Analysis by Kayatta,
http://www.gambia.dk/forums/topic.asp?whichpage=0.8&TOPIC_ID=7778&#55184
The apparent war of words between Matt the alleged “rebel without a
cause” and Bojang the “handsome prince of Brikama” over the list of
names submitted to the ECOWAS Commission is quite interesting and I am
unable to ignore it.
Both Matt and Bojang are potentially very good writers, but I have to
say that their styles of writing, in my view, leave much to be
desired. When I read their exchanges I kept asking myself who their
audience and what their purpose were. I wondered if Matt and Bojang
intended to communicate simple messages or information to each other
or to show off their mastery of unusual English words. It appears that
both Matt and Bojang enjoy the use of flowery language, perhaps purely
to impress but at the expense of clarity.
Certainly jargon and verbiage are two enemies of clarity, and it turns
out that clarity is the main purpose of communication. Perhaps Matt
and Bojang need to learn something from Toubab1020 (see Bantaba in
cyberspace). Toubab1020 has always insisted that “simple is good”. I
agree.
I would like to examine some of the jargon and verbiage utilized by
Matt and Bojang, but before that I will have to mention two other
contributors to Gambian online media. They are Dida Halake and Michael
Scales.
I like the simplicity and humor in both Halake and Scales, although
their hypocrisy and less-than-straightforwardness with regards to the
Gambia’s president often turn me off. Even Kebbeh, another respondent
to Matt's letter makes more sense to me than both Matt and Bojang. I
think it was Halake who in another war of words with Bojang made fun
of his (Bojang’s ) penchant for jargon. I feel the same way about both
Matt and Bojang.
Now let us look at the text of both Matt and Bojang's writings and
some of the jargon and verbiage utilized by both.
My comments are highlighted in red while Matt and Bojang's texts are in bold.

Sheriff Bojang hits at Mathew Jallow

26 Jun 2009

________________________________________
Dear Editor,

In a letter to the Ecowas Commission reproduced in your website today,
Matthew Jallow included me in his list of Gambian journalists ‘forced
into exiled’ by the government of Yahya Jammeh. I am clarifying that I
have never been ‘forced into exile’ by the government of Yahya Jammeh
or anyone else. I came to London several months after leaving Observer
to pursue postgraduate education which was not tenable in The Gambia
and having completed my programmes of study, I am returning to The
Gambia in a matter of weeks.

It is rather curious that even before the sun set on his high sermon
to Nderry M’bai on the virtues of responsible journalism, Matthew
Jallow should be doing exactly what he was condemning, that is,
writing ‘blatant lies’. And I can even vouchsafe that half of the
names on his list were not ‘forced into exile’ by anyone. I know
because they were my friends or worked under me.

I might have ignored this faux pas (this word simply means ‘blunder’
or ‘error’) but this is the second time Matthew Jallow has written
lies about me and others on the web and it seems like it is becoming a
bad habit with him.

In an interview published around the ides (this perhaps means the
‘15th of March’-it appears both unusual and repetitive here)of March,
he claimed he was made editor of the Daily Observer but that Dr Ebrima
Ceesay and I made a complot, (to conspire) complained about his
‘stringent editing style’ and got him ‘relegated to lower authority’.

Matthew Jallow was never made editor-in-chief of the Observer by
Kenneth Best at anytime. I have been privy to all of Mr Best’s key
editorial appointments, for example, those of Demba Jawo and Baba
Galleh Jallow and even the part-time evening proof-readers. Best
himself took over as editor-in-chief after the very cerebral CM Baldeh
left and remained so until he was summarily deported when the
Ghanaian, M Ellicott-Seade took over. Matthew Jallow was a freelance
contributor who wrote whatever he wanted whenever he wanted and got
paid accordingly. I had never by myself or with Dr Ceesay, complained
about him or anyone to KY Best.

Matthew writes commentaries and features with easy charm and poetic
cadence, but as a reporter (at the Observer where I met him) he was at
best a hyperactive bundle of absurdity much inclined to mixing-up his
pmi, and using dramatic and flowery language in the strict and sternly
structured news reportage (I guess that simply means ‘reporting’)
format. Which other Gambian journalist, since Ngaing Thomas retired,
would have the chutzpah (this perhaps means ‘nerves’ as in ‘to have
the nerves to do something)to write a story headlined, ‘MAN CHANGED
INTO WOMAN IN SEREKUNDA! ‘? I have always regarded Matthew a bit of a
thespian; (this perhaps means an ‘actor’ or ‘someone who likes drama’)
always speaking in his Fula brogue (this means accent or dialect, I am
sure in reference to Matt’s fula accent), dressed in grey khaki shorts
and shoes, preening, pouting and sniffing the air as he walks home to
Wellingara or wherever.

