Tombong, Malafy, I read your postings to the L, very carefully, and I must thank you for the lectures. Indeed, I did find both of your postings very momentous and instructive and, in fact, you should tell me how much I should pay for the lectures next time you write. (laughs!) Anyway, in my view, this ongoing debate about our country, especially on the eve of the new millennium, is very necessary, so that with all the different ideas being poured out, we might finally work out the correct BLUE PRINT for the future of our Nation. It is, therefore, in the interest of our country, to encourage more of these debates, although I must be quick to add that, in order to reap some benefits from these discussions, we have to ensure that we debate with maturity, with sincerity, with clarity, with truth, with fairness, and with respect. One must always be honest, conscientious and honourable enough, to give credit where it is due. In short, one must always be ingenuous and equitable enough, to withdraw a position, or a statement, if the person you are debating with, has come up with far more credible, more convincing, and more persuasive arguments. In this regard, we should never let our emotions overshadow or colour our objectivity and fairness. Politically, all of us have our loyalty somewhere, but that doesn't mean we should be fanatical with our leaders, or make ourselves blind followers, or opportunists. We should always always make sure that our actions are guided by good reasoning, truth, objectivity and fairness. It is my view that if Africa is to make a headway, as the new millennium draws nearer, we must discard the habit of seeing our leaders as demi gods. Our leaders should be seen as our employees, who should be fired, if they persisted in doing wrong or bad, but retained if they were delivering the goods. Now, let me attempt to address some of the issues raised by Malafy and Tombong Saidy. But, before addressing these issues, I'll share with you an information, which some of you might find interesting, so that, hopefully, you can understand Tombong better. Most of us already know that Tombong was invited by Jammeh, to join the then AFPRC, after he, Tombong, "humiliated" deposed President Jawara, during a press conference in Washington DC. Now, for historical purposes, I'll share with you what happened behind the scenes, so that you can judge for yourselves, whether Mr Saidy is a man of principles or not, or whether he can cope with real pressures or not, in times of difficulties. The Daily Observer correspondent in Washington DC, Fatou Jaw Manneh, was at the press conference and, after the conference, she faxed me the story, which I edited, gave it a headline and we carried in the front page of the Observer, as our lead story. The story became the talk of Banjul that day, and, of course, the then members of the Ruling Council, led by Mr Jammeh, were very impressed with Tombong's stance at the press conference. But not knowing that the Jammeh government had a job ready for him, and apparently being under reported "pressures" from many quarters, for having "humiliated" ex-president Jawara, Tombong confronted Fatou Jaw Manneh, as soon as the Observer was out, denying to Fatou that he had said what was quoted in the Observer story. Fatou Jaw contacted me, asking me the possibility of putting a retraction in the Observer, because Tombong was denying to her, having said what was reported in the Observer. At Fatou's request, I drafted a retraction/apology, which I was going to put in the Observer, to the effect that Tombong had denied what was attributed to him, in the Observer. I forgot exactly what and what he was denying in the story. But, fortunately for him, our reporter contacted me again, at the right time, before we went to press, saying that Tombong did not want any retraction any more, because he was offered a job by the Government at our Washington DC Embassy, as a result of the story. You can therefore see how some people can be so opportunistic or can lack principles. Tombong, if you want you can deny this, but Gambia L members are also to contact Fatou Jaw, for confirmation or denial of my statements. Now coming back to the main issue. I agree that I got wrong again, with regard to Dr Saja Taal, and I apologise to the list for the misinformation. But I have to remind some of the list members, who are very hard in their criticisms, which I welcome in good faith, that the easiest thing to do, is to criticise people's works/writings, which is fine, because whoever writes must expect to be criticised, either rightly or wrongfully. The difficult thing, surely, is to come up with ideas, especially solid ones and put them before the publicly, for scrutiny. Anyway, I must say with regard to the Dr Saja Taal issue, the misinformation was my fault, not my source, if I have to be fair to him. My source was stressing the need for continuity in a post one was doing well, citing the fact that Dr Taal was again "replaced" at the Ministry of Education, when he was already doing a good job there. I wrongly took the word "replace" to mean dismissal. Again, I apologise to the L, for the misinformation and, Tombong, I thank you in good faith, for the clarification. I'll take your wise advise to be more careful in the future. But, of course, even the Western Media, with all their facilities and prowess, do retract stories, from time to time, owing to misinformation. I am sure even Gambia TV, which you head, does make mistakes, from time to time. I am glad, however, that Mr Saidy didn't say I was wrong in saying that Maodo Touray and Essa Sey were to be appointed ambassadors. Tombong, you might have known about these appointments, because you are a government insider, but, please, be fair here: don't give the impression that this was "a stale news" within the media in the