KB,
Sorry for this serious misunderstanding,and it is deep from my heart.

For Freedom
Saiks
----- Original Message -----
From: Dampha Kebba <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, November 15, 2000 2:32 PM
Subject: Re: The Wages Of Indifference


> Mr. Samateh, I will be very direct and brief with you. The point I was
> trying to make was that the fiasco in Florida should not be used as an
> excuse to perpetuate Yaya. If you are not trying to do that, then you need
> not take offense in what I wrote. Frankly, it was meant for the Saja Taals
> of this world. Few months ago, Saja Taal told the Gambian newspapers that
> since Britain does not allow elections monitors in their elections,
Gambians
> should not allow the Commonwealth to monitor our elections. It was in
> anticipation of these irrational rattling that I wrote what I wrote. I can
> see Saja Taal or Sedat Jobe telling people that we should do away with
> Democracy because the Floridians are having problems. Yes, I have a big
> problem with that line of reasoning. If you personally think that this is
an
> opportunity to engage in American bashing, bringing up things that
happened
> decades ago and have little or nothing to do with these elections, fine
with
> me. My quarrel is with people that want to use this debacle to steal
> elections in Gambia or disenfranchise the Gambians. You are right that
there
> is nothing wrong in questioning the legitimacy of the Florida elections
and
> learning from the mistakes of the Americans. There are currently more than
> 20 lawsuits doing just that. But what lesson should we (Gambians) learn
from
> this problem? I hope we are not going to conclude that we want to do away
> with Democracy and let dictator Yaya lead us forever. Sorry if I did not
> make my point clear earlier on.
> KB
>
>
> >From: Saikou Samateh <[log in to unmask]>
> >Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
> ><[log in to unmask]>
> >To: [log in to unmask]
> >Subject: Re: The Wages Of Indifference
> >Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2000 02:37:36 -0000
> >
> >I believed this discussion is  getting out of context,if questioning the
> >democratic character of the election system and or the weakness of
American
> >democracy should be a credit for the Jammeh regime it is not because some
> >of
> >us are putting forward such questions but those who are questioning the
> >legitimise of  our  questions.If Dennis Jet,the leader of International
> >Center at the university of Florida could say that if what happened in
Palm
> >Beach should have been the case in Latin America or Africa,American
> >election
> >observer will be the first to demand for re-election,an American whose
> >organisation have participated in monitoring elections in Africa,Latin
> >America etc if he could say so ,why should we shy away from raising the
> >issues that we are raising ?just because we have a dictator back
home.This
> >intellectual arrogance and short-sightedness might be the very dancing
> >floor
> >that this fascist regime is waiting to do the last dance.Whether we as
> >observer raised our critical voice or not,Americans will do it and are
> >doing
> >it,they know the history of their constitution and  under what
> >circumstances
> >it was written,as some one was recently reminding me that the founding
> >fathers were slaves owners who also have to protect their future
> >interest,no
> >wonder crisis are taking place in our generation under different
> >circumstances.
> >
> >For Freedom
> >Saiks
> >----- Original Message -----
> >From: Dampha Kebba <[log in to unmask]>
> >To: <[log in to unmask]>
> >Sent: Tuesday, November 14, 2000 9:24 PM
> >Subject: Re: The Wages Of Indifference
> >
> >
> > > Hamjatta, a brilliant and timely piece. I like your 'flushing
cockroach'
> > > analogy. In my opinion, that is our most fundamental problem today.
The
> > > stubbornness with which certain people peddle 'bad ideas' is just
> > > mind-boggling. But we must resolve to debunk these nonsense each time
> >they
> > > surface. Trust Yaya and his cronies for reaching perverse conclusions
> >when
> > > faced with clear challenges. As you pointed out and Winston Churchill
> > > discovered years ago, Democracy is not a perfect system. But it is the
> >best
> > > thing out there. I agree that it is irritating to have people
denouncing
> > > Democracy and most of the time would not present credible
alternatives.
