Pamodou Jobe wrote:

"Come on now Mr Gassama. Don't declare the debate closed on that chapter. You still have not answered my questions on how Jammeh got his wealth and why he is bent on hanging on to power forever".

Mr. Jobe, for any discussion to be meaningful and of benefit to people, we must base them on facts, facts that are in the public domain that can be verified by independent people. You keep repeating the above questions as if I have access to Jammeh's bank account or I am close enough to him to know what is not in the public domain.

For the record, I do not have access to Jammeh's bank account or private safe. He is not a family member and not a close friend. I hardly knew him before he came to power and in all honesty, whatever I say about the guy is something in the public domain. He has never done anything for me or any family member that I am aware of. If you are privy to how he may have gotten his "wealth" in such a short period, why don't you share it with us?

All that I have tried to do was to rationalise how he may have gotten his money. Now ask yourself this question: "If a county council in Spain (not an individual) can contribute the colossal sum of D14 million to his private fund set up to fulfil his dreams, how about individuals?" Again, ask your self: "How many such donations could he have recieved since coming to power eight years ago considering the fact that this is just a single donation from one source?"

Like I said before, there is nothing in our constitution that bars a sitting head of state from recieving gifts as prevails in the US. And please let nobody tell me that our constitution of the first republic did not allow it before. The main difference between Jammeh and the previous head of state concerning gifts given to them is simply this:

Jammeh gets his gifts from rich friends and organizations and disburses them to the needy, friends, party supporters and institutions, whereas Jawara accepted gifts from the rich and poor alike and kept everything for himself, his family and those very close to him. We are all living witnesses to the many meet the farmers' tours of years gone by. In those days, people competed with each other to give the president gifts of one form or another. In those days those who had cattle, gave him cattle. Those who could not afford cattle, gave him sheep or goats. Those who could not afford any of the above, gave him chicken. And all these, he would accept!! Jammeh refuses to accept gifts from our peasant farmers.

You also wrote:

"At least I concede that by using the taxpayers' money and loans taken in the name of the Gambian people, Jammeh has built more shools, roads, hospitals etc than Jawara or the colonial power. Although that is no reason to declare him the best possible leader for our copuntry."

No, Pamodou Jobe! I have not concluded that he is the best leader for our country yet. It would be very premature for me to even assume that at this stage. However, I shall be relying on you to convince me that (a) he is the worst to have happened to our country and I should stop supporting him or (b) he is the best thing to have happened to our country and I should continue supporting him at least for the time being.

You again wrote:

"The fact that the opposition did not query his assets is no reason why some of us should not query them. Also, Mr Gassama, you can't say I expect too much of you. Since you have no sense of proportion when it comes to defending Jammeh, 'too much' does not exist for you."

Mr. Jobe, I am just an ordinary citizen and a civil servant for that matter. My livelihood does not come from Jammeh or any political party for that matter. For the likes of me and you, all we can do is ask questions. It is the duty of the politicians who stand on campaign platforms deceiving our citizens to vote for them, whose  job it is to querry any false declaration of assets by any presidentail aspirant. The law is very clear on that and I have confidence that the leader of the UDP led coalition, a reknown lawyer and his senior political party members as well as the leadership of PDOIS, the NRP, IEC and other civic bodies are in a much better position to scrutinize Jammeh's asset declaration and expose him for violating the constitution. That is beyond me and 'too much' to expect from me! You see 'too much' does exist for me too.

You again wrote:

"As Jammeh's chief spokesperson on this forum, Mr Gassama, you are expected to execute your responsibilities without fear or favour, affection, ill-will or impatience".

Your this statement is not only false but dishonest. The chief spokesperson of the government is the SOS for youths and sports, Sarjo Jallow and the Director of Press at the office of the president is F.J Ceesay who is also subscribed to this forum.

Finally, let me assure you that I will continue to answer your questions as you ask them and also ask you questions as I answer yours as long as it does to degenerate into name callings or insults. If you ask one question, I will answer it and ask one question. If you ask five questions, I will answer them and in turn ask you five questions. At the end of the day if you fail to answer any of my questions I will conclude that you tacitly endorse my stance. I will not ask any ambiguous questions. In fact most of the questions that I will be asking you can be answered by a simple YES or NO.