In a message dated 99-12-11 16:13:41 EST, you write:
<< Mr Sallah,
Believe it or not, I'm still open to persuation. The onus for that falls on
you though. I'm just a little worried about getting inundated with totally
irrelevant facts. The issues that myself and Hamjatta asked are pretty
clear. So really, you don't need to give us a day-by-day political diary of
the Gambia to answer these issues. That you had nothing to do with
planning/executing the coup is a given. But in your last piece, you went to
great lengths trying to prove what has never been in dispute anyway >>
Saul:
The ongoing debate is a clear testimony to the importance of such a forum. We
maybe struggling with democracy at the motherland, but the Gambia-L has given
us the taste of democracy. Another point that jumped out in the discussion,
maybe just a coincidence, but Mr. Sallah is the only Gambian politician
willing to participate to a Gambian democratic forum, and have his political
believes and role probe and question. Where are the other politicians.
Saul, after following your debate with Halifa, it has become apparant that
you are much more incline to question his actions, and make insinuations
questioning his intergrity. It is acceptable to question public officials,
but when Halifa chronologically gave explanations, you hurriedly watered it
down. You questioned his role and actions after the coup. He carefully gave
you a litany of actions taken , and now you are questioning the importance
of the detail and it's relevancy. You indicated that you are not a supporter
of Jawara and his cohorts, for some reason you found it easy to understand
their actions. Also Mr Dibba, a politician you admired, would not call him
your hero, but never questioned his intergrity. You also listed the
contributions of some other politicians. Saul, you have every right to engage
Halifa and disagree with him, but it is also clear that Halifa is the ONLY
Gambian politician with the intergrity, driven by a political believe and
philosophy.
It is factual to postulate that under a Halifa admisnitration, democracy
will strive, constitutional rights of individuals will be guaranteed and
socio-economic policies pursued would be in the interest of the Gambian
people. On the other hand, I am not sure there is any Gambian politician that
has even come close to demonstrating such commitments. What is also clear is
that, both yourself and Hamjatta are trying extremely hard to make Halifa to
be somewhat resposnsible for the failures of the Jammeh's administration. As
a public figure, he played a role, and you should be objective and fair in
analyzing his role. Finally, to Halifa I am looking forward to an
explaination to Koro's situation, and how would they presently assess the
role played by the Jammeh administration.
Musa Jeng
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