Ebrima, thanks for the invaluable job you are doing. Your Source raised some very pertinent issues. Frankly, I must tell you though that one does NOT need a degree (let alone a Law degree) to decipher what was going on here. We had a hustler, Francisco (or whatever his name is) going around abusing innocent Gambians in order to salvage a failing restaurant business. The man probably came to the country with 'good' intentions of engaging in the restaurant business. Because of the sorry state of the country (virtually nonexistent tourist industry) the man's business woefully failed. The man is a hustler with limited skills. He does not have the money to finance another line of business. He does not have the intellectual wherewithal to engage in other challenging endeavors. All he has is his 'soldiering skills'. The only thing he can do is 'train' soldiers. That's all. How can he use this commodity? He size up our moron (Yaya). He knows the moron is paranoid. Thinks that the whole country hates him and want to kill him. Francisco knew that if he had access to Yaya and told Yaya that there were Gambians plotting to remove him (Yaya), Yaya will take up Francisco as a 'friend' and help him earn money from the government. The oldest trick in the book. 'Go to an African tyrant, convince him that people are plotting to kill him, frame some people and if they have to die, so be it'. The Franciscos of this world know about the lawlessness in our neck of the woods. Francisco knows that his story will not be subjected to forensic scrutiny. The only person Francisco needs to convince is Yaya. Once Yaya says that people are plotting to kill him, no police officer, lawyer or judge in the country will overturn what Francisco and Yaya are saying. This game Francisco played on these people is not without its risks. Had Francisco picked on someone Yaya was also loyal to, Francisco might have been the one six feet deep by now. With the help of vermin like Abdoulie Kujabi and this despicable Ebrima Barrow chap, Francisco was able to target people that would be easy prey for Yaya. They targeted people they knew Yaya was not loyal to. Who did they try to draw in this web of deceit? S.M. Dibba. Waa Juwara. Sam Sillah. Dumo Saho. Alaji Kanteh. Saul Ndow. All these are people we all know Yaya is not loyal to. Another significant factor is that Francisco and his patsies knew that these people were not going to run to Yaya to rat about Francisco in order to save Yaya's skin. Let us always remember Francisco's goal here. He wants that contract from the government so that he can salvage his business. His luck struck in May 1999 (according to Barrow; although Dumo's purported statement and the indictment in this case dates the 'conspiracy' back to March 1999). Right here the government has some explaining to do. If you remember months ago when the charges first came out, I told people to watch these dates. They are very important. The government has to prove (beyond a reasonable doubt) everything that is stated in their papers they filed in court. In any case, Francisco found a perfect prey in Ebrima Barrow. Although I have not received all the information I need about Barrow, I am almost certain that he gave his statement willingly. There are no tell-tale signs of coercion as far as Barrow is concerned. As I said yesterday, if one looks at Barrow's statement carefully, one will see that Barrow did not implicate himself in anyway as far as the charges before the courts are concerned. Barrow might have been guilty of something (according to his Cautionary Statement), but he is NOT currently charged with that crime. However, it could also be argued that Barrow was coerced by the NIA to lie about Dumo et al. Well, we will find out soon. But the reason I call Barrow despicable and the reason I do not care if the vermin rots in Hell is that, why on earth would he go to unsuspecting Gambians (like Yarbo who looked up to this vermin) to abuse them for the benefit of this foreigner (Francisco)? This is the real quarrel I have with Barrow. He was putting unsuspecting and innocent people in the line fire. I would be madder if I find out later that Barrow did not stop at setting these people up, but he also lied in his Cautionary Statement about life and dead issues. Barrow clearly told some lies. I do not for one moment think that he was telling the truth when he said that Dumo and Saul Ndow asked him and Francisco to get them arms. I do not know Dumo personally. I do not know Saul Ndow personally too. But I know of Saul Ndow. Anybody that knows Saul would laugh at the idea that Saul will just meet someone like Barrow and decide to plot with them to overthrow the government. Saul is lot smarter than that. Lot more cynical than that. This man would not part with money that easily. Barrow must not know Saul very