Culled from the Point Tuesday, June 4, 2002 Juwara Accuses Govt Of Down Playing Jawara’s Return The National Secretary of the United Democratic Party (UDP) Lamin Waa Juwara, has strongly criticised what he called the poor reception accorded to former President Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara by the Jammeh Administration but maintained that nobody can down play Jawara’s return. Juwara, who is an arch critic of the ruling APRC government, bitterly queried the poor reception accorded to his Uncle Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara, a person he described as the man of hope for this country. “ This is the reality on the ground. A lot of us including family members, well - wishers, supporters across the country, in their thousands went to the Banjul International Airport despite the early hours of the morning, they have been there, waiting to see and maybe shake hand with the old man who is so dear to them but all of sudden, he was led to a car and taken to his residence. A lot of people were disappointed,” lamented Juwara. He told The Point that the former Gambian statesman does not deserve such a treatment. Juwara, who is apparently unhappy with the governments action, added, “Nobody can down play Sir Dawda ‘s role and the love the Gambian people have for him. What the regime should understand is that this man has not been defeated but overthrown against the wishes of the Gambian people and I feel we still really love him.” The UDP National Secretary, who commended Jawara for his human rights record, told this paper that Jawara’s return has been welcomed by Gambians. “I can tell you that across all the country, people have been waiting for this day and I have seen people today hugging each other and offering prayers as the man of hope has returned.” Juwara marvelled, while expressing hope that the APRC government would learn from the oldman. He added that the Jammeh regime could learn a lot from Sir Dawda, especially in the areas of governance, international relations and what he called the management of the sick economy. He claimed that Jammeh’s eight- year rule is characterised by gross human rights violations, economic down town, the non purchase of farmers groundnuts for the past three years and the declining tourism industry. Finally, Juwara had this message to Jawara. “ Our message to him is that we have kept our solidarity with him all the time he was away. We think, he has still a father figure role to play to make sure that the cohesion that Gambia experienced during his tenure is rekindled so that we go back to decent politics. This will benefit both the government and the opposition. I think he can still play some other roles on behalf of The Gambia internationally,’ said Mbarodi. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~