Evian,

You're a beautiful man. Thank you also for copying what Jabou had shared
about my notes. I will take the opportunity to address that for Laye and
Jabou  here.

Date: Tuesday, 14 April, 2009, 7:50 PM
Jabou shared:
[Haruna wrote:"It was when the onerous exercise threatened PDOIS electoral
fortunes that Halifa engaged in fact-finding, the numerous reports and
eye-witness accounts of it not-withstanding." Wow!. Truly amazing.]
Jabou  Joh.

Jabou, I'm glad you appreciate the above fact as "Truly amazing". The
response was as onerous as the original crime. This world is full of mirages. In
 Halifa's case there is a confluence of mirages: One of conscience and the
other  of interest-peddling. The conscience part however triumphs over the
interest-peddling part.

[In a message dated 4/15/2009 8:15:38 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
Jabou, Please excuse my grand dad for when the Tiger is in the  Woods,]

Evian I want you to know Tiger had already gone home when Suntou  shared
his Oped and the vultures began to descend on him. For no friggin  reason.
Trying to shut the man up.

[he loses some of his reasoning faculties.] Evian.
Do you really think yours truly skips a beat Evian? You jettison  your own
Grand-dad for PDOISard bantanbilly? Mbeemi, Achu! Atay watiladeh?
Dang-Kutoo le bentehma. bahna!

[Moreover, grand dad just cannot bring himself to give any due credit  to
Halifa.] Evian.
Do you ever read or understand my notes on Halifa?? They are always
chock-full of praise for Halifa's selfless efforts and circumspect and  sobriety
for the clueless PDOISdrones. They want to sweep us all up in  their
cluelessness. I am not a witch.

[Why? Am yet to fully comprehend.] Evian.
I gathered as much. You, like most other PDOISards will  never be satisfied
until I begin to worship Halifa for nought. It's in  your bloods. Its not
your fault that's why I never get upset with a  PDOISard. E-bukay Taw. Alla
La kaybaaroo Lom wolbayti. Ekoloobaliyaata,  Ebuka-keybaa bunyaa! Ila
Makkamol fanang mang Timma. Na Fitiyaye deng  fitiyaye so. Na Lebintiman dem.
Ndasimma Nke Nta  Hayinni!!!

[Bailo]
How are you getting along in your new home? I hope great. Look  forward to
hearing you more often. You know your former employer is  international
should you not decide to change careers. Personally I think  you are
exceptionally well suited for that line of work. It screams out  from your notes here
and we are all proud of you.

Haruna.

--- On Tue, 14/4/09, Jabou Joh  <[log in to unmask]> wrote:



From:  Jabou Joh <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: The Halifa Factor, what  next?
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Tuesday, 14 April,  2009, 7:50 PM

Haruna wrote:

"It  was when the onerous exercise threatened PDOIS electoral fortunes that
 Halifa engaged in fact-finding, the numerous reports and eye-witness
accounts of it not-withstanding."


Wow!. Truely  amazing.
Jabou Joh


-----Original Message-----
From:  [log in to unmask]
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Tue, 14  Apr 2009 9:21 am
Subject: Re: The Halifa Factor, what next?


Laye, Good to hear you again.

Allow me to chime in for a minute.

I totally understand your sentiments vis-a-vis Halifa Sallah and I  share
some of those sentiments. I also understand Suntou's oped and I  share some
of his views. I am of equal opportunity grace. What I  see is that we risk
taking this conversation to the sentimental and  ecumenical realm as is
usually the case when we speak about Halifa, a  man who aspires to lead Gambia
through the political party PDOIS. I  advise that we bear on sobriety.

I take Suntou's oped as a fact-finding query given the fact  that Gambians
have a cynical view of politicking. Perhaps Suntou can  yield greater
perspective on politics in this query. He is not to be  dismissed for sentimental
reasons however. It is natural for a PDOISard  to be up in arms when=2
0their party leader is questioned but consider  that with the requisite temerity
and discernments, the questioning, even  if disdainful, can strengthen the
leader as well as improve our lot  as a people.

