Ebrima, thanks for highlighting the criminal enterprise we have in the
Gambia.  We shall catch to each and everyone of them.  We have a long
memory.  You see the voices of the sycophants are reducing, for the majority
have no energy due to hunger.  They cannot run around the neighborhood
spreading lies because folks see them begging for a meal in the cover of
darkness.  Instead of telling the truth about their realities, they just
fizzle out of sight and approach folks in the dead of night to help them
feed their families.  We the people have to put a stop to this kidnapping
and illegal detentions under ridiculous pretexts.  All progressive Gambians
ned to be vigilant and stop these criminals from trying to railroad Darbo
and co.

Chi Jaama

Joe Sambou






>From: Ebrima Ceesay <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: My Thirty-Third Message To Gambians
>Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2002 20:43:16 +0000
>
>My Fellow Gambians!
>
>Clearly, The Gambia is at a crossroads:  it is in a decisive period of its
>history and, depending on the people, will either head further into chaos,
>or be rescued for a brighter future.
>
>Gambians are now confronted with the immediate task of saving their country
>– of taking it back from the hands of its hijackers, before it heads for
>further mayhem.  Gambians are now challenged to be more proactive, to take
>the powers-that-be to task, to take their own destiny into their own hands.
>
>The country has reached a point where the damage is almost irreparable.
>Under Yahya Jammeh, our nation has been brought to the verge of ruin.
>Every
>sector of Gambian life has been destroyed by Jammeh and his thugs.  The
>economy, the education sector, agriculture, health services,
>telecommunications, foreign relations, the judiciary – all are on the point
>of devastation.  It will be a Herculean task to repair the damage.
>
>Who in his or her right mind, can deny the fact that Jammeh’s rule is
>characterised by repression, corruption, nepotism, tribalism, tyranny,
>incompetence and illegalities of every sort?
>
>People are no longer appointed to their jobs because of their good
>qualifications and relevant experience.  Their ethnicity and sycophancy are
>the key factors in their appointments to post.
>
>Eight years ago, Jammeh seized power promising accountability, transparency
>and probity. Today these slogans are empty words, and have been dumped on
>the garbage piles by the regime.
>
>Secrecy in government, lack of accountability, lack of probity:  all have
>reached an unprecedented high.  Jammeh, Baba Jobe, Lang Conteh, Amadou
>Samba, Tarik Musa, Yankuba Touray, Abdoulai Kujabi and their ilk, control
>The Gambia as if it is their own personal property.
>
>Each of these miscreants has stolen, and continues to steal, public money
>to
>the point that their greed is such that it could persuade them to sell the
>country itself to the highest bidder in order to fill their own pockets.
>
>These people are criminals, and let them be quite sure that one day soon,
>they will be held to account for their crimes against The Gambia and
>Gambian
>citizens.
>
>Jammeh is a liar of the worst kind:  he makes empty promises.  Where is the
>electrification of 95% of our country promised for Year 2000 ?  Where are
>the wage increases for public servants ?  Where is the payment for our
>farmers’ groundnuts ?  Where is prosperity ?  Where is peace and justice
>within our country ?
>
>Today our agricultural sector is facing severe problems, and what does
>Jammeh do ?  Well, he scapegoats the former Minister of Agriculture Hassan
>Sallah and blames the chaos on him !  Who is kidding whom ???!! The
>deterioration in our agricultural sector can be laid fairly and squarely at
>Jammeh’s own feet.
>
>It is time for Gambians to wake up to the reality of life under Jammeh.
>This man does not have what it takes to lead us in the twenty-first
>century.
>  This is a man who cannot run his own house, never mind a country !
>
>Under Jammeh, prices have sky-rocketed:  a bag of cement is more than 100
>Dalasis;  a  bag of rice over 250 Dalasis;  a bag of sugar (if you can get
>it) over 400 Dalasis:  a small can of Peak milk 7 Dalasis:  taxi fares up
>again:  a journey from Talinding-Kujang to Banjul via Westfield Clinic for
>7
>Dalasis one way.  Every week, the amount our thrifty housewives need for
>fish money increases.
