Gainako Newspaper

When I read the highly seditious June 11th editorial in the pro-government Daily
Observer newspaper , two things struck my mind: one-this puppet scrap paper
is ignorantly trying to make the case for a senseless war between the
(sister/brother) countries -Gambia and Senegal; two--- this paper is unknowingly
defeating the purpose for which it was clandestinely bought by Yahya Jammeh
by ringing the alarm bell for a destabilized Gambia instead of a stabilized one that
Jammeh can continue to torture( without outsiders' notice) as long as he remains
in power. A Gambia at war with Senegal would loosen Jammeh's hold on power
and speed up his removal. I need no elaboration. Daily Observer needs to get this
fact!

This editorial (or do I call it another State House Memo?), which appears to
be tainted with finger prints of the belligerents in the Gambia's highest public
service office, sounds unprecedented in that it has for the first time voluntarily
made public classified intelligence reports that had never been made available for
public consumption in the past thirteen years of Jammeh's stay in power. It accuses
the democratic Senegalese authorities in Dakar of continuing "to destabilize the
Gambia". Question: wasn't Sud FM Radio in Banjul shut down by Jammeh a year
ago for the same reason of broadcasting information "destabilizing the relations"
between the two countries? And now the Observer could publish the same kind
of "subversive" information and it still remains on the news stands? Is this how
"democracy" functions by Jammeh's standards?

In a dumb comparison, the editorial alleges " whereas Sudan is being condemned for the
atrocities committed by the Janjaweed in the region of Darfur, Senegal has never been taken
to task for sponsoring the Jakai Rebels, a violent group responsible for the worst atrocities
within (the) sub-Saharan Africa." By all standards, this comparison qualifies as the worst sign of
the existence of an immeasurable load of ignorance on the part of a national newspaper headed by a
person said to be a PhD holder. Isn't it smart to suggest that Saja Taal's Ph.D. stands for Pull Him
Down, not Doctor of Philosophy?

Let's be clear. The unspeakable violence in strife-torn Darfur are purely a racial genocide that have
murdered more than 400,000 innocent Black people and the displacement of over 2.5 million, most
of whom are our mothers, sisters and little brothers. The Casamance conflict is a secession war. So,
the atrocities in Darfur and the problem in Casamance must never be parallely compared by any
sane person with sound knowledge of the current unfold of violence across sub-Saharan Africa.

What makes the Observer believe the "Jakai Rebels" are "responsible for the worst atrocities
committed within (the) sub-Saharan Africa?" Certainly, not the facts and figures in the archives! If
the paper had done its research home work, it never would have come up with such fallacious
allegations. Not to mention Darfur again, the wars in Sierra Leone and Liberia claimed the lives of
50,000 and 220,000 respectively. The Casamance conflict has killed a meager 5,000 lives and the
displacement of just 60,000 after 24 years of fighting. With all these figures out there in the open for
everyone to see, Saja Taal and co. still have the audacity to lie, propelled by puppetry motives to
claim "the worst atrocities committed within (the) sub-Saharan Africa" had been in the
Casamance region of Senegal. This is purely indicative of the culture of irresponsible journalism that
prevails in the Daily Observer, today, so long as Jammeh is pleased with the contents. Which is why
independent and sound minded professional journalists in The Gambia have become victims of
Jammeh's anti-independent media campaign brutality since they do not want to be "partners in
development" in this form of professional dishonesty(distort facts, snub figures and cook up
allegations to frame-up enemies).

More disturbingly, the Observer still has the mouthiness to shift the blame to the West by stupidly
asking: "why is the Western world condemning Sudan while leaving Senegal on its whims commits
the same or even worst atrocities in Casamance?...who will take the West seriously when they
condemn one killer and praise another for the same type of atrocities inflicted on mankind?" I think it
is quite amazing to read such an editorial on a newspaper that performs the role of an international
public relations firm for a president who has always been advocating for "an African solution to an
African crisis". Why does Jammeh's Observer have to resort to the "western world" for a solution
"to an African crisis?" What's up with the "African solution?" Does this suggest weakness or
unworkability in Jammeh's slogan for finding an "African solution to an African crisis" to thwart
the so-called tensions precipitated by the alleged efforts by Senegal to help "dissidents to
overthrow the government of President Yahya Jammeh?"

