Folks, here is Alhagie Mbye's reaction to the allegations against him and published in the Daily Observer of Friday, 18th instant.

Have a good day, Gassa.

STARTLING REVELATIONS AT THE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER as reporter rejects claims of impropriety.

 Culled From The Daily Observer of Monday, January 21, 2002.

 Alhagie Mbye, a senior reporter at The Independent Newspaper has denied claims that he was fired by the bi-weekly newspaper’s management for professional misconduct but had rather resigned from his post.

In a reaction to a lead story of the Daily Observer’s Friday edition, Mbye remarked: “First and foremost, Alhagie Yorro Jallow’s statement is the lie of the century, I tendered my resignation on January 13, 2002 and took my resignation letter to the Independent newspaper’s management in the presence of the staff.

My problem with Alhagie Yorro started since April 200 when he decided to seize my fare for coverage and I protested because there were no tapes or camera for coverage, so all the reporters struggle to get one. Later, I refused to go around different embassies in the name of The Independent newspaper, seeking donations and putting the money into his pocket.

I also protested when he started demanding sex form young girls inside the office for promotion.

Later, he decided to write to me complaining that I was going out with a friend at The Point newspaper. I responded through the then editor-in-chief, DA Jawo and the acting news editor, Abdoulie Sey, informing them that as the most senior reporter, I was not expected to sit inside the office doing nothing, that I should go and verify my stories.

So when we received a notice from our landlord, Imam Alhagie Ceesay, that he was allocated land by the Gambia government for the construction of a quranic school, I interviewed the imam and he gave me a picture of the site and thanked the government, particularly the local government and religious affairs secretary of state”.

Mbye alleged that when he submitted his story, Alhagie Yorro got furious, insisting that the government did not deserve any credit and in his presence threw away the story and seized the picture.

He accused Alhagie Yorro of fabricating a story, purporting that the imam was given a plot of land so that he could evict the paper and promised to publish that story instead, so that the paper could get sympathy from donors.

“The bottom-line is that he is a bad tenant. Later, he brought a list of names of some senior government officials including a woman working in the office of the president, that he would undermine their positions because they were anti-Independent newspaper.

I protested that it was unnecessary and later we were not on talking terms. So after my arrest and detention in October 2001, for nine days at the NIA, Alhagie Jallow came once to visit me even though I was sick for 32 days and the reason why he visited me was that he came to advise me that the Point was calling and that I should not grant them an interview.

“After my release, I was made to understand that he was collecting a lot of funds from international institutions on my behalf, even though I was not aware of this.

Yorro Jallow also advised me to take legal action against the NIA and the Attorney General for unlawful detention.

He said he had already acquired funds for that purpose and that we would claim D2.5 million. Yorro Jallow then said one million Dalasis would go to him or the Independent newspaper and the other million Dalasis will go to the GPU and D500, 000 to myself.

I found this very ridiculous. Even though the medical Doctor who treated me said the treatment was free of charge, Yorro Jallow was still insisting that donors were ready to pay any amount for my medication.

Alhagie Yorro Jallow said we should make a deal and bill them so that we share the money, which I emphatically refused”.

Mbye claimed that he informed Demba Jawo (GPU President) that his medication was free of charge and gave him the medical Doctor’s phone number to call him for confirmation.

Few days later, Mbye continued, a childhood friend of his and a cousin sent him an invitation letter through the Independent for a two-week holiday to rest in the United Kingdom.

“When Yorro saw the invitation letter, he was furious and he called all the embassies asking them to refuse me visa, as according to him, I have a case against the state which he would like to pursue.

He withheld my December salary and till now, I have not been paid. So when I found a more lucrative and respectable job, I tendered my resignation on January 13, 2002 in the presence of the staff of the Independent management. He sent people to me to beg me including some staff.

I refused and he started telling my colleagues that it was the APRC who offered a job in order to silence me even though I am working in a private company.

Now he has vowed that he will continue to discredit me because he has his own paper and when he contacted a reporter at the Point newspaper to help him discredit my image, the journalist investigated and knew that he was lying.

I don’t owe a Butut to anybody and after he fabricated a story against me at The Independent, I called him for my reaction, but he refused. Instead, he boasted that he had close ties with certain secretaries of state and senior security officers and that he would continue from now on to destroy me.

I informed DA Jawo and Abdoulie Sey that I have the right to react but he still refused.

Yorro Jallow called West Africa Magazine and also fabricated lies, trying to undermine me.

I warned him to carry my reaction or else I would institute legal action for libel and defamation of character against him and that in the court, I would let the cat out of the bag.

Alhagie Yorro Jallow is a coward who always put his reporters in trouble and backs out. He cannot even write a proper and correct story or article”, Mbye angrily charged.