When Abdou Toure was talking about those who benefited from the Jawara
regime, and making allegations to scholarships sponsored by Lee Kolker, I
finally figured out that he was referring to me.
Well Abdou Toure, if Lee Kolker was the Gambian consul at the time I applied
for and received a private scholarship to study in the U.S,, then this is
news to me, and it is only now that I am aware of this.
Furthermore, when I applied to college in the U.S, I did so because a family
friend, who was at Princeton University at the time, brought me the
application form. This family friend went to work for the United Nations
after graduating from Princeton, and only went to work for the Gambia
government years later, long after I was here in the U.S
. Therefore, i was not assisted in any way by the Jawara regime.
I think it is time we set the record straight on these allegations of people
benefiting from the Jawara regime.

When governments and individuals around the World offer educational
opportunities to developing countries, they do not do so because of a
specific person in power, but they offer it to a people, and there is always
a government of the day to shell these out to the deserving students in their
respective countries. If our affairs were in order, we would not have to
depend on these handouts.

I was not one of the people who was handed out anything by the Jawara regime.

There were scholarships given to Gambians by other countries and individuals
then, as there are now, and the Jawara regime certainly did their share of
handing these out to whom they please, as opposed to who really deserved them.

However, let us suppose for the sake of argument that I benefited from a
scholarship that came to me via the hands of the Jawara regime, or any other
government of the day. Does this the mean that I as a private citizen have
been bought forever, and cannot criticize that particular government because
of this?

The fact that your mind works this way brother, is one of the major reasons
that africa and Africans are wallowing at the bottom of the World's feet, and
we will stay there forever so long as we cannot decipher our rights as
citizens and so long as we see things thar are merely the day to day work of
government as favours to buy allegiance or make us refrain from any sort of
criticism of that particular goverment.

My God, when will we learn to focus on the isues inmstead of using every
occasion to attack and discredit people for speaking their mind and making
rightful demands from our leaders? It is discouraging to say the least.

Jabou Joh

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