Hi folks,

Following is my Open letter to His Excellency the President, Yahya A.J.J.
Jammeh.  I wrote the letter in a bid to set the record straight about what
Gambia-L is all about (at least from my perspective) and to invite President
Jammeh to join and help us make Gambia-L and the Internet even more beneficial
to The Gambia.  It is my hope that the letter will, together with current
efforts on Gambia-L, help move us along a path of cooperation, mutual respect,
and a long-lasting, healthy debate.

I faxed the letter to the State House this evening (Thurs., Nov. 18), and sent
copies to The Point, and The Independent newspapers.  For some reason, the fax
number for The Daily Observer was not working, so I could not send them a copy.
 I will be sending seperate e-mail versions of this to both Foroyaa and Tombong
Saidy (of GRTS) instead of faxing them their copies.

I haven't had time to read all postings that we've received on Gambia-L in the
past few days.  With the weekend coming up, I will block-off some time to go
through as many of them as is possible and send in my thoughts on where we
should go with Dr. Saine's initial ideas, and the many excellent ones that were
sent in response to it.  I would like to encourage all of us to think hard
about how we can all, despite our differences, dialog in constructive tones,
and work toward an even greater Gambia.

Have a great weekend, and best wishes in your endeavors.

Katim

------------- Start of Open letter to President Jammeh  --------------------
Nov. 17, 1999

His Excellency the President, Yahya A.J.J. Jammeh
State House
Banjul
The Gambia

Mr. President,

AN INVITATION TO HELP INCREASE THE BENEFITS OF GAMBIA-L AND THE INTERNET TO THE
GAMBIA:

I am writing to invite you to help increase the benefits of Gambia-L, and the
Internet to The Gambia.

Gambia-L is an electronic discussion forum (sometimes called a mailing list) on
the Internet created in January 1996 for discussing issues related to The
Gambia.  It is presently hosted, for free and along with many others, on a
computer at St. John's University in New York, NY, USA.  Electronic mail
(e-mail) sent by a subscriber to Gambia-L is automatically distributed to other
subscribers who can, in turn, distribute their replies to that message by
sending them to the list.  This way, the almost 600 Gambia-L subscribers from
all corners of the world in effect have online discussions, and exchange
information on various issues of concern to them.

Discussions and announcements on Gambia-L cover a variety of topics ranging
from job and business opportunities, marriages, obituaries, and activities in
Gambian communities around the world.  As you can expect, discussions have also
dealt with current and topical issues about The Gambia, and the whole world.
For this reason, many opinions have been expressed about you and your
government on Gambia-L, and the debate continues round the clock, and every
day.

Not all of the postings on Gambia-L flatter you or your government.  In the
eyes of some people, Gambia-L is nothing but a forum for what they call
"anti-Jammeh people."  I have received suggestions that I for one created
Gambia-L because I oppose your government.  While I do not agree with some of
your policies, I did not help start Gambia-L to provide a forum for your
critics. Gambia-L is in fact a result of my efforts that started as far back as
1993 seeking help setting up a mailing list to discuss Gambian issues, and
assistance in connecting The Gambia to the Internet.  My interest in seeing The
Gambia take her rightful place in the global Internet community also prompted
me to write a two-part article about the Internet that I made available, for
free, to "The Daily Observer" newspaper in The Gambia.  The article was
published around April 1994, well before most people had even HEARD of the
Internet, and certainly before you came to power.

Following your overthrow of the Jawara government, I started using one of my
e-mail accounts in early in August 1994 to discuss developments in The Gambia
with few of my friends.  This system was semi-automated, but the number of
people participating in the discussions continued to grow.  We were finally
able, in January 1996, to find a more convenient host for the list at the
University of Washington (UW), Seattle, Washington, USA.  We named the list
Gambia-L, and still kept it's objective as a forum for the discussion of The
Gambia and related issues.

UW hosted Gambia-L until last May when we were forced to find a new host.  The
reason we needed a new host for Gambia-L was that a number of Gambian
subscribers to the list started threatening a Gambian employee of UW who
sponsored the list there.  Those who threatened the Gambia-L sponsor did so
because they were dissatisfied with discussions on Gambia-L, especially the
many postings on the list that were critical of you and your government.

Fortunately, I was able to get St. John's University to agree to host Gambia-L,
and we successfully migrated the list to its new host without serious
interruptions in service.  The move to St. John's University has been a
blessing in disguise for the simple reason that postings to Gambia-L are now
archived on the Web at http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html and
accessible to Internet users anywhere in the world.