Gambia, when either the private media or government media had reported it. The government media might wait for the "agreement", but if the private media knew about this story, they would have, of course, published it by now. Tombong, I, myself, didn't give any reasons for Njogou Bah's withdrawal from France, as insinuated by you. I quoted a source, which is permissible in journalism, who narrated what reportedly happened in Paris. Mr Saidy, I do not know why Ismaila Ceesay had been recalled, neither do I claim to know why Mr Grey-Johnson had been recalled. But I know, for a fact, despite what you are saying to the contrary, that Njogou's withdrawal from Paris had do with his wife's alleged, and I repeat, alleged hostility towards their maid. Whether Njogou's wife was hostile to the Embassy staff or not, I do not have a clue. But it is also a fact that Mrs Bah was reported to the government by her maid, for alleged hostility. I admire Njogou as a diplomat, and also as a French/English/French interpreter, and I would be the last person to put him and his family in trouble with authorities in Banjul. Again, some people should not get me wrong, for I am not saying that Mr Jammeh should not have appointed Essa Sey as ambassador. That's is Jammeh's prerogative. I had said that if I, Ebrima Ceesay, were to appoint someone as an ambassador in Paris, it would be based on merit, service, experience tactfulness, qualifications and, of course, loyalty. For me, it is not a question of speaking "Fluent French". I speak French myself. Language can be studied and mastered by anyone. The Gambia's High commissioner to the UK, John Bojang, has a very good command of the English Language and, on top of that, he is an orator, who can speak off the cuff, for hours. But, in my view, he is not a tactful person or a good diplomat, otherwise he would not have said that "Slavery was not a curse...it was, in fact, good for the black people."... Again, as I said before, I have my reservation about Essa Sey's appointment, but I am not going to belabour the point. In fact, it is very unfortunate that the issue has been dragged to this level. My Sey, if you find my comments upsetting or painful, then my sincerely apologies to you. But you do know that I am very "controversial" in nature, and I don't hesitate to speak my mind on issues, regardless of who is involved. Is this not more honourable than back biting you? Malafy, I didn't say I am "closed to Essa's wife, or family". I said his wife was a relative. I haven't seen Essa for a long time. By way, I didn't even know he was in New York. But he used to call me "GORO" (an in law), because his wife was brought up by Momat Adam Ceesay, formerly of Cooperative Union, who is a dad to me. It is unfortunate that I am also forced to drag Momat's name into this, and I hope he, too, forgives me. Anyway, Fatou Camara, thanks for your clarications with regard to Essa Khan. By the way, when are you coming back to Birmingham to visit? I must say that all of the crew in Birmingham do miss your good sense of humour. Malafy, let me tell you that the reason why I avoid contacting many in family is because I do not want to put anyone in trouble, given my well known opposition to the Jammeh regime. Even my uncle, Ndondi, said on this forum, that he didn't hear from me, since I left the Gambia. Also Mr Jarju, I don't mind you calling me a "political refugee", but for the records, I need to tell you, and you checked this information, that I came to the UK, because I was given a two-year study leave with salary, by the Observer, in November 1996, to do an M Phil at the University of Birmingham. In fact, the Observer had carried an editorial, in December 1996, clarifying that I was in the UK, because I was given two years study leave with salary. So I didn't run away from the Gambia, or no one had forced me to leave. Technically, I could go to the Gambia, even today. In fact, I should have returned home by now, but I decided to stay here, for the time being, because I got married, I am still studying and also I was working very hard, on a book, on the Gambian Coup, of course, not realising that it was one thing to have your manuscript ready, but another thing to find a publishers interested in your material. But with Sandra's help and contacts, it would be finally published. Anyway, Malafy, people are right to say I am in exile in England, but it is a self-imposed one. Mr Jammeh himself knows that whenever I am ready with what I am doing here, I'll return home, and they better be prepared for my comeback. Hey, the last thing I would do would be to abandon my politics for justice, fair play and freedom. Call me a politician or a journalist, but that would stop me from speaking my mind. Tombong, of course, it is an open secret that I announced over the BBC in June 1996, before the ban on party politics was lifted in the Gambia, that I was going to contest the September 1996 presidential elections, if Jammeh ran. Tombong, I had to publicly renounce my candidature, not because I feared I wouldn't make it, as alleged by you. This is far from the truth. I renounced my candidature, because of family pressures and the fact that I didn't want to be used by any Western Country. Once some diplomats friends of mine became involved and started raising the necessary funds for the campaign, I became very uncomfortable with the whole thing, because I didn't want to be no one's puppet. Also, mentally, I didn't think I was ready for the task ahead. But I wouldn't hesitate to repeat, on this forum, that if Mr Jammeh and co were to remain in power, it shouldn't surprise you if I form a political party. Anyway, I'll have to continue this write up one of these days, because my fingers are paining me. Ebrima Ceesay, Birmingham, UK. ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------