Gassa you wrote:
> The Gambia's population is more than 1.3 million of which more than 40%
> (more than 520,000 people) are adults of sound mind who have lived in the
> country continuously at least for the past 25 years. This group of people
> do
> not need people, for reasons best known to them, instigate violence or
> chaos
> in our midst, in the name of democracy or human rights. If more than 99.9%
> of our population have never been visited by the NIA or shot during the
> past
> 7 years, but instead you have less than 0.001% who want to matyr
> themselves,
> I say they are welcome.
>
> And i say that it is rather tragic to hear such statements from intelligent
> Gambians. Even one Gambian who falls prey to what I have described is one
> too many, and it saddens me to see that you have chosen to close your eyes
> to this.
>
> You also wrote:
>
> "Whereas there are people who do not support this
> government, and those of us who do recognize that it is their inalienable
> right to do so, there are others who would not, under any circumstances,
> recognize the legitimacy and inalienable right of those elected by the
> overwhelming majority of our peoples to rule"
This is utter nonsense and is also the excuse those who are bent on labelling
those of us who criticize the undesirable tactics of this regime continually
use as the reason for thier defense of the indefensible. I said as much in my
previous post, and here you are still peddalling the same old excuse. Please
do read my piece again. it is not a matter of refusing to let those chosen by
the people to rul, but rather the methods by which they rule being thje
criterion by which we must judge them for the sake of our country and our
people.
We must also remember that in our country, many factors influence the reason
people choose to vote for someone, and at the present time, fear, poverty and
the bait of a few dalasi to already suffering people, as well as coercion
cannot possibly be discounted as contributing factors to the choices made in
our elections, and if you doubt that, just take a look at the firing spree
the president went on right after the elections. How can any intelligent
person defend the rampant firing of people based on their party and voting
affiliations? i guess in Africa there are some of us who will continaully
defend the indefensible for many twisted reasons, but definitley because they
care to safeguard the electoiral process and the rights of the general
populace.
No Gassa, it si convenient to say that the mejority choose freely but we all
know that many factors contributed to their choices, and the unscrupulous
amongst us will sadly continue to present that as absolute evidence as to the
reason things went the way they did when the truth is always apparent. We do
owe it ot ourselves to be truthful in every situation, even when it is not in
our own selfish interest. it is through the continued sacrifice to attain a
reater good for all and not just for self that we can forge a society that
will benefit all in the long run, and believe it or not, this is good.
You also wrote:
"When the president during his inauguration admitted that we have all wronged
each other during the past and asked for mutual forgiveness and
reconciliation, he did so passionately and genuinely. "
Well, this is simple to verify. All we have to do is watch and see if and how
this genuiness is manifested. It is not just enough to say that one has fo
rgivn former politicians and then build a few shiny buildings. There are many
things that transpired in our country since Jammje came to power and some of
those ugly truths invlove the spilling of Gambian blood, and the
incarceration of Gambian sons who are yet to be charged or have not been
charged with anything worth their incarceration and the denial to them of due
process quickly. None of these things have been satisfactorily addressed and
addressed they must be if this government is to ever hopes to be taken
seriously and believed when they come before the people and talk about
forgiveness and reconcilliation. You do not just kill people and disrupot
their lives and jail them for years without providing evidence or charges
that are justifiable according to the laws of our constitution and then just
say " please forgive me and noe let us move forward". Only fools believe that
can ever happen. Someone killed and maimed those kids for just exercising
their constitutional rights, and someone killed Koro Ceesay, and someone
jiled Dumo Saho all these months without any tangible explanation that can be
taken to a court of law and defended successfully, and someone does turture
Gambians for no justifiable reason. These things have to be brought before
the courts of our land and proof of lack thereof given, and the verdicts
rendered according to the law. Otherwise, we have a bunch of outlaws
pretending to be sincere good guys who committ atrocities just because of
their positions and think all they have to do is say I am sorry and life goes
on. But the worse is not just that, but the fact that people such as yourself
are bent on continaully telling us that all this should be aceptable under
the guise of so-called progress.
YOu wrote:
"Despite all the hulla baloo over the intimidation of the
independent media, the reality on the ground is the total opposite. Our
newspapers are a hundred fold more vibrant during the past two years than
ever before, the number of private and community radio stations in the
country number more than 30 and the number of newspapers and journals number
atleast a dozen. Common guys, lets face the facts and not be too sentimental
about certain issues."
Goodness Gassa, what do you call sentimentality, the freedom to "print all
the news that's fit to print" as the Motto of the New York Times states, and
not have to look over one's shoulders in case someone comes for you just
because you told it as it is? If some journalists in our country have
reached the point where they have to give up reporting the news as they
unfold to appease the powers that be, then that is a sad thing indeed, and I
cannot see how you find that acceptable.
You wrote:
"They developed the public media to unprecedented levels and
provided the enabling environment for the private mdeia to develop and
flourish. This they did in order to promote dialogue and the free exchange
of ideas for the common good of all Gambians regardless of political
affiliation.
"
Who are you trying to convince to believe this in the face of all of those
people fired from their jobs just because they did not vote for Jammeh or
dared voice their affiliation to other political parties? The evidence is
there as seen right after the elections. As for free exchange of ideas, how
many gambians other than the appointed public relations peddlers such as your
good self dare publicly criticize the government openly without being visited
by the marauding bands under the guise of law enforcement in the night, or
even broad daylight. Are all of these things figments of our imagination
Gassa?
Again you wrote:
". The APRC government is willing to listen
and learn from its mistakes. They have always listened to the voices of the
people otherwise they would not have shortened their transition from four to
two years."
Now this is truely laughable. They did indeed shorten it and then Jammeh took
off his uniform and ran for office. That is all well and good, but what he
has done to the rights of individual gambians since can only be labelled as
"listening to the voics of the people" by the appointed spokespeople like
yourself, and it saddens me to no end.
Again Gassa, for God's sake and for the sake of our people and country's
future, try to refrain from disregarding the things some of us are critical
about when it comes to this government and which are so clearly made every
time, but which you deliberately ignore, while continuallyadhering to
baseless and unintelligent arguments that those who are raising their voices
are motivated by less than honourable desires, and that material progress is
enough to make us ignore the protection of very basic rights that are the
backbone of any free society , but which this regime continues to abuce at
every turn while telling us they are extending the hand of reconcilliation.
All that some of us who refuse to be hoodwinked are asking for is that this
gesture of reconcilliation be made a real one by addressing the burning
issues i mentioned and that others have mentioned, and which are very real
indeed. We did not invent all those atorcities, and it is time to address
them if we are to believe all the gestures, otherwise they are just senseless
gestures of a sly wolf while he continues to devour the sheep.
Jabou Joh.
>
>
Regards,
Mrs Jabou N.Joh,
President/ceo,
Cumberland Investment Group,
557 Holt Valley Rd,
Nashville, TN, 37221
Tel: (615) 269 6949
Mobile: (615) 573 1785
Efax: (240) 371 5557 / (702) 995 0969
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