And when we cut-off our malignant arms and legs, our perfectly rounded
torso will writhe itself down the streets of Banjul.

Perfection must not be the enemy of good.

Malanding Jaiteh

On 12/4/2012 6:27 PM, Modou Mboge wrote:
>
> *Character Assassination or a question of scrutinizing the record and
> integrity of an ‘enabler’ who fell out with President Yahya Jammeh:
>  The case of former Professor Dr Amadou ‘Scattered’ Janneh*
>
> By Momodou Olly Mboge
>
> The heated argument that erupted following the excellent factual
> scrutiny of Dr Amadou ‘Scattered’ Janneh’s record both before and
> during his tenure as one of President Yahya Jammeh’s State Ministers
> or Secretaries rumbles on.  The defenders of Janneh or should I say
> the ‘critically minded analyst’ or the ‘the politically incorrect’ as
> one claimed, believe that Prince Obrien-Coker and those who agree with
> his analogy are engaged in assassinating the good character of Janneh
> as well as trying to elbow him (and ‘turn coats like him’) out from
> the ranks of the opposition.  Their arguments are becoming hysterical
> and incoherent the more they come out swinging in defense of Janneh.
>
> Those who agree with Prince instead believe that it is prudent, fair,
> and wise to be reminded of the ‘turn coats’ among the opponents of
> Jammeh who are being compared with ‘Mandela’ as well as being
> positioned as the new enlightened ‘saviours’ and champions of the
> struggle to rid the Gambia of Sheikh His Excellency President Alhagi
> Dr Professor Yahya Jammeh.  Since I consider myself among those who
> agree with Prince Obrien-Coker’s observation, I am apt to think that
> he is asking and trying to answer the ‘never again’ question so as not
> to let future generations of Gambians being led astray in the struggle
> against tyranny in their country.  The Nigerian critic, Chinweizu, who
> has had many an intellectual battle with Wole Soyinka cautioned
> against not asking and trying to answer the ‘never again’ question in
> the analogy below.  He writes:
>
> “Consider a man who has just escaped, half mauled, from the den of a
> pack of hungry lions. If he is wise, his first order of business is to
> vow “Never again!” and ask how he strayed there in the first place,
> and then to take steps never again to make that mistake. If he does
> not do this, if he fails to learn from his harrowing experience, he is
> stupid and deserves to become the dinner for the next lion that comes
> his way. By failing to ask and answer that “never again” question,
> Black Africa’s “independence” generation let Black Africa down and led
> us astray.” Chinweizu (2008)
>
> Indeed the Gambian opposition to SHEPAD Jammeh has been mauled more
> than one time by pretenders and opportunists.  It is way beyond the
> point it should have asked the ‘never again’ question and to find
> answers to such a crucial question.  It will be more than stupidity
> not to do so.  Prince Obrien-Coker has cued us. We should be having
> more of the type of scrutiny he has made on the records of Dr A S
> Janneh.  Dr Janneh sullied his own integrity by dining and enabling
> the devil.  As one observer on the online forums the good Dr
> ‘assassinated his own character’ and I should add he has done a damn
> good job.  No spinning can change that.
>
> The lead defender of Amadou Scattered Janneh, Mathew Jallow whose
> narcissism and charlatanry are legendary tells us that what Prince
> Obrien-Coker wrote about his friend Janneh is just the ‘fertile
> imagination’ of the gentleman devoid of evidence. He wants us to
> believe that Dr Janneh and his likes were actually in the government
> system to subvert President Jammeh’s efforts.  In the words Mathew
> Jallow: “From the day of his appointment to the day of his dismissal,
> Dr. Janneh worked actively but clandestinely every opportunity he had
> to undermine the Yahya Jammeh regime”.  Jallow goes on to cite some
> evidence for this, one of which was when Janneh was accused of working
> for foreign agents.   The funny thing about Mathew’s rebuttal of
> Prince Obrien-Coker’s facts is that he would not divulge certain
> information because if does he will be endangering some lives in the
> Gambia. Standard evasiveness.  Well, to be me this is an absurd
> excuse. If Mathew and his friends are serious in their claim that
> people are trying to ‘assassinate the character’ of the good Dr or
> shall I say Professor A S Janneh.  I think they should be more
> convincing in their arguments than hiding behind flimsy and
> preposterous excuses which no one can verify or substantiate. Mathew,
> the man who has bamboozled us with his skills and intellectual acumen
> as well as being the ‘most qualified Gambian to be President’ should
> stop taking people for being stupid.  Most Gambians are discerning and
> are engaged critically at all levels with the struggle to get rid of
> Jammeh.
>
> As I hurriedly stated in a response (full of errors) to an editor of
> one of the Gambian online papers the idea that Dr Amadou S Janneh is a
> Mandela figure who has suddenly brought to light the conditions in
> Gambian prisons is I repeat a fallacy and ‘nonsense on stilts’ which
> obviously means nonsense upon nonsense.  Any honest person following
> what is going on in the Gambia knows that Foroyaa has spent a lot of
> ink and paper concerning the conditions in Gambian prisons.  Halifa
> Sallah, yes Halifa Sallah whose mention stirs a lot anger and vitriol
> from some of his so-called, self-ascribed ‘critical scrutinisers’ has
> continuously spoken and written about Gambian prison conditions.  Many
> other people with experience of those conditions have spoken about
> it.  The conditions in Gambian prison have not changed since Dr
> Janneh’s sojourn.  Dr Janneh suffered for no one.  Though I agree he
> was wrongly incarcerated, he did not go to prison for the ‘people’.
>
> Furthermore, the idea that we can learn from Dr A S Janneh’s proximity
> to President Jammeh is neither here nor there.  There is nothing we do
> not know about Jammeh that we can learn from Dr Janneh so that
> argument should be thrown where it belongs in the trash can.
>
> For what it is worth, no one is denying Dr Amadou Scattered Janneh or
> people like him the right to oppose President Jammeh. He has all the
> right to do so.  Equally no one should try to stop people scrutinising
> the integrity of persons like him based on facts about their record.
>
> In the mean time I eagerly await more installments from Prince
> Obrien-Coker of the type on Amadou S Janneh.
>
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