Saul, great piece. I was waiting for you before commenting on the
organization of the symposium and its repercussions. By and large, the ALD
Organizers did a fantastic job. People like Saihou Mballow, Jassey-Conteh
and Sanusi have genuine issues, but I think that should not take anything
away from the tireless and selfless efforts of the organizers like James
Gomez, Jr. and Latjorr Ndow. I appeal to both sides to bury the hatchet and
move on. Mballow and Conteh have made their point. Gomez explained the
thinking of the Organizers. The Organizers did not take the decision they
took out of malice. This was NOT a ploy to silence Mballow or the UDP. There
were time constraints and decisions needed to be made regarding time
management. Someone had to be cut. Should they have cut Joseph Joof and
disallow him from speaking and allocate Joof's time to Mballow? Maybe. But
this is Monday Morning Quarter-backing. Gomez and the other Organizers have
the prerogative to make that judgment call. There are many Gambians in the
Metro-Washington area. These brothers stepped up to organize this symposium,
sacrificing their time, money and efforts. I wholeheartedly commend them for
that. No one among us is perfect. When people make mistakes, we should
assess the error in the wider scheme of things. Let's not just zoom on the
perceived mistake; especially when the 'mistake' was not borne out of
ill-will.

So, I again appeal to Mballow (UDP) and Conteh to ease up on the Organizers.
To the Organizers, I say Thank You for your efforts. Please recognize that
it is not easy to lead. Do not loose your temper in the face of certain
criticism. It will just fuel antagonism. I know this is easier said than
done.

Saul, I will wait for the report from MRDG(NY) and comments of certain
participants at the New York Meeting before I make further comments about my
major issue during the visit of our leaders: Forming a Coalition for
October.

At this stage, I will only talk about the dismal performance of the APRC
cronies like Joseph Joof. From your reports I hope people on G_L now realize
that we are being charitable when we describe these APRC people as Morons.
Brother, these people are a disgrace. What Party will have a 'lawyer' in an
entourage and allow a moron like Tombong Jatta to speak on behalf of the
entourage regarding Constitutional amendments? This man does not even
understand that the judicial function these local chiefs perform, is very
limited. Besides, this 'judicial function of the chiefs argument' is a very
phony one. More sophisticated APRC cronies like Pap Cheyassin Secka tried
the argument when he wanted to introduce this legislation and in effect
disenfranchise Gambians. If Joof had not absconded, he would be making the
same dumb argument Jatta was making. The APRC 'lawyers' speak like the
semi-illiterate Morons that lead their Party. Secka, Joof, Jatta, all made
from the same clothe. All Morons.

The reason I say that this is a phony argument is that the argument is
premised on the bogus notion that elected judges (the Chiefs) will favor the
people that elected them if those people are involved in a dispute with
people that did not support (vote for) the judge. In other words, if Samba
is a supporter of Chief Danso and sues Pateh who opposed Chief Danso, the
Chief will give judgment to Samba even if Samba does not deserve it. This is
a most ridiculous argument.

Or should I say that the remedy our government is using to eradicate the
perceived bias of a judge in favor of people that elected him/her, is a dumb
remedy. The APRC mental midgets are trying to tell us that if judges are
appointed (and not elected), they will be fairer to litigants. Even if the
judicial function of chiefs was the sole function of these people, it does
not make sense to argue that they should be appointed by the President
(instead of elected by the electorate) in order to eradicate bias. I can
understand a non-lawyer and a Moron like Tombong Jatta making that argument.
But for Joseph Joof and Pap Cheyassin Secka to make that argument, is very
sad.

This is the reason why: our justice system ALREADY has a safeguard for the
'biased' judgments of Chiefs. We have an APPEAL process. Rulings from Chiefs
can/should be appealed to Magistrate Courts or the higher courts in Banjul.
When the Chiefs perform their judicial functions, they are NOT just sitting
down and giving people bags of rice from the Chief's own stores. The Chiefs
are dispensing Justice (Not rice or cattle they own). The Chiefs are making
judgments based on the LAW. If they do not apply the laws properly because
they want to favor their supporters, their judgments get thrown out by
higher courts. So, it is counter-productive for the Chief to ignore the law
and just focus on the votes he can get. The Chief will end up giving his
supporters very questionable judgments that would be easy to set aside. So
at the end of the day, the people that did not support the Chief will end up
winners when they come to Banjul (Appeal).