In fact, the atrocities, that had been (and continue to be) committed in the Southern province of
Casamance are the sole responsibility of the rebels in the region that the Senegalese authorities have
been fighting against (for) over two decades. So, for the Daily Observer to allege that Senegal
"continues to destabilize Gambia", just because some "dissidents" had reportedly received
logistics aid (to avoid persecution in the Gambia) from rebels (that Senegal detests most), clearly
manifests the paper's relentless global campaign to weakly blame the innocent authorities in Dakar
for a problem initiated and spread by their undercover proprietor in Banjul: Yahya Jammeh. This
reminds me of the old adage: a bad farmer always blames his tools (even if they are sharp and
shiny)!

I, neither sympathize with rebels nor governments hell bent on the annexation (based on bogus
historical claims) of neighbors, but I am honestly convinced that almost every point made in this
rampageous editorial can be critically challenged by any conscious reader. And, I think it is
important for the folks in Banjul, calling the shots at the Daily Observer, to realize that this particular
editorial does more harm than good to beautiful Gambia's "national security". If the Observer were
a genuine "partner in development" it would not be involved in the imagination and creation of
security threat that seems as fake as a mid-day mirage. It would have been involved in charting out
possible solutions to this so-called political crisis between two neighbors that can't afford to lose
being branded the "oases of peace" in a conflict-infested sub-region.

MADI CEESAY
New York

............Rejoinder to Madi Ceesay
We Need A Smooth Transition
From Jammeh's Gambia
................................By Bubacarr Sankanu, currently in Abuja, Nigeria..June 14th, 2007

I have read Mr. Madi Ceesay's essay on questions I posed through the sister
publication The Gambia Echo, on The Gambia's future should Jammeh leave
the helm of office.

I thank Mr. Ceesay very much for trying to answer some of the questions I
raised in my previous piece. Readers have directly e-mailed and asked that
I answer the questions from my perspectives. However, due to my current
film production schedule, I would only be able to honour their humble requests
when I am through with the field shoots.

Mr. Ceesay, I can understand when you chose to stay out of my fight with Mathew for when two
elephants are fighting it is the grasses that suffer. All the other smaller animals that cannot mediate
would either have to stay away or risk being trampled upon!

Madi, I value your points but we must NEVER forget the realities on the ground. They should serve
as our permanent points of orientation and return. We must realize that 42 years in too short in the
history of any independent nation-state. We should not make any illusion of having a Westminster
styled democracy at home anytime soon. May be our grand children and their off springs would
benefit from a Gambianized political economy in which the yardsticks between the Divine Rights of
Kings and the Bill of Rights would be decently demarcated.

We must however start now: I, for one, support an organic reform strategy in which transfer of
power would be part of a broader dynamic socio-political evolution so we do not repeat past
mistakes simply because some people want system change by all means without preparing for the
aftermaths. Emperor Nero or his successors did not build Rome in a day. The harmonious
Trans-Atlantic systems of checks and balances and the Rule of Law of former colonial powers were
not perfected overnight - constant amendments and adjustment in tune with the prevailing realities on
the ground brought things to their current standards.

Based on my calculations and assessment of the political realities at home, I stand to be proven
wrong by unforeseen circumstances, Jammeh will rule The Gambia for 20 years atleast. He has
already served 13 years and by common sense, 7 or 8 years, if we consider the election timetables,
are left. To avoid the transitional mistakes of the past, I would like to appeal to all those intending to
play key frontline roles in shaping the destiny of our Great Nation to join me in considering the next
seven years as period of smooth democratic and realistic transition from the Second to the Third
Republic. We should prepare every move very carefully and make provisions for the unforeseen, so
in case of any abrupt transition or inevitable tenure elongation, the innocent Gambians will not feel
the shock much.

