In a message dated 7/13/00 9:48:38 PM Pacific Daylight Time, [log in to unmask] writes: > Mr. Ceesay, i cannot understand why you should allow a station commander to > usurp your duty even after the intervention of the PIEC commissioner, Ms > Baldeh. I had a big fight with Jai Sowe, station officer in Sibanor and the > chief of Foni Bintang Karangnai on how to transport ballot boxes to Brikama > during referendum but i completely refused their plans even after the > intervention of the Returning Officer. Finally they subdued and i drove > behind the Corporative truck(transporting ballot boxes and election duty > officials) up to the counting center. I really appreciate your resistance > but you should not yield. You misunderstood me when I said the officer commanding asked me to vacate the premises. I never said anybody interfere with the transportation of the ballot boxes. what I said was ... after delivering all the ballot boxes from the various polling stations to the commissioner's office [who at the time is a military officer...capt.jassey] my colleagues and I were asked to leave the premises. Therefore my contention is ... I couldn't account for the discrepancies that we later encounter during the vote counting process. I am not disputing that new security measures were put in place during the subsequent presidential election. All I am saying is that if what happened on referendum day in Mansakonko [forcing AROs to leave the counting premises] for several hours ..only to allow them in at the start of counting..should be repeated in the presidential elections..then there is room for fraud. I was never a wimp..anybody who worked for the P.I.E.C in mansakonko will bear witness to that. I stood against modou soma jobe and his group of July 22 thugs in LRD. Like I mentioned in my previous piece I did resist the OCR's command that I should leave the premises. But you gotta to understand that the PIEC has no jurisdiction whatsoever on the property of the commissioner of western division. We shouldn't be there in the first place. I know this is a sensitive issue for the both of us, but the fact remains that the PIEC has more resources to be independent during the referendum when the European money was flowing at its peak into our operations.But despite this we depend on the govt.for most of our transport needs.This dependence on the regime compounded the issue at hand [their ability to use this dependence to rig] With regard to the general elections, I made it clear that I was not in the country at the time. I have no knowledge of the operations of the PIEC. during that period. Lamin ..all I was trying to say is that if events that transpired in mansakonko on that fateful day should lurk their head into the process during the presidential election then there is room for fraud. Anybody can call me a wimp for not fighting the officer commanding mansakonko.But Iam happy that I live to tell the story. Regards, ousman ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------