Because of the existence of an appellate process, that is why countries like
the United States do not believe that electing judges will encourage biased
rulings in favor of the people that supported those judges. Americans are
smart enough to figure out that judges will NOT ignore the law just for
votes. Lower judges that are elected know that appellate courts do not give
a darn about the people that elected the lower judge. Appeal Courts overturn
rulings that are not based on the Law, but are based on votes.

This argument from the APRC cronies also insults the intelligence and the
integrity of Gambians. This argument presupposes that the Gambian electorate
would only elect judges that favor them irrespective of what the law says.
The argument also assumes that the Chiefs will want to attract votes at all
costs, even if it means ignoring the law. Both premises are wrong. On the
contrary, if one has respect for Gambians, one will assume that the majority
of Gambians want judges that will apply the law correctly; even if the
rulings are against the supporters of the judge. In other words, people will
NOT vote for judges whose judgments are always overturned by appellate
courts.

Can we rely on Joof et al to relay these kinds of arguments to their
masters? No chance. If Yaya wants to appoint Chiefs because he wants to use
them for grassroots politics, it is the job of Joseph Joof and Pap Cheyassin
Secka to bring forth the most ridiculous arguments to try and rationalize
Yaya's wishes. If it means turning the law and logic upside down, these
despicable lawyers will do that. They do not have the guts or the integrity
or the wherewithal to tell Yaya that the judicial functions Chiefs perform
are very minimal. They will not also tell Yaya that voting judges into
office does not tantamount to biased behavior on the part of the judge.

See, Yaya and people like Tombong Jatta are morons that look at the world
from a child's perspective. Yaya and Tombong know that they always favor
people that voted for them. Yaya only 'gives' money to his supporters. APRC
government neglects Opposition constituencies and just 'develop' APRC
strongholds. Tombong will go to the funerals of his supporters but ignore
people that opposed him. See some similarities with an illustration I gave
earlier on? Yaya 'giving' money to his supporters is analogous to the Chief
giving rice to his supporters. See how these 'gifts' are totally different
from the dispensation of justice? Apples and oranges. Whereas when you give
rice and money there is no judicial review of your gift-giving, when you
give (dispense) justice, there are others that come after you that can
overturn your decision. So, because Yaya and Tombong favor their supporters
when they 'give' to the electorate, that does not mean that Chiefs are going
to favor their supporters when they 'give' justice. Saul, you are right that
Tombong was way out of his league. The mental midget's brain will burst if
he tries to conceptualize the indefensible position their government is
taking on this topic. What happened to honesty? Why can't they just come out
plain and say that they want to appoint Chiefs because Yaya wants to use the
latter to steal elections? Why can't they just say that they were scared to
go to the polls with the Opposition in the aftermath of the Sami elections?

On a final note, I hate to have disappointed you as well. Frankly, I never
thought that you wanted to meet with me. I will be honored to meet with
comrades like you. I would have also loved to talk to people like
Jassey-Conteh, whom I am very fond of just reading him on G_L. Jaiteh and
Jeng, I will also like to meet and talk to; no wrestling. I don't like
violence. That way, we will iron out a lot of misinterpretations if we have
a spontaneous discussion. I hope people realize from this that we (me, you
and Hamjatta) do NOT have a 'pally' relationship as such. We have mutual
respect for each other. Most of what we write on G_L come from the heart. We
are just stating things as we believe them to be. I thank God every day that
I am on the same wavelength as comrades like you, Colly and Hamjatta in this
struggle. I will make a conscious effort to meet with you next time.
KB



