Samba, thanks for this forward.  If you replace the names of the criminals
listed below with Yaya Jammeh, you get the same result.  Gambians are going
to make an example of Yaya and his rats.  If they are lucky, they will be
alive.  However, if they are alive, they will spend the rest of their lives
paying for their crimes in prison doing hard labor with no room for parole.
TRC has not worked for Africa and it is about time Africans send a loud and
clear message to would be criminals.  We are not going to baby-sit anyone.
Yaya will answer to the massacre of the students, the murder of Koro Ceesay,
and the many summary assassinations and tortures in the name of foiling
coups.  He will also cough up our treasury or the state will cement his
entire stomach for good.  Any government that cuddles our criminals will
have the legal wrestle of their life, for all that are culpable shall be
brought to justice no matter the obstacle.  Knowing the idiots, they may
think that we will just reconcile and let them loose to carry on with their
lives.  No, no, no, my friends.  TRC is just Africa's way of avoiding
dealing with the truth.  Is Milosevic under a TRC or a tribunal and in jail?
  And that is in the West with their democracy.  So who are Africans kidding
with TRCs.  Governments like South Africa may think they've taken the sorrow
out of the victims, but in fact the victims are a ticking time bomb that are
either going to explode on the innocent or lash out at their offenders some
day.  None of the people who lost loved ones or survived their torture are
happy that the worst offenders are arrogantly roaming the streets.  It is
just a matter of time.  And so, the people will never forget, no matter how
long and painful the wait.

This is not about getting even, but all about sending a loud and clear
message that we as a people will not tolerate abuse from anyone, no matter
how brutal or powerful.  If our society has no problem sending pickpockets
to jail for a decade, what hypocrisy are we acting reconciling with
murderers and state looters.  The reason we drifting that way in Africa is
because of our worship of wealth no matter how it was begotten.  For Gambia
to have a clean start at civilization, we have to clean our filth.  Anything
less, means grooming another Jammeh yet unborn.  We cannot live through
another round of a Jammeh type and if it is to happen it is not going to be
a Gambia that any of us ever seen, for folks will just take matters in their
own hands and not let anyone, not even the state, to choke them to a slow
death.

I know we Africans love life and would endure a great deal, far more than
other peoples, before we snap.  However, the new generations have learnt
well from slavery, colonization, and now dictatorships, that none will kill
them while they watch.  They had rather die than tolerate a slow and
unnecessary death.  So, Jammeh can continue his ways and act like he will
terrorize Gambians for life.  The best days for Gambians are on the side of
we, the people.

Chi Jaama

Joe Sambou






>From: Samba Boye <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: ADVICE TO UGANDAN PRESIDENT
>Date: Fri, 7 Feb 2003 09:22:41 +0000
>
>>
>>This is a free advice to Uganda's President. It probably applies to the
>>Gambian. Have a go at it.
>>________________
>>
>>
>>    Feb. 7, 2003
>>    Hello Mr President
>>
>>    Power -- especially the political one-- is never for ever.
>>    But how often people forget about this truism as they go about loading
>>    it on others.
>>    However long it takes, it is a matter of time and it will surely fade
>>    from someone's hands.
>>    The dictator next door ? the late Mobutu Sese Seko -- ruled his
>>country
>>    with an iron hand for donkey's years. But just as he was basking in
>>the
>>    glory of power in old age, he was sent packing into exile. Out of
>>    power, his body quickly gave way to ailments and he died a miserable
>>    fugitive in Morocco.
>>    Even the billions of dollars he had stolen form his country and stuck
>>    away in accounts abroad ended up being of little use to him. He had
>>    grown too much used to power that the slightest absence of it sent his
>>    body disintegrating in just days.
>>    Uganda's own history probably offers the best examples. At one time
>>    Uganda was almost synonymous with names like Milton Obote and Idi
>>Amin.
>>    To the extent that 23 years after Amin left power, he is known more
>>    than the country he led abroad.
>>    The first time Obote was ousted by Amin in 1971, his exit attracted an
>>    assortment of ridicule. There was a Luganda song that described him
>>    begging the late Tanzanian president Julius Nyerere for asylum in
>>    exchange for washing his (Nyerere's) under clothes!
>>    These were some of the people that had waited for ages to see Obote
>>out
>>    in disgrace. They waited for long but as it was bound to happen, their
>>    wait was not in vein.
>>    Those with political power know this even better. They are aware that
>>    their bad actions will earn them all sorts of reprisals one day. But
>>    while the logical thing would be to cut the costs short by quitting in
>>    time, they do often succumb to the temptation to hold onto power. In
>>    the process, they even make their bad record worse.
>>    I was told of some president in the Southern Africa region who is
>>    considering absurd laws to deal with waning popularity rather than
>>    quit. He is considering introducing a law that would make it
>>    treasonable to stare or laugh at the presidential motorcade. Just
>>    because the presidential motorcade no longer attracts waiving and
>>    cheers in town!
>>    I was also told of a government official who landed himself in trouble
>>    for shaking the first lady's hand a second too long.
>>    Such responses to dealing with political challenge simply worsen one's
>>    record. But it is never too late for those who still go around
>>    bullying, torturing and jailing others at will. A crime is a crime.
>>And
>>    a case never dies. It is a question of falling out of power and the
>>    case will be resurrected.
>>    The case of Maj. Gen. Yusuf Gowon illustrates the point better. He was
>>    arrested last year on charges of murder, almost three decades after
>>the
>>    purported crime in the early 70s.
>>    The Kenyan experience is another lesson to those who may want to
>>learn.
>>    A number of contracts, land allocations and deals sealed in corrupt
>>    ways during the Daniel arap Moi days are being revoked. A judge is
>>    being hounded for his role in cases of political persecution. Many
>>more
>>    heads will roll soon.
>>    Let no one think that these things will not happen in today's Uganda.
>>    If you are a corrupt leader, do not forget that you will one day have
>>    to account for it, or at least your offspring. It is never too early
>>to
>>    return your ill-gotten wealth.
>>    If you work in security, you probably may want to start making good of
>>    your past unlawful adventures. Reach out to those you arrested,
>>    tortured and injured unlawfully. Remember regimes can come and go but
>>    cases never die.
>>    Those that have distinguished themselves in political arrogance should
>>    not lose sight of this logic either. For all the years you spent
>>acting
>>    the big bellied and hurled abuses at the politically weak, the people
>>    could be waiting around the corner for the day power will dodge your
>>    steps. Perhaps it is time you scaled down on your arrogance and
>>abuses.
>>    Start calling your challengers political opponents, not pigs or ducks.
>>    There is always a reward in treating people nicely. Even when your
>>sins
>>    outweigh your good acts, people will always try to judge you by the
>>    former.
>>    There is more to this. Besides disarming the opposition, it will go a
>>    great way in dealing with the negative images associated with our
>>    politics.
>>    Power is not about threatening the public into submission through
>>    political monopoly, arrests, and detention in safe houses. It is about
>>    winning their support to implement programmes that will change their
>>    lives.
>>
>>
>>>
>
>
>sams
>
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