Ebrima, you wrote: "So, "Kebba Jobe", where do we go from here? It is rather difficult to maintain a meaningful debate with someone who is in agreemment in the main. As you know, I am not afraid of open debate, and I have referenced detail to support all my claims and statements". Ebrima, this debate is about our country and what is happening here. We may agree on some points but there are perhaps many others that we will most probably disagree on. There is a need for this debate to continue so that by the end of the day we will all be better informed. Others following it are also putting forward their comments which give different insights to it. When I posited that "the government is not Jammeh and Jammeh alone", you totally disagreed. My position on this is that we deserve a system of government that does not revolve around individuals (presidents) as seems to be the case in most African "Republican" countries. Accoding to our constitution, the three arms that constitute the governement are the Executive, Legislature and the Judiciary. The fouth arm, the media is young and growing. It is my opinion that the powers of African presidents are, for all intends and purposes very similar to those of monarchs. The only difference is the socalled elections which are in, most cases, usually not free, fair or transparent. I am sure you will agree that whilst the general direction of government is determined by the executive, it is equally true that these direction must be in conformity with laws that are formulated by the lesgislature to safeguard the interests of the people they represent. Under the 1997 constitution, our elected national assembly members cannot be removed by the executive, their renumerations cannot be altered to their disadvantage by the executive and they cannot be appointed Secretaries of state. On ther other hand, the legislature under certain circumstances may cause the removal of the executive, in this case the president. Under this set-up why do you want to exonorate the NAMS? Here we have some seemingly decent people, who lied to their own people that they will promote their interests in the national assembly, swore to put the national interest before self, swore to safeguard the very constitution that guarantees us our aspirations, and yet time and time again put party above all else. Take the recently passed Indemnity bill for instance. With the exception of Hon. Kebbeh, a NOMINATED member, who said ""We should not look at things like that, Security Forces should not be given carte blanche to kill because something could happen tomorrow. Adding: "are we backdating because of April 10/11 or what? We can pass the bill but with some amendments", almost every one else was either absent or voted along party lines. The point am making here is that the whole government, including the NAMs, should be held accountable for most of what has happened. I also posit that as long as the majority of the electorate continue to see the presidency as the alpha and omega of government, we will continue to have a rubber stamp national assembly and rubber stamp Public service commission. The presidency must be DEMYSTIFIED for a way forward and this can only be achieved by patiently and honestly discussing issues of national interest even if don't agree. DAMPHA Dampha, if you think that I want to bring disharmony to the opposition by labeling some of you angry and trying to applaud Ebrima and way he is debating me, then there must be something seriously wrong with you. What would I gain from that? If you also believe that because I have agreed with Ebrima on certain issues so far, that I will not challenge if posts things that are not factual, then you are be bigger fool than I thought. I endevour to respond to all and sundry about any issue I feel is incorrect WITHOUT HESITATION. Get it? You wrote "You attempted to absolve Yaya by saying that the trigger happy animals that massacred our children were NOT acting on Yaya's orders". Where and when did I ever say the above? Please don't misquote me. I have NEVER DEFENDED ANY EVIL ACT COMMITTED BY ANYBODY. My friend get real. What were you thinking of when you say "I am glad that you admitted that you veered off from the debate topic Ebrima was engaged in"? I did not admit veering off from any thing. I continued to use veer just to give you that feeling of cornering me. I had conluded commenting on what Ebrima wrote and decided to to bring in other issues that I considered relevant to Lers, you and Ebrima included. You wrote: "I noticed how you craftily tried to make it a matter of 'either or' when you asked to me opine about who to blame: security personnel or yaya. I say not so fast. I blame both of them". You later wrote: "Simple logic demands that we focus on the person that will not hesitate to order the massacre of our children". This was followed by: "I understand that unlike animals, our souldiers have independent minds and should reason". And: "But apart from the gullible, like you we all realize the duress these soldiers work under". What on earth are you trying to say? First you blame both, just to come back telling us that these 'trigger happy animals' as you call them, cannot be blamed because they 'work under duress'. Are you cuckoo? What sort of logic are you talking about for God's sake? This is a classic case of gullibilty and hypocricy, if you ask me. You also wrote: "It is the hight of naivete for educated Gambians like yourself to try to extricate Yaya from activities of parlimentarians. Do you honestly believe that parlimentarians are responsible for the indemnity legislation or any legislation for that matter?". You see your warped logic at work again. First, you tell us that yaya is inextricabily linked to the parlimentarians as far as the imdemnity legislation or any other for that matter just to backtrack implying that the parlimentarians cannot be blamed at all. Dampha, I still maintain that the anger in you will not allow you to see the bigger picture. Our problem cannot be narrowed down to only Yahya. I opine that, we have a mystified presidency, a less than honourable bunch of NAMs, brutal security forces and very gullible so called educated/informed paper tigers. Bye 4Now, KB Jobe. _________________________________________________________________________ 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 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. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------