Habib, Astrid, Paul, and others, thanks for your comments and I concur with you folks for stating that it is merit that should count and not religion, ethnicity, or cronyism. We cannot and should not hire or fire folks based on these criteria. A lot of deserving Gambians are left to the curb because they did not fit in one of these pegs. Our society, economy, and other development factors suffers as a result. Whomever is most qualified should have the job. Like someone intimated to me recently, "the person earning a position based on merit is more likely to perform his duties well and without favor, compared to the crony. If you read the local papers these days, they are rife with folks crying foul because they or their guy is not nominated for this or that position. However, these same folks where there when they or their guy was given a set aside and it was perfectly ok (Daf Maa/Kor Deff Chi Kerr Yu Baaxhi). That is how the APRC conducts business. Now that they are done getting rid of most folks that belong to the "Other", they are turning on their very own. As stakeholders in our nation, we need to stand up against injustice and we should not wait until we are affected before we react. It is not going to be popular speaking against your friends, relatives, or members of your ethnic group, and you may experience all types of scorn. I will be the first to acknowledge that it is not easy to speak out against those close to us, but are they more human than those we do not know? I think not. We cannot keep on doing business as usual. We have operated this way for all our 37 years as a nation and it did not work for us and never will. In my opinion, a Gambian, is a Gambian, and a Gambian. Equal opportunity to all should be our war cry. That is how we can make the best use of our human resources. So, moving forward, may the best person for whatever job have it, regardless of their ethnicity, religion, or affiliations. Chi Jaama Joe Sambou >From: Habib Ghanim <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list ><[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: mayor 's position >Date: Thu, 11 Apr 2002 15:48:03 +0000 > _________________________________________________________________ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.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] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~