Gassa you wrote: > The Gambia's population is more than 1.3 million of which more than 40% > (more than 520,000 people) are adults of sound mind who have lived in the > country continuously at least for the past 25 years. This group of people > do > not need people, for reasons best known to them, instigate violence or > chaos > in our midst, in the name of democracy or human rights. If more than 99.9% > of our population have never been visited by the NIA or shot during the > past > 7 years, but instead you have less than 0.001% who want to matyr > themselves, > I say they are welcome. > > And i say that it is rather tragic to hear such statements from intelligent > Gambians. Even one Gambian who falls prey to what I have described is one > too many, and it saddens me to see that you have chosen to close your eyes > to this. > > You also wrote: > > "Whereas there are people who do not support this > government, and those of us who do recognize that it is their inalienable > right to do so, there are others who would not, under any circumstances, > recognize the legitimacy and inalienable right of those elected by the > overwhelming majority of our peoples to rule" This is utter nonsense and is also the excuse those who are bent on labelling those of us who criticize the undesirable tactics of this regime continually use as the reason for thier defense of the indefensible. I said as much in my previous post, and here you are still peddalling the same old excuse. Please do read my piece again. it is not a matter of refusing to let those chosen by the people to rul, but rather the methods by which they rule being thje criterion by which we must judge them for the sake of our country and our people. We must also remember that in our country, many factors influence the reason people choose to vote for someone, and at the present time, fear, poverty and the bait of a few dalasi to already suffering people, as well as coercion cannot possibly be discounted as contributing factors to the choices made in our elections, and if you doubt that, just take a look at the firing spree the president went on right after the elections. How can any intelligent person defend the rampant firing of people based on their party and voting affiliations? i guess in Africa there are some of us who will continaully defend the indefensible for many twisted reasons, but definitley because they care to safeguard the electoiral process and the rights of the general populace. No Gassa, it si convenient to say that the mejority choose freely but we all know that many factors contributed to their choices, and the unscrupulous amongst us will sadly continue to present that as absolute evidence as to the reason things went the way they did when the truth is always apparent. We do owe it ot ourselves to be truthful in every situation, even when it is not in our own selfish interest. it is through the continued sacrifice to attain a reater good for all and not just for self that we can forge a society that will benefit all in the long run, and believe it or not, this is good. You also wrote: "When the president during his inauguration admitted that we have all wronged each other during the past and asked for mutual forgiveness and reconciliation, he did so passionately and genuinely. " Well, this is simple to verify. All we have to do is watch and see if and how this genuiness is manifested. It is not just enough to say that one has fo rgivn former politicians and then build a few shiny buildings. There are many things that transpired in our country since Jammje came to power and some of those ugly truths invlove the spilling of Gambian blood, and the incarceration of Gambian sons who are yet to be charged or have not been charged with anything worth their incarceration and the denial to them of due process quickly. None of these things have been satisfactorily addressed and addressed they must be if this government is to ever hopes to be taken seriously and believed when they come before the people and talk about forgiveness and reconcilliation. You do not just kill people and disrupot their lives and jail them for years without providing evidence or charges that are justifiable according to the laws of our constitution and then just say " please forgive me and noe let us move forward". Only fools believe that can ever happen. Someone killed and maimed those kids for just exercising their constitutional rights, and someone killed Koro Ceesay, and someone jiled Dumo Saho all these months without any tangible explanation that can be taken to a court of law and defended successfully, and someone does turture Gambians for no justifiable reason. These things have to be brought before the courts of our land and proof of lack thereof given, and the verdicts rendered according to the law. Otherwise, we have a bunch of outlaws pretending to be sincere good guys who committ atrocities just because of their positions and think all they have to do is say I am sorry and life goes on. But the worse is not just that, but the fact that people such as yourself are bent on continaully telling us that all this should be aceptable under the guise of so-called progress. YOu wrote: "Despite all the hulla baloo over the intimidation of the independent media, the reality on the ground is the total opposite. Our newspapers are a hundred fold more vibrant during the past two years than ever before, the number of private and community radio stations in the country number more than 30 and the number of newspapers and journals number atleast a dozen. Common guys, lets face the facts and not be too sentimental about certain issues." Goodness Gassa, what do you call sentimentality, the freedom to "print all the news that's fit to print" as the Motto of the New York Times states, and not have to look over one's shoulders in case someone comes for you just because you told it as it is? If some journalists in our country have reached the point where they have to give up reporting the news as they unfold to appease the powers that be, then that is a sad thing indeed, and I cannot see how you find that acceptable. You wrote: "They developed the public media to unprecedented levels and provided the enabling environment for the private mdeia to develop and flourish. This they did in order to promote dialogue and the free exchange of ideas for the common good of all Gambians regardless of political affiliation. " Who are you trying to convince to believe this in the face of all of those people fired from their jobs just because they did not vote for Jammeh or dared voice their affiliation to other political parties? The evidence is there as seen right after the elections. As for free exchange of ideas, how many gambians other than the appointed public relations peddlers such as your good self dare publicly criticize the government openly without being visited by the marauding bands under the guise of law enforcement in the night, or even broad daylight. Are all of these things figments of our imagination Gassa? Again you wrote: ". The APRC government is willing to listen and learn from its mistakes. They have always listened to the voices of the people otherwise they would not have shortened their transition from four to two years." Now this is truely laughable. They did indeed shorten it and then Jammeh took off his uniform and ran for office. That is all well and good, but what he has done to the rights of individual gambians since can only be labelled as "listening to the voics of the people" by the appointed spokespeople like yourself, and it saddens me to no end. Again Gassa, for God's sake and for the sake of our people and country's future, try to refrain from disregarding the things some of us are critical about when it comes to this government and which are so clearly made every time, but which you deliberately ignore, while continuallyadhering to baseless and unintelligent arguments that those who are raising their voices are motivated by less than honourable desires, and that material progress is enough to make us ignore the protection of very basic rights that are the backbone of any free society , but which this regime continues to abuce at every turn while telling us they are extending the hand of reconcilliation. All that some of us who refuse to be hoodwinked are asking for is that this gesture of reconcilliation be made a real one by addressing the burning issues i mentioned and that others have mentioned, and which are very real indeed. We did not invent all those atorcities, and it is time to address them if we are to believe all the gestures, otherwise they are just senseless gestures of a sly wolf while he continues to devour the sheep. Jabou Joh. > > Regards, Mrs Jabou N.Joh, President/ceo, Cumberland Investment Group, 557 Holt Valley Rd, Nashville, TN, 37221 Tel: (615) 269 6949 Mobile: (615) 573 1785 Efax: (240) 371 5557 / (702) 995 0969 <<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>> To view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] <<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>