Thank you very much Ndey. You have said it very clearly, and I hope Mr. Jallow is reading your posting. It is well said. School him please. Now lets compare to what Ebou Jallow did. Was he there for the public interest or his own private interest. I guess he can answer this for himself. --- Ndey Jobarteh <[log in to unmask]> wrote: <HR> <html><div style='background-color:'><DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=4> <P>Ngorr,</P> <P>Thank you for bringing up this statement made by GASSA. I just could not ignore this statement because it brings us back to the issues of corruption, mismanagment and personality politics. The process of making and maintaining the distinction been private and the public has been a challenge as we are seeing in GASSA’s statement. We can see problems faced by most individuals and especially the state in untangling private from public interests. Nevertheless, the problem of corruption in Gambia continues to be a severe one due to the same remarks and the unresolved contradictions between public and private roles. This reflects in all the speeches and statements made by Jammeh and his culprites.</P> <P>The challenge to the Jammeh regime of governance posed by corruption is that of distinguishing public and private roles and interests. I can see GASSA’s confusion in his statement because most people especially public servant has this problem or shall I say tends to ignore it.</P> <P>Public officials and indeed, people acting in almost every capacity have certain responsibilities, which come with the role, they are playing. By agreeing to serve in a certain role, people agree to serve the interests, which that role was created to fulfill. When the private interests of a person occupying a certain public role conflict with the duties and responsibilities of that role, opportunities for abuse arise. In cases where public officials pursue their private interests at the expense of the public goals designated for a specific, not only are those goals not met, but also this failure undermines both the political legitimacy of the system and respect for the rule of law. In this case, the personal agenda of a sitting President, or at least a group of overzealous advisors, became the unstated policy, and only the most aggressive and sustained intervention by the press, opposition, and the Judiciary exposed the scandal and brought some of the key offenders to justice.</P> <P>People enter into relationships with each other which, when routinized over time, give rise to expectations about how people ought to behave. When these relationships are generalized across society, they create group expectations about how people in a certain role are expected to act. So, in taking on a role like that of a public official, one accepts special responsibilities, which alter obligations and duties for people who enter that role. This is where the public interest overshadows the private interest. If we cannot differentiate the two then I guess and believe we are in serious trouble.</P> <P> </P> <P>The Struggle Continues!!!</P> <P>Ndey Jobarteh</P> <P></FONT><BR><BR></P> <DIV> <DIV></DIV> <P>In response to Gassa,</P></DIV> <P>Gassa: <<What constitutes national interest can be easily broken down to community interests and again to individual interests. I am yet to meet someone who would willing and readily forsake all his/her individual interests for all our national interests. Have you met one before? <EM>As far as I am concerned, some of my personal interests are more important to me than some of the national interests</EM>.>> Italics mine.</P></DIV> <P>Which of your personal interests are more important to you than some of the national interests?</P> <DIV></DIV> <P>May i remind you of an old Latin wiseacre: <EM>in vino veritas. </EM>I'll be freer this weekend - inshallah - to go through all of the stuff you've been writing of late.</P> <DIV></DIV> <P><BR><BR> <BR><BR></P> <DIV></DIV> <DIV></DIV> <DIV></DIV> <DIV></DIV> <DIV></DIV>> <DIV></DIV></div><br clear=all><hr>Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at <a href='http://g.msn.com/1HM105301/12'>http://explorer.msn.com</a>.<br></html> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To unsubscribe/subscribe or 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] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Try FREE Yahoo! Mail - the world's greatest free email! http://mail.yahoo.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 To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~