Greetings all, I have some thoughts/questions/observations regarding
the "disagreement" between Ebrima Chongan (or more specifically his
book), and Sana Sabally and Samsudeen Sarr.

Let me start off by saying that I could be wrong, I've not read much
into this issue except for glancing through my RSS reader (The Gambia
Echo and the Freedom Newspaper both have rss feeds so those are the
Gambian news sites I tend to follow the most, and if other Gambian news
sites have rss feeds, let me know so I can add them), as well as
following some of the postings on Gambia Post/L.  I say this to say
that I've just given a cursory look at the reactions to Chongan and his
book and I have to say that on the whole I've been extremely disappointed.

I mean, why can't people just disagree maturely with him, if he
misrepresented someone in his book, or got some facts wrong, etc., then
why not just argue on the merits of that?  Instead, I'm treated to
headlines screaming of Chongan supposedly "deficating in his pants"
when he was questioned by someone or another.  I can't remember who
that "someone" is now.  And my reaction is "Are you serious?"  Let's
just say for the sake of argument that Chongan got some facts wrong or
lied in his book about Sana Sabally and Samsudeen Sarr, the fact that
they'd come with headlines such as this (along with the Freedom
Newspaper whose editor also seems to have some kind of ax to grind with
Chongan), makes them instead of men who are trying to clear their name
or right a wrong, instead look like little boys on the street corner
trying to play the dozens.  They look really selfish and immature, and
I just personally don't take them seriously.

I mean, maybe my memory is serving me wrong but, wasn't it Sana Sabally
who tortured and possibly killed people, and he was right there with
Jammeh until of course he fell out of favor with him, so where is
Sabally now?  What about the blood off of his hands?  And where does
Samsudeen Sarr stand as regards Jammeh, because his stance on the
dictatorship has seemed a bit murky, to my mind, at times.  Let's just
be honest and forget any kinda "personal dealings" one might have had
with Chongan and honestly ask ourselves, did Chongan ever support the
dictatorship of President Jammeh?  Did he ever go crawling back to him
(Jammeh) asking for forgiveness or a place in Jammeh's government?  Did
he ever kill, torture, etc., anyone?  Did he ever encourage people to
support Jammeh or go and ask Jammeh for forgiveness, and unless there's
something in the Freedom Newspaper and Gambia Echo "exposes" saying
otherwise, the answer, as far as I know, is a definite "no".  And
perhaps the same can't be said for either Sarr or Sabally, which is
why, along with Pa Nderry,
you have now seen them launch into the vindictive tirades you're now
seeing online.
What I'm thinking is, did Chongan lie in his book?  If so, how, why,
and in what part of the book?  What did he lie about?  Is it possible
that he could have, under the pressure of being tortured and detained,
he could have mis-stated some facts?  What do Sarr, Sabally, and to a
lesser extent, Pa Nderry, et al, have to gain from "exposing" Chongan?
What does Chongan supposedly being a womanizer (something that we don't
know for sure that Pa Nderry, Sarr, and Sabally are/were not, and even
if Chongan was or is such a person, is that not for his wife/family to
deal with?), or how he interacts with one personally, have to do with
the truth or veracity of the statements made in his book?

It seems to me that Pa Nderry, Sarr, and Sabally (and possibly others)
just got their feelings hurt and now they have to come back with some
very immature and vindictive tirades.  If you don't like Chongan and
you think his character faulty stay away from the guy, if you think
that he lied in his book, write a well-documented, scrupulously
researched, rebuttal, but please, for the love of all things, please
don't write about someone "deficating in their pants" while I'm trying
to eat my breakfast.  Mature and reasoned people just don't do that
sorta thing.  Or at least I didn't think they did anyway.  But I could
be wrong.  I mean, maybe it's a guy thing or something.

I just find it interesting that disagreeing with someone purely on the
facts/merits of the argument seems so hard for some, and not only do
they have to disagree with someone, they have to bring their mama,
cousin, wife and bodily functions into it, and goodness knows what else.

Ginny

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