Gassama, as I promised you, you CANNOT finesse me with lies.  It would NOT
take me a day and a half to debunk your lies.  So, this is what it boils
down to?  Like I said, all the ‘development’ you have been yapping about
(the ‘development’ that should make us tolerate child murderers) is just ONE
major road (Kombo Coastal).  I know you are a mental midget, but just bear
with me a little let me explain to you why it is important to distinguish
between the projects that are completed and those that are not.  It is also
important to spell out to people EXACTLY what we have.  You claimed to be an
engineer.  I would have thought that like Yusupha Jow, you would be
interested in concrete numbers so that people will NOT be misled by fluid
terms like ‘many roads’, ‘dozens of roads and bridges etc.

I am glad that I forced you to admit that ONLY ONE MAJOR ROAD is complete.
The rest are just ‘promises’.  And going by Yaya’s promise to electrify 98%
of the country by July 22, 2001, who knows when the other road projects will
be finished.  Here I will pause to address something I really liked in
Karamba’s brilliant response to Buharry’s inquiries.  It is a big fraud
perpetrated by AFPRC/APRC sycophants like Gassama that Gambians are
impressed by Yaya’s ‘developments’ and that is why Gambians do NOT give a
darn if our children are massacred or if people like Dumo are illegally
incarcerated.  This is simply NOT true.  Like Karamba said and I have said
previously, to begin with, this conclusion assumes that there is a lot of
impressive developments that can only be delivered by Yaya.  Need I tell
anyone that this assumption is wrong?

Our people are POORER today than they were before 1994.  What ‘development’
did Yaya take to our farmers whose groundnuts have NOT been bought the past
three consecutive years?  It is ridiculous to argue that Lalo Jaiteh’s
family in Baddibu are impressed by the Kombo Coastal Highway and do NOT care
about the plight of Lalo Jaiteh or whether their neighbors that are farmers
have money to feed their families.  So, people that argue that Gambians are
impressed by Yaya’s developments do NOT know what they are talking about.
AFPRC/APRC sycophants have to point to something to explain why they are
still in power.  They get the Gassamas of this world to exaggerate what they
are doing and compare their record with PPP.  Now they CANNOT do that
anymore.  APRC is PPP.  They inherited the same politicians and civil
servants and sycophants.  We will NOT allow them anymore to use this
smokescreen.  I can bet that almost 90% of the people on G_L that were
criticizing me for not acknowledging things this government is doing did NOT
even know that most of the things we hear from people like Gassama and
people eager to rationalize their support for Yaya, is EXAGGERATION.

Just witness Gassama’s merry-go-round trying to simply explain that there is
NO Westfield to Mandinaba road.  The guy gets irritated (and call my
questions silly) when I pinned him down to explain that the ‘project’ is FAR
from complete.  So far, CSE was putting its own money in that project in
anticipation of you know what.  If Gambians were really serious in seeing
the completion of that project, then Yaya is the wrong guy to be voted for.
This project and numerous others depend on loans from other governments and
international institutions.  Remember that 90% of our Development Budget is
funded by loans and grants from foreign bodies.  Like I said before the
elections, between luminaries like Ousainou Darboe and ‘Blood Diamond
Dealers and child murderers, who has the best chance to attract these loans
and grants?  Clearly, local taxes CANNOT fund the Development Budget.  Do we
need thieves to contract loans on our behalf, steal the bulk of the money
and implement projects that 10-year-olds can implement?  Gassama, if nothing
else, I am glad that you confirmed my friend’s story that it is a virtual
nightmare to travel from Latrikunda Mampatokoto to Westfield.  Don’t even
talk about traveling from Serrekunda to Kaur.

Moving on your piece point-by-point.  I am also glad that you told the whole
world that ‘the stretch from Mandinaba to Soma’ is NOT complete.  Only God
knows when it will be.  So, you CANNOT point to this ‘development’ to
explain why our farmers in that area, that did NOT have enough food to eat,
would vote for Yaya because of an INCOMPLETE road.  On the contrary, those
people should have rejected Baabaa (‘Blood Diamond Dealer) Jobe because he
would only attract sanctions to the country and the road will NEVER be
complete.  I make this long-winded point just to show you that it is NOT the
‘development’ that explains Yaya’s ‘victories’.  Yaya steals elections.  You
can remain in denial and point to INCOMPLETE projects to explain the
‘victories’.  Some of us know better.

