Gambia-L:

The unedited e-mail below came from one of my unimpeachable sources in the
heart of the Gambian Government.

Can someone help me here? Did I truly read in today's issue of the Daily
Observer (on the Net) that Buba Baldeh, of all people, is the paper's new
Managing Director. Anyway, I'll find some time tommorow evening and send
some comments on this latest development at the Observer.

Ebrima Ceesay,
Birmingham, UK
_________________________________________________________________________


>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Alimenta case costing Gambia in excess of $12 million
>Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2000
>
>Ebrima,
>
>The groundnut problem that has dogged this government since its inception
>will not go away, according to KB. In concurring with KB, I might add that
>the problem with Alimenta, caused entirely by Baba Jobe and subsequently
>aggravated by Yahya Jammeh and his numerous Attorney Generals since the
>inception, has started costing us in earnest after an 'out of arbitration'
>settlement to the tune of $12 million in Geneva.  This figure excludes
>lawyers fees and other expenses related to cases of this nature.
>
>I fully agree with KB that not only does Cheyassin Secka lack the
>wherewithal to pursue the case in arbitration and in fact even lacks the
>ability to negotiate for an amicable resolution of the matter with Alimenta
>as strongly recommended by the World Bank.  In fact, the Attorney General
>himself lacks the ability and the skills to pursue this case in
>arbitration.  He also lacks experienced lawyers in his Chambers to pursue
>the case in court, as weak as the case is, and against one of the most
>influential firms in the international oil seeds business. Thus he resorted
>to contracting the services of a Ghanaian lawyer, former Solicitor-General
>and Deputy Attorney General of Ghana, former Chairman of the Ghana
>Constitutional Commission, former professor of Law in Internatonal business
>transactions at Howard university in Washington DC to lead the
>negotiations.  How much his fees are going to cost the Gambian people is
>anybody's guess since the Jammeh regime has no respect for transparency and
>thus do not tender for the services rendered to it by outside consultants.
>The gentleman laywer is also advising Cheyassin Secka on the proposed
>Constitutional changes.
>
>One thing I know for certain, however, is that the $12 million damages that
>the Government has to pay is not in the kitty as we speak. This situation
>makes it all the more tempting for these fiscally ill-desciplined
>cylsostomes to further raid the Central Bank and the Social Security and
>Housing Finace Corporation. They have done so during the two previous trade
>seasons, I see no reason why they cannot repeat it.  It has become a habit
>for these nincompoops to raid these institutions to finance their
>childhood-fantacy projects.
>
>The problem facing Yahya Jammeh, Cheyassin Secka , Amadou Samba, Tarik Musa
>and,to a lesser extent Modou Dibba,(Yes KB, it is the same homeless,
>carless, disgraced Modou Dibba, courtesy of Yahya Jammeh), is how to lay
>their hands on the expected external resources to finance crop purchases
>this year now that the Alimenta case seems to have been settled, although
>more payment has been made to Alimenta, neither by Government nor by the
>European Union. They expect to control the Denton Bridge facility and thus
>fend off any competition; something the donors will refuse to accept. This
>year, the buying season must be free of any artificial barriers to entry.
>
>As the season unfolds, it will become more discernable that the HILO
>company bit is nothing but a front for Yahya and his cronies to access the
>European Union money (the first tranche estimated to be about $5 million)
>earmarked for crop financing.  All eyes are on The Gambia from Washington,
>Brussels, and even London on this year's groundnut season and particularly
>how Yahya Jammeh and his crooked cronies behave during this critical
>period.
>
>The Gambia finds itself in this mess because of one man, BABA JOBE.  He was
>the one who led some security elements into the Denton Bridge premises and
>seize the property which rightfully belongs to Alimenta. Yahya Jammeh
>turned around and accused Alimenta of money laundering, a claim they cannot
>prove in court and in fact, it is considered slanderous by one of the
>world's leading companies in oil seeds marketing. Thanks to Baba Jobe and
>the Lybians, Gambians would have to dish out a minimum of $12 million to
>pay off Alimenta for the wrongfull seizure of their property.
>
>Ebrima, we will wait and see if the Atlanta folks can come up with any
>information on the HILO company and how is the driving force behind it.  A
>company whose capitalisation is a measly $130,000 cannot be serious about
>getting into the $30-40 million groundnut business in The Gambia .
>

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