Any well-meaning Gambian would be happy to learn that the US has decided to
resume ‘aiding’ the Gambian people. Most of us still remember the millions
of dollars that used to be pumped into our economy through USAID in Banjul.
Thanks to the illegal usurpation of power by trigger-happy thugs in 1994,
economic development in the country suffered a reversal. It is welcomed news
that the US is coming back.

Most people are happy about the US’ return, but for different reasons. For
Yaya and his sycophants, they are happy because to them the return of the US
shows them that they (AFPRC/APRC) are not abusing Gambians anymore. It is
just pathetic to see Yaya make this ludicrous argument and to hear mental
midget after mental midget repeat it on G_L. Need I tell them that just
because the US decided to resume some of its activities in Gambia does NOT
mean that all is well and good in the country and there have been
significant improvements in the arena of governance and human rights?
Clearly, this argument does NOT make any sense. US resuming ‘relationship’
with Gambia does NOT mean that we no longer have political prisoners in the
country. Dumo et al are STILL in jail (illegally). I can go on and on to
show that the resumption of aid to The Gambia (from the US) is no
vindication for the continuing abuses in the country. We still have human
rights abuses and we still have the most corrupt leadership our country has
ever seen. Nothing changed for the better. Yes! We had elections in the
country. But the whole world knows that the presidential election was
sabotaged by the Casamance people and the parliamentary elections (should we
even call it elections?) was the most bizarre spectacle we have ever seen
(with less than 20% of the electorate voting).

So, it is clear that the APRC, rather than being happy for the Gambian
people for the resumption of aid, they are happy for themselves for getting
the ‘endorsement’ of the US. See how sick these people are? They are happy
because they think that now the US is saying that Yaya is not abusing us
anymore. Let them read that into the US’ message. Intelligent Gambians know
better. Smart Gambians would be happy because first of all POOR Gambians can
only benefit from the resumption of aid. Poor Gambians have nothing to lose
in this thing. The US government will work with NGOs in the country to
ensure that any aid that comes into the country will reach the grass-roots
and would NOT be deposited in PERSONAL Swiss Bank Accounts belonging to Yaya
and his cohorts.

Secondly, Gambians should be happy about this ‘normalization’ of
relationship because this brings the US to the ‘table’. To me this is the
most significant impact of the resumption of ‘good relations’. Many will
remember when we protested to the Clinton Administration in the aftermath of
the April 10 and 11 Massacre of defenseless students conducting a (peaceful)
demonstration against lawlessness in the country. In not so many words, the
US government’s position was that there was not much they could do because
they were already ‘punishing’ Gambia and did not have a meaningful
relationship with the government. This was somewhat analogous to sentencing
a murderer to death and then being asked to sentence him again for a
subsequent crime. I mean, there is very little (if anything) you can do to
aggravate the death sentence.

The Bush Administration is mandated to ensure (through its aid program):
“the promotion of good governance through combating corruption and improving
transparency and accountability.” What this means for ordinary Gambians is
that now the US has the moral authority and the legal obligation (because
the above-quoted statement is a mandate from Congress) to ensure that there
is good governance, transparency and accountability in the country. See why
Yaya was NOT happy for the Gambian people when he heard the news? The man
was busy talking about the image of the AFPRC/APRC in the eyes of the US and
also trying to take a cheap shot at the US by saying that US had ‘relations’
with countries that were less democratic than The Gambia. If US has
relations with countries less democratic than Gambia (if there are any in
the world) does that mean that Gambians should be abused by their
government? Do we always have to yap about perceived US double-standards
rather than getting our act together?

I hereby serve notice to the mental midgets running the country to
familiarize themselves with US aid policies. The US is NOT Taiwan where
junta members can go and get suit-case-loads of dollars. APRC should be rest
assured that Congressional leaders with oversight on the disbursement of
these aids also read State Department reports on Gambia (which by the way,
reflects truly how US feels about Yaya’s dismal human rights record).
Gambians in the Diaspora will also continue to highlight the illegal
activities of this government. Our relationship with the US will only be as
good as Yaya and his cohorts make it. If they continue abusing ordinary
Gambians and stealing from government coffers, the US government HAS TO pull
out. That is just the law. If they pull out again, POOR Gambians would bear
the brunt of the suffering. Needless to say, Yaya and his gang do NOT care
about this type of aid. This is NOT aid that enables them to fatten their
Swiss Bank Accounts. Have we ever heard Yaya disrespecting Taiwan and
talking about ‘double-standards’ there?

Gambian poor should welcome the US and take advantage of what they bring to
the country. We need the development aid and we also need a powerful ally
that can force the illegal APRC government to treat Gambians better. We
should always remember that 90% of our development budget comes from grants
and loans. We CANNOT afford to have ‘bad relations’ with so-called rich
countries. People can exhibit all sorts of bravado and talk about how we
need to be self-sufficient. The bottom-line is that we are NOT
self-sufficient and we will NEVER be with morons like Yaya leading our
countries. Just as an example: with all the talk from AFPRC/APRC about
developing the country, just the other day we had newspaper reports telling
us that in Serrekunda (a major urban area) children do NOT even have desks
and chairs at their schools. We also see reports about pilgrims spending
days to travel few miles in our own country because the roads are
inaccessible. Meanwhile Yaya and his cohorts have millions of dollars in
foreign bank accounts. They have fancy SUVs to navigate in inaccessible
roads. They can put their wives and children in private jets to travel
around the globe. Do these people look like people that can move the country
forward and put the interest of POOR Gambians in front of their personal
(corrupt) interests?
KB


_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~