Thank you for reminding folks of yet another lie from Yahya Jammeh.


On Thu, Feb 13, 2014 at 9:51 PM, Prince Obrien-Coker <[log in to unmask]>wrote:

>  Folks,
> Ten years ago, to date, the hopes of Gambians were raised only to be
> dashed last month. It is a common practice of our President to keep the
> people hanging on hope and on him. The notion of Vision 2020 is a clear
> example of his delusive promises that by the year 2020, The Gambia will be
> as prosperous as Singapore. This notion is widely held by those who believe
> in him, forgetting they were once told that The Gambia will be a
> "Donor-Nation" in 2014.
> Below is the unabridged speech he gave to the nation on what he called a
> historic day. As usual it is a long one.
> I hope people in the Gambia will read this speech and come to terms with
> whom they are dealing.
>
> Prince
> =================================================
>
> HIS EXCELLENCY PRESIDENT YAHYA A. J. J. JAMMEH'S STATEMENT
> TO THE NATION ON OIL EXPLORATION
> DELIVERED ON FRIDAY FEBRUARY 13, 2004
>
> Fellow Gambians
> It is important that I speak to you today to lay to rest speculations that
> have engaged many of us following my address to the Nation on the occasion
> of the 2004 New Year. Some Gambians are aware of the fact that there has
> been a long history of oil exploration in The Gambia beginning in 1956.
>
> In the earlier years of the exercise none of the companies exploring for
> oil in our country carried their exploration work beyond the initial phase
> except for Chevron, which drilled an unsuccessful offshore oil exploration
> well in 1979 called Jammah-1.
>
> Under the auspices of the Canadian Government and funding, Petro-Canada
> International carried out studies in the 1980s and between 1999 and 2002 an
> Oil and Gas company also carried out study work and a Seismic programme
> whose results were very questionable, to say the least, as this Government
> has always believed that oil not only exists in The Gambia but exists in
> very large quantities. As a result their application to extend their
> license was rejected by Government.
>
> We did not extend the latter's license agreement because of their failure
> as well to meet their work obligations under the license and because of a
> request that the financial terms of their agreement with The Gambia should
> be changed. The changes requested would have resulted in The Gambia
> receiving very little benefit from any commercial oil development which, to
> be precise, is 5% of any commercial oil development. This was also
> unacceptable to Government to say the least.
>
> Thereafter Government contracted a Western Company to review all previous
> work done in The Gambia and to advise us on whether our belief that the
> Gambia had a very good potential for oil was correct or not.
>
> After reviewing all the work that had been done previously they were able
> to tell us that in their opinion the potential was very high but that a
> large study and three-dimensional seismic programme known in the industry
> as a 3D Survey should be undertaken to confirm our beliefs.
>
> Working with this Western Company, we completed a thorough evaluation of
> the oil potential of 500 square kilometres out of 2,000 square kilometres
> of Deep Water and 3,000 kilometres of Shallow Water of our maritime or
> offshore territory.
>
> Fellow Gambians
> I now have the humble duty to announce that the results of the study are
> very positive. It tells us that there exists oil in The Gambia in very
> large quantities especially in the study area. All the information is
> recorded on a compact disc.
> Therefore, before the end of this year we intend to have a test or
> exploratory well drilled, to firm up the results of the study. This would
> be the beginning of a new future for The Gambia and our people.
> With this first study, we have planted seeds that we believe will end in a
> harvest of prosperity for our people. This harvest will change the future
> of our country.
>
> However, we are not contented to assess the possibility for oil in just
> this small part of the territory of The Gambia.
>
> We have already started to study and evaluate the extent of oil existing
> in the remainder of The Gambia's deep water and shallow water maritime and
> land territories. These studies will continue until we cover all the
> maritime and land areas of the country.
> It is our belief that these studies will lead to the discovery of more oil
> reserves in these areas of The Gambia. Of course, many of you would have
> been wondering why I decided to take over the portfolio of Energy then at
> the Department of State for Trade, Industry and Employment. One reason was
> to address the chronic power supply problem in this country but the most
> important reason was to ensure that the oil issue is quickly dealt with.
> My Government has been engaged in the search for oil since 1995 but then
> the portfolio under the Department of State for Trade, Industry and
> Employment was beset with a lot of failures, disappointments and a lot of
> other unpleasant activities that would have been detrimental to the
> country. As a result of all those activities that were not in our interest,
> I decided to take over the portfolio and to make sure that work is done
> expeditiously.
