Gainako Newspaper

............GAINAKO'S EDITOR
TAKES ISSUES WITH FORMER AFPRC #2
..........................................By Samba Baldeh .......................Posted January 19th, 2007

Gainako's editor, Samba Baldeh won't hesitate to come in where things are going wrong.
In an open letter he addressed to former AFPRC # 2 man, Sanna B Sabally alias Bairo, he
criticised the born-again asking him to come out and explain. It's not certain at this time
what took editor Baldeh to rage on Bairo, but in an earlier discussion on the phone with
him, he spoke at length varying issues that help to show that the military takeover took
Gambians backward, instead of the propaganda being echoed by the likes of Bairo and
his former aides. We hope Bairo will take his time to respond with truthfulness, without just
replying for replying sake. At the time of going to press, we couldn't contact Bairo for a
reaction, but a copy of the piece will be send to him via mail.
(Below we reproduce the said piece from Editor Baldeh.)

..........An open letter to Sana Bairo Sabally.
Mr. Sabally,

After I read your letter to Mr. Jammeh, I had no option but to write to you too, as I would think you will
do just as you are asking Jammeh to do, if you are not a hypocrite or just being the devil's advocate. The
questions and advice you highlighted in your letter no doubt are prominent and imperatively worth asking.
I hope your �friend� � Mr. Jammeh listens and sheds some light, so that we are all saved from the state of
civil unrest that you profess.

We all had mixed feelings when you and your friends overthrew Mr. Jawara�s PPP government some
twelve years ago. I am sure deep inside, you felt the same; if you disagree I will proove this later. It was a
mixed feeling for me in particular, because from my civic education and experience with other military
governments, your option was just another � what cannot be held must be endured. At the same time, I
thought with your rhetoric and headlines on all the newspapers and radio of �bloodless� coup d�tat,
soldiers with a difference, accountability, probity, and all the attractive jargons that you coined during the
preparations just to attract the Gambian populace to your �unjustifiable� overthrow, were too attractive
not to make me say; �may be they should be given a chance�. I debated this with many of my friends but
at the end of the day, there was only one option � give you a chance. Henceforth, my assorted feelings of
your take over.

On the other hand, I think Mr. Jawara has stayed so long that he had taken the Gambia to be Barajali
Jawara Kunda so that it was his own Gambia . He was losing the reality of the average Gambian and was
basically not able to control the deeds and misdeeds of his government. You remember the common
saying among his thugs �Yaa long enteh mu jumaa leete bang?� Do you know who I am? I am sure you
remember the Mansakonko PPP conference where they told Mr. Jawara that he was the only Gambian
that can lead the country so that maybe even if he passed, he would have �created� a successor. Tell me
how smart you thought these other Saballys were? I am sure if they were less smart, you would have not
overthrown them and made them seek asylum all over the world. Some of them may say they are happy
where they are, but for both of you and Mr. Jammeh included, I want to remind you that �there is no
place like home�.

I bet you are by now asking, "but why an open letter to me and not to Mr.Jawara and the PPP?". This
was to give a pr�cis of how disappointed the Gambian people are with you, the AFPRC/APRC and Mr.
Jawara PPP government. Now that all that is history, I write this open letter so that you can shed light on
some very well-known events that still are open for proper documentation in history books. I challenge
you to set the records straight on the following events because you owe it to the Gambia nation and its
people and the fact that you can advise your friend Mr. Jammeh to do what you consider right for the
Gambia, you should be honest to yourself and do the same or else zip your mouth, donate your pen to
your friend � Mr. Jammeh and maybe you settle-down for a painful life in exile in a state of confusion and
shamelessness. This is what happens to people who abuse power, refuse others their basic human rights,
and refuse to ask for forgiveness from the abused.

Mr. Sabally, question one: Can you honestly tell the Gambian people why you overthrew the Mr. Jawara
PPP government? In my mind this is the most important question to all Gambians because you have done
only the opposite of everything you said when you took over. Tell us why at least before you land your
self a free nine years stay at your friends� hotel.

Question three: If you so dearly love the Gambia and its people, can you please give an account of what
happened on November 11th 1994 so that the family members and the Gambian people will know what
happened to our dear brothers that died and maybe find a way to closure of this extremely mournful
event. I hope you are not delusional, and give us answers such as � it was self defense. This cannot be
self defense, the fact that you could not even regain your VP position from your friend, these brave men
could not have been able to kill an ant on the Brikama - Serekund highway without guns; so you could
have taken the guns and dismissed them, instead of killing them in self defense. You had the power to do
what ever you wanted to them and you chose what happened.

