A red card to Sam.my view.
Sam Sarr recently authored an interesting article hinged on his perception of tribalism in Gambia. The topic, a ''genesis of tribalism in Gambian politics'' was posted on Gambia echo.com.. It is worth to mention that a topic of such high significance was started well by Sam but sadly he ended up muddling the whole issue twisting the story into some personal attacks on some of our ex-politicians some of whom deceased. He did not even pay respect to their belated souls as matter of courtesy. Samsudeen Sarr mentioned that, the PPP was created solely for tribal reasons. He also stated that the former leader and president of the Gambia DK Jawara himself was tribal. According to Samsideen Sarr ex-president Jawara later changed his attitude by accommodating to other tribes.
Contrary to what Sarr implied The Gambia is today blessed with many renown historians and elders who can better explain the early days of multi-party politics in the Gambia and circumstances that led to formation of the PPP .For me, the little knowledge I have of the history of the PPP shows that it was not a party based on tribe .The PPP I understood came into being in response to the isolation and marginalization meted out to people of the protectorate by Banjul of elites. The United Party UP was headed by PS Njie with little or inclusion of people from the protectorate. As a result of that, Jawara and some other Gambians decided to form the Protectorate People’s Party PPP later renamed People’s Progressive Party which takes its firm roots from the protectorate. The protectorate constituted mainly hinterlands of the Gambia River .All towns and villages outside the scope of the greater Banjul are referred to as the protectorate or provinces as now better known. The areas
called the protectorate is inhibited by every tribe in the Gambia; Fula, Mandinka, Sarahuleh, Wolof, Serre, Manjako, Jola with their varied dialects. Now Sam wishes us to believe that it was only the Mandinka speaking populace that formed the PPP and voted the PPP into power.
Reason dictates that Sam's hold on that is wrong and full of fallacy. He manifests a dangerous thinking pattern which deserves a place in the garbage bin. The PPP had core voters among all ethnic groups of Gambia. Sarr’s bid to divide all those tribes for a political score is quite cheap. One can still find prominent Fulas, Sarahulehs, Wollof and Mandinkas who sponsored the PPP both financially and in person through their campaign trails. Yet Sam short-sightedly excluded all those people just to exhibit his misguided agenda.
In Sam's quest to start a debate of tribalism in Gambian politics, he went out of his way to name individuals like the late Dr Saho,Dr Manneh,SM Dibba of heavy involvement in the politics of tribalism. I wonder how old Sam was at that time for him to speak with the authority he spoke on the pages of the Gambia echo?
Sam also absolved his own person and his immediate family of having any sort of tribalism. He went of out of his way to narrate his fathers business and how he employed non-Wollof speakers in his trucking business .He wished us to believe that such actions are a sign of being free from tribalism. Curious observers wonder how his father's business fits in the politics of tribalism. It doesn't make any sense to clever analysts. One thing we know is that his father was not a politician. If he was Sam never mention that.
Sam vehemently doubted the doctorate degrees of both Dr Saho and Dr Manneh .In so doing Sam breaks all the rules of decency he wish us to debate the topic on. What does he want to prove by questioning the authencity of degrees of both Dr Saho and Dr Manneh?
To remain within the boundaries of his topic it falls in good place to ask the logical parameter Sam chooses to device. How relevant the tribe of both men comes into this equation beats good thinkers by measures of what Sam seeks to conclude.
Taking into account the level of tolerance by other speakers of Wollof outside of the Wollof tribe Sam is completely divorced from the facts of his own allegations. There are far more cases of other language groupings speaking Wolof very fluently compared to native Wollof speakers trying the other languages. That is due to the manifest of maturity by others and not so much because Wollof is any richer than other languages of Gambia. Any person who willingly speaks and is tolerant of other tribes is not manifestly tribalist. Again, in our Gambian context how many Mandinkas Fulas, Serrer and Jolas speak Wolof fluently and how many Wolofs speaks those languages even casually or fluently? Sarr himself is a Serrer by tribe, but he speaks from a Wolof angle, now if the Serere aren't tolerant and accommodating to the Wolof language why should they choose to speak Wolof or even adopt Wolof as a mother tongue?
Sam need to carry out a simple research into which tribes willingly speaks say Wolof without any force? Many speaks Wolof as a language not that they don't like their language or are ashamed of speaking their language but because they choose to do it freely.
Why did I choose Wolof to give as an example? Simple, Sam is writing from a Wollof angle and for that we need to put things in context. He subliminally wants to make us believe that his Wolof upbringing taught him become a better person in life while the rest, especially Mandinka speaking intellectuals and academics do not merit their qualifications. Sam what is your basis of authority? What research have you commissioned on the superiority of non Wollof intellectuals of Gambia? Will you please share your hard ground findings? .Dr Saho married a Fula wife from Mansajang bearing children with her.Infact the children of Dr Saho speaks Wolof as good as any Gambian does. Does that mean the late Dr Saho is free from the politics of tribalism? No. But it indicates that the late Dr Saho did not stop his children speaking Wollof even in his home.
Sam's own educational background. Let's do the adding up. You wrote so much but never a word about how you worked as a metal worker in the Yundum Agriculture Mechanical Workshop. What happened about the young girl who later became Head Girl in the school you once taught? Since you care to question about the qualification of others, we might as well begin the count from yourself. Since you wrote this piece in focus so much information is obtained that will now be reserved until you advance on then we carry on.
The editor of the Gambia echo may not publish the rejoinder but fortunately, there are many other mediums to disseminate information relevant to our national interest.
I do not wish to take Sam's line of debating and I have nothing against Wollof as a tribe or a language. We must all start to try our best in understanding the tribal settings of our fellow country men/women. How many of us know how the Manjakos exchange greetings, or the Balantas etc? Very few of us .Tolerance and mutual respect is part of the key to bring us closer together. May Allah make us united ever?
Haruna Darbo <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Bailo, I'm inspired by you. A good man. I was thinking along these same
lines. I am pleased to be here with you.
Haruna.
In a message dated 12/28/2007 3:35:48 A.M. Mountain Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
Dear Suntou,
It's think that Colonel Sam Sarr's piece on tribal politics in the Gambia
manifested that he had some personal beef with the late Drs Saho and Manneh
respectively, among others. Sam's attempts to discredit the said departed
gentlemen only exposed the pettiness in him. Otherwise, why should a so-called
gentleman that sam is reputed to be question or speculate on the authenticity of
the academic credentials of a person who will not be able to defend himself.
Islam forbids Moslems to speak ill of the living or dead except that which is
true. It seems to me that he has triggered discussion on this important yet
potentially divisive theme from a wrong footing.
Bailo
Suntou Touray wrote:
have a read and carefully analyse the man.he has some thing to say.may be
my understanding is a bit low but what is sam trying to tell the Gambian
public
on the internet ? he is free from tribalism and his family are also free
from it
but the late Dr saho is not,Dr manneh is not,sm dibba is not,dk jawara is
not
etc.he also wish to tell us that the doctorate degree of both manneh and
saho are dubious .may be some of you can make more sense out sarr
here.since he so educated ,he wouldn't wish to deal with me.
please read his article carefully ,you may be affected by his comments ,i
mean
your parent's name may have been mention but let us be open minded about
this and get some fruit from the topic.
i am disappointed in that sam at some point make the topic about himself and
his experiences not bad but in a national debate ,we shouldn't become the
subject matter.
http://www.thegambiaecho.com/Homepage/tabid/36/articleType/ArticleView/ar
ticleId/972/Default.aspx
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