>From: saul khan <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: ALD Symposium
>Date: Wed, 30 May 2001 21:02:57 -0000
>
>Saiks, All,
>
>I'll give you the background of what happened on Saturday at the ALD Forum
>as I OBSERVED it. Of course I missed some things as there's only so much
>that one can observe at any one time, especially if one isn't taking notes.
>I wasn't. So, I hope others present will give us more of what I missed.
>
>First, I extend a commendation to the Organizing Committee. It's obvious
>that things could be a little better, but considering what the Organizers
>had to deal with (Gambians,) they didn't do a particularly bad job. Truth
>is, God made people, and made Africans. And we the Gambian sub-species are
>a
>microcosm of the dysfunction that our people are. Hard to swallow, but
>that's the truth. The program was supposed to start at 12:00 noon, and it
>started around 3:00pm. Very Gambian. And it did mainly because Mr. Hamat
>Bah
>threatened to leave for New York where we was scheduled to board a plane
>for
>Abuja at 8:00pm. He told myself, Ous Bojang and ML Conteh that he WAS
>leaving at 3:30pm sharp. Myself and Conteh had to go alert James Gomez
>about
>Mr. Bah's position. The Hall (venue) was on lease to the Organizers until
>5:00pm. Most of the audience came around 3pm. So, at that point, all we had
>was two hours for any discussion. In order to accommodate Mr. Bah (so he
>can
>stay beyond 3:30pm,) Latjor and James offered to buy him an air ticket to
>NY. This is also very commendable, because as it turned out, Hamat Bah is
>worth every dime that was spent on him.
>
>On Mr. Conteh’s issues, these need not turn into another unnecessary
>rancor.
>  I can understand why  Conteh would think that the whole event was a
>Two-Man show. It seemed that way, unless one knew of the role of the Tijan
>Ceesays in the background. There were in fact a few more people involved. I
>think it's fair to say that Latjor and James were the most prominent as far
>as the Symposium was concerned, but there were others.  On Dr. Nyang’s
>absence, I agree with Mr. Conteh’s complaint in principle, because the good
>Dr. wasn’t the only promised invitee who didn’t show up.  Fr. Joseph Gough
>didn’t come, neither did Baba Galleh Jallow, one of the promised panelists.
>Some of us were expecting to see these people, but nothing was said about
>their absence.  A simple statement at the beginning of the program about
>which invitees couldn’t make it, and why was all that was needed. So, I
>hope
>the Organizers will take note of the negative impression non-communication
>sometimes give observers. .  Not to talk about wild  speculation.  Also, a
>less restrictive venue (in terms of time) should have been secured. It
>doesn’t make much sense to have people come all the way from Gambia only to
>be rushed to cut off their speech after 30 minutes. Both Hamat Bah and
>Halifa Sallah had just warmed up when they were prompted to cut it short.
>Personally, I’ll be more than willing to chip in next time, just so such
>speakers can have ALL the time they  need to make their case, and interact
>with the audience. You can tell both were disappointed, Mr. Sallah more so
>than Mr. Bah. Now, on to the meeting proper.
>
>
>It needs to be stated for the record that Joe Joof and his entourage lodged
>at a hotel in Downtown DC, less than 10 minutes from Howard University
>where
>the Symposium was held. Despite this, they were the last party to arrive.
>Some people are already putting a spin on why he left, but the fact is,
>Joof
>NEVER intended to answer any questions.  You’ll see why I believe this
>after
>you’ve read what caused him to go away.  In the first place, to say that he
>was nervous is an understatement.  From the moment the man sat down on the
>dais, you could see his unease. He was looking at the audience, while doing
>his best to avoid eye-contact with people. When Latjor Ndow introduced the
>panel, he was slated to be the first speaker. Latjor made way for Joof at
>the podium, and handed him the mike. And this was the beginning of the
>now-famous three minutes “threat.” A member of the audience who was sitting
>exactly FIVE ROWS away from the front, got up and said:
>“Hey, you should sit down. You people are murderers. You murdered 14 little
>kids, and denied them justice. How can you come here and talk to us about
>justice. You need to sit down.” Then the brother switched to Wollof:
>“Yen sah, den gen yab nit nyi.” (You must hold us in contempt.)
>By this time, several people, notably: ML Conteh, Latjor, Karamba Touray
>were appealing to the brother to calm down and let the man have his say. It
>should be noted that the brother DID NOT make any move to approach Joof,
