In response to the many issues that you've raised, I will attempt to give my
personal take on some. Some of my views may or may not be in line with
government policy or common views on the L but that is okay by me.

You wrote:

"Gassa,

One of the most profound suggestions that have been made over and over again
is for the government to stop all of the extravagance and lavish spending on
the president and his cohorts, the muzzling of the press and the rampant
firing of civil servants that continues even in these hard time as well as
the intolerance of criticism from anyone with a different view and the
insistance on demanding blind allegiance from anyone lest they be branded
enemies of the state. Stopping these things will give the World a different
view of the Jammeh  government and open up the doors for countries that
believe in government without totalitarianism to work with our government
which will in turn do much in the way of improving the deplorable conditions
you describe, and which all of us are well aware of".

Jabou, whilst I agree with most of what you have said, I will like to give
my own perspective on some. First of all you will agree with me that in the
US constitution, people elected to certain offices are barred from accepting
gifts whose values are above a certain amount, which I believe is $50.00.
Our constitution, like that of Britain, Germany, France and many a western
democracy does not have such a provision. If that is the case, what do you
mean by "...is for the government to stop all of the extravagance and lavish
spending on the president and his cohorts"? Are you refering to the many
"Personal donations" that Jammeh is reported to be making to individuals and
organizations or are you refering to government spending on hospitals,
roads, schools, agriculture etc, etc? I am also sure that you are aware of
the fact there is a National Audit Office that is constitutionally bound to
audit ALL government departments and parastatals and report their findings
direct to the national assembly. This, I know, is being done and with the
exception of a few cases where government officials were found to be
involved in corruption and held accountable, there has never been any
incident when the president was said to be siphoning our national coffers as
is constantly alleged here. I stand to be corrected.

On the "muzzling of the press", lets please be honest here. We have all read
online numerous articles that are very critical of the government and
nothing was done to those press houses. Radio One FM's sunday newshour,
which is a discussion forum in English and runs for two hours allows for
people with all shades of opinions and from all walks of life to phone in
and speak their mind on any issue. This programme is repeated in both
Mandinka and Wollof and anybody can speak in any language you are
comfortable with. I don't therefore accept the criticism leveled against the
government that they don't want to be criticised. Why would they start a
discussion forum in cyber space if they don't want to listen to criticism?
How many of you visit the Jammeh website and post some of the things that
you are not comfortable with in our country? How many have engaged Mrs. FJC
respectfully to put across some of the issues that you've raised? As I am
not a media person, I cannot speak authoritatively about the laws that
govern the press. However I have heard a lot of hulla baloo about decrees 70
and 71, which many in the media and the opposition say were designed to
muzzle the press. However not once did I hear that those decrees were ever
used. Perhaps you can enlighten me by what you term muzzling of the press.

On the hiring and firing of civil servants, my take has always been that if
those affected stay mute about it, I will not speculate about it either.
Jammeh was quoted just a couple of weeks ago, as telling Mrs. Juka Jabang of
the MDI that contrary to rumours of her impending sacking, he was very
satisfied with her professionalism. He was also quoted as saying that nobody
will be fired if you do your work professionally regardless of your
political affiliation and that he will not accept incompetence. One thing I
tell my friends is that the time when civil servants are guranteed a job for
life is quickly coming to an end and that people need to be do their best
while they have the chance and be prepared to move on if that chance ceases.
There are already a few countries in West Africa were civil servants enter
into a renewable performance contract with the government and it is also a
fact that governments all over the world are being forced to sell off most
of the departments that create employment. I am told that in The Gambia, the
government employs between 20,000 and 30,000 people and that there is high
unemployment. I am therefore of the opinion that those us who are lucky to
be in employment are not more Gambian than those who are unemployed. We may
not even be more qualified than our brothers and sisters who are unemployed.
It is therefore incumbent upon those of us in the civil service to try to
live up to the expectations of our employer which in our case is the
government.

You wrote: "the intolerance of criticism from anyone with a different view
and the insistance on demanding blind allegiance from anyone lest they be
branded enemies of the state. Stopping these things will give the World a
different view of the Jammeh  government and open up the doors for
countries....". Jabou, this is definitely not true as most of the articles
forwarded to the L can prove that there are many people who are very vocal
and do criticise the government when it is justified. Halifa Sallah does so,
Hamat Bah does as well as many other Gambians living here. In an earlier
response to you on this issue, I informed you that one of the most vocal
people, when it concerns human rights in the country, was until very
recently a government civil servant. He resigned of his own volition but was
not fired! It is however one thing to criticize constructively based on
facts and another to just criticize for the sake of criticism or out of
malice. It is human nature that most people will tend to react strongly to
the latter even if they will regret it later.

I also believe that now that the presidential election is over, all
political parties should put aside their differences and start a genuine
process of reconciliation and confidence building measures. They should also
concentrate their efforts in selecting candidates who have the country's
interest at heart and will work together in the interest of The Gambian
people instead of along party lines all the time. These are my views on some
of the views you've raised and sorry for the long post.

Have a good day, Gassa.


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