>
>The majority of Gambians cannot honestly say that they and their families
>eat well and live well in these terrible days ?  Only cronies of Jammeh and
>his criminals have a comfortable life, and they are paying for it with
>their
>decency and with their souls.
>
>The unemployment rate continues to rise, and our vast numbers of young
>unemployed folk in particular are suffering.  Even those enterprising
>youngsters who try to support their families by frequenting the tourist
>areas and earning a few Dalasis there, are now branded as "bumsters" and
>are
>being harassed, beaten, arrested and illegally forced out of public areas
>by
>the government.
>
>Shame on Jammeh and his henchmen !  They have let down a whole generation
>of
>young Gambians and condemned them to poverty or even worse, to crime.
>
>The crime rate continues to spiral upwards, and we can no longer blame
>crimes on "foreigners". We need only to read the Court reports to know that
>many Gambians are now being found guilty of a range of misdemeanours.
>
>Nothing is working in The Gambia:  except of course, for those decent and
>honest citizens who struggle to keep themselves and their extended families
>fed, clothed, sheltered, educated and well.
>
>Without the vast sums remitted weekly and monthly to the country from
>Gambians and friends of The Gambia throughout the world, many more families
>would face disaster. But let us not forget those Gambian families who do
>not
>have a breadwinner in the Diaspora:  how do they manage to survive ?
>
>The Gambian economy has been so badly mismanaged that Jammeh has just
>yesterday, banned the Finance Minister Famara Jatta and members of his
>team,
>from travelling outside The Gambia, until the Ministry can get its act
>together.  Every day, the economy is deteriorating.
>
>People like Baba Jobe, Lang Conteh and Tarik Musa bring in goods worth
>millions of Dalasis, without paying one single butut in tax or customs
>duty.
>  Baba Jobe alone owes Customs more than 30 million Dalasis, according to
>government records !  People who know Baba Jobe can likewise avoid paying
>customs duties.  This source of Customs revenue, once so lucrative to our
>country, has dried up in the avalanche of "free" imports for friends of the
>regime.
>
>Lang Conteh is running the Central Bank of The Gambia as his own:  he
>controls all foreign currency, and takes the money to his and Baba Jobe’s
>Money Shop on Kairaba Avenue.  What do they care about the rapidly
>devaluing
>Dalasis ??  They are the ones who are making thousands of Dalasis worth of
>profit from ordinary Gambians’ economic misery.
>
>The land scams which have taken place recently, especially in the Tourist
>Development Area, have netted Jammeh and his cronies millions.  What do
>Jammeh and his kind care about the true owners of the land ?  They sell it
>to the highest bidder.  Shame on them.
>
>With regard to the Civil Service, standards have dropped to an all time
>low.
>  The incompetence is unbelievable.  Abdulai Kujabi and Yahya Jammeh
>appoint
>people based on their ethnicity and unquestioning support of their regime,
>and now never take into account the skills, qualifications, experience and
>dedication of their appointees.
>
>Jammeh continues to play the Islamic card, but his insincerity is well
>known
>to all of us. The Gambia is constitutionally a secular state, but recent
>Western intelligence reports which I have seen personally, now categorise
>The Gambia as an Islamic state.  Jammeh is using Islam as a cover for
>lining
>his own pockets, and he is aligning our supposedly secular nation with
>fundamentalist states.
>
>Clearly, Jammeh has damaged our country, and if he remains at the helm,
>then
>there will be worse to come.
>
>It is vital that Gambians become proactive in defence of their country.  I
>agree with Kebba Dampha’s point that UDP supporters should converge on the
>police station where Darboe is illegally held and demand the release of
>this
>Opposition leader.
