Mr Krubally, you wrote:
"But before I go further, let me state here for the UPTEENTH time that I am
not a Jammeh apologist nor am I an APRC member. I do not condone the
killings of anybody in the Gambia, and I have yet to find a Gambian that
does."
I will have to take you for your words that you are not an APRC apologist
although you potrayed the symptons of being infected with the
ignore-the-injustices ailment that all APRC apologies suffer from, for
having asserted that the seizure of OJ's passport by the Immigrations
Department might have been justifiable when it has been apparent that it was
entirely politically motivated. It is simply that when one hears repeated
crows in the African dawn, the person will be likely to conclude that they
are cocks' crows. Nonetheless, my sincere apologies to you for any
inconvenience caused for having categorised you an apologist.
I am however surprised to learn that you are yet to find a Gambian who
condones the killings of anybody in the Gambia. In my view, the reason for
that could be either or all of the following:
1. Your perception of what it means to condone an act or something else.
2. You are looking far to find such a person.
3. You are not bothered at all about the killings.
I believe that the failure of any Gambian to unreservedly condemn the
unlawful killings committed by agents of the APRC regime tantamounts to such
a person condoning of such criminal acts. In matters of life and death;
ambiguity and neutrality are inexcusable.
As to a Gambian who condones the unlawful killing of anybobody, you need not
have looked beyond our head of State: Yahya Jammeh. He never hesitates in
threatening to kill those who defy his regime and facts also show that he
doesn't hesitate to implement such threats.
The tragic reminders are the extra-judicial killings of November 11, 1994
and the APril 10 & 11 killings.
On the subject of the foreign voters, I am convince that as the true colour
of the APRC emerge for all Gambians to see which will cause its support to
decline irretrievably among Gambians, the APRC will increasingly resort to
the illegal Cassamance vote. The only means to prevent this likelihood is
for all the other opposition parties to join the UDP in highlighting,
decrying and opposing this dilution of the choice of Gambian voters. Yes,
there was an element of foreign voters in pre-APRC elections but the scale
and blatancy in which it applies under the APRC is unprecedented. While the
electoral commisssion during the PPP era was under the Ministry of Local
Government; under the Gambia's current political dispensation, it is under
the Office of the President. The so-called IEC is everything but independent
of the President. Therefore, the issue of foreign voters in our elections
will never be history as long as the APRC is in power with Mr Roberts as
their willing accomplice in the electoral fraud.
Certainly Jammeh knew that with the former IEC Chairman; the Rt, Rev. Bishop
Solomon Tilewa Johnson, the Electoral Commission would never have have been
a party to such fraud.
You also wrote:
"We have written too much, it is time we act. Let us challenge each other in
a positive way, if our ego will not allow us to support our elected
officials."
Mr Krubally, through our words we are acting to positively influence the
status-quo, but be assured that we are not limiting our quest for a better
Gambia only to the words or writings that you read. We are aware that
positive changes in the Gambia cannot be influenced merely by words
expressed in cyber-space since the overwhelming majority among the ultimate
agents of change in the Gambia i.e the electorate do not have access to
cyber-space facilities such as a link to the L. However don't underestimate
the impact of words. Isn't it claimed that in any modern civilised society
that "the pen is mightier than the sword"? Yes indeed.
We should indeed support our elected officials if they deserve our support
but we must not allow them to get away with murder on the premise that they
were elected. All elected officials should conduct themselves as our loyal
servants and not as our saviour masters. We should never give them the
chance to defraud or maim and kill just because they are elected. If they
err, they need to be rectified; if they persist in doing wrong, they must be
strongly condemned and even prosecuted; but if they do and act rightly, the
need to be commended and at all times they need to be closely scrutinised in
their discharge of the public trust for accountabilty and transparency in
the Gambia.
Thank you for the constructive discussion.
The yoke of oppression must be shattered!
BMK
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