The economic shocks of the 1994 takeover and the subsequent brutality of some of the solders
almost forced people to the street. If you can remember, the very first batch of peaceful
demonstrators against the coup involved mainly former PPP sympathizers. They were mercilessly
suppressed and their transparent (banners) confiscated. Their success could have been replicated
across the country as a hungry suppressed man, they say, is an angry man. If the news of
socio-economic hardships at home is anything to go buy, then the present situation of our country
could equate a time bomb. Even if our strategic foreign reserves could help finance reconstruction, I
would love to help in defusing the bomb now than complaining until it is accidentally detonated!

Furthermore, I am trying to help avoid a situation like Afghanistan or South Africa where the
never-ending battles of ideas between the former Diaspora nationals and the domestic elites are
arresting progress. In Afghanistan, the local leaders are accusing President Hamid Karzai of
monopolizing power together with his former exiled colleagues. The in-fights are hijacking
government performance despite massive Western aid and, the Taliban are taking advantage of the
situation by resurging. The protesting local leaders, under the stewardship of former President
Burhanuddin Rabbani, have recently regrouped into a curious National Front alliance of former
warlords, drug barons, communists, pacified Mujaheedens and all those who stayed and faced both
the Soviet invasion and the Taliban terror. The irritating factor is that, five years ago, these new
strange bedfellows spoke only through the barrel of the gun but now they found a common cause for
unity and resistance to intellectual arrogance. This made Karzai and his is former Diaspora elites
panic by inviting the Taliban for peace talks against the wish of their Western backers!

Similarly in South Africa there is this cold war between the former exiled leaders of the African
National Congress (ANC) and the local heroes who stayed at home - on faction wants fast
economic reforms while the other is taking things gradual. The uncomfortable power struggle is
distracting the government's attention from the fight against crime, HIV/AIDS and xenophobia. One
big political setback it caused the ANC is the loss of the psychologically important City of Cape
Town to the former Apartheid party, the Democratic Alliance.

At the time of anti-Apartheid struggles, those in exile around current President Thabo Mbeki
mobilized international support for the ANC and condemnations of the Apartheid regime. The ones
who stayed at home together with former Vice-President Jacob Zuma faced the full terror of the
Apartheid system. Now that the search for the next president is getting critical, the domestic leaders
feel it is their turn to produce the next Head of State. The local elites are boasting of heavy weights
like ex-VP Jacob Zuma, politician-turn-industrialist Tokyo Sexwale and trade unionist-turn-tycoon
Cyril Ramaphosa. All these three big boys have equal chance of becoming the next president of
South Africa if the big businesses behind ex-exile Thabo Mbeki do not spoil the show. In any case,
Tokyo and Cyril have built massive wealth in recent years to survive cash politics. Jacob's own
assets are his popularity and charisma. The scandals not withstanding, he was re-elected Deputy
President of the ANC, a training post for the office of the country's president. His intelligent
communication advisers successfully made the masses believe that the allegations of rape, immorality
and corruption against him were cooked by his political rivals since most of the people accusing old
boy Jacob maintain secret lovers alongside their legal partners�is politics not nice? I love politics!

I would not like to see similar situation when we all land in The Gambia. We will stagnate or fail if for
example, you and your fellow Gambian-Americans would be only advocating an American way of
life for our peoples, the returnees from the UK feeling nostalgic about the golden old days of Queen
Elizabeth, the ones from the Middle East preaching petro-dollar Sharia, the domestic elites insisting
on more local government authority and we the German boys calling for a social market economy
with the freedom to just make money, legally I mean! To avoid these vexatious polemics, we can
start making best use of platforms like The Gambia Echo and this respectful publication to learn how
to make compromises as leaders in waiting.

Sorry if you think I am daydreaming about my upcoming role in our country. To be realistic, would
you like me to serve Mother Gambia as a taxi driver when I can continue from where BB Dabo and
Dominic Mendy stopped - as a pragmatic technocrat?