Question five: You write like a bona-fide Muslim and a bible google. Did you torture a religion leader in
the Upper River Divison? If you did, can you explain to us why you chose to violate his freedom to do
what ever he did so that if you disagree you had the option to either take him to a court of law or report
him to law authorities? If you did not, why are you alleged to have done it? Do you remember this and I
quote: �The TRUTH HURTS, VIOLENCE KILLS. Like hot red-pepper, it (Truth) reddens the eyes
but does not blind them. Those who sample the Truth never acquire a taste for it. There is a saying,
"Nobody wants to hear Truths about himself."� Are you one of those who do not want to hear the truth
about themselves so that you were angry with the religion leader in Gambisara who may have just told
you the truth and thought the only option was to brutalize him in the presence of his family, friends and
may be followers.

Question seven: Did you actually shoot civilians on the Tallinding � Banjul highway? If you did, do you
have an answer for doing this? Mr. Sabally now that you have no powers but those of taking yourself to
the bathroom and take care of business, don�t you have any form of guilt for doing that? You remember
this and I quote: �"My Words" must not be narrowly interpreted. To be good is noble, to teach others
how to be good is nobler, and no trouble. I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the Truth and
reality. "If a man doesn't live by his principles, he's not much of a man�. Can you please do that for the
sake of your alleged victims and the Gambian nation so that you give reconciliation a chance and be the
man you claim to be!

Mr. Sabally, while your rap sheet may not be that lengthy, it is gruesomely dangerous because it is alleged
to have human lives and bloodstains on it. It is therefore, your responsibility to speak the truth and ask for
forgiveness from the Gambian nation and its people. We are a very forgiving people.

While Mr. Jammeh heeds to your advice and reflects on his past twelve years and ask himself questions;
can you please do the same and ask your self these questions: Did you abuse power? Did you think you
were above the law? Did you kill innocent people? Are you still deceitful to the Gambian people? When
are you going to tell the truth and the whole truth?

Please note that this letter is not written in hostility of any sort, but in an effort to get answers to questions
that you probably are the only person now who can give the right answers. It is also in the spirit of
reconciliation with the many people who are not happy with you and need some clarifications of your past
activities.

My best regards to you, your new bedfellow; Mr. Sabally and all those who have questions to answer
for the Gambian people. Please tell them to help answer some of the questions if you are not able to get
hold of your friend Mr. Jammeh.

.............A LETTER FROM OUR READERS
I wish to make a brief comment to an article written by my good friend Samba Baldeh. The article was
posted on 1/07/07 titled "Mama Africa". It was a very informative article as I have picked some
information that I never knew before it was posted.

It is true from Samba's article that our continent is very rich in natural resources, but the continent is
behind the rest of the world in terms of development. Personally I feel our continent lack good political
leadership since the end of colonial rule. There are several factors that one can point out to, but to me this
is most significant deficit our continent has, that is good political leadership. We have and had leaders
who are only concern about their pocket books and never have the interest of the people they served at
heart. Public service to most of leaders means corruption. Africa is behind because people at the top care
about themselves and their family only. It is a very sad that we have proven to the rest of the world that
we are not capable of managing ourselves.

While I agree with Samba for the most part with his article, I however disagree with him to put our former
President Sir Dawda Jawara in the same category with Mobutu, Charles Taylor and them others.
President Jawara for the most part was a good president. He had his shortfalls and probably did not do
too much to improve our infrastructures. He had has oversight, but to put him on same category with
Mobutu and Charles Taylor is a misnomer. During his rule we had our piece of mind and we can openly
criticize the government without being worried to be picked 3 A.M to be taken to a secret location. Now
the man is out of power, I think it's fair to say that he was not corrupt, although I agree he was too soft on
people who had done wrong doings during his time in terms of corruption and mismanagement.
Besides Corruption is a major problem in our continent and every leader has his strength and weakness.
Let's take an example, Nelson Mandela and the ANC regime. Since they took over the power from
Whites, corruption and rising crimes has been a problem for South Africa to this day. Mandela himself
was a clean man when he was a president, but he had a problem to stop his subordinate's misdeeds.
Jawara as a human being had the same problem, but if we summed it up, he was not a bad president. At
least he is better than what we have. Peace!

Editors Note:
Tapha, my dear friend; Thank you for your comments. I do not know Jawara personally but really think he is a very
genuine private Gambian citizen but not a very smart leader. I put Jawara under the same category for one simple
reason and that is he over stayed and this no doubt led to the situation today in the Gambia. In my opinion the most
basic element of any democracy, apart from periodic voting is a term limit for a president. All leaders must be
accounted for what happened under their watch, just like we are all accountable for what happen to our families
and people that we are responsible of. Look at what Happened to Sadam; he did not physically go and kill any of
his people but because every thing happened under his watch, he was first put to the gallows. Until all African
leaders take full responsibility for their deeds and realize that the continent and the individual countries does not
belong to any one individual they will continue to live as destitute in foreign lands and die of home-sickness and
loneliness. We all have to change as a people so that all human beings realize their full God given potential.

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