well or else he would not peddle such a ridiculous story about Saul Ndow. Barrow also never explained the real reason why Francisco wanted to purchase AK-47 guns even before Francisco ever met Dumo and Saul Ndow. Barrow took Francisco to Momodou Marenah (another unsuspecting victim) inquiring about buying guns. According to Barrow, Francisco wanted to use the guns to overthrow the government. How ridiculous can it get? Apparently, Francisco looked at the situation and realizes that Marenah was not a prize big enough for Yaya to grant him (Francisco) the contract he wanted. As far as Yarbo was concerned, I believe Francisco was trying to enter into a genuine business transaction with Yarbo. I believed Francisco genuinely wanted to purchase a gas gun for his protection. Problem is, the hustler does not have money. Unfortunately for Yarbo, the NIA thugs were simply rounding up everyone that was uttered by Francisco and Yaya and his cohorts knew that that person was dispensable. They knew that although Francisco mentioned S.M. Dibba, Waa Juwara and Sam Sillah, if these people were arrested, all hell will break lose. Why not arrest defenseless non-politicians like Jaiteh, Marenah, Yarbo and Dumo. These people do not have constituents to fight for them. Going back to Francisco and Barrow. The despicable duo realized that Marenah, Yarbo and the street peddlers were not attractive enough for Yaya. They probably learnt that from Abdoulie Kujabi. So the duo set off to implicate other more 'attractive' Gambians. We all know how they woefully failed to put Dibba, Juwara and Sillah on the chopping block. By the time the vermin went to Dumo, they have learnt from their failures with Dibba and Juwara. They somewhat perfected their craft. This time around instead of going straight to talk about politics and taking over the government, they will talk about Francisco's restaurant and establish a rapport with their unsuspecting victims. That way if they are seen meeting with these victims, that will add credence to their story later on that they were plotting to hatch a coup. So the goof-ball (stolen from Saul Khan) went to Dumo to talk about helping his friend Francisco. Do we realize here that the story taken to Dumo could not have gone to Dibba or Waa Juwara? The latter are not businessmen that can help salvage a restaurant. To get their attention one has to talk about politics. Barrow confirms this supposition when he spoke about Sam Sillah. When their ploy worked with Dumo, they wanted to take that to Sillah. Sillah is a politician too. You start talking about restaurants, he sends you packing. Notice how Barrow said that their encounter with Sillah was in 'vain'? Back to Dumo. Dumo is a philanthropist that will not hesitate to help anyone in need if he can do so. Barrow approaches him with the restaurant problem. Dumo knows that Saul Ndow is a businessman. He hooks Saul up with Francisco. That is all. The reason I believe Dumo's statement was 'beaten' out of him was, I am pretty certain a man in Dumo's league will never meet someone less than twice in his life and start plotting with that person to overthrow a government. I do not believe Dumo discussed arms with Francisco or Barrow. It simply does not make sense to me. Again if you know Saul Ndow, you will know that the exact opposite is more likely. Saul knows the Sub-region very well. What is more plausible is that Saul would ask Francisco for money to go to say Liberia or Sierra Leone to procure arms. To me, that is more likely that Saul giving money to Francisco to buy arms for Saul. This is laughable. I will hasten to add though that I am by no means suggesting that Saul is an arms dealer or a terrorist like Baabaa Jobe. All I am saying is that Saul has 'contacts' in the Sub-region. Obviously, Saul will not ask Francisco for money to buy arms. Saul knew Francisco was broke. After all that is why they went to see him. The hustler does not have money and wants a contract from Yaya. You take away Dumo's statement that Francisco brought up the issue of purchasing arms, and all you are left with is Barrow's lies and the lies obviously told by Francisco (remember Francisco was part of the contingent that arrested Marenah even before Dumo was arrested). Both Francisco and Barrow are highly unreliable. Most of what they have to say will be hearsay and would not stand up in court. For instance, Barrow cannot testify that Saul Ndow and Dumo SAID that they wanted to overthrow the government and rely on that statement to prove that Dumo and Saul actually said that. No judge worth his salt will allow this form of blatant hearsay and lies. Ebrima, the whole government case hinges on the lies of Barrow and corroboration from Francisco. We need not even go into the nitty-gritty of the offenses these innocent citizens have been charged with. It