To our fellow Gambians at home, I kindly request you to not only complain and cry about the hard
life at home, but to equally submit proposals on how to improve the problems within the spirits of the
bottom-up national development approach. This will make it easier for us to confidently tell
President Jammeh what his advisers might be afraid of saying as Jammeh knows very well that any
leader who ignores his constructive citizens would be committing a political suicide!

Madi Ceesay, you described my questions "everybody-knows-the answer kind of childish
question". You are lucky to find them simple and childish but not all my targeted readers are
fortunate like you. Whether I intelligently summarize the questions to two or stupidly extend them to
hundred, I consciously know very well that I am addressing a diverse readership with different levels
of understanding. As an effective communicator, I keep making a compromise by comporting myself
like a sunny boy using childish, feminine and some times buddy Father Christmas vocabulary for
people to feel just good. If my target readers were a homogenous conclave of cardinals, I would
have used Latin or classic English and if I should be addressing the Islamic Fiqh Academy in Saudi
Arabia or the Al-Azhar University in Egypt, I would surpass Captain Sana B. Sabally's style with
countless questions from the Holy Scripts. Mr. Ceesay, I am no apprentice and Communication is
my natural game!

I agree with your point on possible colourful results for grade twelve students. I now discover that
there are people who would study just to pass their exams. They would brag out of school with
distinctions only to make headways in real life as pimps. The ones among them who could further
their education would go for degree programmes in stupidity!

Madi, you are equally lucky to be among the privileged few that know the type of leaders they want
at the summit of our national affairs. For the majority of our voters at home, the case is however
different. Time pressure would not let me explain some of the interesting real life examples I gathered
from election news reporting across The Gambia. However, these three factors influence the
decisions of our voters: one, the psychology of the Divine Right of Kings makes it difficult for our
peoples to realize that they have the powers to appoint and dismiss elected officers - if you win an
election, they say it is God's work and if you loose, it is God's will! No matter how intensive we try
to educate our peoples, we would not succeed in demystifying this dogmatic perception within a
generation. We need a continuous process of peaceful civic enlightenment; two, the hierarchical
structure and patronage systems of our society tempt people to vote for persons recommended by
influential community leaders and three, the abject poverty makes people sell their votes to the
highest bidders to cover immediate needs like a bag of rice, attaya (green tea), school fees,
medicine, transport and other pressing basic survival needs at the time of electioneering. I stand to
be corrected but I feel we are decades away from a system through which our electorate would
choose leaders based on informed decisions and free choices!

I pray our Right Honourable Halifa Sallah finds time to kindly elaborate, the key points I am raising
here in this article. For, what Halifa does not know about the level of voter education and political
maturity in our beloved Nation of The Gambia is not worth knowing!

These real shortcomings we have at home are common rudimentary problems in most nascent
democracies around the world. We can only find solutions if we resist the temptations of intellectual
arrogance and the self-centredness of the "me" generation. If you have top rankings that love their
air-conditioned offices, air-conditioned cars, air-conditioned houses and air-conditioned girlfriends
more than the hot boiling sun, you will only succeed in failing the peoples as a glamorous looser.

We must try to be at shoulder levels with the peoples if we want to condition them towards
prosperity and free choice; bragging about our various statuses as graduates, scholars, fellows or
members of exclusive clubs would not take us anywhere. Like wise, top-down concepts from elite
policy schools like the London School of Economics and Political Science (UK), the Kennedy
School of Government (USA), the Sciences Po (France), Ibn Khaldun Centre for Development
Studies (Egypt) or the University of St. Gallen (Switzerland), would not rescue our
politically-ignorant majority if we ignore the desires of the Gambians in the street.

At this juncture, I request all the critics concerned not to forget the arts of political marketing.
Politics is not about being a saint like Mother Theresa, a spiritual guru like the Imam of Timbo or a
PhD holder. It is about dealing with diverse peoples. It means applying the socio-political ideals one
stands for to suit the needs and aspirations of the masses that entrusts one with authority. The game
of politics is about pendulating interests and not permanent friends. When it comes to applied
political science with structural adjustments to the realties on the ground, political ideals and
principles are the first victims of compromise, hence we have gerrymandering or cross-carpeting, to
name a few tricks. Let us honestly cut the idealistic crap and stop grumbling for nothing; the
problems of the day like abject poverty, impunity, you name it, must set the political agenda beyond
party and ideological lines!

