In a message dated 7/13/00 9:48:38 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

> Mr. Ceesay, i cannot understand why you should allow a station commander to
>  usurp your duty even after the intervention of the PIEC commissioner, Ms
>  Baldeh. I had a big fight with Jai Sowe, station officer in Sibanor and the
>  chief of Foni Bintang Karangnai on how to transport ballot boxes to Brikama
>  during referendum but i completely refused their plans even after the
>  intervention of the Returning Officer. Finally they subdued and i drove
>  behind the Corporative truck(transporting ballot boxes and election duty
>  officials) up to the counting center. I really appreciate your resistance
>  but you should not yield.

You misunderstood me when I said the officer commanding asked me to vacate
the premises. I never said anybody interfere with the transportation of the
ballot boxes.
what I said was ... after delivering all the ballot boxes from the various
polling stations
to the commissioner's office [who  at the time is a military
officer...capt.jassey] my
colleagues and I were asked to leave the premises. Therefore my contention is
...
I couldn't account for the discrepancies that we later encounter during the
vote
counting process.
I am not disputing that new security measures were put in place during the
subsequent presidential election. All I am saying is that if what happened on
referendum day in Mansakonko [forcing AROs to leave the counting premises]
for several hours  ..only to allow them in at the start of counting..should
be repeated
in the presidential elections..then there is room for fraud.
I was never a wimp..anybody who worked for the P.I.E.C  in mansakonko will
bear witness to that. I stood against modou soma jobe and his group of  July
22
thugs in LRD. Like I mentioned in my previous piece I did resist the OCR's
command
that I should leave the premises. But you gotta to understand that the PIEC
has
no jurisdiction whatsoever on the property of the commissioner of western
division.
We shouldn't be there in the first place.
I know this is a sensitive issue for the both of us, but the fact remains
that the
PIEC has more resources to be independent during the referendum when the
European money was flowing at its peak into our operations.But despite this we
depend on the govt.for most of our transport needs.This dependence on the
regime
compounded the issue at hand [their ability to use this dependence to rig]
With regard to the general elections, I made it clear that I was not in the
country
at the time. I have no knowledge of the operations of the PIEC. during that
period.
Lamin ..all I was trying to say is that if events that transpired in
mansakonko on that fateful day should lurk their head into the process during
the presidential election
then there is room for fraud. Anybody can call me a wimp for not fighting the
officer commanding mansakonko.But Iam happy that I live to tell the story.
 Regards,
ousman

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