>
> Fellow Gambians
> I am indeed very happy with the discovery because it has spelt the end of
> the dark days of The Gambia as we have always been on the list of the
> world's smallest and poorest countries. With this discovery which is only
> one-fifth of one of the areas in the deep sea, we have the potential of
> turning the smallest country into the richest country on earth. As I have
> stated earlier, it is not only in the deep water area of The Gambia but
> also the shallow waters as well as on-shore where huge potential for large
> quantities of oil remains to be discovered. On the other hand I am worried
> by the present attitude of we Gambians. Even if the oil were to flow into
> our bedrooms, the majority of us would still remain poor as long as we do
> not change our attitude. It takes a patriotic citizenry to build and make a
> rich country. It takes honest, dedicated and Allah-fearing citizens to make
> a wealthy country. Secondly I am worried because the discovery of oil or
> its potential would lead to more laziness and complacency on the side of
> Gambians. As far as the Government is concerned and as far as I am
> concerned I will fulfil my duties and obligations to the Gambian people. I
> cannot force you to work; I cannot force you to be active but at the end of
> the day I feel sad when I see most of you living in abject poverty. In
> order to make life easier for me and for you, let us, for God's sake,
> change our attitude towards ourselves, our neighbours, our people and our
> country. There is no doubt that if you do not love yourself, you cannot
> love your neighbour. There will be no reward for no work. Of course you
> cannot be rich by not working. Any day that it is discovered that you have
> stolen, you will lose all those ill-gotten riches. You must remember that
> it is only Gambians and good friends of The Gambia that can make and build
> this country into one of the wealthiest and smallest states on earth.
> Nobody can develop your country for you.
>
> Fellow Gambians
> If we do not forget our differences in language called tribes, differences
> in political ideology and live together as Gambians as enshrined in our
> National Anthem, the wealth that the Almighty Allah has given us in the
> form of oil would unfortunately not benefit us and neither your children
> nor my children.
>
> Fellow Gambians
> The oil is in only one area and during the 2003 July 22nd celebration, I
> did mention that The Gambia has the potential of strategic mineral
> resources. Since we are talking about oil, I will not disclose what the
> potential is or what minerals we are talking about. I will let you know in
> due course what we have in terms of strategic mineral resources.
>
> I will not want to be the President of a country that has a great
> potential for agriculture but still becomes food insecure because people
> have abandoned their farms on account of the oil. This would be a tragic
> mistake since nobody will eat or drink oil. Given the size of the country,
> every body can be very rich and self-contained. It would be the worse and
> most lethal mistake a country would have ever made to abandon agriculture
> because of the discovery of oil. Some countries are paying for this. As a
> matter of fact it is not even possible for everyone to work in the oil
> industry. I do not want The Gambia to fall into that category. The axiom is
> that agriculture, education, oil and health together build a prosperous
> nation. You cannot be prosperous if you are in ill health. Being in good
> health is part of being wealthy.
>
> This country's future and your future lie in what you and I do to make
> this country a great country.
>
> Fellow Gambians
> I am aware some of you may want to know the security guarantees in place
> given the fact that oil has been discovered in The Gambia. You will have
> noticed that since 1998, I've been preparing your psyche for this.
> Regarding defence and security, you can be rest assured that this is what
> I've been preparing for during the past six years. I will not tell you what
> we have or what we do not have but the important thing is that Gambians are
> assured of their defense and security.
>
> My dear citizens, this oil will only benefit us when there is absolute
> peace and tranquility. Of course it would benefit us a great deal when
> discipline and patriotism are added. Indiscipline is a recipe for human
> tragedy. As far as this Government is concerned, OPERATION NO COMPROMISE
> will extend to all sectors of human life: zero tolerance for violence; zero
> tolerance for laziness; zero tolerance for corruption; zero tolerance for
> indiscipline and zero-tolerance for treachery. This is a peace-loving
> country and the majority of Gambians are peaceful but there is a small
> minority which is not. We will not compromise, for whatever reason, the
> maintenance of law and order in this country. If you are a tailor, be a
> tailor and be serious in what you are doing; if you are a teacher, be a
> teacher and concentrate on what you are doing. Whatever you do, it should
> be at the back of your mind that any activity that would bring instability
> in this country, you will pay the highest price and be the first to pay. We
> will not compromise on security and the peace and stability of this country
> for whatever ideology. There would be zero tolerance for indiscipline and
> disorderly conduct or violence. Let me also make it very clear that we will
> uphold the rule of law and the principles of a democratic society. You are
> free to do whatever you want to do politically as long as your actions do
> not encourage or incite violence, instability and insecurity for
> individuals or a collective body of people or for the nation. Any attempt
> to divide people on the basis of religion will be dealt with without mercy.
