In my last posting,i promised to continue the comment
i started on women ,politics and gender issues.I will
begin with bringing you the interview of Mrs Isatou
Touray a leading gender activist made wednesday
Nov.2000 following the attack on the alledged"sex
workers" in pubs and hotels.

Mrs Touray was speaking at the Gamcotrap office and
said."gambian women are always subjected to mental and
physical torture,which is a gross violation of their
fundamental rights."she went on, they are part of the
state,they have a right,and being single does not mean
you are a sex worker.you have a freedom to live and
entaintain and enjoy your life as and when you like
it.That does not mean you are doing sex work and in
any case,it takes both men and women to sex work,Mrs
Touray lamented.

"I think there are certain things that are going on in
this country today with regards to women lives and
that is any group can just get up and say these women
are involved in skin bleaching and these women are
putting on short dresses.There individual rights,their
sexual rights,their individuality is being
undermined,their existence is being eroded,"she said.

Mrs.Touray complained that gambian women are being
marginalised even though they constitute 51 percent of
the population.she said women have been contributing
to all aspects of the socio-economic development of
the country but complained about the slow pace of
justice in case involving women.

Finally,she said"women are being threatened and i am
telling you that every gambian woman for that matter
is threantened and is actually thinking of something
else.I wonder if these would not be translated into
negative votes in the next coming elections,women have
right to self-determination"she concluded.

You see,the real words of of the gambian women but not
the discrepancy and lies that Kebba is trying to
bring.the rhetoric of the APRC govrnment and the
actual practice concerning women is different.Many
women are repulsed by the hypocrisy involved.The cheap
propaganda on APRC-women in politics that Kebba is
trying to frame is neither at home nor in any gambian
society today.

 Yahya Jammeh's misogynist propaganda against women
has been known to every honest gambian.He has on many
ocassions insulted gambian women publicly on TV and
Radio and this is an open secret.He is the first
president to jail women for skin bleaching and his
government is one and only dirty govrnment that has
tortured women on their private parts in the present
of three secretaries of state Yankuba Touray,Edward
Singhateh and Kabba Bajo on september 22nd,1996 at the
Denton Bridge during an attacked on UDP entourage.

This government is not at all committed to "practical
feminism"reform causes in promoting skills and
financial resources to build up network of good works
onbehalf of mothers,children and abandoned infants.

As i am writing today,many mothers cannot pay for
their children's school fees as a result their
children are with them at home but not in school and
Kebba you think that is the government out to help
women,please,let be serious about issues.

 BELOW IS UDP VIEWS ON WOMEN AND POLITICS
The lack of women's political participation is a very
barrier to genuine democracy.If women are not present
at policy and decision making levels,there is a
democractic deficit.Decision taken without women's
perspective lack credibility in a democratic
context.Therefore,by their participation women broaden
the democratic arena.
UDP believed democracy is the free expression of
opinion..democracy is a collection of values-respect
for the opinion of others,torerance and dialogue.Women
participation by expounding and developing these
values,begining within the family and passing through
the nation,to apply them in a general manner to the
social world.

 UDP is committed to the principle six of the
declaration of democracy which states that"democracy
is inseparable from the rights set forth in the
international instruments"these include the universal
declaration of human rights,the international
convenant of civil and political rights,and the
convention on the elimination of all forms of
discrimination against women.
 Jobe it is easier for you to say what is not going on
here on the L than facing the
reality.Notwithstanding,to your postings to the
contrary,there is no evidence that UDP is what you and
Yahya feel it is.For that matter,most of your postings
are politically incorrect.
Saihou








