Gainako Newspaper

Gainako on-line newspaper (GON) in its effort to engage more intellectuals in various subjects areas caught
up with the author of " Mandela's Other Children: The Diary Of An African Journalist " Mr. Baba Galleh
Jallow, a prolific writer and renowned Gambian Journalist residing in the US. In this exclusive interview, Mr.
Jallow talked about his recent work. A book that dwells on the political events in the Gambia and draws great
parallels to the South African experience. An interesting master piece that has recieved rave reviews from
many political forums, blogs and newspapers.

Mr. Jallow, known for his sparkling Journalistic engagement dwelled on
various topics discussed in his book . This book welcomed by many political
forum and newspaper editors, adds to the list of documentaries of our time,
and a clear testimony of a living struggle under the clutches of tyranny and a
poor administrator.

(Below is the whole interview with Galleh in a humble mood as is his usual nature)

GON: Good Morning Mr. Baba Galleh Jallow. It is said in Mandinka �Ninchi koto buka nyamoh
tinah.� In a sense, the big pen gunners can dribble the pen on paper any how they like. Any
comment?

Galleh: Well, there is certainly some wisdom in this ancient Mandinka saying. I�m just not sure
whether I�m qualified enough to claim its honor. I certainly cannot claim to be a �big pen gunner� as
you put it. I simply try to put down my thoughts, impressions, and opinions as best I can.

GON: Your promised book, �Mandela�s other Children: The Diary of an African Journalist� is
finally here. What�s the target at this point? What�s the reason for its title �Mandela�s Other
children?�

Galleh: Well, the target readership is primarily the Gambian people, both current and future
generations. The secondary target readership is the international community. And I think it�s already
having an impact. Reporters Without Borders, for instance, have it up on the �Things We Like�
section of their website. The idea is to share with readers my sense of the destructive workings of
the current Gambian regime by sharing my personal experiences as well as document some of the
worst human rights violations that have happened in our country since 1994. A significant portion of
the book is dedicated to interrogating just what is going on with our country � identifying, naming,
analyzing, trying to fit events and goings-on in the wider conceptual framework of contemporary
politico-social discourse.

I got the title �Mandela�s Other Children� while taking a course in South African history. One of
our readings was Rian Malan�s �My Traitor�s Heart.� As I studied this book and others, it struck
me that there are very deep similarities between the oppressive apartheid regime in South Africa and
oppressive regimes elsewhere, particularly in The Gambia. I found it strangely ironic that black
Africans in The Gambia and other sub-Saharan African countries are oppressing their own people
even while white racists Afrikaners were oppressing black Africans in South Africa. Why should
black people oppress black people? I was also shocked to learn that during the 1980s, P.W.
Botha�s notorious secret police was called the National Intelligence Agency � NIA. It made me
wonder if Jammeh got the name of his NIA from apartheid South Africa. Also, there is the similarity
between the massacre of school children in Soweto in June 1976 and the massacre of school
children in The Gambia in April 2000. And finally, for the purposes of this interview, there is sense in
which both oppressor and oppressed are victims of violence, and a sense in which Mandela
emerges as a father figure for all lovers of truth and justice in Africa. So I thought it�s a title
that would invoke the concept of a pan-African struggle against oppression, and also provoke some
interrogation of the concept of political oppression itself across time and space.

GON: What is the motivation for publishing this book?

Galleh: I think this question has been partly answered in the preceding sections. In any case, my
motivation is the need to record what�s going on in The Gambia for current and future generations.
To show a wider spectrum of people around the world what�s going on. And ultimately, as a form of
protest and condemnation of the politics of violence that the Jammeh regime is engaged in, and to
loudly declare that it is neither right nor possible to prevent people from expressing their legitimate
opinions.

GON: Your work in the past and present is sparking candle lights in many horizons. Humble Galleh,
what�s the magic behind your writings? Who do you look up to, as in admiration?

Galleh: Well, I feel rather uneasy with those sparking candle lights. Anyway, I derive inspiration first
and foremost from the fact that God is on the side of truth and justice. I admire all who are truthful
and just, and all who refuse to be compromised by the corrupting influences of power, ego, wealth,
selfishness, and greed, among other vices.

