Sir Coach

Thanks for your brilliant rejoinder. We respect your right to your opinion and
do not expect that you will like everything that we write.

Baba

Ebrima Ceesay wrote:

> Gambia-L:
>
> I read the Independent Newspaper's editorial on the Internet this afternoon,
> entitled "Time for a Re-think", and in all honesty, I was disappointed by
> it, to say the least. The writer of the editorial clearly sat on the fence,
> and after reading the editorial twice, it was still not clear to me whether
> or not Yahya Jammeh and his regime were good for the Gambia, in the view of
> the Independent editorial writer.
>
> The editorial writer cannot have it both ways: he/she either has to support
> and approve or condemn and disapprove. You cannot praise at one moment, and
> in the next, vilify. Editorials, I was taught, should not be ambiguous: they
> should be clear, direct, frank, honest and unambiguous. They are either
> against or in favour.
>
> The editorial is the view/opinion of the newspaper on a particular issue,
> and in it, the paper describes exactly how that particular issue affects the
> reader, and why it is important. Good editorials seek to explain/clarify or
> comment on complex issues by not only providing the facts, but interpreting
> them as well, so that people can make the right choices.
>
> It is very important that editorial writers have the courage and conviction
> to take a standpoint that might not be popular with those in power, but
> which is in the public interest. It seems to me that this particular
> Independent editorial writer was seeking to serve both the Government and
> the main stream of public opinion, which at the moment is clearly
> anti-Government.
>
> For the sake of a healthy debate, I want to take issue with the Independent
> editorial, and point out some differences of opinion and facts to the
> Gambia-L readers (and hopefully a wider audience, especially in The Gambia)
> so that the record can be set straight.
>
> Firstly, the AFPRC was never "put in place" in July 1994 as indicated by the
> editorial: Putting in place implies that other people were proactive in
> their rise to power. Rather, the regime itself seized power at the point of
> guns: no one put them there except themselves; they were never elected to
> take power. There was a military takeover - that is the plain simple fact of
> the matter.
>
> Secondly, it is a farce to say that the APRC set up "a purely civilian
> government" after the elections. The truth is that many of these people are
> just soldiers with increasing numbers of guns and other weapons at their
> disposal: the only difference between now and September 1996, really, is
> that they do not wear uniforms. They still lead and manipulate the military
> force in our country. They think in a military fashion; act in a military
> fashion and rule in a military fashion.
>
> The fact is that they are still running the country with the same, or even
> more, heavy-handedness than before and, of course, with no regard to the
> letter and spirit of the Constitution. Do we need to remind ourselves about
> the fact that Decrees 45, 57, 70, 71 & 89 are still in place even though
> these Decrees are clearly inconsistent with the new Constitution?
>
> Even as I write this rejoinder, the International Community and Amnesty
> International are calling on the Jammeh regime to repeal these draconian
> Decrees since they contravene the provisions of the New Constitution.
> However, the regime, being a repressive government, shows no intention of
> changing the status quo.
>
> Thirdly, there is some doubt that "the APRC government has registered
> tremendous successes, particularly when it comes to infrastructural
> development" as the Independent editorial is insinuating. This is a highly
> controversial statement. Today, we see new school buildings without teachers
> to staff them or equipment to put in them: we see increasing numbers of
> parents who are unable to send their children (particularly girls) to school
> because they live below the poverty line.
>
> We see teachers who are struggling to receive their monthly salaries and who
> are toiling under tremendous pressure, without the resources necessary to do
> their jobs properly. We see classes of more than 60 children, often taught
> in two shifts, and we hear of terrible shortages of qualified teachers at
> Primary, Secondary and Tertiary levels. The recruitment of high calibre
> students to the teaching profession is becoming more and more difficult.
>
> Fourthly, we see new health centres, which are not fully open or
> functioning. We see new and old health centres that do not have the
> staffing, equipment or indeed drugs to offer any sort of help to The Gambian
> people: we see health centres facing this year's rains with inadequate
> supplies of antimalarials: we see pregnant women who are suffering from
> anaemia because of poor diet, who cannot afford to buy vitamin B12 or Folic
