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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