I commend Halifa for embarking on a fact-finding mission into  the
witch-hunting saga as a human being. Witch-hunting is the veritable  insult to our
collective consciences and acumen, especially one  sanctioned by Yahya, whose
faculties are not readily discernible. You  have posited, and
appropriately, that the onus of fact-finding in such  egregious matter is not the reserve
of Halifa alone; to  wit: "Halifa Sallah is not and should not be the only
person of  dignified conscience amongst the leaders or those who claim to be
 opposition leaders in Gambia. What he has done and gone through
demonstrates to all and sundry that you, I and every human Gambian must  not stand
aside and look while your fellow Gambian and human is being  humiliated in the
most degrading manner."
Laye, you will therefore agree with Suntou that all Gambians have  been
equally incensed by the saga, but that Halifa being the leader of  PDOIS had
wished to capitalize on common disdain to yield PDOIS greater  fortune. I am
reminded that there are others in PDOIS like Sam, Sidia,  Amadou, Samba,
Suleyman, who could have embarked on the same  fact-finding, but were they to
have been arrested, they do not stand an  equal chance of relief as Halifa
had. To whom much is given, much more  is expected.  ;You will see that Halifa
himself has shared in his  defense of the erroneous charges levelled against
him by an uncouth and  clueless prosecutor, that he derived his rights from
our common  constitution and the fact that he is a leader of a political
party. Any  journalist can embark on the fact-finding mission and by dint  of
Halifa's association with the PDOIS party organ Foroyaa, he has  added umph!
These are some of the reasons you feel comfortable in  comparing Halifa to
Gambia's other politicians who in your own words and  disdainfully "claim to
be opposition leaders in Gambia." You know what  happens to journalists who
embark on fact-finding missions including  Foroyaa journalists. Politics
therefore was a major factor in both  enabling Halifa to embark on a
fact-finding mission. Were he not leader  of PDOIS, proprietor of Foroyaa, a
respectable contributor to the  pan-African parliament, he may have or may not have
entertained the  risks associated with fact-finding in Gambia.

The broader picture therefore is that even though many Gambians are
incensed with the witch-hunting grafignette, our political leaders,  opposition or
incumbent, are the ones most empowered to prosecute  our collective
disdains and anxieties. This means that politics is our  legislative life. Whether
Halifa engaged with ulterior political motives  or not, is therefore
immaterial to me. However, ordinary citizens are  free to query his motives as much
as they are free to express repulsion  at Yahya's motives and pantomime. It
is in the explanation and general  disposition of PDOIS and Halifa that
will yield attenuated  fortunes.

It is unwise to compare Halifa to our other opposition political  leaders
from both a human standpoint and from a colegial view. That I  think will be
the height of conceit and an insult to our collective  intelligence. And it
unfortunately furthers the strictly political  motive of Halifa and PDOIS.
You will realize that we did not get to  the point of Yahya embarking on
repulsive witch-hunting exercises in a  vacuum. Life is ever so dynamic. Yahya
was enabled somehow and I suppose  that has escaped us. That is the
schematics of politics that erodes most  future and "pure" goodwill.

What Suntou is trying to figure out, is whether there is salvage  value in
the preliminary steps taken by Halifa and whether Halifa can be
instrumental in yielding that salvage value for commoner good. I submit  that the best
way to achieve that is by all of us enabling our  other political leaders in
APRC, UDP/NRP (NDP), PPP, GPP, and GDP  to coordinate the prosecution of
our legislative life as Gambians. The  days of bunker politics are waning and
there are signs everywhere for  the astute. We did not see any amalgam of
forces by our political  leaders when Taf-Taf Yahya bereft of Gardens stole
Brufut Lands and  dispossessed Brufutians, nor did we see the same when
Halfdiens  were unscrupulously dispossessed of their homes in the name of port
expansion.=2 0Witch-hunting and circumstance is tantalizing and a gross
violation of human rights. But so are the myriad precursor  trespasses that
enabled it. You will realize that Halifa is not easily  amenable to coordination
of effort with other opposition parties.  Glaring. The witch-hunting
fact-finding could yield more tangible  results if it were actively coordinated.
But PDOIS is on a mission that  does not seem to be common relief. It was when
the onerous exercise  threatened PDOIS electoral fortunes that Halifa
engaged in fact-finding,  the numerous reports and eye-witness accounts of it
not-withstanding.  Halifa's initial statements on the saga betrays ignorance to
warrant a  fact-finding.

That is all for now. - Haruna. Allez-y!!




In a message dated 4/14/2009 3:43:39 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] (mip:[log in to unmask])   writes:

Suntu:

Halifa Sallah is not and should not be the only  person of dignified
conscience amongst the leaders or those who  claim to be opposition
leaders in Gambia. What he has done and gone  through demonstrates to
all and sundry that you, I and every human  Gambian must not stand
aside and look while your fellow Gambian and  human is being humiliated
in the most degrading manner.=2 0We  should be thankful that we know in
Halifa, ONE Gambian that will  stand up to the brutalities of the
regime and would rather die or  languish in jail than to sit and see
his fellow beings dehumanized  in broad day light. To insinuate that
Halifa was looking for  personal or political gain in the exercise of
liberating his  conscience and dignifying the value of human life,
smirks of  debilitating ignorance and an insult to his and  our
conscience...God forbid!

