Thank you Dr. Jaiteh.

Baba


>From: Malanding Jaiteh <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list              
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Now Out: Mandela's Other Children
>Date: Fri, 4 May 2007 10:43:25 -0400
>
>Congratulations Baba.
>
>Malanading
>
>
>Baba Galleh Jallow wrote:
>
>>Dear Friends,
>>
>>On this occasion of World Press Freedom Day, I am pleased to announce that 
>>my new small book, "Mandela's Other Children: The Diary of an African 
>>Journalist" is out. Attached is the cover template for the book. Signed 
>>copies can be purchased from the FreeGambia website at the following 
>>address:
>>
>>http://www.freegambia.net/shop.html
>>
>>The book may also be purchased directly from the publisher at:
>>
>>http://www.wastelandpress.net/Mandela.html
>>
>>I join all journalists in remembering our dear brother, father, uncle, 
>>mentor, and doyen, Deyda Hydara who was brutally murdered by gunmen on 
>>December 16, 2004.
>>
>>Below are three of the book's forty-two chapters.
>>
>>Baba
>>
>>
>>
>>Chapter Nine
>>
>>It’s been about three months since our absurd arrest over the Norwegian 
>>paint ad. I spent the past three days locked up incommunicado at NIA 
>>headquarters. Last Sunday morning, I arrived at our offices around 9:00am 
>>to oversee work on the Monday paper. As I walked through the gate, I 
>>noticed two cars packed outside and some men standing around. I recognized 
>>them immediately as NIA agents. The little guy wearing a black felt hat 
>>and dark glasses was Baba Saho, the guy who interrogated me and asked me 
>>to write a statement over the paint ad. I waved at them and proceeded 
>>upstairs to my office. Shortly after I closed the door behind me, I heard 
>>a knock and asked them to come in. Five men filed into the office. I 
>>exchanged greetings with them and asked them to sit down on the three 
>>available chairs. Three sat down and two leaned against the wall by the 
>>door, their hands folded on their chests, wearing the customary iron looks 
>>on their faces.
>>
>>‘Well Mr. Jallow, we have a warrant for your arrest,’ Baba Saho said, 
>>looking across the desk at me behind his dark glasses.
>>
>>‘Oh yeah?’ I said. ‘That’s interesting. And for what crime am I being 
>>arrested?’
>>
>>Saho motioned to one of his men who stepped forward and handed me a yellow 
>>sheet of paper. As I read, I felt my eyes widening with disbelief. The 
>>warrant said I was suspected of trafficking in arms, ammunition, and 
>>drugs, and being in possession of dangerous documents. I could not help 
>>laughing out.
>>
>>‘This is ridiculous,’ I said. ‘Suspected of trafficking in arms, 
>>ammunition, and drugs?’
>>
>>‘Have you read the warrant, Mr. Jallow?’ Saho asked.
>>
>>‘Yes I have,’ I said.
>>
>>‘Please sign it,’ he added.
>>
>>I signed the document and handed it back to him.
>>
>>‘Can we search your office?’
>>
>>‘Oh sure,’ I said, rising up from my desk and standing aside. Three of the 
>>men started rummaging the piles of paper on my desk, pulling out my 
>>drawers and shifting through their contents. After a while, they were 
>>through. Of course they did not find any arms, ammunition, or drugs.
>>
>>‘Can you take us to your house, Mr. Jallow?’ Saho said.
>>
>>‘No problem,’ I retorted. ‘Let me just tell my colleagues what’s going 
>>on.’
>>
>>As I walked out of my office towards the newsroom, one of the men followed 
>>me, as if I was going to run away. I told everybody what had happened and 
>>asked them to make sure that the paper comes out on Monday. Then I locked 
>>my office and walked downstairs with the men. I was escorted into one of 
>>the cars, which started driving towards the city.
>>
>>‘My house is in the other direction,’ I reminded Saho, who sat in the 
>>front seat with the driver.
>>
>>‘It’s no longer necessary,’ he said. ‘We just received orders to take you 
>>straight to headquarters.’
>>
>>I sat back in the backseat, sandwiched between two stone-faced agents. I 
>>had no idea why I was arrested. I knew the contents of the arrest warrant 
>>were simply ridiculous and not deserving of the slightest concern. And I 
>>could not think of any story or editorial or advertisement over the past 
>>week or so that could have led to my arrest. But then in our country, the 
>>NIA do not need any good reason to arrest somebody and lock them up for as 
>>long as they are asked to. Orders from above are a good enough reason to 
>>presume anyone guilty until proven innocent. I resolved to adopt a policy 
>>of wait and see. We drove in silence into the gloomy NIA headquarters.
>>
>>
>>Chapter Thirteen
>>
>>Our worst fears are becoming a reality. Jammeh is not stepping down. He is 
>>going to stay on in power till God knows when. Over the past week, 
>>busloads of peasants from districts across the country have been going to 
>>State House to ‘beg’ Captain Jammeh to contest the forthcoming elections. 
