Mr. Taal,



As you said, Mr. Bajinka is indeed entitled to his opinions however erroneous they may be. I would suggest to any fair-minded person who supports the actions of the APRC government to get a blank sheet of paper and a pen or pencil and draw up two columns.  These columns can be entitled good and bad or to be more technical pros and cons.  Let this fair-minded person compare the two columns at the end of the exercise and give a rating to the AFPRC/APRC government under President Jammeh. Only a person who is dishonest to himself would give this government a good rating.



I understand that we are dealing with the current government here, but we also have to be careful not to distort history or engage in political apology in our efforts to forge a better future for The Gambia.



As regards the actions of the Senegalese soldiers during the 1981 putsch, those of us who were around at the time can testify to the brutality of some elements of the Senegalese Armed Forces.  Torture, indiscriminate shootings and rape did occur during those few days. A case in point. My dad who had been seen driving in his official vehicle to his residence in Brikama was arrested by Senegelase soldiers, taken to the airport and tortured for days on end.  The reason? The vehicle he was driving was an olive green Pajero, the type that some rebels had confiscated from the government.  Yet following the reinstatement of President Jawara, he personally made a generous financial offer to the government despite my protests that the proceeds will end up being pocketed by a few individuals.  We all know what happened to the funds that were collected by the Assets Recovery Commission. They disappeared slowly into the personal accounts of some government employees.  Coming back to my dad.  He
 was forced into early retirement after the government accused him of harboring the opposition when his brother contested under the NCP banner in the 1986 bye-elections in Basse. Dejected and humiliated, he collected his retirement savings and went to face life the hard way.  I have no doubt that there are many similar stories around.  I am saying this only to point out that it will be unfair to our history if we knowingly sweep under the carpet facts that would allow us to usher in good governance and transparency.



However, comparing the current government to its predecessor would be like comparing apples and oranges. In a decade, an untold number of Gambians have been assassinated by security forces or agents of the state. The luckier ones such as the UDP members in Brikama, Lamin Waa Juwara, to name only a few,  were arrested, detained and tortured for their dissenting political views.  Others continue to languish in jail!



How many Gambians use the Kombo Coastal road, if I may ask?  What is the point in having a national television if freedom of speech is suppressed and news coverage is limited to government activities?  How can one boast of building a hospital if, even as I write, infants are dying in rural medical centers for lack of appropriate medical care?  What is the essence of running a university if its students do not have access to proper research materials while millions of dalasi are wasted in ceremonies?  While infrastructural development is necessary for any country to move forward, it cannot be done at the expense of food security, healthcare, freedom of speech and of association, etc. Under this administration, the bad and the ugly far outweigh the good.



The ideal would have been for the ruling APRC to allow a healthy political discourse with the opposition and its critics without having to resort to threats and violence.  I am afraid its cheerleaders are too blinded by cronyism to see the truth. By the time they turn around, it will be the case of la caravane passe et les chiens aboient.

Momodou.




Ali Taal <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
[ This e-mail is posted to Gambia|Post e-Gathering by Ali Taal ]


Mr. Bajinka:

You are entitled to your opinion, that is the
great part of democracy and free speech,
unfortunately, your colleagues in the Gambia,
today, do not have that privilege of expressing
their opinion. And I do not remember any time in
Jawara's government where individuals were denied
the privilege to speak their minds. There was a
group of activists: KENT STREET VOU, very
vigilant and outspoken but no torture or killing
of their members took place on Jawara's watch. To
point a few, Jammeh's fisheries or forestry
minister was among the founding members.

Since you are asking for evidences on peoples'
allegations on Jammeh, please supply the forum
with evidences that link the Senegalese
intervention in the 1981 Terrorists incident that
led to so many lost of lives and property in
their (terrorists - KUKOI et al.) attempt to
depose a democratically elected government. The
evidence I am interested in would be: the
Senegalese arm forces killed such Gambians as a
result of the Samaritan help to Gambia and Gambians in general.

I would assume that there may be one or two
unfortunate incidents of collateral deaths but
given that they were/are professionals unlike
what we had and have, it is to their benefit to
minimize such dangers as much as possible. On the
contrary, they suffered more deaths than the
innocent civilian suffered from their
intervention. Most of the deaths were Gambians on
Gambians (All mile 2 prison was emptied with all
those hoodlum venting their jailed time anger on
innocent people). If I remembered correctly,
Jawara himself compensated those families
(Senegalese) after the dust settled. Jawara
trusted the Gambians and introduced an army and
where did it led us: good by democracy and hello anarchy and dictatorship.

Come to think of it Seedou, we were better of
with the Nigerian military personnels, at least
they would not have toppled what we had and
cherished to which our neighbors did not have.
You cannot sit here telling us that Jawara was
tribalist or corrupt and if you so believe such,
please show or list me your evidence.

I will give you one to ponder while you are at
it. I wonder why B.B. Darboe could not rise past
the post of vice president? Was B.B. still the
vice president before the illegal government of the Gambia? I wonder why?

Later

Badara Taal

At 02:28 PM 7/28/2005, you wrote:
>[ This e-mail is posted to Gambia|Post
>e-Gathering by "Seedou Bajinka" ]
>
>
>JOE,first of all,go back and read some of the
>past posting and you will realise that yes,there
>were people on this forum who accused president
>jammeh of tribalism.May be you just don't want
>to admit the fact that i said it.If at all you
>have evidence that president jammeh killed those
>people you named,then go ahead and sue him in
>the international court of justice.But the fact
>is all these talking on the net is not paying
>any devidend on your course,just waste of energy and time.
>secondly,you cannot deter me from viewing my
>points on this forum neither can any one else
>do.So,lets us just debate facts and be real to
>each other and stop the double standard.
>Finally,you been a JOLA is not at a factor for
>me to write what i wrote.I write because i
>believed there are people out there who are just
>trying every way possible to create
>tribalism,infact they taking example of RWANDA
>type of situation in Gambia.So i would advice
>you to go back and read past posting you will
>see the tribal sentiment been brewed by some folks.Have a good day
> cheers
> Seedou Lamin Bajinka
> USA
>
>_________________________________________________________________
>Don’t just search. Find. Check out the new MSN
>Search! http://search.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200636ave/direct/01/
>
>
>
>
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