Saul, thanks for forwarding this piece. One begins to sound like a broken
record by attempting to point out that the situation being reported here is
NOT dissimilar to what operated in The Gambia.

Whereas our farmers CANNOT even be guaranteed two square meals a day, mental
midgets like Yaya are leading 'flamboyant' life-styles stealing from the
people. This is a very sorry state of affairs. Vermin that before 1994 could
NOT show you even a Post Office Savings Account Pass-Book are now having
millions of DOLLARS in bank accounts in Switzerland. This is not talking
about the mansions being built by lowly civil servants like Baabaa Jobe and
officials like Famara Jatta who do NOT make a legitimate $1000.00 a month
salary. These people do not care if their citizens are refugees or destitute
in their own country.

Yaya and his cohorts have failed the Gambian people. We should NOT even be
asking them for an agenda for the future as we move into the election
season. Let us look at their record. The only people they succeeded in
lifting up, are themselves. Now lieutenants can just go to the Central Bank
and transfer $3 Million to a Swiss Bank account. Meanwhile, our people have
grown poorer. Even if the vermin bring up grandiose plans, what guarantees
do we have that they will deliver? They have FAILED in the past and they
continue to FAIL. These morons CANNOT move us forward. What can this High
School drop-out offer us?

As we said before, the Opposition need to highlight the APRC corruption. We
need to show what a failure this regime is. We need to further show Gambians
that ten-year-olds can even do a better job than these criminals. Finally we
will bring specifics as to how we are going to ensure that our farmers'
groundnuts are bought at competitive international rates. We will talk about
how to revitalize our sorry economy where everyone except Yaya and his
cohorts are paupers. We will talk about how to improve the health sector and
render Gambians healthier. That way not only the elite will enjoy good
health because they can afford to send their families abroad for treatment.
We will talk about how we are going to eradicate the current lawlessness in
our society by reforming the justice system. We will talk about how we are
going to reform the military to ensure soldiers understand their role in
society and know that they belong in the barracks and NOT in some of the
offices they are currently occupying. There is simply numerous issues the
Opposition can and need to address as we move closer to October.

I respectfully urge people that have expertise in some of these fields and
others to put their heads together and draw out comprehensive plans for the
Opposition on these bread and butter issues. For example, engineers in our
midst can talk about roads, communication etc. Doctors, about heath care.
Soldiers like Colly, about reform in the military etc. Rather than just sit
back and castigate the Opposition for not articulating an agenda we like,
let us be proactive and give them succinct ideas to complement the great
ones they currently have. When we do that, let us be mindful that we still
do NOT have a United Opposition. We should be willing to compromise with
other Opposition members that all share the goal of getting rid of the
menace in our society.