>>Of course, it is all stage-managed. The so-called opinion leaders – 
>>illiterate village elders, religious leaders, and women - are literally 
>>rounded up by the regime's hordes of sycophants, given some money as ‘cola 
>>nut price,’ and brought to Banjul to beg the great leader to stay in power 
>>for the sake of God and of the country. The little money they receive, the 
>>prospect of a free bus ride to the capital city, a delicious meal at State 
>>House, and a rare opportunity to shake the hand of the head of state is 
>>more than enough bait to get these simple-minded folks to play along with 
>>an insidious plot by the military to hang on to power.
>>
>>In front of TV cameras, the so-called opinion leaders, one after the 
>>other, stand up and praise the sterling qualities of the great leader and 
>>beg him to contest the elections. He and his great soldiers have 
>>sacrificed their lives to free The Gambia from the clutches of 
>>ex-president Dawda Jawara and his gang of corrupt politicians. They must 
>>not abandon their responsibilities. Some of them likened Jammeh to the 
>>Prophet Moses, sent by God to deliver his people from the evil pharaoh and 
>>lead them on to the Promised Land. Every day, another group of so-called 
>>opinion leaders from a different corner of the country is driven to State 
>>House to utter their ignorant nonsense. The nonsense is then relayed over 
>>national radio and television: The people love and trust Jammeh so much 
>>that they are all begging him to stay in power. The lie gets bigger by the 
>>day. It is repeated so often that it begins to sound like truth. Rumors 
>>are circulated by his cronies that the great leader himself really does 
>>not want to stay in power. But the people are begging him to do so. Since 
>>the voice of the people is the voice of God, he really has no choice. They 
>>add their voices to the universal cry for Jammeh to stay. It is clear that 
>>the plot to hold the Gambian people hostage is going to succeed. This is 
>>exactly what is going to happen: The busloads of ‘opinion leaders’ will 
>>continue to come to Banjul to beg Jammeh to stay in power. After ‘opinion 
>>leaders’ from across the country have been herded like cattle to Banjul to 
>>beg the great savior to stay in power, Jammeh will then declare that well, 
>>he has no choice but to abide by the will of the Gambian people; for the 
>>will of the people is the will of God. That he feels truly humbled by the 
>>great trust reposed in him by the Gambian people. That in accordance with 
>>the wishes of the people, he is going to retire from the army and become a 
>>true servant of the people. This is a well-beaten path for Africa's 
>>military depots.
>>
>>Mr. Jammeh and his colleagues in the military think that they are being 
>>clever by engineering this fake show of universal support. But they are 
>>not being clever. They are being selfish and greedy. They are being 
>>disloyal to the nation. They are sealing their betrayal of the trust of 
>>the enlightened forces in this country. They are exploiting the political 
>>ignorance and simple-mindedness of the people to legitimize their 
>>hijacking of our country. And they are being seen in all their ugly 
>>nakedness. The emperor has absolutely no clothes! These outrages shall not 
>>go unpublished, now or in the future. They shall not go unexposed to the 
>>big wide world. And Jammeh and his cohorts shall one day be dragged before 
>>the uncompromising court of history. And they shall be judged and 
>>sentenced according to their crimes. ‘Mr. Jammeh, you stand accused of 
>>forging a counterfeit sovereignty, of using the law to break the law, of 
>>embezzling millions of dollars of public resources . . .’
>>
>>
>>Chapter Thirty-One
>>
>>December 24, 2004. Deyda Hydara, 58, Editor and co-founder of The Point 
>>newspaper has been brutally murdered. Deyda was gunned down last night, 
>>around 11:00pm, as he drove home from his office. It was the thirteenth 
>>anniversary of The Point and Deyda and his colleagues had spent the day 
>>celebrating. But for Deyda, the meal he had that day was his last. Among 
>>the guests at his office, chatting and talking, showing teeth hiding 
>>streams of hot blood, or just waiting nearby outside his office, were some 
>>men who knew that Deyda would not see the light of the day tomorrow. As he 
>>drove home, an unmarked taxi cab overtook him, drove adjacent him, and a 
>>man in the front passenger seat pumped two bullets into an unwary Deyda’s 
>>head and one into his chest. He lost control of the car, which swerved 
>>into a ditch. He died on the spot. His passengers, two young ladies, 
>>members of his staff he had offered a ride home, suffered gunshot wounds 
>>to the legs. The killers sped past the spot where Deyda slumped over his 
>>steering wheel, his skull shattered, his chest punctured, drenched in his 
>>own innocent blood. Deyda, who could not hurt a fly. Deyda, who stammered 
>>and smoked and was ever so cheerful even when engaged in heated debate 
>>over matters of principle. Deyda was also the Gambia correspondent for 
>>Reporters Without Borders and the French news agency AFP.
>>
>>Who killed Deyda Hydara? Who wanted Deyda death? What could be the motive 
>>for such cold-blooded murder of a 58-year old journalist who had spent all 
>>his life trying to make ends meet and who ran a small bi-weekly tabloid 
>>just mildly critical of the state? Clearly, as long as this regime remains 
>>in power, we will never get an answer to these questions. Investigations 
>>will be touted in the media for a while and then all would be silence. 
