Yero, no, this is irrational. This is akin to a Banker stealing billions from a bank only to be the spokesperson for Bankers. This big tent talk is also a lie we are convinsing ourselves of and the very people talking about it are the very ones forming all sorts of duplications and reduplications and please do not take my word for it, just look around. How about Amadou speaking for himself and not Yero bating for him. He is a grown man the last time I check and a PhD holder. Thanks for reminding me that Yaya is our problem, but problem is you need to tell that to Amadou, PhD and all, and a Political Scientist at that. Does accountability mean anything to you? There is a long trail of such people in our midst and there is a reason for that - we like to sugarcoat the TRUTH. Calling Amadou to be accountable has nothing to do with me fighting Yaya. Amadou did not resign from Yaya because of his conscience, he was fired and if that were not the case, you will not be here bating for him for he would be right next to Yaya presiding over the abuse of Gambians. No, I do not need to fight with Amadou for I tried that before. Integrity means a lot to me. I demand it of myself and demand it from those I associate with. Oh, we are just supposed to roll over and play dead. In Gambia, but not here.
Joe
Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2012 20:40:33 -0500
From: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [G_L] [>-<] Freedom at Mile 2 for Sale to Highest Bidder - GOOD READ
To: [log in to unmask]
Folks,
Let’s strategize and choose our fights. Last time I checked, we have a full dictator at loose ready to pounce on anyone who dares say something. Unless people are interested in extinguishing the little fire he came out with from the mile two prison, it is in our interest to make sure we shape the nature of our debates so we don’t lose any combatant.
While I share the frustration of the many who would like to take him to task for joining Jammeh then, especially his comments when Deyda Hydara was murdered in cold blood, it is nothing that says that people cannot realize their wrongs to return back to what is right.
It is true that he did do his little when he established his own business. It must be put in clear picture how he got into trouble in the latest event. In memento, he was also charged with espionage by the Jammeh regime. I believe that while his association with the regime is something that we should all despise, we should also welcome him back and include him among the forces fighting for Gambia’s liberation.
Best,
Yero
There is no god but Allah (SWT) and Muhammad (SAW) is His messenger. Fear and Worship only Allah alone!
From: [log in to unmask]
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: RE: [G_L] [>-<] Freedom at Mile 2 for Sale to Highest Bidder - GOOD READ
Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2012 01:12:00 +0000
Helloooo and Finally!!!!!!!!!!,
Just when i thought that this GPost and GL was becoming lonely, here comes Joe Ma Cha Diggi Chicago, like Obama in last night's debate re-energising me with what is sometimes so hard for us to swallow and accept- "THE TRUTH" and guts to say it regardless of popular opinions of convenience laced with hyprotical tendencies of Maslaa .
Say it loud again and again my brother "Speak your mind and stand tall, but be able to back it up".
You are what you are, and like u , I will always call it like I see.
I am certainly with u on this one! Lets see if there will be debates on the issues you just highlighted!
My guess however---An avalanche of sugarcoating!!
SAY IT LOUD!!!!!!!
