I totally concur with this editorial. It seem as Yaya can rub us blind and the majority of our citizens just treat it as business as usual. In the midst of our misery, Yaya has the gull to rub us $350 million, which according to our misery index is equivalent to a conservative estimate of $1 billion. And our people still maintain an abnormal but disturbing calm. The same calmness we exhibited in Crude Oil I, when the kids were murdered, when Koro Ceesay was burnt to ashes, and when the July 22 Thugs/NIA tortured us to death, among many other equally repulsive crimes committed by Yaya and the APRC. Our gaze is as unreadable as a death gaze. I thought we'd snapped by now, but I guess I underestimated our capacity to suffer peacefully. Talk about staying power. Please read on. The Independent (Banjul) EDITORIAL May 5, 2003 Posted to the web May 5, 2003 Banjul Contentions are usually over cash, seldom about humility, or the general good but rather over greed and irreprehensible performance, especially if it is bad. And so it was when Ousainou Darboe of the UDP "uncovered" another fraud from the highest office of the land involving the highest personality on the land too. There is nothing new in the crime, and to prove it as so, very few people quipped over the lifting of some two hundred and thirteen million liters of oil in the name of the country, amounting to 350 million Dollars without our knowledge. The revelation is not only disturbing, but also very dangerous, especially at a time when the nation is gravely afflicted by economic morass that plagues every household's food basket, and empty tables, which they are challenged to fill to see their hungry families. Worse still is the fact that Gambians seem unmoved by the revelation, and instead chose to suppress the thought that we are being robbed blind by those that have the audacity to preach transparency and morals to us all, while putting their hands on the loot. We have been asking one question and we will ask it today. What happened to the "new orders of the day?" Remember them? Let's go back to that first speech in 1994, by the then Chairman of the AFPRC, now the President, turned the accused: "The Rampant corruption of the PPP, caused us to perform this supreme sacrifice from now on, transparency, accountability and probity will be the order of the day " Nine short years have shown how this was quickly forgotten once the comfort of the Presidency and the security of power were realized. How is this so? Simply. In 1994, Jammeh was, it seemed, an honorable youth, full of ideals, and exuberance, to do and die for the nation he loved, but a nation that did not care for him. He was filled with the indignation of rectifying wrongs that a generation before him unleashed on us in all their capricious cruelty and insensitivity. He had the support, the firepower, and the moral high ground to salvage Gambians from the grips of voracity, and pillage. Then in 1996, like the leopard who was hiding its spots he showed he was no better than those he ousted. He became captive of the Presidential and political asylum-lucid protectionism, petty political brokering, and the "need" to maintain his grip on what he had fought for, and eventually won-ascendancy to legitimacy. Yet still, losing the focus of what had brought him admiration: to do what is wrong for the right reasons. Then came 2001, a close call, and a signal that no situation is permanent, and that even Caesar fell, fortunately for Jammeh, he stumbled, and regained his balance and stayed on. But a difficult election does equal a difficult presidency. Any fool can tell you that. But what any fool can't tell you, is that nothing is more admirable in politics as a short memory. In 1997 the nation heard about the 'Crude Oil Saga', and the National Assembly debated on it, the majority in the House voted to throw it out, and the minority warned against such a move, it was moved anyway, and no-one raised issue with it, except for the president in a TV interview: "What Saga? he retorted to a question on the issue; "That was just a few dollars. I am not extravagant. I am generous, even things that belong to me I give to the State." If this is not a blatant admission of misappropriation, and utter disregard of public office, then only God knows what is. Yet no one quipped. Six years later we are confronted with another Saga, this time worse than the one before. At a time when we are being swindled! Robbed of our rights, our opportunities, and now our money. _________________________________________________________________ Add photos to your e-mail with MSN 8. 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