Saul, you did not miss anything.  I almost died laughing as you described Tombong Jatta.  It seemed as if he were giving his "bantaba position" once again.  I could not laugh at him while on stage, but as soon as someone at my host's asked about what the APRC said, I just lost it.  I still could not narrate his star presentation on the constitution and the Alkalolous because of the tickling effect from laughing.  This guy is great and those who were against the APRC coming really missed out on Jatta's comedy.  This guy is Martin Laurence , Edie Murphy, Fred Sanford, George Jefferson, and Richard Prier, all combined in one.  Thanks for relieving the strip.  I'll give my take on the conference one of these days. 

On a different note, I wanted to rap with you after the program, but was distracted by someone.  I thought I would see you at the park, but instead went to Fredericks, MD to meet with Ousainou Darboe and did not leave there until 10:00pm.  Hopefully, next time we will make up for this one.

Chi Jaama

Joe Sambou 

>From: saul khan <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: ALD Symposium
>Date: Wed, 30 May 2001 21:02:57 -0000
>
>Saiks, All,
>
>I'll give you the background of what happened on Saturday at the ALD
>Forum
>as I OBSERVED it. Of course I missed some things as there's only so
>much
>that one can observe at any one time, especially if one isn't taking
>notes.
>I wasn't. So, I hope others present will give us more of what I
>missed.
>
>First, I extend a commendation to the Organizing Committee. It's
>obvious
>that things could be a little better, but considering what the
>Organizers
>had to deal with (Gambians,) they didn't do a particularly bad job.
>Truth
>is, God made people, and made Africans. And we the Gambian
>sub-species are a
>microcosm of the dysfunction that our people are. Hard to swallow,
>but
>that's the truth. The program was supposed to start at 12:00 noon,
>and it
>started around 3:00pm. Very Gambian. And it did mainly because Mr.
>Hamat Bah
>threatened to leave for New York where we was scheduled to board a
>plane for
>Abuja at 8:00pm. He told myself, Ous Bojang and ML Conteh that he
>WAS
>leaving at 3:30pm sharp. Myself and Conteh had to go alert James
>Gomez about
>Mr. Bah's position. The Hall (venue) was on lease to the Organizers
>until
>5:00pm. Most of the audience came around 3pm. So, at that point, all
>we had
>was two hours for any discussion. In order to accommodate Mr. Bah
>(so he can
>stay beyond 3:30pm,) Latjor and James offered to buy him an air
>ticket to
>NY. This is also very commendable, because as it turned out, Hamat
>Bah is
>worth every dime that was spent on him.
>
>On Mr. Conteh’s issues, these need not turn into another unnecessary
>rancor.
> I can understand why Conteh would think that the whole event was
>a
>Two-Man show. It seemed that way, unless one knew of the role of the
>Tijan
>Ceesays in the background. There were in fact a few more people
>involved. I
>think it's fair to say that Latjor and James were the most prominent
>as far
>as the Symposium was concerned, but there were others. On Dr.
>Nyang’s
>absence, I agree with Mr. Conteh’s complaint in principle, because
>the good
>Dr. wasn’t the only promised invitee who didn’t show up. Fr. Joseph
>Gough
>didn’t come, neither did Baba Galleh Jallow, one of the promised
>panelists.
>Some of us were expecting to see these people, but nothing was said
>about
>their absence. A simple statement at the beginning of the program
>about
>which invitees couldn’t make it, and why was all that was needed.
>So, I hope
>the Organizers will take note of the negative impression
>non-communication
>sometimes give observers. . Not to talk about wild speculation.
>Also, a
>less restrictive venue (in terms of time) should have been secured.
>It
>doesn’t make much sense to have people come all the way from Gambia
>only to
>be rushed to cut off their speech after 30 minutes. Both Hamat Bah
>and
>Halifa Sallah had just warmed up when they were prompted to cut it
>short.
>Personally, I’ll be more than willing to chip in next time, just so
>such
>speakers can have ALL the time they need to make their case, and
>interact
>with the audience. You can tell both were disappointed, Mr. Sallah
>more so
>than Mr. Bah. Now, on to the meeting proper.
>
>
>It needs to be stated for the record that Joe Joof and his entourage
>lodged
>at a hotel in Downtown DC, less than 10 minutes from Howard
>University where
>the Symposium was held. Despite this, they were the last party to
>arrive.
>Some people are already putting a spin on why he left, but the fact
>is, Joof
>NEVER intended to answer any questions. You’ll see why I believe
>this after
>you’ve read what caused him to go away. In the first place, to say
>that he
>was nervous is an understatement. From the moment the man sat down
>on the
>dais, you could see his unease. He was looking at the audience,
>while doing
>his best to avoid eye-contact with people. When Latjor Ndow
>introduced the
>panel, he was slated to be the first speaker. Latjor made way for
>Joof at
>the podium, and handed him the mike. And this was the beginning of
>the
>now-famous three minutes “threat.” A member of the audience who was
>sitting
>exactly FIVE ROWS away from the front, got up and said:
>“Hey, you should sit down. You people are murderers. You murdered 14
>little
>kids, and denied them justice. How can you come here and talk to us
>about
>justice. You need to sit down.” Then the brother switched to Wollof:
>“Yen sah, den gen yab nit nyi.” (You must hold us in contempt.)