Best Regards,
Ablie Njie-Lekbi Chi Birr Atlanta
"What we promise, we must always deliver with class"
"Speak your mind and stand tall, but be able to back it up"
"Do not be afraid to leave the Good to Go for the Great"G2G
From: [log in to unmask]
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: FW: [G_L] [>-<] Freedom at Mile 2 for Sale to Highest Bidder - GOOD READ
Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2012 19:36:17 -0500
Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2012 19:31:20 -0500
From: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [G_L] [>-<] Freedom at Mile 2 for Sale to Highest Bidder - GOOD READ
To: [log in to unmask]
Che, Saikou misspoke or bought into the propaganda as to how Amadou ended up in The Gambia and later Mile 2. He skipped over how Amadou ended in Banjul to help spread a lie of "Service to Nation". No, the trail of how Amadou ended up in Gambia is not going to be re-written by anyone. Literally thousands are life witnesses on this and other distro when Amadou who hopped from state to state telling anyone who wanted to listen the Badness in Babili, only to wake up one morning to sell his soul to the Devil to announce that he had decided to join Yaya Jammeh for the development and progress he was doing in the Gambia. By that time, the Students and Mr. Barrow were gun down; Koro Ceesay Roasted; many murederd in jail; hundreds dissapeared; countless fired, tortured, and in all kinds of dungeons, etc, etc. Amadou sold his soul to Yaya because of NO SERVICE to NATION, but GREED. While in Gambia, Fatou Jaw Manneh was arrested and languished in that country, did SOS Amadou Janneh consider her plight? No, he was busy socializing with the Butcher while his fellow Gambians were traumatized in their hundreds. Also as SOS for Communication or Information, he was there when the attacks of journalists were the most severe and he did zilch. So, what is this nonsense that is being peddled that Amadou went to give back to his country?
Like many a turncoat in our midst that were in fellowship with the Butcher, Amadou is not going to come in our midst without apoligizing to Gambians and telling us what went down during his tennure with the Devil and the role he played. I know hypocrisy gets the better of the New Gambian, but does it not concern you what Amadou the Pipe Piper voluntered in terms of information about Diasporans before he was accepted in the midst of the Devil? How the hell is the real struggle just starting for a known turncoat? Amadou is no one's leader and he should not be heard from much more seen. Yes, he is a Gambian with all rights to citizenship, but that right stops where mine begin and Amadou is being served a notice. If you are going to parade around as the Gambian Ghandi or Dr. King, you will be confronted in public and you can take that in the bank. After what you did to Gambians and in the midst of what is going on in the Gambia, if you are going to start speaking on behalf of any gambian, you better start with where you left off with us - when you became a turncoat.
Joe
Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2012 15:31:29 -0400
Subject: [>-<] Freedom at Mile 2 for Sale to Highest Bidder - GOOD READ
From: [log in to unmask]
To: [log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask]
Freedom at Mile 2 for Sale to Highest Bidder
africa » gambia
ex-Minister Janneh
Tuesday, October 09, 2012
When reports emerged that Lebanese-born Yusuf Ezedeen has bought his freedom, leaving his Gambian co-convicts to rot in Mile 2, some critics of the government were whipped up into a froth of nationalist frenzy, though low-key. One commentator even sounds upbeat about the possible release of the embattled former defence chief Land Tombong Tamba and six other top Gambian security officers and businessman, who were convicted for treason together with Yusuf.
This was since late 2010. Today, just a little under two years on, Gen. Tamba and Co, as the press refers them, seem drawn closer to the firing squad. At the same time, if the reports which the government neither denies nor confirms are anything to go by, Yusuf is exploiting his freedom in Lebanon.
Fast-forward to August 2012. The widespread uproar that greeted President Yahya Jammeh’s government’s controversial execution of nine prisoners in August was unprecedented. The executions were the country's first in 27 years and were widely criticised as arbitrary.
As one American-Gambian puts it, "For the first time in the 18-year tyranny in Gambia, the US Congress is being engaged in a manner that hopefully will lead to a better understanding of serious human right abuses committed against a defenseless population by the current regime."
A blessing in disguise
For two Gambian-Americans, however, the execution which is believed to remain a subject of controversy in the country’s political and diplomatic scene for the foreseeable future is a blessing in disguise. Tamsir Jasseh, only 54, but who put on octogenarian bears after six years in jail had his lengthy jail term brought to an unexpected end together with a lifer, Amadou Scattred Janneh, who turned 50 on the day. This was after a revered US civil rights activist negotiated their release from The Gambia’s central prison situated at the outskirts of Banjul.
