I had drafted the message below and wanted to send it to G_L before I saw
Saul's response to Yusupha. I was almost tempted to stop sending this
message (because I respect Saul's wish to handle this matter with Yusupha)
but I finally decided to just send my perspective. I am glad that Saul meant
his comment as a general comment just as I thought (see below). To both Saul
and Yus, my message is no longer meant as a 'peace-keeping' message. Please
read on and I hope you will take away from it that the victims here are the
defenseless Gambians held to ransom by the illegal regime we have back home.
Jawara and his gang have done enough damage to us, as things are right now.
We should not allow ourselves to be saddled by the Jawara legacy. Yusupha,
as Saul said, he was not singling you out in his first mail. I believed that
from the onset. He does not know your family, and was not trying to
disrespect your family. I know your family and frankly when I saw Saul's
statement, you never crossed my mind. You do not have to take what Saul said
personally and try to put yourself in a group you do not belong to. Guys, I
hate to get into your business because I do not like it when people tell me
what to do, but it sickens me more sitting by and watching this matter
deteriorate to unwarranted levels.

__________________________________________________________________________

Yusupha, thanks for your mails. From your postings and knowing a little bit
about your background, I know that your are dedicated to the cause of
relieving the suffering of some of our brothers and sisters back home. I
also have no doubt whatsoever that Saul Khan is also totally committed to
making sure that our people are freed from the tyranny Yaya visits on them.

While I do not pretend to speak for Saul, here is my interpretation of what
he wrote. He was making a general comment. As the cliché goes, to every
general rule, there are exception. It is true that there were some people
during the Jawara regime that embezzled public funds to among other things
educate their kids. It is also true that there were others that worked
(legitimately) to provide for their families the things they did.

What is important is what each of us and people very close to us, know. If
you know for instance that you and some of your friends benefited from clean
and hard earned money, consider yourselves as part of the exception to the
general comment Saul made. In that case, you should not be offended. If Saul
or anyone else for that matter singles you out personally, and directly
accuse you, then it would be legitimate for you to come out and vigorously
defend yourself and your family. But I think it would be a mistake to try
and defend all the inhabitants of Fajara. None of us have all the facts and
therefore it is an impossible burden to carry on ones shoulders.

I am jumping in here because I value the contributions both of you make to
this forum and elsewhere. I also sensed what I regarded as a
misunderstanding leading to characterizations none of us in the Opposition
deserve. People that are totally committed to the Opposition do not deserve
to be called corrupt Jawara people if they are not. It is also grossly
unfair to equate Saul to Yaya and say that he is trying to bring a class
warfare.

So Yus, I would respectfully urge you to not take what Saul said as
personally directed to you. Regard yourself as part of the exception, as I
did, and move on. You simply do not know all the Fajara inhabitants that
well to vouch for their integrity. When it is all said and done, and Yaya is
removed from office, we can all come out and tell our stories if we want.

What Yaya did, is very different from what Saul is talking about. It pains
me to even mention Saul and that mental midget in the same sentence, in this
manner. Saul is a good person. Yaya did not just make a general comment. The
vermin personalized issues and victimized some people right before our eyes.
Having said that, I also recognize that some of the people that suffered
under Yaya deserve what they got. Some of the very people Yaya made
destitute at some point, went back to work for him and assist him to become
more corrupt than Jawara ever was. Modou Dibba from Coops is a classic
example. Yaya and his cohorts went on the rampage with their class warfare.
If you knew these people before, you will know that they are all losers with
the biggest inferiority complex. Despite that Yaya was hoist from Kanilai
and put up by a benevolent family in Banjul; despite that Yaya's more
affluent contemporaries never showed him any signs of class superiority,
this evil person still hated people he thought (in his little brain) were
superior to him. It was and is still in his imagination. Why do you think
Yaya goes through all these spending sprees, lying that aid coming to the
country and meant for the Gambian people is in fact coming directly from
him? The moron wants to impress people. He is suffering from acute
inferiority complex. He will never be happy because he is looking at the
wrong place for salvation. Most Gambians would have had more respect for
this vermin had he adopted a kid from Kanilai like the Tambas put him up.
People would have appreciated that more than the moron stealing power from
the people and holding the whole country at ransom.

They are all deviants. They have always been envious of people. There is
nothing wrong in wanting the better things in life. But for Heaven's sake,
work hard for it. If Yaya worked hard and was self-made like Saul Khan, you
and I and then criticize people for being corrupt, I will not quarrel with
that. But these parasites never put in a hard day's work. They use brute
force to extort a living from the Gambian people. People like Yaya and
Yankuba Touray are no different from robbers that hold people at gun point
and ask them to withdraw money from a Teller machine. They are all hustlers.

Yusupha, I hope that you take Saul's comments in good faith. I do not know
what transpired between the two of you in the past, but I sincerely do not
think that the message you quoted from Saul warrant enmity between the two
of you. I do not think Saul has a grudge towards people that 'made' it in
The Gambia. I can also assure you that I have no grudge against affluent
people. Yes, I hate corruption and I also believe in accountability, but
unlike Yaya, I am not motivated by envy and I will not partake in any scheme
to seize people's property without due process of law. It was from that
principled standpoint that in 1994 I denounced the commissions of inquiries
that were being used to seize people's properties. Let me point out here
that not a single family member of mine was brought before a commission. I
recognized then and still recognize that even people like Abu Denton deserve
their day in a real court before their properties are taken away from them.
This is a matter of principle. Even if the man is going to be deprived of
his properties, allow him to go to a real court and prove that almost twenty
of the previous thirty years during the PPP regime, he (Denton) was living
in a 'cabinet and salle' at Allen Street, presumably saving up for his
family. Let me make it abundantly clear that I do not hold brief for Denton
and others. But I believe in due process and I believe Saul also believes in
same. The way we work hard for our living in the U.S. should say a lot about
our differences with the frauds that are currently running our country. We
paid our dues to the society. Society asked us to be disciplined, educated,
wake up every morning and show up to work, live within our means etc. No one
is perfect, but some of us did our darn best to do what is right. We cannot
say that for the uncouth, uneducated, lazy and parasitic lot running our
country. Let us not breed enmity where it does not exist. The real enemy is
the lazy and envious parasite living off of taxpayers' money at the state
house in Banjul. Knowing that if he comes to America he would not be able to
lead a flamboyant live-style by flipping burger at McDonald's, the vermin
took the only other avenue he knows how to navigate: He held the whole
Gambian population at gun point and took us to the Teller machine (Central
Bank).
KB

_________________________________________________________________
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