In that interview, Matthew accused the hapless Dida Halake of writing
non-stop about himself. Well he himself did just that in that March
interview giving a 12-page, 7,500 word thesis on why he should be
hailed The Gambia’s First Original Rebel. I am telling Matthew Jallow
that while he is lionising himself to the world, I know him and he is
nothing more than what Cicero once told Herodotus, a ‘fabulosus’: a
teller of tall tales.

- Sheriff Bojang


Mathew thinks Sheriff Bojang's reaction amounts to overkill


Dear Editor,

I wish to extend my sincere apologies to Sheriff Bojang and Cherno
Kebbeh for wrongly identifying them as exiles of the murderous
dictatorship of Yahya Jammeh, in an open letter addressed to the
ECOWAS President, and copied to a list of other dignitaries and
institutional heads.

While I must admit to making a mistake, Mr. Bojang’s twiddling with
tortured logic and detached elevation of this innocuous mistake to an
undeserved level of banality, really challenges the imagination.
Sheriff Bojang’s stunning reaction is a classic example of overkill
fueled by a fulsome and unnecessary extrapolation of triviality and
the inconsequential. The puzzlingly harsh tone of his comments betrays
the incubation of an attitude that borders on hatred, and more; it
would appear he has been salivating for this moment of opportunity for
a pretty long time. (This entire paragraph is a disaster. All that
Matt is trying to say here perhaps is to admit his mistake and to
assert that Bojang has exaggerated the significance of the matter
because of his hatred and desire for vengeance. The utilization of
unnecessary and unusual words have clearly obscured the meaning here).
To me, his aggravated reaction aptly compares to slaughtering a
mosquito with a machine gun; ditto totally unnecessary. But, having
inadvertently given him the opportunity to prune me, I hope he can now
shed his patently maladroit combativeness to enjoy the novelty and
freshness of glorious summer.

Frankly, I don’t think anyone deserves this sustained level of hatred,
for after all these years, his attitude towards me has not changed one
bit. But, I never purposefully set out to create obstacles to Mr.
Bojang’s ecclesiastical ambitions by proliferating barriers of
impediment (barriers and impediments? Different words, same meaning?)
between him and Emperor Yahya Jammeh. I also don’t desire to re-visit
my Observer story, since we evidently have different recollections of
the same events. Sheriff Bojang also appears subliminally miffed, (I
guess that means ‘bad-tempered’) perhaps even troubled by an
exposition of any intellectual character others might find
praiseworthy, yet I for one, wish him only good.

Sheriff once found my life’s story compelling enough to write a
feature he entitled, The Rebel Without A Cause, and I don’t remember
any Observer employee being so honored this way. As for me, if I have
anything to say, I will reserve it for our flustered (confused or
agitated) butcher Yahya Jammeh, not Sheriff Bojang or anyone else, and
I hope someday soon we will share thoughts over suppa-kanja, or better
still, my favorite dish; mbahal bu tillim.

Mathew Jallow


The ultimate purpose of communication is to convey meaning. The
impressive but unnecessay use of words, especially unusual words do
nothing to enhance meaning. Instead meaning is obscured and lost.
"Simple is good".

My take:
Kay, i missed this interesting topic. But i find the exchanges
entertaining. Imagine, a Gambia were simple English is the order of
the day hey. Let there be showboaters mate.
This is human nature, whatever one is good at, without reasoning, one
tend to get a bit, you know... blow your own trumpet. I love our
shakespear wannabes. But in all seriousness, some the folks below use
the language effective without much pump. Occasional flare do comes
into play, but it is all in good taste. Let us celebrate the brothers.
Great English, although the online dic is handy now a days. Arise Sir
Sheriff, Sankarah, Foday Samateh, Galleh, Hamjatta, Lamin J Darboe,
Haruna. Bayang etc. Let the Anglo-saxons know that, some of our folks
can do with English, what they cannot do with ours. I love it.

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