Rev. Jesse Jackson had, in the wake of the executions, reportedly been in contact with President Jammeh on a daily basis for two weeks before the Gambian leader invited him to Banjul to meet face to face. The leading US advocate arrived in the country on Sunday Sept 16. On Monday, he held a one-on-one meeting with President Jammeh for hours, from bright daylight to deep dusk. On late Tuesday night, he left for the United States with Jasseh and Janneh. “Those who were expected to die are now expected to live and those who were in prison are now home,” Jackson says upon arrival in the US.
Both Jasseh and Janneh were born, raised, and started their first pay job here before traveling to that superpower nation of a country, whose citizenship they were conferred after several years of recognised services there.
Tamsir Jasseh was born in Banjul to a retired police officer. He graduated from St. Augustine’s High School and worked at The Gambia Airways for years. While in his prime, he left for the US where he joined the US military. Jasseh was among the 500, 000 U.S troops – Operation Desert Shield later Operation Desert Storm - that, within 100 hours onslaught, declared Kuwaiti liberated from invading, occupying Iraq forces of Saddam Hussein.
Dr Amadou Scattred Janneh, on the other hand, is a native of Gunjur village, Kombo South district. He started journalism at the age of 17 at Radio Gambia before he left for the US where he bagged a bachelor’s degree in journalism, masters and doctorate in political science in 1990. He was a professor of political science at the University of Tennessee.
Today, The Gambia, a tiny West African country with a human population of less than two million has over 65, 000 of her citizens who are experts in the Diaspora, according to a World Bank report. Perhaps majority of them have less cozy opportunities than Jasseh and Janneh. There is, however, no sign of majority of them taking the decision Jasseh and Janneh took. Pursuit for greener pasture is cited as the main reason for their stay. But the hostile political environment is also blamed.
Yet Jasseh and Janneh had forgone relative more comfortable life in the US and returned to their monetarily poor motherland to help improve things. On his return to the country, Tamsir Jasseh served as police adviser before he was appointed Inspector General of Police and then Director General of immigration. In 2006, he was charged with treason following a failed coup attempt led by then-defence chief Ndure Cham. The veteran US marine was found guilty even though had maintained his innocence throughout the trial.
Dr Janneh, for his part, returned when he still had a lot to offer. This was in 2003 when he came to work at the U.S. embassy in Banjul as political assistant. Six months later, he was appointed by President Yahya Jammeh as communications minister. He was unceremoniously removed in 2005. Typical of the Jammeh regime, no reason was advanced.
For many observers, this was a warning shot to Dr Janneh that the battle line with President Jammeh had been drawn. But the easy-going, soft-spoken political scientist seemed poised for any duel. This was manifested a few months prior to his saga. He was outspokenly critical of the Jammeh regime in a way no other former minister had been. On Tuesday, June 7, 2011, while at his computer retail business COMMIT enterprises, he was arrested. He was later accused of planning to stage a regime-change mass protest akin to the Arab Spring.
All other things equal, Tamsir Jasseh and Amadou Scattred Janneh’s saga, though separate, have so much in common. For instance, it was a patriotic move on their part to return home from home. They were to help improve things after signing up with the government, but ended up dramatically turning against the regime. Public sympathy towards both of them was overwhelming. Both are lifers, expected to die in prison where death is frequent in recent times. But both are now in the U.S – a home millions of miles away from home.
But even after the life-threatening ordeal they underwent in the hands of a regime that have come to master the art of countering such insurgencies, both Jasseh and Janneh seem undeterred from pursuing their new found way of ‘doing better for oppressed Gambians’: activism.
“Freed at Last! Turned 50 too," undeterred Amadou Scattred Janneh says on his Facebook page, upon arrival in the U.S. And the following day, he warns: "The real struggle to end dictatorship in The Gambia has just begun. Stay tuned.”
Yet, in spite of Jasseh and Janneh’s seeming unwavering determination to continue the campaign to ending what they call dictatorship in the country, many Gambians, though welcome their release, are critical of it. Some criticisms were even directed at Rev. Jackson, details of whose ‘private’ mission are shrouded in mystery, especially as his trip was bankrolled by President Jammeh.
