Ebou Jallow, Let me make it clear that I have no intention to "judge" you or "dictate" to you in any way. I would rather like to think that I was trying to shift the discussion from being speculative to a fruitful one with substance. Frankly speaking, I would not have even commented on the issue if you had not indicated both your innocence and your willingness to offer "proof" to back your assertions. The quotations reproduced below gave me the impression that you are convinced of your innocence. "All these people haping about that $3M, ranting and raving their lungs out should know that I have never done anything illegal and I am a complete gentleman."... ..."For now live with this- no $3M was stolen from the Gambia Government. The funds tranferred to Credit Lyonnais was received in cash from Mr. Phillippe Bidawid with the clear instructions of Yaya Jammeh. I hired a plane from Geneva and flew direct to Banjul and handover all the proceeds of the $3M transfer to Yaya Jammeh at the State House." And then your made the following statement to Saul Khan: "If you doubt what I said, ask around some prominent Gambians in Uk or US. Besides you can ask my lawyer, Mr. Jean Patry of Gmuer, Pestalozzi and Patry, the biggest law firm in Switzerland." I was therefore under the impression that you were making it clear to everyone that you are innocent and that you had no problems with people contacting those who are better informed to confirm the credibility of your statements. I did not have the impression that you had any problems with this being done on the L either. I therefore thought instead of going on and on with accusations and counter accusations, it would be better to get to the facts in everyone's interest. You even wrote to Saul: "If you have doubts then they are baseless cause you can't proove otherwise without a circulatory argument." On the other hand there were clear indications that some believed otherwise and didn't seem to have problems taking up issue with you on the L either. It was on these grounds that I suggested the following, in order to facilitate the process: "..I would therefore gladly contact your lawyer to ask for information relating to the 3 Million US Dollar case and report to the List. As you know, this process will be much easier if the Lawyer and the Firm have a written authority from you. I would therefore kindly ask you to write to them, and send a copy to the List, giving them authority to answer openly, without reservation, every question asked pertaining to the case. We can then formulate questions on the List which will be forwarded to him. Likewise, his answers will be forwarded to the List for further discussion. I trust you will go a long way to clear many rumours and allegations in this way. What do you think? I look forward to a lively and interesting exercise." Of course, Ebou everyone knows that Gambia-L has no judicial powers, nor does it have the might to force anyone to do certain things or behave in a certain manner. So I don't think anyone seriously harbours such illusions. What I thought was that you, being so innocent, would jump on the initiative to demonstrate before everyone that you have nothing to hide. That's why I thought it was going to be a lively and interesting exercise. Anyway, it seems that's not the case. So let it be so. But, honestly, I still do not understand why I should be the target of your insults and accusations. As far as I am concerned this matter is laid to rest. I would, however, like to engage you on another issue. You seemed to have been insinuating on many occasions since the $3M was raised, that people on the Bantaba are just talking without acting. Take these two quotations for example: "What can they do or what have they done so far besides spending their lifes away on a computer keyboard. If you value freedom, liberty and democracy that much then you should be able to sacrifice your mortal selve for a cause that has meaning to your soul." "I told you people before this forum is not a court of law but a "Bantaba"- historically that means a place where lazy grumpy men gather around a tree talking gibberish and puffing hot air whilst their women break their backs under the sun." I would like to challenge you to come up with concrete and realistic suggestions for meaningful action. That will help us all to move on and transform us from being lazy grumpy men to women and men in action for a better future. I apologise for all these repetition. I felt they were necessary to make my position clear. Alpha Robinson ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------