>nor
>did he make any threatening gestures towards Joof. He stood EXACTLY where
>he
>was sitting. And the whole incident took a little less than three minutes.
>
>Joof got up, and spoke. The brother DID NOT utter a single word after that!
>Probably due to his nervousness, Joof gave a very rambling speech: “Mr.
>Fabakary Tombong Jatta will speak for the APRC party. I’ll speak for the
>govt.  I’m glad to be here. When I heard about the theme of this symposium,
>I was very happy that it’s ‘Building Bridges, Joining Hands.’ That is very
>good. We need to listen to each other… Gambians go to the Internet to get
>their news. That’s not a proper way to get news… We should be able to talk
>to each other and agree or disagree…  In fact, His Excellency launched a
>web
>site last Friday. Gambians will be able to get news and other information
>there. We are doing many good things. We have built over a 150 schools. And
>hospitals. And an airport. It’s not just a terminal, we have extended the
>tarmac so that all types of planes can land there. Now we have all types of
>Airlines coming to the Gambia. We have Sabena, Air Senegal Int. Ghana
>Airways. We now have a Direct Flight between Wash DC and Banjul. And we are
>working hard to have a Direct Flight to other cities like Atlanta, New
>York.
>We have changed the Constitution to allow for Dual Citizenship. Many of you
>have children here…” I have to say that I really didn’t pay much attention
>to what he had to say, because I couldn't wait to ask him a question about
>Civil Rights back home, or some other justice-related issue. I had an
>internal dilemma going on: Should I ask him about Dumo and co first, or his
>role in the bogus Commission of Inquiry into the Student Murder case. His
>speech lasted less than ten minutes. He sat down.  (I’m trying to get the
>video of the meeting to review his speech again, but this was the gist of
>what the man said as I recalled it. Some of my quotations may not be
>verbatim. Others are welcome to add to, modify it.)
>
>When Latjor took over the mike, several people asked immediately if we
>could
>ask Joof questions. Latjor relayed the message to Joof, and Joof indicated
>by gesturing that he’ll take questions after the other panelists had given
>their speeches. But surprise, surprise, even while Latjor was looking down
>at the Secretary and saying into the mike that he “hope the honorable
>Secretary would answer questions after…” the man picked up his leather
>folder, got off the dais, stopped and stooped to whisper something into
>Mrs.
>Lena Manga’s ear (sitting in the second row.) And before you could say
>“1,2,3” he started working briskly towards the exit. It all happened so
>fast, we were all caught unawares. Someone shouted that “the man is
>leaving.” Several people called out “coward!” Some people queried Latjor
>about why the man is leaving. I thought Latjor’s reply was very apt:
>“there’s nothing you can do when the man wants to leave. You cannot force
>him to stay. There’s nothing you can do…” Some of us followed him outside.
>Myself and Pa Samba Jow came out and found Joof, Lena Manga, some Embassy
>Security guard, and some two other fellows talking. Pa Samba had a video
>camera, and when Joof saw us, he started walking towards a Mercedes that
>was
>just pulling up. We both started talking, and Pa Samba managed to fire a
>question: “Mr. Secretary, can you tell us why the killers of the students
>were Idemnified?” Joof quickly pulled the car’s rear door and jumped in
>shutting the door without answering Pa Samba’s question. The car made a
>U-turn, and he was gone.  This was the sum of the “threat” that Joof faced.
>
>When I turned around, there was Lena. I asked why her boy was running away?
>“He’s going because they don’t want him.” I said, “who doesn’t want him?
>Who
>are ‘they?’  It’s because of this punkish behavior that people don’t want
>this govt.” Lena didn’t say a thing. At that point, Tombong Jatta also came
>out to see what’s up. Joof’s car was gone. We walked back into the hall. No
>one could believe that Joof had bolted.
>
>Is this someone who felt threatened, or is this someone who used ONE
>PERSON’s heckling as an EXCUSE to dodge tough questions. Joof is a sharp
>fellow. And you can tell the man is cognizant of the predominant ill-will
>towards their govt. among Gambians in the US, and DC in particular.  Tijan
>Ceesay told me that they “had to go through the President to get them to
>come.” I believe him. Only Yaya Jammeh can get Joof to venture into that
>gathering. That guy was looking for an excuse –any excuse- to run away from
>that gathering. He seized what he had, and bolted. Ramatulie is right, the
>man didn’t even have the decency to say he was leaving. Tombong, his cohort
