Culled from Allafrica. Mr. Jawo, thanks for having the courage to tell emperor Jammeh that he is butt naked. I wished many of our country folk would cast their fear aside and tell this knucklehead that he overstayed his welcome. He insulted all the men in that country and nearly all the men kept silent. He threatened football players and the ball players, adults, the GFA, and other sports organs in the country stay mute. He threatened poor farmers to pull their daughters from school and threatened the alkalos, etc., and everyone kept silent. His ignorance and stupidity seeped from his starch stuffed head in Bakau and the people of Bakau and the entire country just kept quiet. The cat is even abusing our kids by turning them into beggars and praise singers and all are silent because of fear. How long do we intend to be paralyzed by fear? This clown has insulted the entire country in any way possible with the little brain capacity imbedded in that starch mash, and the entire country still remain comatose. This is incredible. Yaya would line up the elders, Clergy, Imams, fathers, mothers, yai/bai compins, opposition leaders, etc., and tongue lash all with all the garbage he accumulated and they all just bow their heads in submission. Folks, let us put Yaya out of his neurotic misery before he goes red on us. Something is fundamentally wrong with this fellow, but I equally think that something is also definitely wrong with the rest of the nation for this battered person syndrome that we're exhibiting. This brings me back to the doorstep of the opposition parties and their leaders. What are you going to do about this emperor with no clothes? Why is the opposition so docile and lethargic? Your tactics are not working for the people, so, please wake up and smell the coffee. Waa Juwara is heading in the right direction by challenging Jammeh's stupidity and defying his silly football ban as a first step and I hope Hammat, OJ, Halifa, Sedia, Darbo, etc., join him in that defiance. This is not about football but all about stopping Jammeh from trampling the nation to a pulp. I know the rest of the opposition will not be caught dead standing next to Waa or any other opposition for that matter, but I will say it again, you'll dug up your grave and bought your headstone, and are a step away from being buried to extinction, with your help. What must we do in order for the opposition leaders to see the urgency to rescue what's left of our dignity. Your actions seem to support Yaya's silly tirades that the country is not in a crisis situation. For, Yaya can kill, maim, rob, insult, and starve our people and you just stand and watch. Why would anyone then see you as someone that can deliver them from the madness that is Yaya? Yaya's actions has impoverished and starved the masses, only to turn around and hand them crumbs and he knows that they are vulnerable and would gladly take crumbs when crumbs are offered. The job of the opposition is to help the masses to have the strength to not accept the crumbs and replace Yaya for a better future. However, the opposition is neither helping the masses nor stopping Jammeh. They just exist, for what? That's the million dollar question the citizens are asking. If the opposition leaders are not willing to be the agents of change, then why should the people rally around them? Mr. Jawo, thanks again for showing Jammeh how stupid he looked and sounded during his clown tour. No wonder why the West is having Africa for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. With the majority leading the 52 or so countries just like Yaya, one does not have to come up with any grand schemes to rob Africa blind, the fools willingly hand them the keys to our resources. Chi Jaama Joe Sambou The Meet the People's Tour And Its Negative Implications The Independent (Banjul) COLUMN February 10, 2003 Posted to the web February 10, 2003 D.A. Jawo Banjul The recently concluded Meet the People's Tour by President Yahya Jammeh and a large entourage was indeed another watershed in the ever degenerating governance environment in this country. The tone, utterances and comportment ofthe President and some senior members of his regime throughout the tour was once again another clear manifestation of the arrogance and belligerence nature of the APRC regime and the ever widening gap between it and the realities on the ground. Apart from the daily doses of cheap political rhetoric on radio and television, that had been the hallmark of the tour throughout the country, it was also quite scary and disturbing to hear President Jammeh use threats of imprisonment and other dire consequences against the poor rural folk for a series of 'offences', ranging from playing the traditional 'Nawetan' football to pulling out their daughters from school to get them married. This is definitely not the type of situation that Gambians had bargained for when they voted for him during the last presidential elections. No one ever anticipated that in this day and age, we would have a head of state who would talk and behave like an absolute monarch with executive, legislative and judicial powers to make laws, enforce them and imprison people, which encompasses the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. Whether or not President Jammeh actually meant all those threats he was making, is another matter, but the very fact that he was making them has its own possible consequences. We have heard him for instance, promise to not only deal with anyone who plays 'Nawetan' football, but he has also threatened to imprison the alkalo of the village where the match takes