>By this time, several people, notably: ML Conteh, Latjor, Karamba
>Touray
>were appealing to the brother to calm down and let the man have his
>say. It
>should be noted that the brother DID NOT make any move to approach
>Joof, nor
>did he make any threatening gestures towards Joof. He stood EXACTLY
>where he
>was sitting. And the whole incident took a little less than three
>minutes.
>
>Joof got up, and spoke. The brother DID NOT utter a single word
>after that!
>Probably due to his nervousness, Joof gave a very rambling speech:
>“Mr.
>Fabakary Tombong Jatta will speak for the APRC party. I’ll speak for
>the
>govt. I’m glad to be here. When I heard about the theme of this
>symposium,
>I was very happy that it’s ‘Building Bridges, Joining Hands.’ That
>is very
>good. We need to listen to each other… Gambians go to the Internet
>to get
>their news. That’s not a proper way to get news… We should be able
>to talk
>to each other and agree or disagree… In fact, His Excellency
>launched a web
>site last Friday. Gambians will be able to get news and other
>information
>there. We are doing many good things. We have built over a 150
>schools. And
>hospitals. And an airport. It’s not just a terminal, we have
>extended the
>tarmac so that all types of planes can land there. Now we have all
>types of
>Airlines coming to the Gambia. We have Sabena, Air Senegal Int.
>Ghana
>Airways. We now have a Direct Flight between Wash DC and Banjul. And
>we are
>working hard to have a Direct Flight to other cities like Atlanta,
>New York.
>We have changed the Constitution to allow for Dual Citizenship. Many
>of you
>have children here…” I have to say that I really didn’t pay much
>attention
>to what he had to say, because I couldn't wait to ask him a question
>about
>Civil Rights back home, or some other justice-related issue. I had
>an
>internal dilemma going on: Should I ask him about Dumo and co first,
>or his
>role in the bogus Commission of Inquiry into the Student Murder
>case. His
>speech lasted less than ten minutes. He sat down. (I’m trying to
>get the
>video of the meeting to review his speech again, but this was the
>gist of
>what the man said as I recalled it. Some of my quotations may not be
>verbatim. Others are welcome to add to, modify it.)
>
>When Latjor took over the mike, several people asked immediately if
>we could
>ask Joof questions. Latjor relayed the message to Joof, and Joof
>indicated
>by gesturing that he’ll take questions after the other panelists had
>given
>their speeches. But surprise, surprise, even while Latjor was
>looking down
>at the Secretary and saying into the mike that he “hope the
>honorable
>Secretary would answer questions after…” the man picked up his
>leather
>folder, got off the dais, stopped and stooped to whisper something
>into Mrs.
>Lena Manga’s ear (sitting in the second row.) And before you could
>say
>“1,2,3” he started working briskly towards the exit. It all happened
>so
>fast, we were all caught unawares. Someone shouted that “the man is
>leaving.” Several people called out “coward!” Some people queried
>Latjor
>about why the man is leaving. I thought Latjor’s reply was very apt:
>“there’s nothing you can do when the man wants to leave. You cannot
>force
>him to stay. There’s nothing you can do…” Some of us followed him
>outside.
>Myself and Pa Samba Jow came out and found Joof, Lena Manga, some
>Embassy
>Security guard, and some two other fellows talking. Pa Samba had a
>video
>camera, and when Joof saw us, he started walking towards a Mercedes
>that was
>just pulling up. We both started talking, and Pa Samba managed to
>fire a
>question: “Mr. Secretary, can you tell us why the killers of the
>students
>were Idemnified?” Joof quickly pulled the car’s rear door and jumped
>in
>shutting the door without answering Pa Samba’s question. The car
>made a
>U-turn, and he was gone. This was the sum of the “threat” that Joof
>faced.
>
>When I turned around, there was Lena. I asked why her boy was
>running away?
>“He’s going because they don’t want him.” I said, “who doesn’t want
>him? Who
>are ‘they?’ It’s because of this punkish behavior that people don’t
>want
>this govt.” Lena didn’t say a thing. At that point, Tombong Jatta
>also came
>out to see what’s up. Joof’s car was gone. We walked back into the
>hall. No
>one could believe that Joof had bolted.
>
>Is this someone who felt threatened, or is this someone who used ONE
>PERSON’s heckling as an EXCUSE to dodge tough questions. Joof is a
>sharp
>fellow. And you can tell the man is cognizant of the predominant
>ill-will
>towards their govt. among Gambians in the US, and DC in particular.
