Yus and Kanteh,

I have never questioned your right of association, affiliation or freedom of expression. I would therefore appreciate it if you would accord me the same privilege. If you must know, I declined to get involved for some very good reasons, some of which are as follow:

1. I do not believe in the sincerity and motive of many of the proponents of this advertisement campaign. I do not believe that some of you making this proposition are doing it out of conviction, love or compassion. The reason for this assumption can be found in your own exchanges prior to Sanyang asking for my assistance. If some of you had genuinely cared and wanted to take up advertisements to commemorate the events of April 10/11, 2000, you could have done so a long time back.

2. All of you know very well that both Deyda Hydara of The Point newspaper and Ebrima Sillah of Citizen FM and a BBC correspondent, are subscribed to the list and work for the press. They are in a much better position to facilitate any transactions between you and the media in The Gambia.

3. If you genuinely want to protest about the lack of justice in the case of the victims of April 10/11, 2000, you know exactly were to make it, [log in to unmask].

4. If your motive is to inform, again you know how to do it, send a letter or article to any paper of your choice and it will be published. Why an advertisement? What are you advertising? That kids were massacred two years ago? Who are you telling, those of us living here? My friends, get real.

5. None, and I mean none, of the slaughtered children is related to me in any way nor am I related to any of those who did the shooting. As such, I can only sympathise with the berieved and then move on. If you must know, these kids were shot by our very own brothers, fathers, mothers, sisters, uncles, cousins etc. Not one of the shooters is a foreigner. They are all our own kith and kin.

6. I believe that a lot of progress have been made in the healing process despite all that some of you are saying. I will not therefore associate myself with any venture as foolish as this. Do you believe for one moment that if the bitterness that some of you feel was felt by the relatives of the dead, some of those implicated in their shooting would still be walking our streets, attending the same weddings, christenings and funerals as them without any incident?

Finally, I would end this by reminding you of these sayings:

"A consistent man believes in destiny, a cpricious man in chance" and "Observation is the best known substitute for imgination".

I depend on my job as much as anyone else on this list and I'm fuuly capable of fending for myself as much as anyone on this list. I do not have to believe Gamtel MD to lead a fulfilled life. Finally do not delude yourselves by assuming that because you live abroad and I live here that you are more capable than me. No! I have travelled extensively the worl over and I have seen as much as I want to guide me in my daily undertakings.

Have a good day, Gassa.