Readers: The unedited e-mail below was sent to me by a source in the heart of The Gambian Government. Ebrima _______________________________________________________________________ >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: The 2003 Hajj fiasco : Some clarifications and additional >information >Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2003 > >Hello Coach, > >Sorry for not making myself clear on an earlier posting, regarding the >first flight. I couldn't, at the time, say for certain, that the flight >did depart Banjul because I received a call in the wee hours of the morning >from a friend who was seeking assistance to transport a relative to the >airport. Those leaving with the first flight were called at 5 a.m and asked >to report to the airport immediately. I provided my friend with transport >and a my own driver. The driver deposited them and returned after he saw >the intending pilgrims board the flight. This was what my driver reported >to me. As we all know, boarding a flight does not necessarily mean that >the flight has departed. It was only after I went to work that I was >informed that the flight had actually departed for Saudi Arabia. > >But the first flight made it because the only jet fuel in stock in the >entire Gambia, and meant for the Ghana Airways flight to the USA, was >cancelled and so the fuel was re-allocated to the Hajj flight. So the >subsequent Hajj flights to Mecca would have to wait until jet fuel is >available.By the way arrangements with the other 5 sub-contractors are >still valid. So only the good Lord knows when that will be. Castle Oil has >"volunteered" to import jet fuel to be trucked in from Dakar to make the >second flight a reality. Coach, these parasites are using government's >ineptitude to milk The Gambia dry. > >Coach, this country is in real mess. To illustrate this point, imagine an >entire government machinery calling a handful of oil companies to a meeting >yesterday only to ask them 'by show of hands' which company can guarantee >an uninterrupted supply of the essential commodity for one year. Of course, >no hands were raised. Are these people for real? Meanwhile, Shell is >definitely making plans to exit the Gambian market for good, due to >consistent meddling into an industry that these "Gang of Six" know nothing >about. God Save The Gambia. _________________________________________________________________ MSN 8 with e-mail virus protection service: 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~