After I sent my last posting, I received private mail from a concerned Gambian (no relations to Batchi Baldeh or the people I mentioned in the mail), raising questions about the harshness of some of my utterances. I already dealt with the gentleman but I thought it might be necessary to send you the Independent article I was reacting to. I see Alimenta written all over this. You have slime balls like Amadou Samba, Tarik Musa and Baba Jobe going around black-balling people. They come with all sorts of dubious proposals and get us entangled in deals that are not good for the ordinary Gambians. These vermin are only after their pockets. We had a relatively good deal with Alimenta until Baba Jobe brought his corrupt and hustler friends into the country. Thanks to Baba Jobe and a moron like Yaya, the Alimenta fiasco is going to cost the Gambian taxpayers $12 million. I am not even talking about the hardship that debacle continues to visit on our farmers up to this day. As Hamjatta was saying about the illegal economy we have back home, Samba, Musa and Jobe have shown again that they can get rid of any government functionary that stands in their way. The way they do that, is to line Yaya's pockets with dollars. It is crazy that this very Batchi Baldeh negotiated the contract that led to Conteh's demise. Now he is reportedly negotiating another one. But what they should know is that we know that they cannot raise the dollars involved here without going outside to beg for money. Granted, they can hood-wink rogue nations like Taiwan. But let me tell them that we will unmask them before all the decent nations and lending organizations like the AfDB and the World Bank. Corrupt businesses lining up to do business with Yaya and his cartel are also doing so at their own peril. When we get rid of Yaya, none of these illegal arrangements will be honored. Another message I would like to convey is that people that want to plead on behalf of the Batchi Baldehs of this world are entitled to their views. But they should realize that they would be doing themselves and the Batchi Baldehs of this world, a better favor if they tell people like Batchi to stay away from Yaya's corruption. When the day of reckoning comes, only a person's good deeds would grant him immunity. In the face of blatant evidence of corruption, there will be no mercy. KB ________________________________________________________________________________ More revelations on the removal of the NAWEC MD Following the removal of the managing director of the National Water and Electricity Corporation (NAWEC) Alhagie Conteh on January 18 over allegations of impropriety, unimpeachable sources have intimated to The Independent that even though he signed the contract with Man and B&W in the United Kingdom for the supply of a 6 megawatt Mirrlees Blackstone generator in anticipation of the $5 million Taiwanese loan, but that the contract was actually negotiated by Batchi Baldeh before his removal as managing director in 1998. The sources further alleged that shortly prior to the removal of Alhagie Conteh, some close friends of President Jammeh, Baba Jobe, Amadou Samba of Gamsen and Tarik Musa of T.K.Motors had approached Alhagie Conteh to allegedly "convince" him to sign another contract for the supply of an 18 megawatt generator by Global Trading, a Dutch company. However, according to our sources, Mr. Conteh declined to sign the documents brought to him by the three gentlemen, which was allegedly prepared by their attorney Sheriff Tambadou, on the grounds that he did not agree with the terms of the contract, as well as the cost of the generator. It was however alleged that he was threatened with dismissal within 48 hours if he failed to sign the contract, but that he still refused to sign. Consequently, he was removed a few days later by the Office of the President, accused of inflating the contract with MAN and B&W for the supply of the Mirrlees Blackstone generator. Our sources revealed that Amadou Samba and Tarik Musa accompanied by their attorney Sheriff Tambadou later met with the newly appointed managing director of NAWEC Batchi Baldeh on January 19 and subsequently, the contract with Global Trading for the supply of the 18 megawatt generator was allegedly signed by NAWEC. The sources also alleged that a senior official of the NAWEC generation department Mustapha Corr together with some other officials were questioned by the NIA on the matter, and that Mr. Corr confirmed to them that the contract for the Mirrlees Blackstone engine was negotiated by Batchi Baldeh before his removal. He also allegedly told the NIA that Mr. Conteh signed the contract in anticipation of the Taiwanese loan. The NIA are said to be investigating the matter. When contacted for his reaction to the story, Amadou Samba confirmed that he together with some other people went to NAWEC on behalf of Global Trading, but he denied that any contract was signed. "There was nothing like a contract. We never took any contract to Alhagie Conteh. That is not true," he said. He added that Global Trading are the representatives of "a reputable" Dutch company who have supplied generators to Mali, Guinea Bissau and Burkina Faso. Therefore, he said the company came to The Gambia to make an offer, "since they knew that we were looking for generators". He stated that after having some ideas as to the type of generators NAWEC uses, the company offered to manufacture the same quality generators for NAWEC at $700,000 to $800,000 less that the normal cost of similar generators. Therefore, he said before making the offer, the company had to visit NAWEC to see their facilities, which he said, was the reason why they visited NAWEC, "but nothing like signing a contract". He also refuted allegations of them threatening Alhagie Conteh with sacking if he failed to sign the contract. On the question of Sheriff Tambadou drafting the contract agreement, Mr. Samba said, "I have nothing to do with that. It is not my company and I am not a shareholder. I am just a Gambian business man and normally if somebody comes here and gets in touch with me, I can go with him naturally, but I have absolutely no interest in this thing". However, on the issue of him and Tarik Musa going to Batchi Baldeh for him to sign the Global Trading contract, Mr. Samba said; "this came afterwards, because I think when they compared the Dutch offer, they must have seen that it was about 11 to 12 million Dalasis cheaper. Naturally, I think Global Trading had to sign a contract with Batchi Baldeh, but not with Amadou Samba or any other party". When contacted, Tarik Musa said he did not know anything about the matter. However, attempts to talk to Baba Jobe were unsuccessful as he was said to have gone to attend a funeral in Libya. Attempts also to talk to both Alhagie Conteh and Batchi Baldeh were unsuccessful. _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.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 You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask] if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------