We should therefore not be complaining blindly when opposition politicians or technocrats shake
hands with the government of the day for, serving the Gambia is not the same as serving the ruling
party. Over the years, the peoples have been tempted to keep voting for politicians based on their
campaign promises and manifestoes and when they take office, they act differently. This is mainly
due to the fact that there is no school, college or think-thank coaching our emerging political leaders
on the arts of Republican power politics. The concept of Shadow Cabinet is not being followed
seriously at home. We should however be thankful that Halifa Sallah and Sidia Jatta of PDOIS and
some UDP-sponsored legislators in addition to committed public executives are gathering firsthand
experience on the system of Jammeh's Administration that could be helpful in the Third Republic.
There is nothing contradictory in their association with the Gambia Government. Both Djibo Ka and
Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal gathered real government experience as Cabinet Ministers under
former president Abdou Diouf!

Coming to Mathew K. Jallow, I never intended to "defame" the elder and I do not see my rejoinder
as "defamation". He started it anyway. As a fair player, I requested the Editor of The Gambia Echo
to psychologically prepare Mathew before publishing my response. I bear no grudges and I think
Mathew and I can co-exit peacefully as "arch political rivals" like you rightly put it. I have always
experienced Mathew as a friendly elder brother and my respect for him dates back to the day I
found him fighting for the rights of an impoverished community in the peripheries of Serekunda. I
never imagined that I would find myself wrestling with him in such a way. However, as the saying
goes, those in glasshouses should not throw stones. Had Mathew not provoked me with unexpected
missiles on my small romantic villa, I would not have responded with the fire power of Word War II
legend Field Marshall Bernard Law Montgomery!

Now that we know each other's positions, Mathew can continue to follow the radical left-wing
political school if he so desires and I will maintain my liberal-democratic and pragmatic middle way
of political dispensation. Most importantly, I think we have indirectly helped in educating the readers
in one way or the other.

Generally, I do not know what is wrong with the people of today. Some of the readers can bear me
witness, since the day I became an active contributor to our online Gambian cyber platforms, people
have been attacking me personally as if I misused my celebrity status to illegally impregnate their
daughters or sisters! Some were trying to discredit me at all costs while others were bent on
assassinating my character with all kinds of bad names. The hostile reception I got in our online
communities could only match that six-feet-deep baptism of fire we media practitioners received
from the defunct AFPRC junta in 1994!

Now how do you expect me to react when people want to use 21st Century technology for 6th
Century style of debate?

If you rattle a cobra, you must be prepared to be mercilessly bitten. Though I share the same slender
posture, except height, with Rwanda's Paul Kagame, I am neither a small fry nor a frightened
teenage boy caught peeping the girls next door. I try to use my brain as intensively as possible
before uttering a word or making any decision. For, I always prefer to walk out of the battlefield
either like the legendary Vercingetorix, by losing with honour and pride, or like a tactical officer of
Julius Caesar's central command, by coming, seeing and conquering!

To sum up, I am a very tolerant person but if anyone takes my "Mr. Nice Guy" character for granted
and arrogantly brags about it, I will serve him/her extra hot pepper soup with atleast 100
kilogrammes of first grade spices from Zanzibar!

No hard feelings!

Bubacarr Sankanu

If We Make it About Ourselves
& not About Gambia, We'll Fail
..............................................By Sheriff��. June 13th, 2007

In April of 1964, Nelson Mandela along with 16 other members of the African National Congress,
stood trial for sabotage in what's now known as the Rivonia Trials. Facing a possible death
sentence for "crimes against the state", Mandela looked the Judge in the eye and uttered the
following words:

"During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African
people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against
black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free
society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal
opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if
needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die."