Gambia-L continues to be managed by a number of volunteers, including me, who
are responsible for approving requests for subscriptions, and handling other
administrative details.  Subscription to Gambia-L is open to everyone, except
for the case of one previous member who was expelled because of his rudeness,
and insults to people on the list.  All postings to the list are automatically
distributed, without the intervention of any of the managers.  This arrangement
is different from what obtains on other lists, called moderated lists, where
list managers have to approve postings sent for distribution.

The fact that Gambia-L managers do not intervene in the distribution of
postings to the list, coupled with the free and open nature of subscriptions
means that Gambia-L could not possibly be aimed at providing a forum for people
to thrash your administration.  While it might be true that most postings are
critical, rather than supportive of your government and policies, this is only
because your supporters and/or government officials have failed to respond to
the criticisms of your government on Gambia-L.

For example, in the past few weeks, there have been postings suggesting that
your government has a list of Gambians overseas who are black-listed and being
watched-for at border crossings by your immigration officials.  Another posting
mentioned that some Gambians were having their passports seized when they
submit them for renewal because they are deemed opponents of your government.
I was, to say the least, disappointed that only one government official,
Tombong Saidy, of the Gambia Radio and Television Service responded to these
postings.  It would help a great deal if other government departments and
agencies would get more involved in the dialogue on Gambia-L to help set the
record straight, and dispel rumors.

It is my strong opinion that contrary to what some of your supporters are
saying, Gambia-L and those who criticize you on it are valuable resources to
The Gambia government.  As you know, Gambians are susceptible to telling people
what they want to hear and not necessarily the truth.  This, in my humble
opinion, was the reason that former President Jawara was blind to obvious
shortcomings in his government, and ultimately paid the price with his
downfall.  For this reason, I suggest that rather than dismiss Gambia-L as a
forum for your opponents, you should use it as a source of valuable information
and advice you will never get from those in your inner circle more interested
in self-preservation than what is best for our country.

May I mention that the importance of getting sound, truthful feedback has been
demonstrated amply in history.  You will recall that the late Shah of Iran,
Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, General Mobutu Sesse Seko of the former
Zaire, and Samuel Doe of Liberia, to name a few, all died in disgrace and/or
violently after being overthrown from seemingly unending dictatorships.  The
one lesson each of these people failed to learn was that the greatest insurance
against a shameful end to power is to give the truth a chance to be heard.
And, Sir, if you think for one second that you are the exception to this rule,
you should think again.

I would like to reaffirm my commitment to the idea that Gambians all over the
world have a right, like anyone else, to exchange information and ideas with
each other.  For this reason, I would like to see Gambia-L used as one of the
many tools that the Internet has provided people around the world to enhance
communication, and increase understanding.  We would be foolish to use
something that continues to unite people the world over to divide us, and set
us further back in our quest for national prosperity.

In this regard, I am pleased to inform you that there has been an increased
interest in Gambia-L subscribers to start a dialog between various Gambian
interest groups the world over.  In particular, a recent Gambia-L posting from
Dr. Abdoulaye Saine of Miami University of Ohio in the United States has been
received with enthusiasm by many subscribers who are ready to work toward our
common good.  I invite, and strongly encourage you to join us in charting a
course of action to increase understanding, and foster a healthy debate among
us.

Toward this end, I would like to offer some suggestions about how we can make
Gambia-L, and the Internet even more beneficial to The Gambia.  First, I would
like to suggest that Gambia-government Departments and agencies either
subscribe to the list, or make sure that they have a system in place for making
sure that they receive all discussions that relate to them.  The Gambia already
has Internet connectivity, and I see no reason why there should not be an
effort to ensure that every government Department has at least one
Internet-enabled computer.

Second, I would like to suggest that every Gambia government Department set up
a Website.  This effort should be coordinated to produce Websites that are
informative, engaging and of consistent quality.  Such Websites will be a
valuable link between the Gambia government Departments and Internet users all
over the world.  Furthermore, the huge and increasing numbers of worldwide
Internet users means that developing an Internet-presence strategy for the
Gambia government will be a valuable investment for many years to come.  I am
willing to offer any help I can in this regard, as I'm sure many Gambians the
world over will be willing to given the chance.

In conclusion, I would like to say that it is my sincere hope that the appeals
for reconciliation and healthy debate on Gambia-L will be heard, acted on, and
that we work to make the forum and the Internet a valuable resource to our
nation.  To paraphrase a Wollof saying, "you should dance when God claps for
you."  It is my belief, Mr. President, that we've started dancing to a tune of
cooperation on Gambia-L, and I invite you to join and help us use the medium to
improve the welfare of the Gambian people.

Thank you very much for your consideration, and I wish you all the best in your
endeavors.

Sincerely,

(signed)
Katim S. Touray, Ph.D.
Madison, WI
U. S. A

------------- End of Open letter to President Jammeh  ----------------------

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