>Tijan
>Ceesay told me that they “had to go through the President to get
>them to
>come.” I believe him. Only Yaya Jammeh can get Joof to venture into
>that
>gathering. That guy was looking for an excuse –any excuse- to run
>away from
>that gathering. He seized what he had, and bolted. Ramatulie is
>right, the
>man didn’t even have the decency to say he was leaving. Tombong, his
>cohort
>was as surprised as we all were.
>
>Hamat Bah took over, and talked about virtually every section of our
>national life. I fell in love with the man. This is one person, I
>won’t
>hesitate voting for. I don’t have time to go into details, but he
>de-constructed all the lies that the APRC keeps telling Gambians
>about our
>recent past. Halifa Sallah was vintage Halifa: very articulate,
>very well
>prepared, and engaging. He stated his positions and dared us to
>challenge
>him. It was a shame that there wasn’t time to allow us to engage him
>in a
>thorough discourse.
>
>Tombong Jatta, the other APRC speaker is an old family friend, so I
>don’t
>want to elaborate much on him. Not that there’s much to say anyway,
>because
>it’s fair to say that Koto Tombong was simply out of his league. To
>say that
>he was incoherent is being very generous. Hamat Bah made a good
>point about
>the American Constitution being Amended only 29 times in nearly 250
>years,
>while only four years on, the APRC-doctored Constitution has been
>Amended 39
>times! To refute this, Tombong tried to walk us through versions of
>the Old
>and New Constitutions. It was a complete disaster. His entire
>presentation
>turned comical at the end. He defended their Amendment giving Yaya
>Jammeh
>the power to appoint Chiefs and Alkalolus. He said Chiefs are judges
>that’s
>why they “really believe they should not be elected.” But then he
>shot
>himself in the foot when he asked us “where in the world are judges
>elected?” America! Several of us shot back. “America? They elect
>judges in
>America?” Yes, we said. He was taken aback. “Ok, where else?”
>Someone said
>“Florida!” He caught that one: “That’s in America” he said. At that
>point,
>we had to leave the Hall for another group. There was an anticlimax
>to the
>ending.
>
>Outside, while we were talking to Mr. Njie, he bolted as soon as Pa
>Samba
>asked him to answer some questions on camera: “I don’t talk to
>journalists.
>That’s my right. Not so?” he said. Pa Samba asked why he won’t go on
>camera
>if he’s sincere about what he was saying. No response there. While I
>was
>talking to Tombong about some mutual friends and neighbors back
>home, Conteh
>walked up and in his trade-mark high energy way, delivered a short
>sermon to
>him: “Mr. Jatta, Mr. Jatta, Listen. I’ve known you a long time. Be
>careful!
>Be very careful. If you continue doing this, some day you’ll really
>regret
>this. You need to be very careful.” Funny thing was, Tombong kept
>nodding
>his head while Conteh was preaching him. Quite out of touch the
>fellow is.
>To hit that home, when I told the man that I’m glad they summoned
>the
>courage to come at all as they don’t have any supporters here, he
>seemed to
>be genuinely surprised by that statement. “Really?” he asked me. I
>just
>shook my head. If he can’t tell such an open secret by people’s
>response to
>them as compared to Hamat Bah and Halifa, then I won’t even bother.
>Mr. Njie
>shouted for them to jump into a waiting car.
>
>In passing, it was great to tie some more faces to names:
>Dr. Jaiteh, who was looking for “the one with High Blood pressure”
>–me. He’s
>an immaculate gentleman. I spent a while on Sunday evening listening
>to him
>with Mr. Halifa Sallah give us some very good suggestions on how we
>can move
>forward. The talk was rudely interrupted by some fellow who decided
>he had
>better things to ask Mr. Sallah. Things about his mission to
>“campaign” here
>and “the good things he hears about him” for instance. I guess
>Malanding
>now knows why my blood pressure sometimes goes haywire. Some people
>behave
>like donkeys!
>
>MLJ Conteh aka “Dictator Jemus: Let My People Go” is as
>high-maintenance in
>person as he is on the List. Conteh is simply the most determined
>opponent
>of Jammeh I have ever met. His “Naphiyo” greetings is very
>appropriate
>because he is every bit Serere in appearance. For a minute, I
>thought I was
>looking at Hassan Joof, a good friend of mine. Conteh is a real
>Comrade…
>
>Musa Jeng: Fr. Mose is a lot more likable in person than he appears
>on the
>List. I can see KB and Hamjatta Hi-Fiving the brother when they meet
>in real
>life. He’s cool, nice, and very reasonable. He’s someone I can hang
>out with
>any time. It’s good to meet Mose. As was Babucarr Sillah, though I
>don’t
>remember the brother much from his contributions on the List.
>
>Joe Sambou, Pa Samba and others, I’ve met before. The biggest
>disappointment to myself was not seeing Kebba Dampha. But, I guess
>there’s a
>next time. And yes, UDP was the biggest loser.
>
>I gotto go now. Saiks, I hope you’ll understand why I, or anyone
>else
>couldn’t ask about your friend’s plight. Bye.
>
>Saul.
>
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