Gassama, as I promised you, you CANNOT finesse me with lies. It would NOT take me a day and a half to debunk your lies. So, this is what it boils down to? Like I said, all the ‘development’ you have been yapping about (the ‘development’ that should make us tolerate child murderers) is just ONE major road (Kombo Coastal). I know you are a mental midget, but just bear with me a little let me explain to you why it is important to distinguish between the projects that are completed and those that are not. It is also important to spell out to people EXACTLY what we have. You claimed to be an engineer. I would have thought that like Yusupha Jow, you would be interested in concrete numbers so that people will NOT be misled by fluid terms like ‘many roads’, ‘dozens of roads and bridges etc. I am glad that I forced you to admit that ONLY ONE MAJOR ROAD is complete. The rest are just ‘promises’. And going by Yaya’s promise to electrify 98% of the country by July 22, 2001, who knows when the other road projects will be finished. Here I will pause to address something I really liked in Karamba’s brilliant response to Buharry’s inquiries. It is a big fraud perpetrated by AFPRC/APRC sycophants like Gassama that Gambians are impressed by Yaya’s ‘developments’ and that is why Gambians do NOT give a darn if our children are massacred or if people like Dumo are illegally incarcerated. This is simply NOT true. Like Karamba said and I have said previously, to begin with, this conclusion assumes that there is a lot of impressive developments that can only be delivered by Yaya. Need I tell anyone that this assumption is wrong? Our people are POORER today than they were before 1994. What ‘development’ did Yaya take to our farmers whose groundnuts have NOT been bought the past three consecutive years? It is ridiculous to argue that Lalo Jaiteh’s family in Baddibu are impressed by the Kombo Coastal Highway and do NOT care about the plight of Lalo Jaiteh or whether their neighbors that are farmers have money to feed their families. So, people that argue that Gambians are impressed by Yaya’s developments do NOT know what they are talking about. AFPRC/APRC sycophants have to point to something to explain why they are still in power. They get the Gassamas of this world to exaggerate what they are doing and compare their record with PPP. Now they CANNOT do that anymore. APRC is PPP. They inherited the same politicians and civil servants and sycophants. We will NOT allow them anymore to use this smokescreen. I can bet that almost 90% of the people on G_L that were criticizing me for not acknowledging things this government is doing did NOT even know that most of the things we hear from people like Gassama and people eager to rationalize their support for Yaya, is EXAGGERATION. Just witness Gassama’s merry-go-round trying to simply explain that there is NO Westfield to Mandinaba road. The guy gets irritated (and call my questions silly) when I pinned him down to explain that the ‘project’ is FAR from complete. So far, CSE was putting its own money in that project in anticipation of you know what. If Gambians were really serious in seeing the completion of that project, then Yaya is the wrong guy to be voted for. This project and numerous others depend on loans from other governments and international institutions. Remember that 90% of our Development Budget is funded by loans and grants from foreign bodies. Like I said before the elections, between luminaries like Ousainou Darboe and ‘Blood Diamond Dealers and child murderers, who has the best chance to attract these loans and grants? Clearly, local taxes CANNOT fund the Development Budget. Do we need thieves to contract loans on our behalf, steal the bulk of the money and implement projects that 10-year-olds can implement? Gassama, if nothing else, I am glad that you confirmed my friend’s story that it is a virtual nightmare to travel from Latrikunda Mampatokoto to Westfield. Don’t even talk about traveling from Serrekunda to Kaur. Moving on your piece point-by-point. I am also glad that you told the whole world that ‘the stretch from Mandinaba to Soma’ is NOT complete. Only God knows when it will be. So, you CANNOT point to this ‘development’ to explain why our farmers in that area, that did NOT have enough food to eat, would vote for Yaya because of an INCOMPLETE road. On the contrary, those people should have rejected Baabaa (‘Blood Diamond Dealer) Jobe because he would only attract sanctions to the country and the road will NEVER be complete. I make this long-winded point just to show you that it is NOT the ‘development’ that explains Yaya’s ‘victories’. Yaya steals elections. You can remain in denial and point to INCOMPLETE projects to explain the ‘victories’. Some of us know better. The ‘Senegambia to Stink Corner’ Road; report that as complete after it is properly lit. otherwise, we just have a dead-trap there. This ‘development’ is an apt one to use in order to gauge whether Gambians value ‘development’ more than civil liberties. This road is right in the middle of the