Mr Jeng,
You`re very right the "Pa still has not got the message", and it`s going to be real hard to put this message across because he continues to give lectures but does not entertain questions or comments! It`s just too bad for him because this is not the generation that is easily carried away by some cheap rhetoric, and I believe we are sick and tied of singing "D.K sabari". Right? As Saul rightly stated, he should consider writing his memoires and by doing this he is rendering us a great service because we would learn never to repeat his mistakes.
Another Jawara regime is just another sell-out. So please give us a break Sir.
Regards,
Omar.
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Dato: 18. november 1999 04:09
Emne: Re: D.K. Jawara's Visit to Atlanta
>I have never been up-closed to His Excellency, and this Atlanta trip was
>looked forward to as an opportunity to hear IT from the man himself.
>
>President Jawara looks extremely well, still carries that personality of a
>great man, and his ability to articulate his message is very impressive
>indeed. At the end of the meeting, I made it clear to the organizers of my
>disappointment of a lost opportunity. A man of President Jawara's calibre,
>resourcefulness, experience, and one of the best resources that can be
>essential to our search for solutions could have been better utilized.
>Instead the whole meeting became a PPP political rally, a feel good therapy,
>and ofcourse a nostalgia to the heydays of the Jawara era. Speakers were
>selected, all ardent supporter of the Pa (understanably so), but the rhetoric
>only reminded me of PPP rallies at Jarra, or Janjanbureng. The message lacked
>substance, not very careful with the facts and extremely partisan. Oh yea, it
>would not be a PPP rally without a Jaliba and a Kora to take us back to the
>tunes that reminded us an era gone by. It was nice and it was an effective
>therapy for the Pa, and I was infact happy for him.
>The Pa's main message was an echo of the rattlings of the previous Speakers.
>His central message revolved around these issues:
>A. Most of the APRC projects were infact in the pipeline, and the foundation
>was already in place.
>B. He said it is preposterous to even suggest that his government has never
>built schools."We have built several primary schools and most of the high
>schools were public funded"
>
>C. He talked about the successes of Parastatals, and how the Jammeh
>government raided their reserves and made them ineffective.
>D. He was very critical of Jammeh's so-called projects, and even made fun of
>how most of these projects have become refuge for stray dogs and goats.
>E. He proposed the need for civil disobedience by the civil servants as an
>option to challeng Jammeh's government.
>F. To looked into the possibility in organizing demostration, for instance at
>the Carter human rights center. He emphasized the importance of such moves,
>especially with large gatherings of Gambians inorder to attract the media
>
>Conclusion:
>It was sad that questions were not allowed, and this is where I got
>disappointed, and echoed my sentiments to the organizers. I argued that It
>was ironical that the champion of democracy, and his arguemant at the meeting
>to the importance of civil liberties was shield from any critical questions,
>or the raising of relevant issues to our development. Their explaination was
>that the Pa's last visit to Atlanta was met with unruly individuals that
>treated the elder statesman with so much dis-respect that they were not going
>to see that happen to the Pa again.
>Personally, I felt that his message lacked any critical probing, especially
>after been out of office for so long, I was expecting a much more critical
>analysis of the situation, and not to see him pursuing politics of his
>handlers. A politics of retribution, politics of getting even, and even to
>suggest that Jammeh's failures exonerated him from all allegations came
>across vey hollow to me. I found him to be very descent, smart, articulate,
>and I feel his pain, but it was also very clear that the Pa has still not
>got the message.
>I would also like to convey to the Pa, that whatever Jammeh does, whether
>trample over democracy, send our economy on a tailspin; the Pa's legacy would
>always be his legacy and would be judge on its own merit. And that even a
>second chance would be disastrous because no matter how you slice it, Gambia
>would be the ultimate looser
>
>Musa jeng
>
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