All,

About two months ago, a friend in Gambia casually told me to watch my back
because I'm among the people on the G-L who are being eye-marked by the NIA.
I laughed it off.

But yesterday, I had information from a cousin who lives in Soma that I
shouldn't go to Gambia because they're waiting for me. "You kidding me" I
said to myself. I thought the whole issue is silly and ridiculous. Why can't
the NIA find better things to do? But, having followed up with some friends
who are in the loop about such issues, it has been confirmed to me that
indeed, members of the G-L who dare commit BLASPHEMY by critizing the Great
One: President for 1000 years, Lt. Col, Dr., Alh. A.J.J.Jammeh will be
welcome to The Gambia by a State Reception Committee courtesy of the NIA.
And "yes," the friend told me, my name is on the list.

So, call it an "Enemy List" or whatever, but there does exist a list of
names of members of this distro who strongly disagree with the APRC govt.
Per the environment back there, the fellow started going nervous on me. I
tried to confirm certain members, and every single name I rattled off made
their list according to him: KB, Ebrima Ceesay, Hamjatta, Ebou Colley, MLJ
Conteh, Ous Bojang, Karamba Touray, etc, etc. But here is the big surprise
for me: Drs. K. Touray and A. Saine have all made the list. (Big moderates
as far as the G-L goes.) At that point, my boy won't say any more because
someone had entered the room.

To demonstrate to me that they are serious about this, he confirmed a story
I have heard about two months ago concerning an Ebrima Ceesay. Apparently,
some fellow with that name went to Gambia from Europe. Despite his protests
and appeal for common sense, this guy was bundled into a car and taken to
the NIA HQ in Banjul, where surprise - surprise, they verified that he is
indeed a different Ebrima Ceesay than the Birmingham "trouble maker." Any
five year boy could tell them that there are very few unique Gambian names!

Evidently, the reception that the Great One got in New York last year had
set off his fuse. "That was the last straw for the man," I was told in not
so many words. He considers his cyber critics worse than the vocal
opposition back home. My friend told me that the List is being monitored by
the VERY top (emphasis -his.) You figure.

I noted that it's ridiculous to hone onto what critics are saying in
cyberspace which is accessible to less than 1% of Gambians, when in fact,
much of what gets said here is no different than what Waa Juwara, Hamat Bah,
and Halifa Sallah, etc say frequently in The Gambia. The fellow concurred.
Apparently, many of the people doing these dirty jobs for the Great One are
as sick of the childishness and buffoonery as we are.

Having spoken to this fellow, I didn't know if I should be angry, disgusted,
or cry for The Gambia. Why? Because it's no secret that expartriate Gambians
including most of us on their Enemy List are the ones sustaining the Gambian
economy. How can you call people who literally pump Millions of Dalasi into
the Gambian economy enemies of the Gambia? If expartriate Gambians were to
stop sending remittances back home for only two months, as spineless as the
average Gambian is, there will be a Phillipines-like revolt that is sure to
topple the APRC govt! No doubts about that? So, to have an entire agency
dedicated to making enemies for the State is abominable. One would have
thought that Abacha's Nigeria and it's aftermath would help temper the
APRC's excesses. Evidently, no such luck! They're bent on creating more and
more Nelson Mandelas, or swollen heads. Jotting our names down on some Enemy
List will accomplish nothing but make us more important than we really are.
I've said before, and I say it again, those of us outside Gambia can only
offer moral and financial support to the opposition back home. They are the
heros, not any of us outside! So, in my view, this whole exercise is yet
another mis-directed policy in a long line of State-sanctioned lawlessness
initiatives.

For lack of time, all I can conclude is that The Gambia is in worse shape
than even some of us who saw it coming in '95/96 could have foreseen. It's
scary how one's dire predictions someone come to pass so soon. Personally, I
do not feel frightened by being on an APRC govt. Enemy List. To the
contrary, I feel enhanced by it. I believe in fairness and social justice,
ethos which are an anathema to that rogue of a government. If this govt
believes in transparency, what they'll do is to invite all their Gambian
critics overseas to come home, go around the country and see things for
themselves. Some of us will have no problems retracting, or appologizing for
anything that we have accused them of that turns out to be un-true. But,
this executive-sanctioned vendetta confirms for all what many have said here
repeatedly: the APRC govt is an enemy of anyone who cares for truth and
justice. So much for Accountability and Transparency. Let's hear the full
List on Radio Gambia, and GamTV!

Saul.


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