urban area where our children were massacred and where the radio stations are torched and where most of the dismissed civil servants live and where most of the NIA abductions take place. Does anyone on this List believe for one minute that their family members will look to that road (where accidents occur constantly) and vote for Yaya; ignoring the fact that without their children abroad they would starve to dead? Forget other people’s human rights for a minute. Let us assume that our families were not directly touched by the massacre, the arson attacks and the abductions. Almost all our families are touched by the abject poverty in the country. Gassama himself CANNOT live on his Gamtel salary. Would our families ignore the abject poverty because of some unfinished roads? This does NOT make any sense. The street lights in the TDA. Gassama, we will wait for you to tell us when the lights are complete and NAWEC is able to supply electricity. Mind you, AFPRC/APRC has been in power for almost eight years now and has contracted hundreds of millions of dalasis in loans that the Gambian taxpayers are going to pay for. We still do NOT have street lights in a stretch of road that is less than five kilometers. Farrafeni to Lamin Koto road. Same story. When will you get it into your thick skull that there is NO Farafeni to Lamin Koto road per se? The road is INCOMPLETE and only God knows when it will be. The Trans-Gambia road? Same thing. INCOMPLETE. Soma to Basse Road? Did I read you right being satisfied by a pledge from the EU (the West that we do NOT need)? Maybe you meant that they are returning to us stuff they stole from us to begin with. I thought you financed your projects from Allah’s Bank. Would a serious government that need money from the EU alienate the organization by dismissing EU ‘staff’ willy-nilly. If I were you, I will NOT be ‘satisfied’ until the money is in the country. In other words, the ‘pledge’ should NOT be ‘enough’ for you. With loose-canons like Yaya and Baabaa (‘Blood Diamond Dealer’) Jobe at the helm, rest assured that they will soon do something to jeopardize these funds. Matter of fact, they have also engaged in shenanigans that will haunt them when it is time to disburse these funds. Now, to my favorite part: the Banjul roads. You want to tell me that AFPRC/APRC built the major roads in Banjul post-1994? You throw in people’s names out there to sound as if you know exactly what you are talking about. Gassama, I told you since the time you were Kebba Jobe. You are dealing with someone you have no idea about. Let us talk specifics here. When I said that the MAJOR roads were built by PPP, the first thing you should ask yourself is what are the major roads. Talk to me about the roads and NOT about people that purportedly worked on those projects. Was Wellington built by AFPRC? Was Leman built by AFPRC? Was Buckle built by AFPRC? Was Hagan built by AFPRC? Was Anglesea built by AFPRC? Was Box Bar and London Corner built by AFPRC? Was Marina Parade and Independence Drive built by AFPRC? I am NOT interested about what Dr. Leigh is doing or has done. Tell us what major road AFPRC/APRC built in Banjul. I know some of the names I gave you might sound foreign to you now. But let that NOT fool you to think that you are talking to an ignorant person in the Diaspora that does NOT know what is going on in the country and that the Dictatorship changed some of the street names to honor people like Gaddafi. You CANNOT lie to me. Although you said ‘finally’ in your penultimate paragraph, you went to another mini-paragraph and exhibited why people CANNOT stand you and why we are justified in calling you a shameless sycophant. Again, when it comes to you, let me inform you that you cannot slip a fast one on me. If I let some of your gibberish slide, it is just that I am NOT inclined to expose you. What other ‘dozens of roads and bridges’ have the AFPRC/APRC constructed in the country? You are just pathetic. Here we have you misleading people about roads that are INCOMPLETE. What would you have done if there were more roads that were completed? Of course we all know that you do NOT have anything else to say. You are just lying again trying to mislead ignorant people in the Diaspora that Yaya has built ‘dozens of roads and bridges’ in the country. I await other parts of your ‘development’ projects. Meantime, I will also try and put together a piece detailing how AFPRC/APRC wasted our resources in projects that rendered our people POORER than they were pre-1994. KB >From: Jungle Sunrise <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list ><[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Re: Feeling like a fish out of water. >Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2002 13:45:39 +0000 > _________________________________________________________________ Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com <<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>> 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] <<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>