>was as surprised as we all were.
>
>Hamat Bah took over, and talked about virtually every section of our
>national life. I fell in love with the man. This is one person, I won’t
>hesitate voting for. I don’t have time to go into details, but he
>de-constructed all the lies that the APRC keeps telling Gambians about our
>recent past.  Halifa Sallah was vintage Halifa: very articulate, very well
>prepared, and engaging. He stated his positions and dared us to challenge
>him. It was a shame that there wasn’t time to allow us to engage him in a
>thorough discourse.
>
>Tombong Jatta, the other APRC speaker is an old family friend, so I don’t
>want to elaborate much on him. Not that there’s much to say anyway, because
>it’s fair to say that Koto Tombong was simply out of his league. To say
>that
>he was incoherent is being very generous. Hamat Bah made a good point about
>the American Constitution being Amended only 29 times in nearly 250 years,
>while only four years on, the APRC-doctored Constitution has been Amended
>39
>times! To refute this, Tombong tried to walk us through versions of the Old
>and New Constitutions.  It was a complete disaster. His entire presentation
>turned comical at the end. He defended their Amendment giving Yaya Jammeh
>the power to appoint Chiefs and Alkalolus. He said Chiefs are judges that’s
>why they “really believe they should not be elected.” But then he shot
>himself in the foot when he asked us “where in the world are judges
>elected?”  America! Several of us shot back. “America? They elect judges in
>America?” Yes, we said. He was taken aback. “Ok, where else?”  Someone said
>“Florida!” He caught that one: “That’s in America” he said.  At that point,
>we had to leave the Hall for another group.  There was an anticlimax to the
>ending.
>
>Outside, while we were talking to Mr. Njie, he bolted as soon as Pa Samba
>asked him to answer some questions on camera: “I don’t talk to journalists.
>That’s my right. Not so?” he said. Pa Samba asked why he won’t go on camera
>if he’s sincere about what he was saying. No response there. While I was
>talking to Tombong about some mutual friends and neighbors back home,
>Conteh
>walked up and in his trade-mark high energy way, delivered a short sermon
>to
>him: “Mr. Jatta, Mr. Jatta, Listen. I’ve known you a long time. Be careful!
>Be very careful. If you continue doing this, some day you’ll really regret
>this. You need to be very careful.” Funny thing was, Tombong kept nodding
>his head while Conteh was preaching him. Quite out of touch the fellow is.
>To hit that home, when I told the man that I’m glad they summoned the
>courage to come at all as they don’t have any supporters here, he seemed to
>be genuinely surprised by that statement. “Really?” he asked me. I just
>shook my head. If he can’t tell such an open secret by people’s response to
>them as compared to Hamat Bah and Halifa, then I won’t even bother. Mr.
>Njie
>shouted for them to jump into a waiting car.
>
>In passing, it was great to tie some more faces to names:
>Dr. Jaiteh, who was looking for “the one with High Blood pressure” –me.
>He’s
>an immaculate gentleman. I spent a while on Sunday evening listening to him
>with Mr. Halifa Sallah give us some very good suggestions on how we can
>move
>forward.  The talk was rudely interrupted by some fellow who decided he had
>better things to ask Mr. Sallah. Things about his mission to “campaign”
>here
>and “the good things he hears about him” for instance. I guess  Malanding
>now knows why my blood pressure sometimes goes haywire. Some people behave
>like donkeys!
>
>MLJ Conteh aka “Dictator Jemus: Let My People Go” is as high-maintenance in
>person as he is on the List. Conteh is simply the most determined opponent
>of Jammeh I have ever met. His “Naphiyo” greetings is very appropriate
>because he is every bit Serere in appearance. For a minute, I thought I was
>looking at Hassan Joof, a good friend of mine.  Conteh is a real Comrade…
>
>Musa Jeng: Fr. Mose is a lot more likable in person than he appears on the
>List. I can see KB and Hamjatta Hi-Fiving the brother when they meet in
>real
>life. He’s cool, nice, and very reasonable. He’s someone I can hang out
>with
>any time. It’s good to meet Mose. As was Babucarr Sillah, though I don’t
>remember the brother much from his contributions on the List.
>
>Joe Sambou, Pa Samba and others, I’ve met before. The  biggest
>disappointment to myself was not seeing Kebba Dampha. But, I guess there’s
>a
>next time. And yes, UDP was the biggest loser.
>
>I gotto go now. Saiks, I hope you’ll understand why I, or anyone else
>couldn’t ask about your friend’s plight. Bye.
>
>Saul.
>
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