Karamba, thanks for your astute observations and pointing out the sloppy job
Sidibeh did in trying to rewrite Gambian history; yet he is the first person
to accuse people of doing just that. I mean, how can anybody profess to be
giving an unbiased account about Gambian history surrounding the events of
the 1981 and not point out the despicable and irresponsible behavior of
criminals like Kukoi Samba Sanyang that sought to ILLEGALLY overthrow a
democratically elected government? Should Sidibeh be taken seriously? Do I
detect someone who is so obsessed with PPP that his view about Gambian
history is clouded?

It is good that some put Sidibeh’s thesis in perspective. No matter what
reservations people had against the Jawara regime of 1981, Gambia was an
independent nation with laws. Those laws said that if someone wanted to
overthrow the government, they had to do so through the ballot box. Does
anyone have the right to think that because most Gambians cannot read or
write English, real Democracy cannot thrive in the country and therefore it
is justifiable for a bunch of thugs to overthrow the government through the
use of force? This argument is ludicrous. Who told Sidibeh that Democracy
can only be implemented through the medium of English? It is this type of
condescension I cannot stand from these people that think they know better
than the Gambian folks and they need to teach and empower people. People do
NOT have to go to school to know who to vote for. By the same token,
education in English does NOT guarantee that people are going to make sound
decisions at polling booths. People like Sidibeh’s comrade (Sarjo Jallow)
have all the education Gambia can offer. They still vote for child murderers
and thieves to stay in office. How did Jallow’s ‘education’ help him to fare
better than say the poor farmer in URD that LIVES the plight of farmers in
the country and decided to vote for the Opposition? What ‘education’ does
for the vermin back home, is to give them jargon to rationalize murder and
mayhem. Their ‘education’ help them to bamboozle gullible Gambians to think
that it is better to stand child murderers than vote Darboe in because
Darboe ‘might’ bring back the PPP folks.

Darn right we will NOT sit idle and allow Sidibeh to portray the bandits
that partook in the 1981 rebellion as some patriots ‘saving’ our country
from foreign invaders. Talk about rewriting history. The man would rather
give space to some ridiculous rumor about Ebou Taal than address the roles
of criminals like Kukoi Sanneh and Pap Cheyassin Secka and Simon Talibo
Sanneh. What is wrong with this man? Did Sidibeh care about the numerous
Senegalese citizens that lost their lives trying to save Gambian lives?
NOTHING about that in his postings. To this day I have a Senegalese friend
that is mentally ill from the trauma these poor soldiers faced fighting an
indiscipline bunch of bandits that did NOT respect the rules of the
battle-field. This is simply sick. What responsible revolutionary would free
(criminals) prisoners and give them arms and ammunition and unleash them
unto innocent citizens? Kukoi and his gang of bandits were committing a
crime (trying to illegally overthrow the government of the day). The then
president exercised his constitutionally mandated duty to invite a friendly
country (since we did not have an army then) to stop the crime. Now Sidibeh
wants history to record that the criminals that brought anarchy to the
country are patriots fighting foreign invaders? And when you asked him about
his gaps the man arrogantly told you that the matter was dealt with in some
publication in 1994. A lot of the things he said in his piece are NOT news.
They have been dealt with before. Yet he felt the need to talk about them
now. I guess it is OK when the matter is unfavorable to PPP. But when it
comes to pointing out the crimes that were committed against PPP, Sidibeh
will conveniently ignore those.

Finally Karamba, I am glad that you made it abundantly clear (at least to
me) that despite that you are a staunch UDP supporter and you supported the
Alliance, you by no means condone some of the bad things that PPP did in the
past and you were at no time advocating that PPP vices should return if
Darboe were to be elected by the Gambian electorate. This is the point we
tried to drum into the heads of people like Sidibeh, but they simply would
NOT get it. We are NOT PPP apologists. Having said that, we will NOT sit by
and allow people to lie about PPP and in effect portray Yaya as a ‘savior’.
By the same token, we will vehemently protest if people dubiously try to
portray Darboe as a stooge. Thanks again for your contributions. God help us
from the ‘educated Gambian’.
KB



>From: [log in to unmask]
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: MOJA CASE FILE (1)
>Date: Fri, 2 Nov 2001 19:50:53 EST
>
>Mr Sidibeh,
>                  Thank you very much for a very well written
>retrospective. I
>am especially impressed with your sequencing of events and your perspective
>of an organization you seem to demonstrably understand and care about.
>While
>ideologically I am on the opposite side of the spectrum relative to Moja ,
>I
>believe your absence from the body politik from the time of your inception
>has diminished our overall democratic experience.Gambia like any society
>looking to positively forge ahead has to have it's full compliment of ideas
>and participants actively involved in the crucial business of improving our
>society and the lives it's people. I was also struck by the very candid
>reasons you advance for the current near comatose state of Moja. You
>justifiably apportioned significant blame on the Jawara regimes
>heavy-handedness and also lethargic leadership from within MOJA. In a
>strange
>way, both of these reasons point  to what I call a destructive propensity
>for
>self preservation deeply embedded in the Gambian psyche. Sending field
>forces
>to arrest seemingly innocent people espousing new and different ideas was
>the
>flawed response of a regime that was much more interested in preserving
>itself than fairly contesting ideas. Similarly the expedient judgment of
>some
>of your colleagues to jump into Yahya Jammeh's bandwagon under the spurious
>pretext that it was a credible revolution point to the same selfish streak
>lurking in the hearts of many a Gambian.There is simply nothing some people
>would not do to meet selfish ends. In the process good people and good
>ideas
>become casualties.
>     I did find two phrases troubling. You said MOJA did not support the
>Kukoi
>coup  but it's members went ahead and armed themselvesf to defend the
>country
>from invading Senegalese soldiers sustaining casualties in the process. I
>can
>understand on grounds of nationalism for Moja to characterise the
>Senegalese
>as invaders and thus the need to attempt a defense. What troubles me is the
>fact  that you attribute none of the   violence that was precitipated by
>looting and the general breakdown of law and order to Kukoi and the
>coupists.
>I do not think Kukoi would  strike you as being a responsible revolutionary
>whose rhetoric or methods was a prelude to anything but anarchy. Similarly
>you stated that Moja opposed the Jammeh coup in principle but decided to
>offer critical support.Since you did  not elaborate on what that means ,
>I'd
>like to ask for a clarification.Did you mean you supported the coup just as
>a
>tansitionary episode? Do you still support the APRC regime?
>  I look forward to your response
>Thanks
>Karamba
>
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