Burama

On Friday, May 23, 2014, Matarr Sillah <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Suntou, it is a simple task. The challenge is a simple one to debunk ONE myth. You came here and said there were many you could name and you came back with absolutely nothing. To you, it is flimsy, to the children of ministers, it is something that they are probably interested in since almost none of them have ever being a recipient of these scholarships that we've been hearing of for over 40 years.

Your other grievances against the PPP has been well documented and you personally cannot do anything to stop them from partaking in Gambian politics. If they care enough, they will take note of the attacks you have embarked on since they announced that they are revitalizing their party, and respond to you. The fact that they haven't tells me that they have bigger fishes to fry than make noise in these forums and blogs.

For now however, give us one of the many sons of ministers you said received scholarships.

Matarr

From: suntou touray <[log in to unmask]');" target="_blank">[log in to unmask]>;
To: <[log in to unmask]');" target="_blank">[log in to unmask]>;
Subject: Re: Sidi Sanneh Says Bring the forth the Evidence
Sent: Fri, May 23, 2014 11:54:06 AM

Modou
'There are Gambians who see nothing wrong with helping friends, family members, children of cult members, club members, drinking buddies, golf playing buddies etc at the advantage of genuine intelligent poor students.'

This is why I said, it is ridiculous for Sidi to throw such flimsy challenges. In fact, the police who openly take bribe can ask for proofs that they are corrupt, the custom officers who dupe Gambians of millions, the ports staff, the revenue collectors, the housing officers, I mean, there is wide range of nepotism, corruption, and ill-discipline in all spheres of our system. Hence, the systematic failures should not and cannot be brushed under the carpet by Sidi Sanneh or any other former senior civil servant under Jawara and Yaya Jammeh for that matter.

His views smell of cockiness and outright arrogance. Systematic problems are issues that are address from top down. However, if former big players within middle to senior level civil services want to tell us, there are no staff members whose sole aims in departments was not to favour their close kit and kin, then God help us.

Under President Jammeh, he personalised the whole system..He handpicked students to be offered scholarships, and the system in still fraudulent.
To end the failures within our institutions, we have to first address systematic and behavioural short comings. The arrogance in the elite circle is legendary in Africa, no wonder, nothing gets addressed. Who has the time to contact all those Gambian disadvantaged and denied access to scholarship based on their lack of front men in the system? The numbers are huge and what we can do is accept that, no system is full proof, and abuses do take place in every department. There are Gambians who see nothing wrong with helping friends, family members, children of cult members, club members, drinking buddies, golf playing buddies etc at the advantage of genuine intelligent poor students.

We should be bold and brave enough to accept the system in place during Jawara era had flaws, some are institutional whilst some are behavioural.
However, I am not the least surprise the likes of Sidi are denying the malpractices that existed. We need to be sophisticated enough to understand, we are a long way away from addressing our compounded problems. Poverty is a mole in our midst that will make many people self-centred, corrupt, nepotic, and bias. And the sooner we accept our problems, the better we can plan to address them.

Yahya Jammeh's malpractices are such that, the enablers make everything easy for him. Isn't it Gambians doing all the wrong doing Sidi Sanneh is blog posting everyday about. It is the same Gambians who were there during Jawara's time. Jawara was very soft. Calling him a dictator is inaccurate.

The failures for instance of Gambian Commercial and Development bank is marred in multiple facets. Whatever categories Sidi Sanneh put forward was abused. This is not a direct comparison between President Jammeh and Jawara, or the PPP and APRC...If the systems in place are susceptive to abuses, it doesn't matter which party or person is the head of government, people will be corrupt. And corruption is not just taking money directly, many forms of favours are classic corruption. Certainly, the scholarship board then and now has members who don't according to the rule.

Suntou

On Thu, May 22, 2014 at 4:04 PM, Modou Nyang <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Matarr,
Now it appears as if you are representing Sidi or have some kind of vested interested in this. Here is my response to you. First, I did not make any claim or accusation of nepotism or otherwise against the Jawara government or even Yaya what I did was share an article I found to be very low in persuasion and asked a few I think may have something to say about it.

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