Ebrima, this Letter of Intent to the IMF is despicable. I could not access
my PC over the weekend. That is why you did not hear from me. I just browsed
through the letter and I could not control my anger reading this piece of
garbage. I will certainly take a closer look at it, do some further research
and work with other List members to put together another letter that is more
reflective of the situation. Together with the people your source listed, I
would also like to add Basil Jones' name. If you remember, a few months ago
I criticized his colleagues at the Central Bank and he was quick to come to
their defense. He owes us an explanation (in my humble opinion) if his
colleagues are a party to this fraud. Clark must have relied on data from
the economic research dept. Basil knows how these data is collected. The
data might be 'correct'. But the conclusions reached in certain parts, are
blatant lies. How can one blame the groundnut fiasco on a bumper harvest.
That is absurd. If the harvest is good, farmers ought to be happy. But they
are not. Why????? The letter blamed everyone (farmers and the commercial
banking sector) except the real culprits (Yaya, Baabaa Jobe and those
dubious Libyans). We know that Clark is running from commercial bank to
commercial bank trying to get the Libyans $16 million to finance the
groundnuts. That's not going to happen. The commercial banks know a criminal
outfit when they see one. As we said months ago, the problem in the
groundnut sector has a simple solution. Clear the mess you created with
Alimenta. That is all it would take. The Libyans do not have cash. These are
con men that wanted to use the local banking sector to finance the groundnut
trade for them. This $16 million is small change to Alimenta which Alimenta
used to bring into the country without borrowing from local banks. These
morons stopped that good supply of foreign exchange for local banks and then
want the banks to use their hard earned money to finance the Libyans. No
wonder why the commercial banks refused. These people have shareholders they
are accountable to. Instead of Clark telling moron Yaya and Jatta that it is
dumb to get rid of Alimenta, they welcomed the broke Libyans with open arms
and promised them that they can practise some thuggery against the
commercial banks and force them to lend them money. Well, they can try. I
can guarantee them that they will not succeed. Ebrima, am also appalled by
the way these vermin (Clark and Jatta) are trying to abuse the massacre of
our children on April 10 and 11. Did you noticed how these mental midgets
sneaked through the fact that some of the budgetary problems we are having
was caused by the student 'riots'? They are trying to say that the 'riots'
made it necessary to spend huge amounts of money to repair Gamtel
installations. This is real adding insult to injury. How much did government
spend to repair Gamtel installations? If they in fact spent a butut, they
obviously spent less than they spend in their fruitless trips around the
world. Ebrima, am so upset at Clark and Jatta that I cannot put my thoughts
together yet. Rest assured that am going to study this letter thoroughly and
send another reaction. The letter contained nothing but vicious lies. Do you
believe that a lot of government spending went into paying pensions? This is
ludicrous. I don't care what kind of stats they bring from Social Security.
What I know is, hundreds of civil servants have been sacked without
pensions. Who are these pensions going to? Retired Colonels? Talks about
inflation going down is why I dislike economists. Gas prices are going up,
thanks to government taxes. Prices of food stuff are going up, thanks to
silly tariff policies. In light of just these two variables, who cares if
inflation is going down? What other variables are they taking into
consideration? If the cost of air-tickets  goes down (which is not
happening), how would that positively impact the poor farmer in Saloum? Oh!
his fana-fana brother would be able to buy a ticket to go hustle in New
York. In short, the areas these bozos seemed to be making progress have very
little significance to the Gambian poor. It is telling that instead of
saying how much the Reserves are, they just told us how much they were off
their target. If my memory serves me right, in 1994, right before the coup
the Reserves were at $79 million. Basil can correct me on this and perhaps
give us a more up to date figure. Together with looking at the depletion of
the Reserves, one should also take a close look at Social Security. People
keep talking about how money is siphoned from para-statals like Gamtel and
Ports. In 1994, Social Security had tens of millions of dalasis at Central
Bank alone; not to mention other commercial banks. Part of this money was
used to finance the rice imports of these gangsters in the early days of the
coup. I would not be surprised if this illegal government has gone there
again to get more money. They always try the commercial banks and if that
fails, they go to Social Security. Am almost tempted to say that the
imaginary pensions Clark and Jatta are talking about might have something to
do with this government's illegal schemes with Social Security. I will do
further research before I accuse them of cooking the books at Social
Security. Not a thing was mentioned in this letter about the rampant
corruption in the country. What Clark, Jatta and Yaya alone stole from the
country is more than the salaries of hundreds of teachers. So why ignore the
rampant corruption and highlight the fact that the government is hiring more
teachers. We can understand trying to paint a flowery picture about a
country's economic well-being. What we cannot tolerate is blatant lies and
dubious conclusions. These people are a disgrace to Gambians.
KB




>From: Ebrima Ceesay <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: An Open Letter to The Gambia-L
>Date: Mon, 7 Aug 2000 12:25:14 GMT
>
>Gambia-L:
>
>An open letter that came from one of my sources in the Gambia. I am again
>sending it as received: unedited.
>
>Ebrima
>
>PS: My source, for sure, I for one will react to the Letter of Intent in
>the
>third week of August when my home computer would have been connected to the
>Internet. It is a shame that I can't spend a longer time on the Net these
>days. In fact, I haven't yet read the Letter of Intent.
>
>_____________________________________________________________
>
>
>>To: [log in to unmask]
>>Subject: An Open Letter to The Gambia-L
>>Date:
>>
>>Ebrima,
>>This message is addressed to ALL members of the Gambia-L. Mori Kebba
>>Jammeh
>>has provided you with the Letter of Intent of the Jammeh regime to the IMF
>>which can be accessed from the IMF web site. Please study the letter
>>carefully and discuss it thoroughly for the benefit of the Gambian people
>>and the internatonal donor community. The multiple face of Yahya Jammeh
>>and
>>his Government is being displayed live for every one to see.  What is
>>certain is that even the Vice president of The Gambia is not aware of what
>>goes on in this Government much more the lesser cabinet members.  I am
>>throwing out a challenge to Hamjatta, Dr. Saine, Dr. Katim S. Touray,
>>Kebba
>>Dampha, Ebou Colly, Ebou Jallow, Saul SaidyKhan, Saul Mbenga, Amadou Kabir
>>Njie, Comrade Jassey-Conteh, Bamba Laye, Gearge Sarr and your good self
>>Ebrima, together with the rest of the membership to disect the letter
>>piece
>>by piece to appreciate what Ebrima's sources have been trying to say for
>>the last several months.  This Letter is too important to attract side
>>comments and full stop. I will contribute to the discussion in the coming
>>weeks and months as promised.  As I said, most if not all of members of
>>Cabinet are seeing this letter for the first time. It is as much a
>>surprise
>>to them as to you and me. So please, I am appealing to all of you to
>>carefully study its content and tell me that this Government is truely a
>>legitimate one. This Government, in my book, is a rogue Government that
>>lies to its people and to the international community about the true state
>>of affairs in our beloved country. I only hope that ALL of you do justice
>>to the letter. Look at what they say about the agriculture sector, look at
>>what they say about the GGC, look at what they say about the domestic debt
>>and the arrears to parastatals etc. etc. Let us focus on the issues raised
>>in the letter to the IMF, try to reach some form of a consensus and decide
>>how to go from there. The Commonwealth Secretariat will certainly hear
>>from
>>me through Ebrima. The IMF will also hear from me through someone closer
>>to
>>Washingdon DC. Let us get moving on this one as we have done in other
>>matters of national concern. LONG LIVE THE GAMBIA.
>>
>
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