Mr. Sallah, we are glad that once again you have detected the moves of this arnachist government and have made attempts to redress the situation. We realize that your letter did not directly answer Sankung's letter point by point. Instead, it addresses the big picture about the unconstitutionality of such permits. The contents of Sankung's letter is clearly repugnant to natural justice and the provisions of our Constitution. As you said, it could even be argued that the whole process of applying for licenses to Yaya supporters stinks. My rationalization of your letter is that you are perhaps leaving it up to Darboe to directly attack Sankung's letter and not just talk about the big picture. It is very important that politicians make it very clear to the Sankungs of The Gambia that they cannot censure political speech. What do APRC supporters expect to hear from opposition party members at rallies? Rival politicians can abuse each other if they feel like it. Anyone that breaks the law by slandering someone at a political rally should be dealt with in a defamation suit. If Darboe stands up and call Yaya a thief, murderer, rapist, liar etc., all Yaya can do is bring suit against Darboe or file a criminal complaint to be dealt with by the AG. You do not solve the problem by issuing exparte gag orders. Sankung's letter is very irresponsible, to say the least. It should be withdrawn forthwith and the whole issue about the issuance of permits should be revisited. The only input that need to come from the police regarding this process, is a law and order one. Can the police dispatch personnel to go and ensure an orderly rally? That is all. Their job is to make sure that when there is a UDP rally for instance, APRC supporters are kept away from the vicinity if their continued presence would have the potential of sparking violence. If Darboe is among his supporters alone and insult Yaya, no one will fight with him. At most, he will lose some of his supporters that do not appreciate the use of foul language or the making of unsubstantiated allegations. So the police should focus on the avoidance of another ambush by preventing rival political operatives from crashing each others rallies. We also hope that Darboe will address the issue Sankung raised about the pending murder charges against him (Darboe). Why did Sankung bring that up in this letter? Although Sankung was not quite explicit as to whether these charges disqualify Darboe from participating in coming rallies, nevertheless, Sankung is trying to use that fact as further justification for denying the license. This is ridiculous and clearly contradictory to the presumption of innocence accorded to everyone that faces criminal charges. Sankung would be punishing Darboe for acts that the law (at this stage) says Darboe is innocent of committing. That issue also needs to be addressed. In short, neither Sankung nor Yaya have the right to censure what people can say at political rallies. That right belong to the courts that hear defamation suits. So Sankung should spare us this nonsense about UDP using abusive language against Yaya and his supporters. Like we said before, if the system does not provide redress for ordinary folks, they take the law into their own hands. That simple. Once again, we are glad that you detected the lawlessness this government is engaged in and have made your point to them. We hope that UDP will also continue their fight against this latest undemocratic and illegal move. KB Ps: I have sent you mails regarding the commission of inquiry looking into the massacre of April 10 and 11 and the the appointment of a private prosecutor to look into that matter. Am yet to receive a response from you. I know you are a very busy man which is why I let one month to pass after my first mail before sending another one a few weeks ago. Please join us in calling for the AG to appoint an independent prosecutor forthwith. Rather than making Wowo a VIP in Gambia nowadays, giving him an official car and armed escot everywhere, the AG should be busying himself getting us a prosecutor to look into the murder of our children on April 10 and 11. An ordinary prosecutor like Wowo should not be rewarded for harassing Gambian citizens. Why is it necessary for him to have an armed escot? God knows that am not xenophobic. But foreigners like Wowo and some of those foreign judges in The Gambia should not be tolerated. How can the AG reward someone for harassing his friend and fellow citizen? ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------