Mr. Sidibeh:
Thanks for an enlightened message. Regardless of whether we hear from other members in the opposition, we must not wait a moment to collect funds in our individual jurisdictions.
I have a suggestion. How about if you have two people; one collecting the funds and documenting receipt of money, and the other have custody responsibilities. I have contacted about 20 people in my area who are willing to make contributions of any amount. I have an individual who will collect the funds, and I will have custody. This brings accountability and separation. We hope from now until March, 2006, we may be able to help.
I no longer plan to sit and wait to hear from our comrades. It is of value that we act.
Naphiyo,
Comrade ML Jassey-Conteh
-------Original Message-------
From: Momodou S Sidibeh <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: 08/10/03 06:59 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Save The Gambia Fund/Sidibeh,Conteh
>
> Sister Jabou Joh wrote:
"...One hopes that another effort for a united opposition coalition which
so many
Gambians are placing their hopes upon will not fall by the wayside again
because of what i have now come to see as our inability to be able to
engage in
anything that involves the allowance of full participation by all. I
surely hope that I am wrong in this assesment, so like Jesse Jackson says,
"let's keep hope alive".
Yes, a failure at this stage is too painful to contemplate, yet things do
not look promising at all. The tragedy is that when such hyped efforts at
such a grand matter fail, it becomes that much more difficult to start all
over again; and the sad things is that we have hardly any alternative. What
can we ever do to get rid of our collective yoke if we do not get
organised? I will hold my horses at the moment. But eventually, some very serious
stocktaking will have to be done. Many thanks to Mr. Jassey-Conteh and
yourself for seeing so far ahead.
Momodou S Sidibeh
----- Original Message -----
From: <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, August 09, 2003 5:36 PM
Subject: Re: Save The Gambia Fund/Sidibeh,Conteh
> Brothers Sidibeh & Jasseh-Conteh,
>
> Thank you for continuing to add your voice to the appeal to have this
effort
> for Gambians in the Diaspora contribute towards a unified opposition
coalition
> in the 2006 elections opened up to all Gambians in the Diaspora who want
to
> participate, as opposed to having it turned into a private club where
some can
> participate and those cannot. That clearly defines what the effort
should be
> about.
> However, as unbelievable as this may seem, it si begining to look like
our
> appeals have fallen on deaf ears, and are being outright ignored despite
the
> fact that we say we are trying to unseat a dictatorship.
>
> At any rate, perhaps those who have decided to exclude the participation
of
> all interested Gambians have an unwritten mandate to speak for us, make
> decisions for us regarding what our concerns are vis a vis our country,
and they will
> also see to it that this effort will be a success without the imput of
> Disaporans in general. Perhaps they will also make a decision to vote
for us should
> it become reality that Disaporans are allowed to vote.
>
> It will be interesting to also see if the opposition parties on the
ground
> will be satisfied to accept representations on behalf fo Diasporans that
did not
> emanate from any imput by the general body of disaporans.
>
> One hopes that another effort for a united opposition coalition which so
many
> Gambians are placing their hopes upon will not fall by the wayside
again
> because of what i have now come to see as our inability to be able to
engage in
> anything that involves the allowance of full participation by all.
> I surely hope that I am wrong in this assesment, so like Jesse Jackson
says,
> "let's keep hope alive"
> Jabou Joh
>
> In a message dated 8/5/03 5:25:53 PM Central Daylight Time,
> [log in to unmask] writes:>
> >
> >
> > Brother Joe Sambou,
> >
> > I must begin by thanking you profusely for using your time to respond
to
> > enquiries I made on the matter of the Coalition Summit in Atlanta. I
found the
> > report carried on The Independent quiet informative eventhough
obvious
> > important details must have been filtered by the newspaper's editors.
I suppose
> > that is one important reason why there is high-pitched recommendation
for
> > readers to acquire the video. In any case, the rest of us owe much to
those whose
> > practical efforts made the Summit a success. Year 2006 is not distant
in
> > political terms, and therefore those concerned for the evolution of
true
> > democracy in Gambia need to hurry in setting up concrete objectives
for a Post-APRC
> > Gambia. Unfortunately that work has not begun, as was clearly spelled
out in
> > the paper referred to above.
