Thanks Kejau.
Nothing is wrong with the story as carried on The Gambia Daily News in the sense it is identical to that carried on other outlets. My query is limited to the word "Sacrifice".
I strongly recommend you read the book before any interview with Mr Chongan. It may not be enough to rely exclusively on your personal knowledge of the man.
In any case, it is important we patronise Gambian authors by purchasing their products.
LJDarbo
From: Kejau Touray <[log in to unmask]> Subject: RE: [>-<] Karamba Touray's review of Price of Sacrifice by Ebrima Chongan To: "gambia post" <[log in to unmask]> Date: Saturday, 10 April, 2010, 8:39
Hi Lamin,
Thanks for pointing out the inconsistencies. I believe the book title is Price of Duty, and was written by E. I. Chongan, Lt. Col. aka Balangba. So I still stand by the story. Do look forward to the paper's interview with the distinguished author of this book coming out soon and questions are welcome on any clarifications needed in the book and at what price duty cost, among other things.
Regards,
Kejau
Date: Sat, 10 Apr 2010 05:00:10 +0000 From: [log in to unmask]Subject: Re: [>-<] Karamba Touray's review of Price of Sacrifice by Ebrima Chongan To: [log in to unmask]CC: [log in to unmask]
Kejau
Again thanks, but may I draw your attention to the fact that other media reports the title of Mr Chongan's book as The Price of Duty - Balangba.
If this is the accurate title, as it would appear from the body of Karamba's material published by The Gambia Daily News, you may need to change the caption of the story, with particular reference to the word "Sacrifice".
LJDarbo
From: Lamin Darbo <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: [>-<] Karamba Touray's review of Price of Sacrifice by Ebrima Chongan To: [log in to unmask] Cc: "The Gambia and related-issues mailing list" <[log in to unmask]> Date: Friday, 9 April, 2010, 21:53
Thanks Kejau. That was a fine introduction by Karamba Touray.
Although I reserve comment on the substantive issues discussed in the book, there is no question that Mr Chongan deserves celebration just for the effort. Accordingly, I congratulate our newest national author on taking a stab at a vital aspect of Gambian public life traversing the First, and Second, Republics.
I hope on-line Gambia, especially the Diaspora element, would patronise Mr Chongan by purchasing Price of Sacrifice. The title is well chosen, and that alone is quite encouraging.
LJDarbo
From: Kejau Touray <[log in to unmask]> Subject: [>-<] Karamba Touray's review of Price of Sacrifice by Ebrima Chongan To: "gambia post" <[log in to unmask]> Date: Thursday, 8 April, 2010, 21:22
Karamba Touray's review of Price of Sacrifice by Ebrima Chongan.Dear editor, I'd like to submit the following book reveiw for your kind consideration.I have added a subsiquent email containing the book cover and jacket . I hope you will find value in the submission. Thank you for your good work. Sincerely Karamba Touray
I'd like to begin this review by stating that the author, Ebrima Ismaila Chongan formerly of the Gendarmerie and Gambia Police Force and now resident in the United Kingdom is my maternal
uncle. His book The Price of Duty - Balangba to be released on the April 2010 is his account of the 1994 coup and it's immediate aftermath. The book opens with a detailed description of the fateful day of the Coup on the 22nd of July, outlining a sequence of events as experienced by the author who at the time was Assistant Inspector General of The Gambia Police Force. The reader gets a pretty good understanding of how a small band of unremarkable soldiers got into a few army trucks and swept away a decades’ old democracy. While in theory there existed a
national security architecture that was supposed to safeguard the nation and it's institutions, we learn from the book a combination of dereliction, incompetence and the knack for self preservation had so thoroughly undermined the overall security of the country as to make the power grab a cakewalk. An honourable effort by the author and a few police officers to forestall the Coupist at Denton Bridge was doomed because of the qualitative desparity of weapons possessed by the Army compared to the lightly armed police at the bridge. Following the success of the coup, Ebrima Ismaila Chongan was arrested and subsequently detained at Mile Two Prison for thirty months. He takes the reader through those months, days and events at a time replete with gory details of torture, death, illness, cruelty, faith, and the strength of the human spirit .In the
authors narration, we see how seemingly ordinary Gambians intoxicated with power can turn into overnight monsters thinking nothing of torturing and killing people they know to be entirely innocent. Men groaning in excruciating pain from broken bones or other acute medical conditions are left to rot in the fetid and mosquito infested cells of the Prison while torturers ply their trade as a matter of routine. The author reminds us that even in the hell hole that Mile Two was with it's corrupt and brutal Director of prisons Thomas Jarju, there existed the consummate good Gambian in the person of a guard. This guard according to the author took it upon himself to go to the Chongan household and assure them that the author was alive and became the defacto line of communication between the family and the detainee especially since security detainees were for the most part denied family
visits. Continuation of piece
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