X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000 Message-ID: <[log in to unmask]> Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1999 18:50:33 -0500 From: Abdoulaye Saine <[log in to unmask]> Reply-To: [log in to unmask] Organization: Miami University X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.5 [en] (Win95; U) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Sir Dawda's Visit Ends at Miami U Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit To the G-L Community: Sir Dawda's visit to Miami university was a success and ended yesterday, November 9, 1999. It was a success because it was a good learning opportunity for our students and faculty. While here, sir Dawda made several class presentations to students about Africa and Gambia's political situation specifically. Several receptions were held in his honor. Students in my classes were told about Gambia's political situation and often posed good questions to Sir Dawda. Many of them were excited about his visit and their interaction with the former President. On sunday, November 7th, Sir Dawda met with about eight Gambians from Cincinnati, Columbus and Atlanta. The discussion was candid yet fruitful. Mr. Maffy Jarju flew in from Atlanta to attend the meeting and took the opportunity to challenge Sir Dawad's thirty year rule. Mr. Jarju then proceeded to praise the AFPRC/APRC government. Mr.O.B. Silla also raised the issue of Sir Dawada's "complacency" to deal effectively with corruption and other problems Gambians faced. Mr. Mustapha Ceesay praised the former President for the contributions he made to Gambia and as father of the Nation. He asked Sir Dawda what compromises he was willing to make to enable him to return home. To the Jarju and Silla comments, Sir Dawda insisted that his government improved living conditions, readjusted the economy and laid the basis for the "Gateway Project." I suggested that the improvements were marginal at best in light of thirty years of PPP rule. To this sir Dawda responded " we did the best we could given our resources and the dismal state of affairs after independence". Mr. Abdou Sarra Janha, former Secretary General of the Civil Service and Permanent Secretary at the President's Office, cited the decline in infant and maternal deaths and improvements in clean drinking water as examples of PPP Government success. To Ceesay's question Sir Dawda responded that he was willing to engage President Jammeh in a discussion as a citizen and elder statesman, if he "unbanned the PPP, other parties and politicians and created the conditions for free and fair elections". On Monday (November 8) Sir Dawda delivered the Grayson Kirk lecture to an audience of about 200 students, faculty and staff. Sir Dawda delivered, in the view of some of my colleagues, a well crafted and coherent analysis of Africa's current Crisis and the need to build democracy and protect human rights. In my view, Sir Dawd's speech/ lecture was very good. In the question and answer period, a Kenyan faculty member in Miami's History Department asked Sir Dawda what he would do differently if he had a chance to be President again. To this Sir Dawda responded that he would continue to emphasize democracy and human rights and continue his economic reforms. Some of my colleagues felt that Sir Dawda did not answer the question. The next question was asked by a Ghanaian faculty member in the Department of Geography. He asked if the Western model of democracy was suited to Africa's conditions and if he would suggest alternative(African)models of democracy such the Ashanti's. Sir Dawda maintained that "multiparty democracy" premised on the "rule of law" and the "respect for human rights" were suited to African conditions and mildly challenged the faculty member to suggest the alternatives. The last comment came from Mr. Kekoto Bajo, a gambian living in Cincinnati, and in the U.S. for over twenty years. He expressed "tremendous respect" for Sir Dawda and continued to critique his thirty years of "misrule and corruption". Bajo's critique of Sir Dawda was laced with a personal story of broken scholarship promises by Sir Dawda, problems with food at Armitage High etc. Sir Dawda responded that, Bajo was "part of the opposition" and that he was sent to Miami to tarnish his record. It is not certain that this was the case, even though Bajo MAY have a relative in the current APRC Government. As Bajo got more agitated the session was ended by the moderator, who said that "he was not sure what next Bajo was going to do." Bajo was in the first row alone; facing the ex-President and only about three feet from Sir Dawda. This scared the moderator who himself is the Director of the International Studies Program at Miami. Some student were also "scared." The discussion however, continued on the corridor as Sir Dawda answered questions from other students and faculty. Many liked the presentation and felt that while Bajo's comments were useful, they would have addressed the ex-president differently and in another forum. Some felt that Bajo's comments were an exercise of free speech; and a pillar of and a practice in democracy. The same principles Sir Dawda outlined in his talk. Bajo later made an apology to me and other faculty. I will comment later on the Sir Dawda visit, the current impasse in Gambian Politics, on the Gambia-L and the need for national reconciliation, reform, and healing in the aftermath of the coup. Thank you! Abdoulaye Saine