place as well as the seyfo of the district. What a ridiculous edict. One would wonder where he got all those powers to prescribe for the people what they should or should not do. He is certainly not behaving like a servant of the people of this country but instead he is acting like their master and king. I wonder what guarantee he has that stopping the people from playing 'Nawetan' football or sitting at the bantaba would be enough to compel them to become more productive. The most sensible thing to have done was to use persuasive means to encourage the people rather than threaten them with imprisonment and other punitive measures as if he is addressing his children rather those who voted him into power. May be some one needs to tell him that he neither has the power nor the moral authority to force the people to do what they do not want to do. I also entirely agree with those who compare the 'Nawetan' football to President Jammeh's extravagant 'Futampaf' festivals and wrestling contests which he usually organises at his home village of Kanilai which often last for several days and no doubt cost several thousands of Dalasis. However, while the 'Nawetan' football is a good training ground for Gambian football, the 'Futampaf' and his wrestling contests benefit no one apart from himself and those few people who go there to eat the abundant food he provides as well as the money that he dishes out to them. Apart from the 'Nawetan' being a recreational activity, it is also the most effective means of training footballers. Therefore, any move to stop it would have serious consequences for the development of football in this country. As we do not as yet have football academies in this country, we depend on the 'Nawetan' to train the footballers, and any attempt to stop it would strike a death blow to Gambian football. Those threats by President Jammeh to stop it is yet another manifestation of the arbitrariness that has been the hallmark of this regime. I have no doubt that if he had consulted with his Secretary of State for Youth and Sports and the technocrats, he would have seen the negative consequences of such a move. It is however surprising that neither the Department of State for Youth and Sports nor the Gambia Football Association have so far made any comments on the issue. It is a shame that no one in those institutions seems to have the guts to point out to him the negative consequences of such arbitrariness. While President Jammeh has neither the constitutional nor the moral authority to enforce such edicts he is making, but knowing the type of governance climate operating in this country today, there is a high possibility that the local officials would do everything possible to enforce them. The very fact that he has even threatened to deal with the alkalos, seyfos and even the commissioners if his edicts are not enforced, then it is very unlikely that anyone of them would even dare to take chances by failing to enforce them. Another interesting aspect of the tour was President Jammeh's sustained criticism of the men folk of this country, describing them as lazy and not ready to work like the women. He even went to the extent of suggesting exchanging the Gambian men with their Senegalese counterparts, because he said the Senegalese were more enterprising. While there is no doubt that there are some lazy Gambians, but it was wrong for him to generalize that all the men are lazy. One would even wonder why he chose to antagonize the men folk as if he would never need their support. Another phenomenon of the tour was its political nature. While the tour was supposed to be a state function, where only matters affecting the people were expected to be discussed, but instead, a greater part of it was concentrated on discussing political issues that have very little relevance to the problems facing the people. It is indeed very unfair to have transformed a national function financed from public funds for the benefit of a particular political party. It was quite obvious that the people were being encouraged to talk about trivial political issues instead of the problems and constraints facing them. There was obviously no place in the tour for carpet crossing and other purely partisan issues. It was even a shame to hear some senior members of the regime telling the people that the government would only help those areas that voted for the APRC. That is indeed a very negative tendency for anyone to even contemplate discriminating against the people on the basis of their political leanings when the funds used for the development of the country belong to all Gambians, regardless of which political party they belong to. Another vivid aspect of the tour was the dishing out of money by President Jammeh to schools, women's groups and individuals. That is certainly contributing greatly in transforming Gambians into beggars, with virtually everyone either singing his praises or behaving in other condescending ways in order to get his money. We have seen how school children, for instance have been kept in the sun for several hours waiting to sing for him, and also how they have been made to compose all kinds of songs in praise of him, apparently all that being part of the efforts to get money from him. I sometimes wonder whether he and those involved in such a scheme know the possible negative implications of such a cult syndrome on our children. _________________________________________________________________ MSN 8 helps eliminate e-mail viruses. Get 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] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~