Saul, thanks again for your contributions.
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: Rob Peter to Pay Paul ... Charles Taylor Style
>Date: Fri, 22 Jun 2001 09:04:41 -0700
>
>They call it being innovative. Welcome to familiar
>territory...
>-----------------------------------------------------
>
>Liberian Officials Scramble Over Homes in Ghana
>
>
>With Liberia crumbling in the face of UN sanctions and
>a new rebel war, President Charles Taylor and his
>officials have embarked upon buying homes in the sub
>region, particularly Accra, Ghana. Blessed with wealth
>from Sierra Leone’s diamonds and the disappearing
>forest, and living with uncertainty, Taylor and his
>team are investing in Ghana, the home of over 30,000
>Liberian refugees languishing in refugee camps while
>their leaders are purchasing fabulous homes around
>them. “There is an open system of making money in this
>country”, Taylor defended himself recently.
>
>  President Taylor, who spent time in Ghanaian prison
>for prior to launching his rebellion, now  has two
>luxurious and well-furnished houses in  one of Accra’s
>plush areas,  McCartay Hills. The building, well
>fenced and protected,  is housing some of his family
>members.
>
>  Grace Minor, Taylor’s secretary when he served as
>state purchasing agent and now Senior Senator of
>Montserrado County, has also purchased a house in Osu,
>another plush area in Accra. Besides, the senator also
>owns a consultancy firm in Osu. The firm is said to be
>managed by one Mr. Morgan, and assisted by the
>senator’s sister, Comfort Minor. Comfort has
>reportedly travelled to Switzerland, a country known
>for banking money for Africa’s corrupt dictators. A
>European paper, The Times, estimates Taylor’s wealth
>at $2.8b
>
>   Foreign Minister Monie Captan, Ms Minor,s
>son-in-law, has a well-furnished residential building
>in the Accra commercial center of Makola. The family
>is also said to be owning business in which electrical
>appliances and other commodities are sold.
>
>  Information Minister  Reginal Goodrich, owns a home
>in Tema, while the head of the lucrative Maritime
>business, Benoni Urey,  who recently set-up a $2m
>telephone company in Monrovia, owns a home in  . North
>Kanishie, Accra. The Assistant Minister of National
>Defence for Public Affairs Phiplibert Browne, has a
>home in the same area.
>
>  Thomas Woewiyu, Taylor’s wartime defence spokesman
>and one of the main leaders of the rebel National
>Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) now a Senator, has a
>luxurious home in Accra.  Maxwell Kaba, a former
>Minister of Post and Telecommunication has a poultry
>farm in Accra.
>
>Other former and present officials with properties in
>Accra include Philip Kamah, Minister of National
>Security, who owns a house in  Adenta, an Accra
>suburb; Grand Bass Senator, Thomas Woeyiwu and former
>councilman Oscar Quiah each has a house in Adenta.
>
>  But Accra is not only attractive to the current
>rulers. Several past warlords and their lieutenants
>allegedly bought homes in the Ghanaian capital. George
>E.S. Boley, former leader  of the armed faction the
>Liberia Peace Council, is said to own a home in Tema.
>The building was allegedly bought in 1993. Reports say
>Dr. Boley frequently visits Ghana. His associate,
>Weade Korbah Wreh, also owns a home in the area.
>
>  Prior to his assassination by President Taylor’s
>bodyguards, opposition politician Samuel Saye Dokie
>bought an estate building in Adenta, suburb of Accra.
>Some of his family members are accordingly living in
>the building. Dokie, his wife Mrs. Janet Dahn-Dokie,
>and two others were cold-bloodedly murdered on
>November 28,1997 on the alleged orders of Special
>Security Service (SSS) director Benjamin Yeatan.
>Roosevelt Johnson, former leader of ULIMO-J reportedly
>bought a house in Adenta. Johnson is said to have
>bought the house in 1995.
>
>  Owning properties in Ghana does not require obtaining
>resident of work permit unless if an individual wishes
>to do so. With money and the readiness foreigners can
>own properties in Ghana provided they would abide by
>the country’s laws.
>
>  Views sampled among Liberian refugees point outrage.
>“They send in refugee camps, steal our money, and buy
>homes here. This is why they killed 250,000 people.
>This is their definition of democracy and development.
>They steal to enrich other societies while their
>people languish in refugee camps. Only God can help us
>correct this imbalance”, said a University student now
>living in a one-room refugee hut.
>
>  ”We thought the people came to effect positive
>changes; behold they came to enrich themselves. Hope
>the international community will do something about
>people who squandered the country’s resources to
>develop other countries only because they can find
>peace of mind outside Liberia,” said a former
>Government official on condition anonymity.
>
>The Liberian population in Ghana has been steadily
>growing since the outbreak of the country’s
>catastrophic war in 1989. Prior to this, few
>Liberians, mainly students, lived here. When West
>African force ECOMOG established security in Monrovia,
>the refugee camps were virtually empty. But they were
>over-flooded in 1996 when Taylor and Aljahi Kromah
>sparked new rounds of fighting in the city with the
>backing of ECOMOG. Over 3000 people were killed. Many
>refugees who returned home left for Accra and other
>refugee camps. Since the election, contrary to hopes
>of mass return home, there has been a mass exodus.
>
>
>
>By Abbas Dulleh, Accra Ghana  Published 6/6/01
>
>
>__________________________________________________
>Do You Yahoo!?
>Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail
>http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/
>
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