>>Deyda’s last shroud would be like the shroud of silence that still covers 
>>the gruesome murder and incineration of Finance minister Ousman Koro 
>>Ceesay. Deyda’s last shroud would be like the shroud of silence that 
>>surrounds the murder by security forces of twelve students and one radio 
>>journalist on April 10/11 2000. Deyda’s shroud will be like the shroud 
>>surrounding the killing by security forces of Lt. Almamo Manneh, of an 
>>unknown number of alleged coup plotters on the bloody night of November 
>>11, 1994. I am certain that Deyda’s murderer will never be brought to book 
>>as long as the current regime is in power.
>>
>>Deyda was an uncompromising champion of press freedom and respect for 
>>human rights. Over the past year, he had been at the forefront of the 
>>Gambia Press Union’s fight against the promulgation of the media 
>>commission that had more powers than the Supreme Court of the land. That 
>>law was repealed only to be replaced by an even more draconian piece of 
>>non-legislation that gave the state power to jail journalists for a 
>>minimum of six months without the option of a fine for publishing 
>>‘untruths’. This new bill also increases the fee for the registration of a 
>>newspaper from a whopping hundred thousand dalasi (about $5,000) to an 
>>unbelievable five hundred thousand dalasi. Again, Deyda was at the 
>>forefront of the press union’s fight against this draconian bill. Clearly, 
>>the state had gotten tired of seeing Deyda oppose any piece of unjust 
>>legislation in this country. And if that indeed is the case, as many of us 
>>believe it is, then Deyda’s murderer will never be brought to justice as 
>>long as the current regime is in power, which could be for God knows how 
>>long.
>>
>>Deyda’s murder is a very good indicator of where we are as a nation. It is 
>>a good indicator that yes, we were not mistaken in our accusations of the 
>>authorities that there is absolutely no security for the powerless in 
>>today’s Gambia. How could anyone claim the existence of security in a 
>>country in which journalists could be murdered with impunity, media houses 
>>set on fire with impunity, and police and soldier-brutality perpetrated 
>>against innocent civilians with impunity? Deyda's murder is a good 
>>indicator that in today’s Gambia, the murder of government critics can be 
>>committed with blatant impunity and no one would ever be arrested for it. 
>>Why? Because the police are afraid to ask too many questions. Because the 
>>NIA can look only so far. Because the police, the NIA and everyone else 
>>find themselves emasculated and reduced to pretending that what they see 
>>is really not what they see, and what they know is really not what they 
>>know. They all know, or at least suspect very strongly that they know, who 
>>killed Deyda Hydara. But they are blind and dumb to the truth because the 
>>truth is too ugly to contemplate.
>>
>>Deyda’s murder is an act of terrorism. It is a good indicator that 
>>terrorism does not have to be male, Arab, skinny, with an eagle nose and 
>>long flowing beard; that terrorism could also be black, African, Gambian, 
>>with a head like a square piece of dead wood. Deyda’s murder is calculated 
>>to terrorize not only the Gambian media, but all Gambians. It is 
>>calculated to stun and petrify the people, to say to everyone that this is 
>>what happens to people who engage in activities like those Deyda engaged 
>>in. It is a calculated attempt to repeat the message that was sent out to 
>>the Gambian people on April 10 and 11, 2000, when 12 innocent school 
>>children and one radio journalist were murdered by security forces in 
>>broad daylight and no one was prosecuted for the murders. The message that 
>>whoever dares make too much unpleasant noise in The Gambia will go six 
>>feet deep, and nothing will come out of it.
>>
>>But Deyda’s murder also represents a victory for the forces of truth and 
>>justice in The Gambia. Death, Foucault would say, is the ultimate defiance 
>>to state power; it is the point at which naked power is rendered totally 
>>impotent. By his death Deyda has dealt a devastating blow to the forces of 
>>evil in our country. He has exposed the shameful cowardice of those who, 
>>because they have the guns, feel that they can commit any crime and get 
>>away with it. He has, by his death, grown larger than life in the global 
>>imagination and focused the world’s attention on this small corner of the 
>>world where, for over ten years now, a small group of tyrants have lorded 
>>it over the people and broken every law in the book with ruthless 
>>impunity. If Deyda’s murderers were hoping to stop him from exposing their 
>>evil deeds, the ironic result is that by his death, Deyda has turned the 
>>full light of international attention on his killers. They have achieved 
>>the exact opposite of what, in their sick and jaundiced imaginations, they 
>>had set out to achieve. Not only are the world’s curious searchlights now 
>>fully focused on The Gambia, they will remain focused on The Gambia until 
>>the truth about Deyda is known and the culprits brought to justice in one 
>>way or the other. There is no doubt that one day, someone will stand in 
>>front of the world and say with total certainty, this is Deyda’s murderer. 
>>That day will come, and when it comes, those who feel that they can commit 
>>such despicable crimes with impunity shall be condemned to eternal 
>>damnation.
>>
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