Musa,
I will not be surprised if you are planning on another trip:) It really
seems that you had a wonderful vacation, and most importantly, you did have
time to assess a lot of things. One might not agree with all you had to say,
but I must say that the fact that the average Gambian and especially the
most educated, feels that those of us in the Diaspora even with all the
titles behind some of our names, are not well informed of the reality on the
ground as much as we would like to 'assume'; is a big disgrace.
It is so unfortunate that the reality could not be debated anywhere, because
we have a lot of people who could not stand to lose even an election. A lot
has been said and NOTHING had been done by most of those who makes more
noise out here. As long as we are unable to figure out why such a distance
of thought between our people and us, we are the losers.
It is nice to sit "abroad and write anything", I was told by a young well
educated person in the Gambia, but contributing one's quota to partisan
politics and feel that you are contributing more to national issues compared
to others is the dumbest thing anyone could even think of. This guy went on
giving me names and explain to me why Gambians do not even read the Gambia-L
anymore. He said we are stocked on party lines and forget that there is more
to the Gambia than a political party.
And such is the politics in the Diaspora. Most of us making more noises have
very little to show off for on national issues. An the disease of being in
DENIAL is so clear.
By the way, did you have time to asses the gap between most of those who
stayed home and some of us who live in the Diaspora? at times, I feel that
they are far better off than those of us here. What do you think?
May God bless the Gambia.
Thanks.
Ousman Jallow Bojang.
----- Original Message -----
From: Musa Jeng <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, February 03, 2002 10:58 PM
Subject: A recent trip to Gambia
> As the Tourist flight taxied off the runway at the Banjul International,
there was a feeling of sadness of living the country I loved, but also a mix
feeling of delight- having to return back to my three year old whom I missed
a lot during my two weeks vacation to The Gambia.
> As the flight took off, I tried to put this two-week vacation to answer
some of the questions I have always had about the Presidential elections,
and the political reality on the ground as it relates to the future of our
country. With the exception of air turbulence which always got me off my
trend of thoughts, I spent the six hours of flight time to London and
another eight hours of flight time to Atlanta to try to analyze whether this
trip has gotten me any closer to the real truth to the socio-economic and
political future of The Gambia.
>
> While most of us Gambians living in the Diaspora put a lot of stock to
governance, rule of law and the protection of civil liberties, the average
Gambians I spoke with cannot see the utmost importance of these issues to
their economic survival. Some will admit, and these are usually educated
Gambians, that there are obviously excesses in these areas, but the
government of the day's commitment to development overshadows the Achilles'
heel of these shortcomings. They will flatly tell you that Jammeh's firing
of these civil servants are purely political and indefensible, but some of
the more extreme supporters will justify it by saying that most of these
guys are saboteurs who are hell bent in destroying what the man is trying to
build. What is very clear is that, the Jamme's government commitment to
delivering the goods in the area of health, Agriculture, communication,
education and road development is the political nectar behind his support.
The APRC stalwarts and supporters will not hesitate to condemn us,
especially Gambians living in the USA for having it completely wrong in
regards to the Jammeh government. Jammeh Gii Lanka, one of the accolades
they like to call him, and they would heap praises on how he is committed to
road construction, building of first class hospitals, free education for
girls, university education and the energy crisis that would soon be the
thing of the past. Even his critiques cannot mince on some of these
realities, myself included. I know that they are wrong on the relevance and
importance of governance, rule of law and some of these non-economic
intangibles to the development of our dear country. But I can also
understand how such issues can be meaningless to some farmer who is
preoccupy with feeding his children, or a poor mother who is more preoccupy
with the education of her kids.
>
> Jammeh and the APRC's strong suite are in the area of Education, Health,
communication and the weirdest of all, his generosity. The Majority of
Gambians, I have argued with, discussed with, and these included strong
Jammeh supporters, educated civil servants, rural folks, city dwellers, and
there is absolute unanimity that he is committed to the development of the
country, and they are actually seeing it. On a personal note, inasmuch as I
believed that Jammeh is wrong for Gambia, his present contribution in the
area of infrastructure, education, building of hospitals are realities on
the ground that would help the future of our dear Gambia even when Jammeh is
long gone. I am still convinced that the country is worst off under Jammeh
because of the fundamental issues on the rule of law, protection of civil
liberties and in the area of governance, but he also deserved lots of credit
in some of the things he is doing. The APRC and Jammeh have their strong
supporters, and people who cannot stand them irrespective of whatever good
they do. The final conclusion, in the absence of a PDOIS government-which is
the real bastion of hope for our dear country, I can settled for a Gambia
with the combination of Jawara's era good suite on governance, rule of law
and the mirage of democracy with a Jammeh's government strong suite on
infrastructure development, building of hospitals, education and investing
in the future of our development initiatives. Yes, the NIA is at work,
people civil rights are trample upon on a daily basis, the whole power
structure is in the hand of one Man, and whatever he says goes; the main
opposition party, UDP is finish as a force to be reckoned with; Jammeh and
the APRC are making a difference in the area of education, healthcare,
communication and road constructions; and a PDOIS/NRP in the National
Assembly is definitely a sigh of relief to the possibility of a one party
state.
>
> Thanks
>
> Musa Jeng
>
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