Mr. Jawo, thanks for doing your part in exposing Murder Incorporate (Yaya
Jammeh and the APRC), once again.  This is yet another reason why the
opposition leaders need to see the wisdom in coming together to confront
Yaya and his cronies about this and other embezzlement schemes.  Yaya will
tell Gambians whatever he wishes because he knows that the opposition is not
serious about confronting him.  Sound bites is not going to cut it.  They
have asked Yaya to step down and he just laughs at their joke.  Those that
attempt to rationalize with him have failed miserably.  Individually, they
have each let out a bark about Crude il II and went right back to sleep.
That is the favorite guard dog for seasoned criminals like Yaya and the
APRC, because they know that they will get away with their loot, unstopped.
The only way we keep this criminal activity in the public eye is to keep
demanding answers and if our calls are ignored, the opposition leaders are
within their rights as stakeholders in our affairs to lead Gambians in the
streets to protest and disrupt the national business.

Gambians are not interested in hearing one opposition leader shredding
another into pieces.  None in the opposition is stealing from Gambians as I
write, Yaya and the APRC are.  Therefore, I believe Waa Juwara would do us
all a favor if he ceases and desists from attacking Ousainou Darbo.  He can
attack Darbo all he wants, but the fact remains that Darbo is not the one
who stole Oil gift III and other Gambian resources; Darbo is not the one
that ruined our economy; he did not starve Gambians, nor did he kill and
maimed our citizens.  So, where is the wisdom in Waa attacking Darbo or any
other opposition leader?  I hope those that advise Waa Juwara to remind him
that attacking Ousainou also means strengthening the criminal, that is Yaya
Jammeh.

Our condition is really desperate, but Gambians have to stop ignoring the
criminal activity of Yaya and the APRC and just focusing on their daily
bread.  All we are doing in this our strategy is to prolong our agony.  As
long as our citizens put their self interest above the national interest,
our condition is not going to change.  Criminals like Yaya need to be
confronted.  Mr. Jawo, much respect from this end and I hope those that
purport to lead our people realize how they are failing the people.  If they
continue with their sporadic barks, then the chapter on Oil Scandal II will
soon be closed, leading us to an unending series of schemes and corrupt
practices, just like we did with Crude Oil I.

None, including the US of A is going to liberate us, but us, Gambians.
Gambians from within and without need to increase their voices and mount a
pressure against the excesses of the Yaya and the APRC.  If we continue to
focus on our individual welfare, we shall one day wake up to the horrors
that surrounds us: Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, etc.  They all
started with their citizens focusing on their individual welfare to the
detriment of their national interest.  For if our time bomb explodes, it
will not discriminate and all of us are in danger.  Let us learn from the
examples around us, if we want to avoid spilling unnecessary blood of our
own country folk.

