further, the testimony of the MD of the Gambia Ports authority as well as
> members of his staff that testified all point to the fact that there was a
> standing order coming from the top for them to clear goods for YDE without
> question.
> Adama Deen testified that he:
>
> "inherited the order to clear goods for YDE whenever their goods came in
> when
> he came to the job".
>
> They further testified that Ports did not extend nor do they have a credit
> arrangement with Baba Jobe, but that the credit was extended to YDE.
>
> All other things being equal, and if ours was a working democracy that
> operated within the rule of law and the laws of the Gambian constitution,
> and if our
> justice ministry was not under the control of Yaya Jammeh and the officials
> of that ministry were willing and able to serve the interest of the Gambian
> people and nation as required, an investigation would have been launched
> whereby all the pertinent people at the Ministry of finance and the office
> of the
> president would have been required to testify so that it can ultimately be
> revealed who gave the standing order to clear goods for YDE, and that
> culprit would
> not have been Baba Jobe despite any illegalities he may have committed.
> The fact that lawyer Ousman Sillah's expert questioning of witnesses no
> doubt
> revelaed to Gambians the fact that Jobe was acting on the orders of someone
> else, and not his own was the very reason they attempted pt murder him.
>
> However, ours is a government where the rule of law and our constitution has
> been continually altered by the APRC to protect themselves because they know
> they have committed crimes and continue to comitt crimes against the people
> and
> as time has progressed, they have become even more bold and have infact
> practically done away with the constitution altogether.
> Every violation of the right of every single Gambian is an erosion of the
> protection that our constitution can provide to every other Gambian. To
> protect
> the rights of all, one must necessarily also protect the rights of even the
> criminals otherwise we set a precedence that affects the rights of all. I
> think
> this is a necessity that a lot of us fail to understand. In other words, If
> I
> can disregard your rights and lock you up without according you all the
> protection that the law of the land guarantees you, then the law of the land
> becomes
> irrelevant for all and you and I risk being subjected to he same
> mistreatment
> if we ever find ourselves vefore the law. In this case, the law of the land
> should have intervened to make sure that Baba Jobe does not og to jail alone
> because he is not the only guilty person. Infact, far from it, it has been
> proven by facts that there were his manipulators at the top who are far more
> guilty that he.
>
> Another area where the charade continues is in forging a united front
> against
> this illegal regime, and there also, the ever ongoing pursuit of personal
> agendas and the blind support provided by those who are the next generation
> of
> opportunity seekers who will close their eyes to the facts is the reason
> that
> there does not seem to be any hope for a united front, or if there is any
> such
> front, it will most likely be formed along factions of self interest again.
> The APRC has failed the Gambian people and those who can do something about
> it also continue to fail them because their sincerity and allegiance is ot
> something else other than the interest of the people.
>
> Jabou Joh
>
> Jabou Joh
>
> In a message dated 3/31/04 5:22:23 AM Central Standard Time,
> [log in to unmask] writes:
> >
> > Comrades:
> >
> > Who would have thought that Baba Jobe would be sitting in prison today?
> Who
> > would have
> > have thought that the mighty Baba who intimidated, tortured, and harassed
> > Gambians would
> > be sentenced to a lengthy prison term? Who would have thought that Mr.
> APRC
> > would be
> > disowned by a tyrant government that continues to be indifferent.
> >
> > I am crying today! I am sick today! I looked around and I cannot find
> > Baba. I cry because even
> > though I disagreed with Baba, I condemn the injustice done to him. I cry
> > because a frontal attach
> > on Baba serves as an element of torture against every Gambian. I am sick
> > today because I
> > believe in democracy, rule of law and the right of every Gambian.
> >
> > The dictatorship in the Gambia has failed the Gambian people. I advocate
> > that we forget our differences
> > and embrace the few positives that unite us. The issue is that if we
> > continue to have a yaha Gambia, our
> > rights will certainly be compromised. I am sleeping in the same bed with
> > Baba today. I cannot endorse
> > the injustice done to him.
> >
> > If you assess the trend of the yahya dictatorship, you will conclude that
> he
> > makes friends, uses and
> > discards them. Take a look at what happened to Sabally. Oh what a
> > coincidence! Was Sabally not sentenced
> > to 9 years? Is Sabally not out now? So Baba in, Sabally out. What a
> > disgrace that one individual has the
> > ultimate power to deny Gambians their basic rights!
> >
> > I advocate that we unite. I advocate that we seek the truth. I affirm
> that
> > we look at things collectively. I
> > believe that yahya has compromised and tribalized the Gambia. I
> > categorically state that, should we
> > fail to unite, we will be contributing to a yahya distruction.
> >
> > We must unite and defeat the APRC in the upcoming bi-election in Jarra
> West.
> > We must idealize the pain that
> > Baba is going through. We must win this seat. Though it seems illogical
> > and unconventional, we must join
> > forces with Baba's supporters in Jarra West. I would rather sleep with a
> > former enemy who has been
> > marginalized than enable a tyrant who continues to deny us our rights.
> >
> > As we get closer to the presidential election, we must swallow the
> > inevitable and join forces even with those
> > who were part of the APRC dictatorship. We should welcome any
> dissolutioned
> > APRC supporter who wants
> > to join ranks with us. We cannot afford to lose those who are
> > disenfranchise wth the APRC indifference.
> >
> > Naphiyo,
> > Comrade ML Jassey-Conteh
> >
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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> >
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>
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