--- Kebba Jobe <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> The likes of you Bamba Lying and Olly mboge don'y
> get it. Self denial is
> becoming some of you. You will not help your cause
> by failing to point out
> to the party that you support when they make
> blunders. Any right thinking
> person, not myopic idiots like your lot, will know
> that for the UDP to stand
> any chance of being elected to office needs support
> from all sections of
> society. If the UDP wants to have a DIGITAL Gambia
> or campaign on a digital
> platform, ie either you are with us or you are
> against us, then I'm afraid
> call it day. Of the many questions being asked by
> some in your camp
> concerning your current exercise, tell me whose
> concerns have so far been
> addressed. Six months before presidential elections
> and the UDP has still
> failed to give any clear cut program of action or
> make their manifesto
> available to your members. If you ask me for example
> what I think the APRC's
> priorities would be, I can safely tell you that they
> will continue to invest
> in Education, Health, Agriculture and the marketing
> of our produce. If you
> ask me their strategy, I can safely tell you that
> they will constantly the
> voters that they slowly but surely delivering what
> they've promised. How
> about you lot? Ask me about the UDP strategy, and I
> will tell you that they
> continue their negative campaign without telling us
> specifically what they
> will for us in return for giving them the mandate to
> lead us. For God's sake
> wake up you lot! Ask any madman in our streets about
> PDOIS will do, and they
> will most probably tell you that they will invest
> heavily in fisheries and
> agriculture. Get the drift?
>
> Have a nice slumber and bye 4Now, KB Jobe.
> >
> >
> >----Original Message Follows----
> >From: maimuna kujabi <[log in to unmask]>
> >Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing
> list
> > ><[log in to unmask]>
> >To: [log in to unmask]
> >Subject: Re: CALLOUS UDP.
> >Date: Mon, 14 May 2001 15:00:09 -0000
> >
> >folks, Mr. Callous Kebba Jobe is out of touch with
> reality. Mr. Jobe
> > >wakeup
> >and smell the coffee perhaps that may help in
> opening your heart and >mind
> >to
> >come to terms with reality. My advice to you is to
> avoid intellectual
> >dishonesty on the forum because you are dealing
> with honest >intellectuals
> >who will not hesitate to tell you in your face that
> you are a real >fool
> >who
> >reads upside down. Thanks, Maimuna Kujabi.
> >
> >
> >From: saihou Mballow <[log in to unmask]>
> >Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing
> list
> ><[log in to unmask]>
> >To: [log in to unmask]
> >Subject: Re: CALLOUS UDP.
> >Date: Sun, 13 May 2001 01:25:20 -0700
> >
> >  For the past six years gambian women have been
> >subjected to both mental and physical torture by
> this
> >despotic regime.The most recent revelation came
> from
> >Mrs Isatou Touray,a leading gender activist.I refer
> >you to the Daily Observer published on
> >wednesday,November 1st,2000.
> >
> >To be continued:
> >Saihou
> >
> >--- Kebba Jobe <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> > > BACKGROUND.
> > >
> > > During the past few years there has been a lot
> of
> > > gender sensitization in
> > > schools and the media, both print and
> audio-visual.
> > > In the print media
> > > respected ladies like Adelaide Sosseh Gaye,
> Satang
> > > Joberteh, Juka Jabang,
> > > sarah Grey-Johnson etc, contribute to the
> opinion
> > > column of the Daily
> > > observer, enlightening people about the need to
> > > recognize that the
> > > development of the country cannot be left in the
> > > hands of men only. Like I
> > > said earlier, it is just a pity that our online
> > > don't put online the opinion
> > > columns. Then you would have had a better
> picture
> > > than the one I am
> > > painting.
> > >
> > > Anyway, in addition to this, there is an
> ongoining
> > > programme whereby young
> > > school girls are "twinned' with established
> ladies
> > > who achieved something
> > > for themselves despite all the odds against
> them.
> > > The idea is for these kids
> > > to make supervised visits to the place of work
> of
> > > these people as well as
> > > their homes to enable them to see that education
> is
> > > as important to ladies
> > > as it is to men. They can also see for
> themselves
> > > that being a professional
> > > lady does not in any way affect your role as a
> wife
> > > and a mother.
> > >
> > > There has also been a lot debates to encourage
> > > ladies to go into politics
> > > and for the political parties to introduce some
> form
> > > of affirmative action
> > > to encourage them. There have even been calls
> for
> > > some sort of quota for
> > > women in the national assembly to kickstart the
> > > process of women's active
> > > participation in politics.
> > >
> > > THE UDP CALLOUSNESS.
> > >
> > > When the UDP propaganda secretary was asked
> about
> > > his opinion of these
> > > ongoing activities, he replied that WOMEN HAVE
> NO
> > > REASON TO COMPLAIN. When
> > > asked about his opinion of gender equality and
> the
> > > participation of women in
> > > politics, he said "When we talk about gender
> > > equality, this has nothing to
> > > do with participation of women as professional
> > > politicians. The decision of
> > > someone to go into politics as a profession
> depends
> > > on the individual and,
> > > there is no gender bias attached to it at all".
> > > According to him, there
> > > exists no party for males only. He accused our
> women
> > > educatinists of
> > > "SCHEMING TO BE NOMINATED INSTEAD OF PUTTING A
> > > FIGHT.
> > >
> > > With elections expected in less than 6 months
> from
> > > now and with more than
> > > half our population being women, what sort of
> > > stupidity and callousness
> > > would you call this? While the APRC is wooing
> the
> > > women voters by
> > > establishing a special scholarship fund for
> girls,
> > > special credit schemes
> > > for our women farmers, appointment of qualified
> > > professional ladies to key
> > > possitions in government such as the secretary
> > > General of the civil service,
> > > Auditor General, Director of SIMA vocational
> > > training centre, Director of
> > > MDI, the vice president, deputy speaker and
> other
> > > secretaries of state, the
> > > UDP propaganda secretary is instead antagonizing
> > > them. In his opinion,
> > > "there will be absolutely no room in the
> interest
=== message truncated ===


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