GON: �But Mandela�s Other Children is also a story of heroic resistance, stubborn defiance,
and a steely determination to assert and preserve endangered sovereignties by threatened
social entities.� What�s your comment on the above quote?

Galleh: I think this quote aptly captures part of what this small book is trying to do; that is, show
how some people, in spite of their disadvantaged social positions and apparent vulnerability, refuse
to bend down to the bullying tactics of unjust despotism. I think the notion of �endangered
sovereignties� evokes the concept that sovereignty rests in every human being and every social
group. For example, the idea that power resides in the people, that power belongs to the people.
There is a sense in which people and organizations, in this case supposedly powerless journalists,
media houses, and students, insist on violating unjust prohibitions an unjust regime is trying to impose
upon them. In refusing to take injustices lying down, they are asserting and trying to preserve their
individual sovereignties.

GON: Summarize this book in three words?

Galleh: I�m afraid I am unequal to that task. I can say that one of the key messages of this small
book is that injustice never pays. If people in power think that they can trample on truth, justice, and
the inalienable rights of other human beings, then they must realize that those human beings reserve
the right to resist such injustice, and that ultimately, their deeds will be recorded for both current and
future generations. You do what you like, we write what we like, simple.

GON: The recent review of your book by current GPU Secretary General Mr. Pa Samba Jow,
another renowned critic of Jammeh�s administration finally exposed the book out to the public.
Congrats to Mr. Jow for a wonderful review; but many sensed that Mr. Jow might have written it
with �temper�, knowing what his mates like Fatou Jaw Manneh and others are going through
under this callous administration. Did you perceive such in the review?

Galleh: Well, I can understand Pa Samba Jow�s outrage against Jammeh�s despotism. He has all
the right to be outraged and to express his outrage in whatever manner he likes. He did a very good
job of citing some of the issues I discuss in the book. He has a right to his opinions and the right to
express his opinions in whatever language he chooses; and I totally respect that.

GON: Excuse us that we have to go out of the box a little bit here. What are you waiting for to
board the �Independent Newspaper� online, knowing that one of your paper�s editors, Alagi Yoro
is also outside? Do you or your management feel betrayed by Gambians on the weak participation
when the Independent was under attack?

Galleh: Well, I have considered having an online version of The Independent a couple of times, but
I realize that there are certain time and resource constraints as to the feasibility of such a project just
now. One, we might not be able to maintain a good reserve of reporters on the ground; and two, I
personally do not have the kind of time needed to devote to such a project just now.

On whether we feel betrayed by Gambians. Personally I will say No. True, public support has not
been very openly forthcoming, but we think it is there nonetheless. Moreover, it has always been my
belief that one should not embark upon any course of action hoping that people will come to your
aid in case of difficulties. I believe that if you must fall, you must fall with the knowledge that you will
have to pick yourself up.

GON: The external GPU to which you were the Secretary General at a time is now dormant.
Agreeably, this is not wholly emanating from the executive but also member participants. Any efforts
to galvanize people?

Galleh: First, a point of correction: I was never the GPU-USA Secretary General. I merely
coordinated the efforts to establish it. After it was formed, I helped coordinate the election of an
executive and handed over to them. I must say that the Union was dormant from the very beginning.
First of all, most Gambian journalists in the U.S. showed very little or no interest in the organization.
Many did not even bother to register. Secondly, even those who registered have not been
adequately committed to the Union. We tried and continue to try to get people actively involved to
little avail. Apparently, folks have other more important matters to attend to and you really can�t
run an organization if the membership or those who should constitute the membership deliberately
refuse to be proactive. I�m afraid that until people show more interest, the Union cannot but be
dormant.

GON: What message do you have for your wide readership?

Galleh: Well, first of all, I thank everyone for their kind support and encouragement. Secondly, I
would say read on.

GON: Any works in the pipeline?

Galleh: Yes, there are a few works in the pipeline. I am hoping that by next Fall I would have
another small book out. I do not know at this time which of the works in progress I will complete by
then, but definitely one of them, God willing.

GON: Thank you for talking to GON. We look forward to having you soon again.

Galleh: Thank you.

To get your copy of Mandela's Children and other books written by Baba Galleh Jallow click here

.DAILY OBSERVER'S
...........RAMPAGEOUS EDITORIAL
.............................................By Madi Ceesay..................June 15th, 2007

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

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