Kanteh,
Jammehs' marriage of a third wife
would have been trivial if not for the resentment shown by the public after the
marriage of his Morrocan wife. I believe that the people have the right to know
who their first lady is. Remember that the presidents' wife in the capacity of
the first lady will be representing the people in various fora. This fact should
not be overlooked. I agree with you that the mans' private life should be
respected, but again when Jammehs' wife is to make a presentation or speech at
some very important conference or gathering, she is not going to be presented as
just another housewife, she will be presented as "the first lady of the
Republic of The Gambia".
This, Mr. Kanteh, makes it all the more an important
issue that the people be well informed about who will be representing them
whether by elections, nomination or marriage.
The fact is that, once you agree to get into
politics, you should expect to be a subject of public debate the extent of which
is only determined by your actions.
Just thinking out
loud!
Abdoulie A.
Jallow
"Our lives begin to
end the day we become silent about things that matter".
- Dr. M.
L. King Jr.
Cherno,
thanks for the lecture on hacks, what constitutes a libellous act
and
African journalism. however, you didn't say why it is important for
the
editorial board of the Indepedent to risk clampdown for such a
frivolous and
trivial story about Jammeh's private life. which is more
important the epoch
making gathering of the MFDC and the Senegalese gov't
in Banjul and Jammeh's
"third wife"? isn't the Independent just
trying to sell more papers by
devoting it's front paper to a gossipy
trivial issue like Jammeh's "third
wife" which the Gambian
populace would prefer over tedium gatherings
aforementioned? the other
papers did get tipped about this story but held
their nose since when it
comes to it, the story was not worth the trouble
that the Independence is
facing right now. Again I repeat: is Jammeh not
entitled to the privacy
that news hounds enjoy? isn't this just another bad
example of your
"Comrades-In-Arms" subtly changing the journalist ethics
of
"getting it right" to "getting it first"? Where is
your sense of fairness? I
contend thus that: stories like Jammeh's
"third wife" is only fit for the
back pages and ONLY if he
decides to release a statement about it. Fit for
publication ONLY in what
I would I call "The Announcement Section."
Frivolous chit chats like Jammeh's "third wife" are only fit for
the
arena of cocktail rumour mongering, gossips, snipes and "attaya
vous" not in
a very good paper like the Independent. Let the
Independent tackle quality
issues (no matter how mundane) that affect the
daily lives of The People and
not degenerate into the standards of
Tabloid sententious gung-ho. That should
be the message forthcoming from
comrades like you. Not the lecture on how
difficult it is to run a paper
in Africa, which is not the issue in this case
of The Indepedent and
Jammeh's "third wife."
Good Morning.
Hamjatta
Kanteh
hkanteh
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