-Laye

On Tue, Apr 14,  2009 at 4:08 AM,  <[log in to unmask]
(mip:[log in to unmask]) >  wrote:
> An interesting oped to ponder Suntou.  Discerner-in-Chief!!! I think Yahya
> shot himself in the foot.  And I'm worried about our two bad left-eyes.
New
> Kambians!!!!  Haruna. You pamplemousse!!!
>
> In a message dated  4/13/2009 6:29:40 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
> [log in to unmask]
(mip:[log in to unmask])   writes:
>
> Monday, 13 April 2009
>
> Halifa  Factor In Gambia's Witch Hunt debacle
>
> By Suntou  Touray
> With the dust almost settled even though facts about  the Gambia’s
witch
> hunting episode may all not be known,  there is occasion to reflect over
the
> whole encounter. Men  dressed in red raided settlements in search of
witches.
> They  captured people of decent background and made them consume  lethal
> concoctions in the name of ridding them off witch craft  spirits. Some of
the
> captives died. Large numbers still remain  in biting pains, mostly deep in
> their stomach.
> Former  Serrekunda East parliamentary member and sociologist Halifa
Sallah
> was last month arrested and detained at mile 2 prisons  for over a week.
This
> was due to his decision to visit two  villages over a witch hunting
> incidence. Halifa after his  release commented that he went on a fact
finding
> mission to  the two villages. More accurately put he tried to proof
whether
> the witch hunting story was actually true or  false.
> Halifa was arrested afterward because the government  felt that, he as an
> ordinary citizen of the Gambia who seeking  to impersonate the work of the
> police or state security  agents.
> No doubt Halifa by all regards played brave by what he  did. Why he did so
> remains a question on wet lips.
>  Some people considered it a genuine move by Halifa to prove what  others
> thought a mere rumour. To others Halifa was in a  publicity campaign for
> himself and certainly scored political  points whether he preferred using
> that or not.
> From  what came out of the encounter Halifa made us all to know that  the
> witch hunting story is real and the actions are sanctioned  by Gambia
> government.
> What next after knowing the true  story still a valid question for curious
> onlookers. Will there  be any lawsuit against the government for the
unlawful
> conduct  o f humiliating and harassing innocent Gambians?
> The witch  hunting episode ended up projecting Halifa’s political
profile  at
> higher levels. He was a victim of arbitrary arrest but that  by itself
> arrested the tormenting witch hunt at least until  matters settled over
> Halifa’s own arrest and brief  detention. The whole saga eventually
shifted
> from the witch  hunting focusing on Halifa. That earned him a high profile
>  victim of the unjust government crime of witch hunting.
> Halifa  made noise about the remote control Gambian constitution loud 
enough.
> He defended his action by quoting various sections of  the Gambian
> constitution, a document he knows about inside  out. Halifa knows too well
> also that document is serving one  man and one man only, Yahya Jammeh the
> current Gambian head of  state. Since many Gambians know for a fact that
> document is  not protecting their human rights for a number reasons one
>  wonders if there was any need for Halifa to labour over
constitutionality
> this fragrant government encounter with  innocent citizens.
> The gains of Halifa’s intervention can  double if he was to help the
victims
> pursue claims of damage  resulting from such inhuman treatment. The
victims
> deserve  good compensation.
> The good efforts of Halifa placed him  beyond the single position of flag
> bearer PDOIS /NADD to the  lofty point of standing tall for Gambian
people in
>20times of  need. This is enough wakeup call for Gambians over length and
>  breadth of the country to resist the advances of witch hunters. Halifa
can
> draft a comprehensive law suit against the government as  seen truly
standing
> up for the people. The point of departure  would be the constitution, a
book
> fully in Halifa’s firm  grips. Impeachment proceedings against the
president
> can be  initiated, thus demonstrating severity human rights  violations.
> The law suits may not bear quicker results but to  make the government pay
> victims. Through that citizens will go  long way in exposing the severity
of
> state organized  crimes.
> We await Halifa’s future actions concerning the  witch hunting debacle.
> Halifa’s political profile is  undoubtedly boosted. Other gains exceed
> individual political  scores. Yahya should not have arrested Halifa in the
> first  place. The only reason one would think he ordered his arrest was
to
> cause wider divide among the ranks of the  opposition.
> Halifa’s followers have a talking point- our  only saviour they would
say. He
> emerged hero of the hour. His  arrest has potential to change something.
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