Commenting on FREEDOM newspaper, an American-Gambian, A. Koroma writes, “Given the human rights record of Yaya Jammeh and his reputation within the international community, no private mission of mercy to Banjul should have been taken without either being sanctioned by the U.S. government or a recognized national or international entity with a mission that addresses the larger governance picture of the country.”
Not only are the thick clouds that shroud Jackson’s trip the bone of contention here. The Gambia government too has come under fire for the okaying of the release of only Americans, while a number of Gambian political prisoners remain caged. Small wonder when human rights activist cum journalist Saikou Ceesay offered his opinion, there was a rare fury in his voice. “How about the [rest of Gambian] political prisoners who are victims of unfair trial,” he said, wryly.
He was not alone with this feeling. Veteran journalist Demba Ali Jawo was speaking from the same hymn sheet when he says: “…the release of the two, while welcome, raises quite some pertinent moral questions. Is it morally right for a prominent American like Rev. Jesse Jackson to come to The Gambia and request the release of only two American citizens when there are several others incarcerated in that hell-hole of a jail? No doubt many people would have wished that he instead also requested for the release of several others, in addition to the American citizens.”
In fact, Dr Janneh was convicted alongside three youths – two Gambians and one Nigerian – who were sentenced to a two-year jail term after they were found guilty of sedition. All of them printers by profession, the youths, according to the evidence adduced before the court, were contracted by Dr Janneh to print 'Coalition for Change the Gambia, End Dictatorship Now’ on the T-shirts which Janneh randomly distributed. The two Gambian youths, Modou Keita, Ebrima Jallow, are currently serving their terms in prison while the Nigerian, Michael Ucheh Thomas, who married a Gambian, died in prison. He was 37.
Tamsir Jasseh’s case is indeed similar. The many Gambians he was jointly tried, most of them lifers are currently serving their jail terms. Besides them, there are many other Gambians jailed on widely-believed politically-motivated allegations. Furthermore, reports have it dozens of Gambians are being detained, some of them since 2005, for no publicly known offence. No trial!
Journalist Jawo, therefore, was at pains to understand why President Jammeh had the heart to pardon Janneh and Jasseh, refusing to extend the amnesty to ‘all the others in similar circumstances.’ According to him, “It is quite unfair to pardon Janneh and leave those young men who were convicted with him or to pardon Jasseh and leave his co-convicts in the coup attempt for which they were tried and sentenced, just because they are lucky to also have American citizenship.”
If it is true that Yusuf had bucked Gambian authorities with dollars to bully his way out of harsh Gambian jail, what price did the U.S activist Jesse Jackson paid to get the American citizens out? Friendship? Because Jackson himself was quoted as saying that he is a ‘friend to The Gambia and likes the country’? Or diplomatic influence? Because even though Jackson’s visit was private, denying him his demands could tantamount to antagonising the US government – and in the words of President Jammeh, The Gambia will never be an enemy to the U.S.
Answers to these questions are hard to get. For now, what seems to be truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, is that the back gate to the prison is wide open, though only a carefully-chosen influential few are passing through to freedom. But is freedom in The Gambia for sale to the highest bidder?
Journalist Demba Jawo would not disagree much. He even suggests that Nigeria, a country that has more advantage over Gambian than any other country, should start flexing her muscles to buy their men out. Perhaps Senegal, who he says, was only awakened to gross human rights abuses in the country after the execution of two Senegalese could be next.
Unfortunately, Gambian prisoners a bulk of whom many believe, from the outset, should never have been convicted or sentenced, seemingly lack a civil society or patriarchic family that has the financial wherewithal or the diplomatic muscle to help them elbow their way into freedom. And if the current trend of death in the prison continues even those who would have lots to offer to The Gambian society after the expiry of their prisons terms may come with their bodies covered in a deeply-tanned product of ‘keno’ tree.
Author: Saikou Jammeh¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
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