The ‘Senegambia to Stink Corner’ Road; report that as complete after it is
properly lit.  otherwise, we just have a dead-trap there.  This
‘development’ is an apt one to use in order to gauge whether Gambians value
‘development’ more than civil liberties.  This road is right in the middle
of the urban area where our children were massacred and where the radio
stations are torched and where most of the dismissed civil servants live and
where most of the NIA abductions take place.  Does anyone on this List
believe for one minute that their family members will look to that road
(where accidents occur constantly) and vote for Yaya; ignoring the fact that
without their children abroad they would starve to dead?  Forget other
people’s human rights for a minute.  Let us assume that our families were
not directly touched by the massacre, the arson attacks and the abductions.
Almost all our families are touched by the abject poverty in the country.
Gassama himself CANNOT live on his Gamtel salary.  Would our families ignore
the abject poverty because of some unfinished roads?  This does NOT make any
sense.

The street lights in the TDA.  Gassama, we will wait for you to tell us when
the lights are complete and NAWEC is able to supply electricity.  Mind you,
AFPRC/APRC has been in power for almost eight years now and has contracted
hundreds of millions of dalasis in loans that the Gambian taxpayers are
going to pay for.  We still do NOT have street lights in a stretch of road
that is less than five kilometers.

Farrafeni to Lamin Koto road.  Same story.  When will you get it into your
thick skull that there is NO Farafeni to Lamin Koto road per se?  The road
is INCOMPLETE and only God knows when it will be.  The Trans-Gambia road?
Same thing.  INCOMPLETE.

Soma to Basse Road?  Did I read you right being satisfied by a pledge from
the EU (the West that we do NOT need)?  Maybe you meant that they are
returning to us stuff they stole from us to begin with.  I thought you
financed your projects from Allah’s Bank.  Would a serious government that
need money from the EU alienate the organization by dismissing EU ‘staff’
willy-nilly.  If I were you, I will NOT be ‘satisfied’ until the money is in
the country.  In other words, the ‘pledge’ should NOT be ‘enough’ for you.
With loose-canons like Yaya and Baabaa (‘Blood Diamond Dealer’) Jobe at the
helm, rest assured that they will soon do something to jeopardize these
funds.  Matter of fact, they have also engaged in shenanigans that will
haunt them when it is time to disburse these funds.

Now, to my favorite part: the Banjul roads.  You want to tell me that
AFPRC/APRC built the major roads in Banjul post-1994?  You throw in people’s
names out there to sound as if you know exactly what you are talking about.
Gassama, I told you since the time you were Kebba Jobe.  You are dealing
with someone you have no idea about.  Let us talk specifics here.  When I
said that the MAJOR roads were built by PPP, the first thing you should ask
yourself is what are the major roads.  Talk to me about the roads and NOT
about people that purportedly worked on those projects.  Was Wellington
built by AFPRC?  Was Leman built by AFPRC?  Was Buckle built by AFPRC?  Was
Hagan built by AFPRC?  Was Anglesea built by AFPRC?  Was Box Bar and London
Corner built by AFPRC?  Was Marina Parade and Independence Drive built by
AFPRC?  I am NOT interested about what Dr. Leigh is doing or has done.  Tell
us what major road AFPRC/APRC built in Banjul.  I know some of the names I
gave you might sound foreign to you now.  But let that NOT fool you to think
that you are talking to an ignorant person in the Diaspora that does NOT
know what is going on in the country and that the Dictatorship changed some
of the street names to honor people like Gaddafi.  You CANNOT lie to me.

Although you said ‘finally’ in your penultimate paragraph, you went to
another mini-paragraph and exhibited why people CANNOT stand you and why we
are justified in calling you a shameless sycophant.  Again, when it comes to
you, let me inform you that you cannot slip a fast one on me.  If I let some
of your gibberish slide, it is just that I am NOT inclined to expose you.
What other ‘dozens of roads and bridges’ have the AFPRC/APRC constructed in
the country?  You are just pathetic.  Here we have you misleading people
about roads that are INCOMPLETE.  What would you have done if there were
more roads that were completed?  Of course we all know that you do NOT have
anything else to say.  You are just lying again trying to mislead ignorant
people in the Diaspora that Yaya has built ‘dozens of roads and bridges’ in
the country.

I await other parts of your ‘development’ projects.  Meantime, I will also
try and put together a piece detailing how AFPRC/APRC wasted our resources
in projects that rendered our people POORER than they were pre-1994.
KB



>From: Jungle Sunrise <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Feeling like a fish out of water.
>Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2002 13:45:39 +0000
>


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