Sidi,

Thanks a lot for your interesting piece, reproduced further below, and I
must say that for me, it was full of revelations. I did know that you and
Abdou Sara Janha were together, at one time, in the US, but I always thought
that you, Sara and Tijan A.R Njie had met at Lincoln University and not
Wisconsin.

Furthermore, I didn't know that the late A.K Njie was US-trained, neither
did I also know that B.E Njie (formerly of UNICEF) did study in the US in
those days. In fact, B.E Njie, because he too speaks French, I always
thought he was also one of those Gambians who went to France - Grenoble or
Besancon.

I didn't know this late E.M Mbenga, but he has a daughter here in
Birmingham, UK. By the way, let me in fact ask you whether you are talking
about the late Mr Mbenga who died while holidaying in the Gambia, at a time
when he was working for the UN in Zambia. I think Ken Johm at the your Bank,
did stay/live with him (Mbenga) when he, Ken, was studying in Zambia.

What about other "kotos" such as Omar Sey, Felix Downes-Thomas, the late
Ebou Janha, Ousman Sabally, Professor Sulayman Nyang, Adi Njie
(ex-Fisheries)? Just curious!! I believe some of these people must have also
gone to the States in the 60s.

Here in Birmingham, I was also surprised to have discovered that many
Gambians, including professor Lamin Sanneh, the late Tony Blain, Dodou Faye
and many others, did study here. Professor Abdoulaye Bathilly, the
Senegalese opposition figure, also studied here in those days.

Perhaps, the knowledgeable Sheikh Tijan Nyang should also tell us some of
the Gambians who first went to Scandinavia. Just a thought! I for one only
know of a very few Scandinavian veterans, including Batch and Sereign Fayes,
Sammy Lai Mboge, Ndey Sita Njie, now in Miami, and Lai Jobe, formerly of the
NIB.

By the way, I didn't know KBJ is now in Kenya. The last time I saw him, he
was then working for whatever Insurance body in Nigeria. Yes, he is indeed a
nice brother: very lively at all times!

Really, the Gambia has produced very fine brains over the period, and the
truth is that we are scattered all over the world. In fact, let me build
some castles in the air right now: The Gambia would certainly be another
heaven on earth if all of us were to return home tommorow with our different
expertise. Not so Gambia L?

A leading British expert in Gambian affairs often tells me: "Ebrima, your
country has produced some very bright people. Your civil service is now
destroyed, but, some years ago, I used to enjoy my research trips to Gambia,
because my debates with many of your technocrats were always intellectually
rewarding. I was never impressed by many of the politicians, but, certainly,
I was more than impressed by many of the technocrats"...

This expert pointed out to me, on more two occasions, that most of the
Nigerian scholars, for example, are the most known or well respected among
the African intellectuals worldwide, because Nigerians, by nature, are
extroverts but more so, given the size of their country.

However, he was of the view that intellectually speaking, many of the
Gambians scholars/technocrats are/were in fact more intellectually equipped
than many of these so-called Nigerian scholars; but because many of these
Gambian scholars are humble and sometimes very reserved, they are not given
the attention/credit they deserve.

In fact, we - at Gambia L - are not doing badly at all, in terms of our
contributions to our debates. The other day I was given print outs of
articles from a mailing list, where Professor Wole Soyinke writes, and to
tell you the truth, I for one was disappointed, to say the least, when I saw
some of Professor Soyinke's line of arguments/analyses.

Don't get me wrong!! Professor Soyinke is a well known African scholar, who
is respected worldwide, but sometimes I , for one, am disappointed by some
of his arguments/thoughts, especially in relation to Nigerian politics and
also the Henry Louis Gates Jr TV series.

Yes, Soyinke writes extremely well. In fact, he plays with the English
language. But having said that, I must say that while I do not have the data
to back my assertions right now, because I am writing this piece off the
cuff; nonetheless, in my view, if you listen to Professor Soyinke speak or
write on Nigerian politics, the message is very clear. He is a Yoruba man
who wants Yoruba domination in Nigerian politics. His Yoruba sentiments are
always conspicuous whenever he speaks on Nigerian politics.

Read between the lines some of his reactions to Professor Ali Mazrui's
comments on the Henry Louis Gates TV series, and you then detect/see the
religious sentiments in his arguments.

Part of the conflict between the two: Sonyinke is a devout Christian and Ali
Mazrui is a devout Moslem, period!! I could expand on the religious aspect
of their debate, but I don't wanna say more on such an issue before I
unwittingly offend someone on the L.

Gambia L, anyway, having said that, in my view, it is about time we
demystified some of these professors and see them as mere human beings who
are bound to make errors in judgement just like any one of us. And they do
not also have a monopoly of ideas.

In fact, let me be selfish, or be a narrow nationalist here, but it is about
time we promoted/protected our own people - the professor Nyangs and
others!! Not so?

Ebrima Ceesay,
Birmingham, UK.

PS: Sidi, Sandra attended a lecture given by President Museveni, and she too
took her hat off for him. But with Sandra, I suspect her support or love for
Museveni is motivated by his Pan Africanist credentials. (laugh!)

I for one have serious reservations about Museveni's manner/system of
Government in Uganda. I also take issue with his conclusions/views on
slavery. Like Henry Louis Gates Jr, Museveni too argues that the African
chiefs should be equally blamed for conspiring, or taking part, in selling
slaves to the white masters at their (the chiefs') own volition.

I for one am not buying this theory. Anyway, I'll find time to expand on
this issue, so that I can be better understood. Perhaps, the challenge
facing some of us, should be to once again revisit the history books and try
and explain what really transpired during those days.





>From: Sidi Sanneh <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Where are you?
>Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2000 14:46:30 -0500
>
>Ebrima,
>To add to your list of french speakers, Nanah Grey's brother, Monty Grey-
>Johnson here with us, Dr. Mbye Cham(Howard U.)who started off in France via
>Dakar Univ.,Joe Ceesay to Nigeria via London. Speaking of KBJ,he invited me
>out last week-a nice fellow now based in Nairobi doing nicely indeed. Yes,
>I am one of the Kotos to have opted for a US education rather than UK, not
>a popular move in the 60's because of our colonial legacy.  But my Kotos on
>state side in the early to mid sixties were Ousman Sallah, Badou
>Samba,DKNjie,Cheyassin Secka,the late Alphusanie(AK)Njie,Bernard Baldeh and
>Saul Fye (Badou's brother)Late Dr.Daddy Dan Goddard,Badou Sallah(UNDP)and
>B.E.Njie(UNICEF). My contemporaries were the late E.M
>benga,late Hassan
>Harding,Manukumba Goddard,Mbye Cham(whom I studied together at Wisconsin)I
>went to work for Mayor Paul Soglin at Madison City Hall and sensible Mbye
>proceeded with his PhD. Sara Jahna found us there and left us there. I did
>my bit (11 years) and returned to join Jabez at Ecomonic Planning in 1977.
>But wait a minute, where is Prince?(I call him Biola).You promised these
>guys your bio. Biola and I started Albion School-same day together with
>Buba Saho(Gambia Airways/Travel Agent) and Musa Lobba (Ingram Street)
>Sidi Sanneh

______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L
Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html

----------------------------------------------------------------------------