is clear that the flimsy evidence the government has does not begin to off-load the onerous burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. It is a mockery to the rule of law to charge people with attempting to overthrow a government simply because they met with an Italian hustler to discuss the affairs of his failing restaurant business. It is a mockery to our law books to charge people with conspiracy to overthrow a government simply because there is some hustler like Francisco and a moron like Barrow who can say that they have dealings with those individuals. The dealings Francisco and Barrow had with those individuals were independent of each other. There is no evidence Dumo ever spoke to Kanteh or Marenah or Jaiteh. There is no evidence that Yarbo ever spoke to Saul Ndow or Kanteh or Dumo. To charge these citizens with conspiracy because Barrow SAYS that he had dealings with each and everyone of them on different occasions, is simply preposterous. I will also not get into the issue about entrapment. Reason? I do not believe Dumo et al committed an offense in the first place. There is no need to bring up the defense of entrapment. But suffice for me to say that the government cannot make these charges stick if the only reason they exist in the first place is because Francisco went out aggressively to make these people to commit a crime. If this whole plot was Francisco's idea (which I believe to be the case) and left to Dumo et al no one would have thought of this 'conspiracy', then the government cannot rely on Francisco in order to nail these citizens. Clearly none of these citizens went to Francisco. Francisco and Barrow came to them. If these charges are allowed to stick, then I pity the whole country. Now, apparently the only thing it will take for someone to be convicted with treason is for a hustler to lie about you and have another liar 'corroborate' his lies. No need for physical evidence. No need to prove that the 'facts' add up. But knowing our courts and the way this case has been handled so far, people should not be surprised if Dumo et al are railroaded. The prosecutors like Wowo are corrupt. The judges are scared. The NIA are ruthless. The general public is indifferent. Recipe for lawlessness. Yaya and Francisco can pick out any Gambian and frame you. That is why the public should NOT be indifferent. As I keep saying, the government has significantly lowered the threshold for all of us. Now it takes very little to abduct citizens, jail them, torture them and murder them. Frankly, if I were family and friend to Dumo et al, I will put out a 'contract' on that Francisco character. This is war. Now that the man's treachery is out in the open thanks to your Sources, he needs to be taken on. Left to the vermin alone, Dumo et al might as well fry. Why should we not feel the same about the little Italian rat? For the sake of a contract to 'train' soldiers and save his restaurant, he is willing to sacrifice our Gambian brothers. Let's hate him back. For the sake of our brothers, let us be willing to sacrifice the vermin. With Francisco out of the way, we are just dealing with Barrow's lies. Like I said yesterday, Barrow's lies will allow a truck to be driven through it. This is pathetic. An Italian rat coming to our country and going to arrest citizens with our own soldiers. Yaya, we all know is after self-preservation. The vermin will sacrifice his own mother to stay in power. To collaborate with an Italian and sacrifice his own ADC, is a piece of cake for the vermin. Why Barrow would sacrifice his own Salikene boy for a snake like Francisco, is what I cannot get over. Ebrima, thanks again for your efforts. This is a sorry state of affairs. Yaya and his gang of bandits are holding the whole country hostage. I wish the families and friends of these victims all the best. I hope Mrs. Saho perseveres in her endeavors. I hope they find solace in the fact that NO legitimate court will convict their love ones on the basis of these flimsy evidence. We all know that these people are innocent of these crimes they are accused of committing. But we also know that we live in a lawless jungle where might makes right; where lies carry more weight than truth. Dumo et al will be vindicated. These revelations are a first step towards that vindication. Now the whole world knows that the government does not have legs to stand on. The tape your Sources mentioned is a figment of Foday Barry's imagination. The pathological liar knows that the tape does not exist. Let them bring the tape out. They are all a bunch of low-lives; criminals, liars, and in the case of the Italian rat, hustlers. KB _________________________________________________________________ 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. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------