Ebrima Is there a text copy of Jammeh's speech on July 22nd and his statement to the APRC Youth Wing. Can you forward me a copy or let me know how I can access these. Thanks. Jamila ______________________________________________________________________ --- ebrima ceesay <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Gambia-L: > > I listened in amazement this afternoon to Yahya Jammeh's speech, > brought to > me in the UK courtesy of GRTS, marking his 6-year anniversary in > public > office! Quite honestly, I was incredulous and quite bewildered by > what I > heard. Indeed, Yahya Jammeh's words to mark six years of his impotent > regime's attempts to govern our nation, confirmed what many of us > have been > suspecting for so long - namely that the man "has lost it": that he > is in > the terminal stages of psychosis and rapidly approaching total mental > breakdown. > > Even the photograph of Jammeh that GRTS used three times (!!) to > illustrate > the bulletins showed us a man with apparent "health" problems: did > you note > as I did, the thickened facial and body features of a person in a > terrible > condition of decline? And the voice? Well, he certainly sounded > close to > hysteria. I shall come later to the content of what the man said to > his > audience. > > But before that, I must tell you that just yesterday afternoon, one > of my > unimpeachable sources in the heart of the Government, reported to me > about > Jammeh's constant daily habit of getting a "Gambia-L Fix"! Jammeh is > so > desperate to know the true situation in our country and the thinking > of > Gambians abroad about his despotic regime that he spends many hours > on a > daily basis accessing our postings and acting on them! Early on > Friday > morning, my source assures me, Yahya read the third of my messages to > all > Gambians: his immediate reaction was to change his mind about getting > Isatou > Njie-Saidy or Susan Waffa-Ogoo to deputise for him at Saturday's > march past. > > Instead, to prove that he was mentally okay and governmentally > soundly in > control, he jumped alone into one of the government Jeeps garaged at > Kanilai > and without the usual escorts, made the perilous journey along the > south > bank road heading for Banjul. To his dismay, heavy traffic in > Kanifing > brought solitary driver Jammeh and Jeep to a halt: jumping down from > the > driver's seat, our so-called "leader" was totally shocked and > humiliated > when people in the vicinity, who in the past would have crowded > around him > with praises, waving and hand shaking, refused even to acknowledge > his > presence in any way. > > He was forced into using his personal mobile phone to ask the > Kanifing > police for assistance in reaching Banjul. It was then that a police > siren > came to escort him from the Jimpex area and drove in front of him to > Banjul. > We could only guess at his state of mind upon reaching State House, > and we > could only pray that they opened the gates and let him in. > > How good it is to know that Jammeh attends to our messages on the > Gambia > List, and that our sources in The Gambia are providing such > impeccable and > detailed information about Jammeh's everyday plans and activities. > The > interventions of those of us who are posting messages on the List are > increasingly crucial in getting Jammeh to "act" in response to OUR > news and > views! If we can continue to exert this sort of pressure and strategy > on > Jammeh, then the future is ours! Fellow Gambia L-ers! Please, be > assured > that we are having a potent effect on the regime and on Jammeh > himself: let > us do all in our power to keep the postings going and see the back of > the > Butcher of Kanilai. Believe it or not, we are now having a > tremendous > effect on Yahya's thinking and actions, even on the smallest of > matters. > > Now, back to today's GRTS news bulletin - couched in very careful > language > indeed, it neglected to tell us from where Jammeh was speaking. Could > it be > that the man had decided to remain behind the Moroccan fortifications > of > State House to make his speeches, or did he brave the gathered > "multitudes" > of well-wishers and school children marching past the crumbling Arch > 22? > Only time will give us the answer to these questions - certainly not > the > ambiguous GRTS. > > I could not believe my ears when I listened to the content of the > man's > speech. How dare he boast of six year's of social and economic > (under) > development and call them "hall marks". How dare he suggest that his > (supposed?) achievements were "much to the satisfaction and well > beyond the > expectations" of others? Who IS he kidding?? > > In my recent postings, I have taken great pains to detail the > terrible state > of social and economic life across the whole of The Gambia. I have > received > so many public and private replies to these postings, and each one > provides > further evidence of the chronic state of every sector at home. > Yahya's > dishonesty and corruption, and the sleaziness of his minions are what > characterise the social and economic life of The Gambia today. We > move from > scandal to scandal, from disaster to disaster, from lie to lie, from > evidence of corruption to even greater evidence of it! We are living > in > sorry times, all thanks to Butcher Jammeh. > > Jammeh's next claims about the happy state of Education Services in > The > Gambia left me completely perplexed. Every child is receiving his or > her > entitlement to a minimum of 6 years education, he claimed, and 9 > years of > education is available for high-fliers. Education under his regime, > he > claimed, was truly a "right and not a privilege". What a lot of > bunkum!! > Yahya should get out into the streets on a weekday, and count the > number of > school-aged children NOT in school: whose parents cannot afford to > pay the > term fees, the book fees, the uniform expenses, the furniture > expenses, the > examination expenses. > > To keep a child at Lower Basic levels of education is now upwards of > one > thousand dalasis per year: how many of our fellow citizens can > possibly > afford to educate even one child in the family?? Jammeh should go and > talk > to his farming communities, and ask them about how they pay for their > children to be educated!! They will soon see the back of him. > > Next, he went on to talk about his determination to stamp out hunger > and > malnutrition: about how his government were ensuring that "all > Gambians have > access to affordable food at all times". Let Jammeh go and talk > these > issues through with the unemployed, for whom the daily struggle to > get fish > money and rice is an appalling worry. Let him talk to the housewives > who > try to feed their families on miniscule, and every decreasing, > amounts of > money. Let him go to the markets, and get direct experience of the > reality > of inflation as it hits the poorest: let him try to fill his > shopping > basket with nothing instead of dalasis. > > Indeed, let him go to the mosques throughout the country on Friday > afternoon > for "Ajumaa" prayers: let him run the gauntlet of the countless > beggars > there, asking for a crumb to stay alive. The man is so out of touch > with the > reality of everyday life in The Gambia in the year 2000. His speech > writers > are doing him a terrible disservice - and us who oppose him, a good > service, > because the more that ordinary people can begin to understand Yahya's > DISHONESTY and IGNORANCE of the state of conditions in the country, > then the > sooner he will be forced from power. > > Yahya's following pronouncements concerned those detractors, like > some of > us, who are "relentlessly determined to undermine our efforts and > plunge > this country into chaos". He spoke of the "stark manifestations" and > the > === message truncated === __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Kick off your party with Yahoo! 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