> Similarly any attempt to divide people on the basis of tribes will be dealt
> with without mercy. Any attempt to destabilise this country will demand the
> highest price because with oil there would be certain people whose
> intention would be to make sure that The Gambia does not benefit from this
> resource. But I can assure you that as long as I'm alive and as long as
> there is one Almighty Allah, this oil belongs to all Gambians who will
> benefit from it. Nobody on the face of this earth can prevent that from
> happening.
>
> So fellow citizens, Seyfolu, Alkalolu, Commissioners, Heads of Families,
> Religious Leaders, Politicians, Legislators, the Judiciary, Students,
> Teachers, Educators, Doctors, the Armed Forces, the Security Services and
> any other institution, whatever you do let justice guide your actions and
> live by the prayer in the National Anthem in that we will strive, work and
> pray that all, irrespective of tribe, race or religion would live in peace,
> unity and freedom in this country. Any activity you are engaged in which
> undermines this principle, would be undermining your own existence.
>
> Fellow Gambians
> I wish to congratulate you on this very important discovery and let me
> remind you that this is just one-fifth of the deep-sea area excluding the
> shallow waters of 3,000 sq kilometres and the on-shore land area. It may
> well be that your house is built on oil or you may be driving on oil. The
> most important thing is that the oil would not on its own bring wealth. We
> are to create the wealth ourselves by exploiting the oil. However we must
> do so with honesty, which means putting the interests of every individual
> and the country before personal interests. The one reason for fighting
> corruption is not due to pressure but I would like to ensure that I clean
> this country before the oil begins to flow. For instance, if you have a
> stain with some other liquid, it could be removed but an oil-stain is
> always very difficult to wash-off. If the flow of oil finds a situation of
> corruption in this country, that stain cannot be easily removed. Hence
> despite the discovery of oil OPERATION NO COMPROMISE will continue; the
> cleaning up exercise using some powerful detergent will continue before the
> oil comes in.
>
> With this in mind, I would also want to assure citizens that in view of
> the speculation about rice shortage, I will ensure that by the grace of the
> Almighty Allah, there would be no rice shortage. I am aware of the
> activities of some people to hoard the rice in expectation of higher prices
> but if they know what I already know, they should sell the rice that is in
> store. There is no need to elaborate on this. It behoves all patriotic
> citizens who love this country to ensure that activities of hoarding are
> reported to the Police. What would the D5,000 hush-money mean to you if
> Gambians end up buying a bag of rice for D600 ? I will never allow that to
> happen. Reporting hoarding or the sale of expired commodities is part of
> your patriotic duty thus I want to thank all those patriotic Gambians who
> believe in God and as true citizens of this country have always reported
> these activities. By their action, they have proven that honesty can avert
> human catastrophe.
>
> Fellow Gambians
> I want to reassure you that you have oil in The Gambia and all the details
> are contained in compact disc format called The Gambia Off-Shore Project.
> The prospect of the discovery would as from today be officially known as
> ALHAMDOULILAH PROSPECT replacing the alphabetical designation. It means
> that we give thanks to the Almighty Allah for whatever he has done for us.
> This is a blessed country and you can be rest assured that poverty and
> hunger would be a thing of the past if YOU and I and everyone in this
> country live by the prayer in the National Anthem; live as good citizens,
> good Christians and Muslims in our country.
>
> On this great historic day I want to thank especially the Government and
> people of Canada for their invaluable assistance towards the realization of
> this project.
>
> I also want to take this opportunity to thank the Government of the
> Republic of China on Taiwan, the Government of the Federal Republic of
> Nigeria, the Government and people of Turkey and the Government and people
> of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania for being true friends of The Gambia
> and for assisting in one way or the other in the realization of this great
> project. I also want to thank the last two companies which my Government
> worked with to realize this project within a period of six months. I also
> want to thank you The Gambians for not being too curious to know what was
> happening around your backyard until this day. As from today you must be
> interested in your country and try to know what is going on so that nobody
> can surprise you even though this is a very pleasant surprise.
>
> May the Almighty Allah bless, guard and guide our endeavours to build a
> new future of greater prosperity for all Gambians and for everybody who
> would live in this country.
>
> I thank you all for your attention.
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