Gambia-L: As usual, the unedited e-mail below came from a source at State House. Ebrima __________________________________________________________________ Hello Coach, First of all, let me re-send an important portion of one Kebba Dampha's brilliant articles on Gambia-Post. KB wrote: "Instead, he (Yahya Jammeh) is ENSLAVING villagers working for him at his farm. He is exploiting the poor villagers preaching to them that it is ‘patriotic’ to break their backs at ‘his farm’. Meanwhile, he (Jammeh) is NOT adequately paying them. He LIES to the people working at his farm that the proceeds of their sweat go to ‘his foundation’. But, when we corner him about his Swiss Bank accounts, he says that he has a farm. Which is which?" Coach, the other day, George Sarr had requested a status report on the so-called national reconciliation consultations etc. Well, Coach, it appears that the "consultations" between the APRC government and some former PPP ministers are still going on. Several former PPP cabinet ministers and senior officials were invited to State House to give their views on the economic disaster, created by the despotic A(F)PRC regime. And many of these personalities did come to State House. Some granted interviews to the press, notably M.C.Cham. Others however, refused to comment on their discussions with Vice President Mrs. Isatou Njie-Saidy and Mrs Susan Waffa-Ogoo. The last time I saw the duo (i.e. Isatou and Susan) they were hurdled in the Conference Room at State House - doing a synthesis of their consultations for Yahya Jammeh. So we await their recommendation(s) to Yahya Jammeh, but most importantly, what Yahya Jammeh is going to do with their recommendation(s). However, one thing is clear and that is: there will be no "Government of National Unity" in The Gambia that will include the Opposition. This conclusion is based on what the majority of those politicians said to the Vice President and Susan Waffa-Ogoo. In fact, my conclusion is also confirmed by APRC Chief Jaliba Yankuba Touray who hinted that the former PPP ministers were unwilling to join them. In short, Coach, the majority of those consulted essentially told the APRC that, "You messed up the economy, called us all kinds of names, considered us corrupt and inept - so now you have got to fix the damn thing or get out." One of those invited to State House did not mince his words when he was quoted as saying that the authorities know very well the problem of the Gambian economy. This gentleman proceeded to name the names of those who are now referred to as the "Gang of Five" and how they continue to siphon-off our foreign exchange, which they will then give to the money changers who are seen in broad day-light trotting in and out of the Central Bank with sacks full of money. The majority of those former PPP ministers consulted did not go there to sell their souls. In fact, most of the former PPP Ministers, in their opening remarks, stated categorically that they were not interested in positions within the APRC Government. More and more people are being convinced that the APRC government cannot survive the economic disaster they have created and something will give. The debate now is when? And, in fact, there are those who are even advocating for the resignation of the Jammeh government, followed by an early election. Coach, earlier on, I quoted Kebba Dampha on the use of free labour at the Kanilai farm, because I have two couples currently residing at a friend's house who 'escaped' from Kanilai where they spent two years and had nothing to show for it. They were fed while in Kanilai, but they were not compensated, remunerated financially for the toils of their labour. My next report will be on the week-end UDP Rally at Tallinding where M.C.Cham took the stage and declared his full and unconditional support for Ousainou Darboe and the UDP contrary to what the APRC folks had expected. Why? Because M.C. had spoken about restitution by APRC at another forum which was interpreted as a condition for his joining the APRC gang of theives. Doubts have been put to rest with his declaration. Meanwhile, the PPP will be holding its Executive Committee meeting next week Sunday to select their Leader. OJ Jallow appears to be leading the pack. _________________________________________________________________ Add photos to your e-mail with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~