> >If
> > > they are courteous enough to give us alternatives, their choices range
> >from
> > > the bizarre to the downright illogical. Some of these people are
> >criticizing
> > > a system that they do not even understand. We have to be very careful
> >how
> >we
> > > interpret what is going on in Florida in the Gambian context. The
> >population
> > > of some of the counties in Florida is larger than the whole Gambian
> > > population. The challenges that face the Floridians are different from
> >the
> > > challenges we have back home. When we advocate for democracy in The
> >Gambia,
> > > no one is suggesting that we should adopt all the proven mistakes and
> >export
> > > them to Gambia. That does not make sense. We should try to learn from
> >other
> > > people's mistakes. What is most significant in Florida is that there
are
> > > mechanisms in place for dealing with the debacle. The current
structure
> > > allows for matters to be resolved with little or no risk for
bloodshed.
> >Not
> > > everyone is going to be happy with the outcome. That is not the point.
> >The
> > > focus is to at least convince the overwhelming majority of Americans
> >that
> > > the process was fair and the outcome is legitimate. To use the Florida
> > > fiasco as justification for dictatorships is absurd, hypocritical and
> > > downright dishonest. The more logical thing to do is to try and outdo
> >the
> > > Americans by ensuring that we have a system where every vote counts.
> >This
> > > should be a minor challenge bearing in mind the population of The
> >Gambia.
> >It
> > > is ridiculous and perverse to argue that we should allow Yaya to lord
> >over
> > > us because people cannot be trusted to apply Democracy properly. We
can
> >have
> > > a Democratic  process  that is better than the American one. Let us
set
> >the
> > > standards high. This must be made clear to Yaya and his cohorts. What
is
> > > going on in the U.S. should not be used as an excuse to disallow
> >election
> > > monitors in the coming elections. With all the noise going on in
> >Florida,
> >no
> > > one is alleging fraud (yet). Did we hear George W or Al Gore putting
> >guns
> >at
> > > the heads of elections officials and asking them to declare bogus
> >results?
> > > Granted, there are other pressures being applied at these elections
> > > officials. But the significant thing here, is that there are checks
and
> > > balances that will make it very hard for some of these partisans to
> >succumb
> > > to the illegitimate wishes of their parties.  Again, the challenges
the
> >two
> > > societies face vis-a-vis Democracy are very different. Apples and
> >oranges.
> > > Like you pointed out, we should still insist on elections monitors (if
> >and
> > > when we have elections) and demand that the process be better than
what
> > > operated in Florida. Whether Democracy is a far more superior system
to
> >a
> > > dictatorship headed by a moron like Yaya, should be a non-issue. Our
> >focus
> > > should be on how we are going to improve and perfect our Democratic
> >system.
> > > I will also conclude by reminding everyone about trying to flush a
> > > cockroach. No matter how trivial we might think the 'bad idea' is, we
> >have
> > > to attack it. People can regard this as dictatorial. But it is not.
Evil
> > > ('bad idea') has to be met head on and debunked. To paraphrase an
adage:
> > > evil thrive where good people stay silent. The least we can do when
> >faced
> > > with injustice, is to speak out against it. We should not let Yaya or
> >anyone
> > > tell us that our people do not deserve to choose their leaders, unless
> >they
> > > can come up with a better alternative. And vagaries such as
'traditional
> > > democracy' do not suffice. As you shrewdly pointed out, this argument
> > > against Democracy is a very dangerous and sinister one. It is also
very
> > > insulting for people to tell me that I should not participate in
> >electing
> >my
> > > leader because I do not know how to choose a good leader. That is what
> >it
> > > boils down to. This condescension must be wiped out. Morons like Yaya
> >and
> > > mental midgets like Saja Taal and Sedat Jobe cannot decide for us who
is
> > > supposed to lead us. One of these days, you will hear one of these
> >shameless
> > > spinmiesters trying to use the Florida problem to convince us to crown
> >Yaya
> > > as our leader for life. I can gladly live with the decision of the
> >majority
> > > of the illiterate farmers in Gambia if they freely decide to vote for
> >Yaya.
> > > What I cannot stand, is for Yaya to steal power from the people and
then
> > > have these knuckle-heads going around and trying to justify the
illegal
> > > takeover.
> > > KB
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > >From: Hamjatta Kanteh <[log in to unmask]>
> > > >Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
> > > ><[log in to unmask]>
> > > >To: [log in to unmask]
> > > >Subject: The Wages Of Indifference
> > > >Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2000 11:33:34 GMT
> > > >
> > >
> > >
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> >
> >
>
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