Alpha, I really wanted to address all the mails yesterday. I owe responses to Sister Fatou Jaw Manneh, Bamba Laye and others. However, work has caught up with me again. I may be able to address these mails only on Thursday. We are currently working on our newspaper for Thursday's publication. It is, however, necessary to bring to your notice that your role as one of the coordinators of the April 10/11 Support Group is very crucial. Once such a task is taken, one must put oneself above some of these contradictions in the L. I do appreciate the fact that you had to defend your own integrity by clarifying issues. In my view, if you pardon me to express it, you could have simply taken exception of what Cherno Baba had said and state your opinion on the alternative to the debate. We are of the view that if Mboge can still organise a symposium where everybody will be invited to pose any question they wish, the purpose can still be served. My trip to America was an eye opener. The distortions were in the extreme. In fact in New York a critic came to the meeting purposely to prove certain notions which had been engrained in the minds of many people. After I protested vigorously against the attempt of the people to shout him down, I came to learn about his true intentions. This is why we have decided to open up the website. In fact Saul has mentioned my discussion with a lady in Washington. I was more a listener after inviting her to come to the lecture at Howard University where I had intention to clarify all issues. I must say the information gathered from her prepared me adequately not only for the New York meeting, but for my Radio 1 interview in The Gambia since even leading politicians in the opposition who went to America also engaged in distorting PDOIS' strategies, tactics and programmes. We are of the view that a party must have an internal, as well as an external personality. A gathering in Britain, if put in audio and video cassettes, could serve to clarify many issues for Gambians everywhere. There was no need to refer Cherno Baba back to his comments. He feels that my objective is to put feet in mouths. Clearly, I have been attending thousand and one public fora and I cannot remember anybody ever witnessing such fora ending in chaos. I would be the worst criminal on earth just to be part of a debate for egotistical calculations. I would accept his criticism that I did display some form of intellectual arrogance when I started exchanges with him. He must also accept that he did not show much decency as manifested by his choice of words. Notwithstanding, I believe all of us learnt useful lessons and I will be more than happy to engage in any constructive dialogue. You may speak to Mboge who is a man of conscience. He has written to me thousand and one apologies. He really has a greater conscience than I have. May be after stepping on so many toes, I could not see why he feels so badly about what has transpired so far. This is a good sign though. It only shows that a new culture is emerging among members of your generation. If we are like Mboge and hate to offend anyone without cause, constructive engagement would be the basis of our relation. When that happens, the people and democracy will be the winners. Keep me informed of any decisions as quickly as possible. I have to schedule all my programmes before the end of this month. Greetings. Halifa. NOTE: I would want you or any Gambian to take this matter up. There are thousand and one things to be done and the same people cannot do all the things that have to be done. Since day one of the coup, I felt that Gambia needed some truthful and credible persons who would be like judges who may have their personal political choices but will be willing to stand above the different forces and tell truth to everyone without being seen to be biased. For sometime, I felt that Dr Abdoulie Saine, Dr Amadou Janneh, Dr Sulayman Nyang, Dr Katim Touray were moving towards that direction. Such persons would have found it very easy to be supported by international organisations to visit The Gambia to investigate any critical matter and go back to give objective assessment to all members of the L and anybody who is interested in the welfare of this country.When I was in Washington I met Dr Sidia Jammeh and Dr Tijan Sallah of the World Bank who also showed keen interest in what was happening in The Gambia. These are all forces that could be mobilised to promote greater understanding of what is happening here and what could be done. There are many things that we publish regarding human rights and better governance environment. Others do the same thing. Instead of mere condemnation in the L, such people who may not be just politically motivated in favour of PDOIS, UDP, NRP could have written properly framed petitions to call for justice to be done. Let me just an example. The following case was published in our 10-14 August 2000 issue: "HABIB BAH'S NEPHEW CALLS FOR HIS TRIAL OR RELEASE "A young man by the name of Lamin Gaye approached FOROYAA to report that since 1997 his uncle, Habib Bah, had been detained and taken to court only once but that the trial did not proceed. Lamin indicated that their family went through very serious crisis whilst most of them were too young to be able to to manage their affairs; that their mother started to rely mainly on Habib Bah in order to meet the needs of the family. Lamin explained that his mother, who is a sister to Habib, has been renting and now owes more than D5000 as unpaid rents; that he as a young man briefly had a job in a hotel but had not been made redundant. He feels that something should be done to try his uncle or release him so that the family will be able to benefit from his generous assistance. Upon receiving this information, FOROYAA contacted the Solicitor General and Legal Secretary. We have since been told that an investigation has been launched to find the names of those who have been detained without continuation of their trials. We are told that Habib has been mentioned to be among the list." (end) It would have been very easy for such groups to take up such matters and promote justice. I would like to get the opinion of some of the people who have been mentioned on this issue. As far as PDOIS is concerned, we will deeply appreciate the establishment of such councils of wise men and women who would be willing to tell PDOIS, UDP, NRP, APRC where they have gone wrong and call anyone to order without fear or favour, affection or ill-will. Greetings. Halifa. ----- Original Message ----- From: Alpha Robinson <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Saturday, August 19, 2000 5:33 PM Subject: Re: Debate/Programmed Fanatics > Cherno Baba Jallow, > > I was away for a week and since my return, on Monday, I was occupied with very urgent matters at work. I was going to find time this weekend to write on the proposed debate between Hamjatta and Halifa, as I have been following the discussion surrounding this issue, which has become so muddled that the essence is now unfortunately being lost. > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask] if you have problems accessing the web interface ----------------------------------------------------------------------------