well said brother Halifa --- foroyaa <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Ebou Colley, > > I can understand the position expressed in your memorandum of 17 June. > > Frankly speaking, you took me by surprise. You explained in your first > correspondence that you understood what I was getting at after some > clarification. That was sufficient. What is important in communication is to > understand each other. However, you went further to complain about the style > of writing. I explained that the letter was addressed to the Chief Justice > and copied to the L for information. > > I really did not understand the source of the cynicism. I now understand > your feelings. What is important for all of us to bear in mind is that we > are not dealing with an ordinary matter. Students were murdered. We cannot > simply condemn the murder, full stop. Something has to be done. You > constantly move away from talking about the murder to talk about a change of > government. We want a change of government; that is why we have an > opposition party. However, to change a government has ways and means. How to > handle the murder of the students also has ways and means. It is left to the > political parties in this country and all Gambians to determine the most > effective ways and means of changing a government. We can debate on such > issues. We are, in fact, going to open up a website to deal with any issues > regarding our party and ways and means of transforming The Gambia. > > The point at issue is how to handle the murder of the students. Each Gambian > has an opinion and should share that opinion with others to see how it can > receive support so that it can be actualised, irrespective of party > affiliation or political inclination. As far as we were concerned, when the > incident occurred, and representatives of the State gave their position, we > were the first to refute the position of attributing the deaths to firing by > released common criminals. Our journalists were among the first Gambians, > who were not students or security men, to go before the Coroner to explain > that the shooting came from the direction of the Police Intervention Unit > Camp. We have written letters to ensure that there is some action to deal > with the situation. We worked hard to deal with the situation of those who > were arrested and detained, and opened up a hot line for parents to lodge > complaints, while we took measures to facilitate release. We visited > families of the death, maintained contacts with them to answer any issue > they raised. We are still visiting those at the hospital; and are still > maintaining our links with all the families. > > We called for a Coroner's Inquest because the cause of deaths was in > dispute. The Coroner also has power to expose offences committed by known or > unknown persons. We saw that there was a delay in knowing what the Coroner > reported or explanation of some sort, and decided to write a letter to the > person who should have proper custody of the report. What have we done > wrong? > > Even if we had written something that is winding, the most that should have > been done is to ask us to explain ourselves clearly, which we would humbly > do because we write to be understood. > > The State has also established a Commission of Inquiry. A debate arose > regarding the extent of the terms of reference of the Commission. We again > looked in the proper place to find out the content of the terms of > reference, and found that the Gazette had not been published. We called for > its publication, which has now enabled us to do a review. All Gambians now > have access to the legal document they can review and pass their own > judgment. This is all we have been trying to do, just to facilitate the > process. We did not establish a Commission. It is the State which > established a Commission. Our duty is to express our concerns and find out > how the Commission will conclude. It is left for the Commission to earn the > confidence of the Gambian people based on how it is going to conclude. > > We are all waiting to know the conclusion. Some have already passed their > judgment that the whole exercise is useless. That is their prerogative. Some > feel that many issues are being clarified and are willing to wait for the > final outcome. That is their prerogative. Others feel that other steps can > be taken that would be more effective. We say that we are open to all > suggestions and would give our support to anything effective and > practicable. > > When the issue of private prosecutor came, we even contacted the Attorney > General's Chambers to find out how the issue regarding the appointment of > private prosecutors in Ebrima Barry's case is going. We will contact the Bar > Association on Monday to find out whether what we were told regarding the > cost is accurate before publishing it. This is how we are proceeding. > Wherever we can facilitate something, we do do so. Ultimately, it is the > State which must render accounts for its actions and the measures utilised > to attain them. > > Our schedule is very tight Ebou, and we are trying to do thousand and one > things at the same time. It would be most helpful if we are not drawn into > exchanges which do not help to build up the respect that we should have for > each other. We can have differences and still respect each other. > > You have mentioned that we may not even be receiving replies to our letters. > We are receiving replies to our letters. When we challenged the Codes of > Conduct for students as draconian, we did receive a reply from The Gambia > Teachers' Union taking exception from the Codes of Conduct and did receive a > reply from the Secretary of State for Education indicating that there will > be a review. When we wrote to the President's Office to say that the > propaganda against the students should be stopped and that investigation > should precede any statements from that office, we did receive a reply > assuring that investigation will be done. We do not make publicity of these > replies because of our conviction that it is action that should speak for > the State. We take the replies as mere acts of courtesy. This is why we have > not been publishing them. > > Some people have to be the social workers of this nation while we work for > change to come, if the people are convinced and determined to bring it. > > Finally, I did raise issues regarding calling on the people to use force, > just to contain your use of words that are not helping very much to bring us > together to decide what we want for our nation. People do not just rise up > and change governments. There are many factors which determine that. > > At this moment, what we see happening is the UDP going on tour to attack the > regime from all angles. We are also going on tour. Political parties are > very active in the country and each is trying to prove to the people that > the APRC Government is not fit to govern this country. You people can add > your voices and monies to the parties of your choices and strengthen them so > that we go beyond crying foul and remove the APRC Government from office. > > There is nothing that we cannot say in this country, as long as we have the > facts. So people should not feel that Jammeh is a Goliath waiting for a > David to remove him from office. If you have any information that is > factual, forward it to us and we will popularise it among the Gambian > people. We believe we are doing our part. Each should be allowed to do his > or her own part. Each party should try to convince the Gambian people that > they can do better than the APRC. Each Gambian should support what one > believes to be a better alternative. Then there will be no reasons for > antagonistic contradictions. No hard feelings. > > Greetings. > > Halifa Sallah. > > > From: ebou colly <[log in to unmask]> > To: <[log in to unmask]> > Sent: Saturday, June 17, 2000 5:26 AM > Subject: Re: CORONER'S INQUEST AND COMMISSION OF INQUIRY (fOROYA) > > > > Re: CORONER'S INQUEST AND THE COMMISSION OF INQUIRY > > (Foroye) > > > > > > > > My dear Mr. Sallah, > > > > I must first state that when I made my observations on > > your letter I certainly did not do it with any hard > > feelings. I have no doubt that you were once again > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L > Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ===== Alan Mbooj NEVER CRINGE, CROUCH OR CRAWL RAISE YOUR HEAD AND STAND TALL. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? 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