Chi Jaama

Joe Sambou






>From: Momodou Camara <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: FWD:Yet Another Oil Scandal: More Explanation Needed
>Date: Mon, 5 May 2003 17:28:27 -0500
>
>Yet Another Oil Scandal: More Explanation Needed
>
>The Independent (Banjul)
>COLUMN
>May 5, 2003
>Posted to the web May 5, 2003
>
>By D.A. Jawo
>Banjul
>
>It is about a month now since the regime was accused of being involved in
>yet another oil scandal, the second since the advent of the second republic
>and the third in the history of this country. However, apart from that far
>from convincing rebuttal supposedly written by the Director of Press and
>Public Relations, no further explanation seems to be coming forth. Of
>course that was not sufficient to convince the economically hard hit
>Gambians and therefore, the regime needs to give a more convincing
>explanation of what actually transpired and why the contract was never made
>public in the first place.
>
>We can all vividly recall the great noise that the AFPRC Junta made in 1995
>when it tumbled into some information regarding a contract between the
>former PPP regime and the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for
>the supply of crude oil at concessionary prices. It was therefore not
>surprising when the Junta made a lot of capital from that information,
>apparently as part of their efforts to discredit the former regime and
>justify their take over of a democratically elected government. They even
>had to spend quite a lot of money in their attempt to embarrass former
>President Dawda Jawara and his regime, by sending delegations to places as
>far away as Europe and South America in order to gather more incriminating
>evidence about the deal. It was therefore not a surprise that at the
>conclusion of the investigations, ex-President Jawara and some of his
>alleged collaborators were found 'guilty' and ordered to pay back to the
>government millions of Dollars, said to be the proceeds of the deal.
>
>It was therefore quite surprising when barely a year later, the new APRC
>regime, a forerunner of the AFPRC Junta was also accused of being involved
>in a similar crude oil deal with the same Federal Republic of Nigeria,
>personally involving President Jammeh and his best friend, the late
>Nigerian dictator General Sanni Abacha.
>
>Just like the 'Jawara deal', this one was also kept as a complete secret
>from the people of The Gambia, and it was alleged that the proceeds were
>paid into a personal bank account in Switzerland. Indeed one of the
>principal players in that alleged transaction; a Senegalese with Gambian
>family ties, Samuel Sarr even confirmed the existence of the foreign bank
>account, although he would not disclose the account owner. However, despite
>all the denials of complicity in the deal, the government of The Gambia
>were eventually to pay millions of Dollars to satisfy a judgement delivered
>in favour of one of the companies involved in the alleged deal by an
>arbitration tribunal in Geneva. If indeed there was no such deal as the
>regime and its apologists wanted us to believe, then one would wonder why
>it had to pay such an amount.
>
>In a subsequent interview with Neneh Macdouall of GRTS, President Jammeh
>all but confirmed the existence of the deal, but he said the signatures
>were forged. That indeed was quite ridiculous because in view of the fact
>that the government had already paid a huge amount at the arbitration
>tribunal to one of the companies involved in the deal, they also did
>everything possible to ward off a popular call to set up a commission of
>inquiry to investigate the matter. That alone was enough reason to convince
>everyone that the government was indeed hiding the whole truth from them.
>
>The regime succeeded in using its majority in the National Assembly and
>other unconventional means to suppress calls for the allegations to be
>investigated. Therefore, everyone would have thought that to have been
>enough lesson for the regime never to get involved in another shady deal.
>
>However, it appears that the whole game is being replayed all over again,
>with people very close to President Jammeh being mentioned in this latest
>oil scandal. With the economic hardship being experienced by most Gambians
>on a daily basis, it would be extremely difficult this time round for the
>government to convince the people that it has nothing to do with the
>alleged disappearance of millions of Dollars worth of petroleum products
>destined for this country.
>
>Therefore, the rebuttal made by the regime against the allegations by the
>UDP leader Ousainou Darbo and ThisDay newspaper of Nigeria seems to have
>only succeeded in making the people crave for more explanation. The press
>release issued by the State House acknowledging the existence of such a
>contract between The Gambia and the Federal Republic of Nigeria only helped
>to raise more questions than provided answers.
>
>People are asking why despite all the monotonous coverage on radio and
>television of President Jammeh's last visit to Nigeria, there was never any
>mention of the oil contract. It was also never reflected in either the last
>budget nor the one before it. One would therefore be compelled to ask
>whether there was any particular motive for keeping the deal from the
>public domain like a state secret.
>
>The very fact that the transaction was never reflected in the budget at any
>time makes it even more suspicious. It would be quite hard to convince the
>people that they had to endure such a drastic rise in oil prices while this
>country was supposed to have benefited from such a large supply of various
>grades of refined petroleum products. Where did it all go to? Indeed people
>are beginning to connect the flamboyant lifestyles led by President Jammeh
>and some members of his regime with such unexplained deals.
>
>People are wondering for instance where President Jammeh has been getting
>all the money he has been using to purchase so many tractors and their
>accessories, the sponsorship of several hundreds of people to perform the
>Hajj, the frequent staging of Futampaf and other unsolicited cultural
>jamborees at Kanilai as well as the numerous gifts of cash and other
>materials he frequently makes. He certainly owes it to the people of this
>country to tell them the sources of his wealth, otherwise, the people would
>be compelled to speculate whether there is any connection with such
>officially sanctioned deals.
>
>
>
>
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>Copyright © 2003 The Independent. All rights reserved. Distributed by
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