>
>There has to be a direct challenge against Jammeh’s illegal acts.  If the
>government is allowed to get away with Darboe’s arrest, then everyone is
>vulnerable.
>
>As for the APRC members of parliament:  well, shame on them for having
>passed a law which allows the state to remand anyone charged with murder to
>be denied bail if the trial is unreasonably delayed.  This is the law which
>means that Darboe is held on the trumped up murder charge.
>
>These MPs serve as rubber stampers for Jammeh’s rule.  Let them be quite
>sure that one day soon they will be held to account for their actions, and
>brought to justice themselves. Today they bury their heads in the sands of
>sycophancy:  tomorrow Gambian citizens will demand restitution from them.
>
>We are all aware that Jammeh himself is a coward:  his fear brings about
>his
>massive overreactions in every sphere of life.  If Gambians were to
>challenge him openly and without fear, Jammeh would step backwards.
>
>Of course, I urge Gambians to remain law abiding, but if their rights and
>liberties are constantly eroded and infringed, then Gambians should make
>their grievances known by means of peaceful demonstration and public
>challenge.
>
>The Gambian people can do a lot to change the situation in The Gambia, but
>to be truly effective, they need to be guided and organised in order to
>take
>their destiny fully into their own hands.
>
>This is where the role played by an effective Opposition is so crucial.
>There are challenges to be taken up both by the Opposition leaders and
>their
>parties, and by the citizens of The Gambia.
>
>The levels of injustice in our country have reached new heights:  people
>are
>arrested without due cause:  they are held incommunicado and without
>charge.
>
>Pause for a minute and reflect on the plight of people like Dumo Saho,
>Momodou Marenah, Ebrima Yarbo, Lt Omar Darbo, Lt Lalo Jaiteh.  For how long
>have these men being wrongly detained ?  For how long have they been kept
>from their wives and families ?  For how long have they languished in
>appalling conditions in our prisons ?  For how long is this terrible state
>of affairs going to be allowed to prevail ??
>
>I challenge every Gambian to send a protest letter to Jammeh, copied to
>international organisations such as Amnesty International, the UN, the
>European Union, the African Union, the British Foreign and Commonwealth
>Office, the US State Department.  I urge you to demand the release of all
>those wrongly imprisoned detainees.  I urge you to call for a restoration
>of
>full human rights for our citizens.
>
>We Gambians should be mounting a public relations campaign against Jammeh
>and his regime.  Let us enlighten our citizens as well as the international
>community about the realities of Yahya Jammeh.
>
>I recently attended a seminar where one of the speakers spoke of his
>amazement in encountering so many talented and skilled Gambians working in
>highly placed posts throughout the world.  Wherever he went, he met with
>competent and hardworking  Gambians  working for many well-known
>institutions.  When he went on a field trip to The Gambia however, he was
>horrified at the lack of skilled Gambians on the home work front.  He met
>with incompetents, mismanagers, and lack-lustre leaders.
>
>Our best citizens are getting out of the country and making a new life
>overseas.  The speaker cited the case of Dr Lamin Sise, the chief Legal
>Adviser to the UN Secretary General.  A man of Lamin Sise’s calibre, skills
>and character is desperately needed at home in The Gambia, but there is
>nothing to draw this man home.
>
>In The Gambia of today, Ministries are understaffed or filled with feather
>weights.
>
>I urge my Fellow Gambians to act on behalf of our beloved nation.  I urge
>you all to challenge this dreadful regime and its leader.  I urge you to
>work for peaceful change in The Gambia.  I urge our opposition parties to
>lead the people in the challenges which face them.
>
>Unless we act together, and act now, then our nation will slip even further
>into despair and degradation.
>
>Let us unite against our common enemy, Yahya Jammeh, and let us lead the
>country into a brighter future for us all.
>
>God Save The Gambia.
>
>
>Ebrima Ceesay
>Birmingham, UK
>
>
>_________________________________________________________________
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