Nearly two decades earlier, in India, Mahatma Ghandi led his people against the mighty British
colonial occupation. Through it all -- persecution, imprisonment, physical abuse, threats -- Ghandi
remained steadfastly committed to his ideals of truth, non-violence and independence for India. Not
only did he selflessly persevere for the betterment of his people -- all of them Hindu, Muslim,
Buddhist -- he even paid the ultimate price for his convictions when a disgruntled Hindu extremist
mowed him down.

During the struggle, Ghandi would engage in self-sacrifice by fasting long long
periods to leverage change of unjust British policy, as well as force unity among
different factions within his own people. Ghandi for instance forced a change
in unfair colonial policy towards "untouchables" by embarking on a six-day
fast in 1932. He adopted a similar measure to force Muslim and Hindu factions
of the anti-colonialism movement to unite as brothers in the struggle.

Two millennia prior, The Holy Prophet Mohammad, (PBU) having received the revelation from
Angel Gabriel, set out to spread the message to the wider world as instructed. One of the first
places he visited to spread the teachings was Taif, a town 50 mile southeast of Makkah. The people
there did not only reject the prophet's message of the Oneness of Allah, but they sent their children
to chase The Holy Prophet out of town, pelting him with rocks and other objects until he bled.

According to Islamic historians, the Prophet was treated so badly that an angel was sent with orders
to destroy the the town if the Holy Prophet so pleased. All the Prophet had to do was to give the
orders and the town would be obliterated; completely annihilated as punishment for their humiliating
treatment of the Prophet.

Remarkably, and with characteristic compassion, the Prophet, rather than choose the easy route of
vengefulness, not only desisted from giving the orders, but he offered prayers for the salvation of the
misguided people of Taif.

The last words of Jesus on the crucifix, according to Christian scholars, were, "Forgive them,
Father. For they know not what they do." "Them," referring to those who put him in his plight; the
villans who persecuted him and sought to harm him.

What is the common, running theme or moral in Mandela's, Ghandi's, Mohammad's and Jesus'
stories as narrated above? Selflessness and self-sacrifice.

Such is the history of every triumphant cause. The lesson to be learned from is that those who
advocate successful and enduring causes, did so by selling the principles and ideals, the vision; and
not themselves or their personhood.

As evident in each of the above stories, these extraordinary people would put their lives on the line
on any given day to advance the cause. Conversely, they would never seek to use the cause for
personal gains or self-aggrandizement. Hence each of their respective causes has not only been
remarkably successful, but has (and will) long outlived the individual mastermind who set the ball
rolling.

Try juxtaposing, if you will, those causes with the ones that have peen person-centered. Take
Nazism, Fascism, Maoism -- each of these celebrated "the leader" and how "great" he was. That is
why such movements fizzle and ultimately died with a flicker after the demise of the (lo and behold)
mortal founder.

Therein lies the explanation for the multitudes of failed African states today. Most, if not all, were ran
as fiefdoms of post-independent native leaders who elevated themselves above the state and used
it's resources -- human resources included -- as a means to an end. The end being political power
and personal gratification. Mabutu, Boughney, Bokassa, Salasie, Mugabe -- each of these leaders
has ran a largely person-centered dispensation to the detriment of the larger cause, which is the
welfare of the people. Consequently, when that person collapsed, as they inevitably would, the state
spiraled with him.

A while ago, one contributor to this site, Louis Friend, who has earned my respect through his sound
commentaries, rightly counseled professionalism in our discourse. I'd like to push that a notch
further.

The bigger challenge, as we discuss and debate the way forward for our beloved Gambia, is to push
the exchanges from a person-centered conversation towards a more idea and solution-centric
discourse.

It would be more constructive and beneficial for us to discuss real, serious-minded issues affecting
our country and recommend practical solutions than to trade in insults and delve on individuals.

It is self-delusional to think that we could heighten our own self-esteem by belittling or silencing
those we may not agree with. It helps us all to make this intellectual exercise more about the nobler
cause of Gambia's advancement, and less about hollow egoistic showmanship. Let's leave the latter
to the adolescent boys at the "Warga-Warga" playground.

Sheriff
North Carolina

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