> >
> > Before doing that (perhaps in a future posting) there is an urgent
need to
> > debate, rephrase and reassert the role of diasporan Gambians of all
walks of
> > life in the current thrust towards building a democratic Coalition
capable not
> > only of wresting power from the hands of the APRC, but injecting into
> > Gambia's political experience a new era of inclusion and openness,
qualities for
> > whoich we have been gifted by both our history and geography. In a
country
> > where hardly anyone remains anonymous for any reasonable length of
time, it is
> > incredible that its citizens have proven incapable of building on old
communal
> > bonds of mutual solidarity to form the basis of a consensus politics.
A
> > culture of tolerance and decency in political conduct need not remain
alien to
> > the Gambia. To survive in a dignified way in a world of brutal
economic
> > realities, Gambians need to strive for such "utopias" to attain some
competitive
> > advantage.
> >
> > The current actuality of socio-economic strife, the brutal
distribution of
> > poverty, the abrogation of Human Rights and destructive levels of
corruption,
> > power arrrogance and abuse are symptoms of a society adrift. A
vaccilating
> > foreign policy frantically searching for ever-elusive foreign
invesments, that
> > is hoped to rescue the econnomy from incontinent hands while thousands
of
> > Gambian high school graduates waste away in denigrating unemployment
bespeak a
> > political culture in need of swift resuscitation.
> >
> > There is nothing mysterious about our current societal torpor and
infact, we
> > have talked and quarelled about its different apparels over the years;
and
> > in the process we have argued, raised funds, befriended one another,
> > discovered fakes, flushed out dweebs from our midst and once in a
while insulted
> > those we believe deliberately are guided not by their true lights.
Yet, my
> > friends, now when our country needs us the most, when we cannot have a
night's
> > good sleep, inspite of our cosy Swedish apartments and condos, without
> > entertaining agonies of the sadness in the eyes of Gambian children
yoked by malarial
> > parasites, we are, as if by design, failing ourselves. Instead of
producing
> > ideas, lending our voices to those whose own have been silenced by
fear,
> > courageously asserting our RIGHT to be heard as concerned and
enlightened citizens
> > many seem to want to solemnly banish themselves to the margins of
Gambian
> > history, to the role of chief fund-raisers. Is that the best we can
do? Where
> > are all those voices of protest? Shall we believe that soemone else is
going
> > to award us the right to have a say?
> >
> > When that most eminent of Gambians, Sister Jabou Joh, protested in
Mr.
> > Sambou's hopes to hang out to shame those who have not measured up to
the Save
> > the Gambia Fund standard, I hoped that Mr. Sambou would take the cue
and
> > withdraw his phrase. Obviously, Joe Sambou and many on this list,
including
> > myself all want a Gambia much promising than what obtains now. But
fund-raising is
> > definitely, not the issue.
> > Needless to say, money is going to make a huge difference in helping
> > practically. But at this stage 50 names on a list donning money
monthly as a way of
> > helping save Gambia from itself is a far cry from the 80,000 strong
diasporan
> > community whose political leverage is not being canvassed.
> > Our role at his point in time is to TELL all Gambian politicians the
kind of
> > Gambia we want to see after the next general elections. Together with
a
> > subsequent coalition our this vision of Gambia must be debated and
refined to
> > suit a compromise position adoptable by the opposition to become the
basis of a
> > platform for change. i.e. SOPI! Then it would make better sense to
> > financially subscribe to a Save the Gambia Fund. I urge all of you,
especially Joe
> > Sambou and Abdoulaye Saine and all those who took the initiative for
the Fund to
> > rethink your strategy of creating a mailing list of those simply
putting
> > money in a collection bin. An organisation with so serious a mission
should not
> > be that narrow and elitist.
> >
> > For Our Common Future,
> >
> > Momodou S Sidibeh
> >
> >
> >
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> >
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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> >
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> > Web interface
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> >
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> >
>
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