Saul, I hear you. When this idea came up, we were seeking information from all avenues, and the person who contacted Mr Faal did so because Banjul city council ran a similar programme sometime ago. I bet it has nothing to do with his capacity as Major or affiliation with the APRC. I guess I`ve also mentioned that we`ve been in touch with some ordinary citizens for the same reason and Modou camara is also one of them. May I hasten to say that we would`nt find ourselves entangled in any "minefields", or to be compromised in any way whatsoever. This is a completely independent body and not answerable to "any"government official. I hope the fear of "a significant segment of the population is allayed". Thanks anyway for the "early morning thought". It is sprinkled with a lot of sense. Regards, Omar. -----Opprinnelig melding----- Fra: saul khan <[log in to unmask]> Til: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]> Dato: 24. juli 2000 14:57 Emne: Re: SV: Re: Scholarship Awards!! >Omar, > >This is a wonderful program, and we really need more of it. One advice >though: Keep POLITICIANS out of it. Look for ordinary Gambians who aren't >affiliated with ANY party. That way, you'll side step any mine fields out >there. Otherwise, this mayor's involvement, as well-intentioned as it may >be, could come back to bite y'all in the wrong place. So let this Faal guy >go! In my view, perception is very important in any NGO/philantropic >venture. And maximum civic involvement/goodwill is of the essence. Given >that, I find it totally incredible that people fail to see the contradiction >in wanting to bring a community together, yet involving people who are sure >to turn off a large segment of the population. Even if APRC is a popular >party (we all know it's not!,) don't you think that a symbol of that party >like the mayor of Banjul, will cause a significant segment of the population >to view your organization as suspect at best? Just an early morning >thought... > >Saul. > > >>Bro Ous, >> >>Thanks for the compliments. >> >>This programme is meant to be for 3 years, but with the possibility of >>extending it based on the availability of > >________________________________________________________________________ >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 > >---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------