Joe, you bit me on this one. I wanted to forward it to Gambia-L when I saw that you already did:-) The word "accountability" has been flushed out into the Gambia River a long time ago. Momodou Camara On 30 Oct 2002 at 20:26, Joe Sambou wrote: > Folks, below was culled from AllAfrica website. A parliament in one of the > wealthiest countries in Africa, said no to their President's request to purchase > a $51 million Presidential jet, and the parliament rejected the request. > Another parliament in the same neighborhood as the first, also rejected a > similar request, this time from their King for a Royal jet. However, the third > Assembly, has an attitude of "see no evil, hear no evil, and know no evil". > This third Assembly has a Philosopher/King - Dictatorship. He did not request > as the first two above, as state funds are his funds and how can he seek > permission to use his own funds. Naaah! This parliament also happens to be one > of Africa's poorest. The first two Assemblies had a process and went through > the established protocols and let the DEMOCRATIC process run its course. The > third Assembly has a similar process, but has no need for it. Ladies and > gentlemen, this third Assembly is none other than our very own. Please read on. > > > "Power Tends to Corrupt And Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely" - Lord Acton > Power to the People True Or False? > > > > Email This Page > > Print This Page > > > > > The Independent (Banjul) > > October 28, 2002 > Posted to the web October 28, 2002 > > Banjul > > Recently, we heard in the about the decision of the Swazi Parliament not to > approve the purchase of an executive jet for King Mswati II. > > That was followed a few days later by loud criticisms of the plan by > President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa to purchase a 51 million Dollar > presidential jet. > > It was indeed quite amazing that the parliament of an absolute monarchy like > Swaziland would dare to prevent the King from purchasing an aircraft while in a > so-called democracy like The Gambia, President Yahya Jammeh seems to have > acquired a 'presidential jet' from the blue without the National Assembly or > anyone else being aware of it. That is indeed another indictment of the > democratic credentials of this regime, which seems to be doing everything above > the heads of the people. President Jammeh appears to be behaving like an > absolute monarch who says and does whatever he likes and there is hardly anyone > who dares to call him to order. One is therefore tempted to wonder what has > become of transparency, accountability and probity, which this regime has made > so much noise about. Of course it would be foolhardy for anyone to expect that > the National Assembly as it is constituted at present to ever have the courage > to question anything done by President Jammeh and his regime. It is because a > majority of its members seem to owe more allegiance to President Jammeh and the > executive than they owe to those people who they supposedly represent. > > As an ordinary lieutenant in The Gambia National Army before the coup in > 1994, President Jammeh was never known to be a rich man. Therefore, if > within eight years of coming to power he can afford a personal aircraft and so > much apparent display of wealth and affluence, then he owes an explanation to > the people of this country as to how he acquired all that wealth. It is > certainly not enough to tell us that it is from the Almighty Allah's world bank > because we all know that does not exist. > > Since the appearance of his 'personal' jet about three years ago as Central > African, several attempts seems to have been made to disguise its real > ownership, including of course its renaming as Gambia New millennium Air. > However, all indications point to President Jammeh as its real owner. > > To crown all that unnecessary extravagance the regime went ahead to acquire a > jet fighter again from the blue. It is indeed hard to imagine how anyone can > justify any butut spent on the acquisition or even the maintenance of a jet > fighter when the economy of this country is in tatters. We certainly do not need > it and I do not think we ever will. > > To fight who? Certainly not with Senegal, our only possible adversaries, > considering our geographical location. Even President Kumba Yalla, despite > all his 'open calls' could not have been able to 'crush' The Gambia without > Senegalese acquiescence. > > However, neither the purchase of The Gambia New Millennium Air nor that of > the jet fighter were ever discussed in the National Assembly, let alone it > be done with the consent of the Gambian people. > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > Unlimited Internet access -- and 2 months free! Try MSN. > http://resourcecenter.msn.com/access/plans/2monthsfree.asp > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > 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] > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~