> Acid (even if it were available to them).
>
> We see people who cannot even receive a paracetamol or aspirin tablet to
> alleviate pain or fever: we see infections which run riot because people
> cannot afford the antibiotics or they are unavailable. We see so many of our
> people who cannot afford the fees charged by the health centres even to
> attend an out-patients clinic.
>
> Fifthly, what about the state of the South Bank main road - the artery of
> our nation? From Farefenni to Soma, I am told, the road surface is
> non-existent: on other sections of the road, there are more potholes than
> shell surface: where tarmac has been laid, the work has been so poorly
> undertaken that the repairmen need not have bothered. On the North bank, I
> am further informed, the road situation is even more dire. Buses may not
> travel from Lamin Koto to Farafenni during the rains (and indeed for most of
> the rest of the year). Where is the infrastructural development here?
>
> Sixthly, what about the supply of electricity?  It is erratic, irregular and
> the fluctuations in current are damaging expensive equipment. Even Jammeh
> himself has said that the situation vis-a-vis electrical supply is
> unbearable, and that he was looking forward to the day that things would
> improve. How many homes are still without a supply of electricity, even in
> the Kombos? If you are lucky enough to have 8 hours supply a day in certain
> areas, you thank your lucky stars.
>
> Seventhly, what about our Judiciary?  Where is our impartial, independent
> and reliable system of justice available to all people?  Judges and
> magistrates make decisions against the government, and immediately their
> contracts of service are terminated.  How many Attorney Generals have we
> seen in the last six years?  The courts make orders against the state, and
> the state does not comply: a case in point is that of Baboucarr Gaye, the
> proprietor of Citizen FM Radio Station. Last week, a High Court Judge ruled
> that his Radio Station seized illegally by the government over two years
> ago, must be returned to him within seven days. The seven days have since
> elapsed and, as I write this piece, the government has deliberately refused
> to hand back the keys to Mr Gaye. In fact, Jammeh even enquired from his
> Attorney General about the possibility of sacking the Judge in question.
>
> Eighthly, the Independent editorial did not bother to mention the missing
> persons, the deported individuals, or the massacred students of the awful
> April 10/11th days. Every day, people are fleeing the country, in fear of
> their lives or in fear of injustices, which may be done to them and their
> families. People are being kidnapped, people are missing, people are being
> tortured by puppets of the State: this is the new pattern of The Gambia of
> today.
>
> Ninthly, the inflation rate is steadily rising: in February 2000, the
> exchange rate was 19.6 Dalasis to the pound sterling: now it is almost 22
> Dalasis. The unemployment rate is rising rapidly, and more and more people
> are having to resort to begging in order to keep their families fed and
> sheltered. Of late, because of the inflation and the incompetence of the
> government, certain simple basic commodities are now unavailable in the
> country.
>
> Meanwhile, the government continues to take out loans with huge interest on
> the repayment mode of the loans, and yet we are not being told anything at
> all about these, even though the government claimed transparency and
> accountability when it came to power. With the introduction of the BIVAC
> scheme, the Gambian economy is in the doldrums; scandal follows scandal and
> Yahya himself is implicated in all them.
>
> Tenthly, the government media, including GRTS, leaves a lot to be desired:
> they are incompetent, unprofessional, unproductive and useless: the quality
> of programmes is poor to say the least, and the political skew to the
> government is heavy. Simply put: the government press is an appendage of the
> executive and it only serves one purpose and that is to sing praises to
> Yahya Jammeh. Stories which have been fabricated are published regularly in
> order to boost Jammeh's massive ego!
>
> In my view, good infrastructural development is necessary to ensure a
> healthy future for The Gambia, but what is happening in our country at the
> moment, should not be described as infrastructural development: rather, it
> is a series of projects which are used to gloss over reality.
>
> We are being conned. And in as much as we want infrastructural development,
> we also want freedom, justice, dignity and respect: some of us would even
> argue that these fundamental key issues are more important than anything
> else.
>
> Ebrima Ceesay
> Birmingham, UK.
>
> ________________________________________________________________________
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