Posted by Salieu Gaye on August 01, 2001 at 05:12:57:

A BIG WELCOME TO Sir DK JAWARA.

On last evening's BBC Focus on Africa programme former President Sir Dawda
Jawara announced that I will be ending his self-imposed exile and return to
the Gambia. I want to take this opportunity to welcome Sir Dawda home as an
elder statesman whose wisdom and experience is needed by the Gambia.
However, President Jawara should be warned that the Gambia which he fled
seven years ago and the Gambia he will return to are quite different.

He's was a Gambia were children carried their own chairs and table to school
while top Government officials sent their children to Private school.

He's was a Gambia where children worked for endless kilometers or even
relocated to the urban areas to have access to schools while the luxurious
government cars transported the children of the rich.

He's was a Gambia were the generator of the national hospital was usually
taken to State House while the hospital remained in darkest and operations
were canceled.

He's was a Gambia were the odds of seeing a doctor at our hospitals was
almost the same as the odds of hitting the jackpot in the national lottery.

He's was a Gambia were the status-quo meant that most intellectuals were in
a slumber and no one except a very few dared question are challenge the
Government.

He's was a Gambia were information was a premium to the people, were bad
roads were our pride, were youths had no hope of University Education, were
Scholarships were meant for the rich, were endemic corruption was the order
of the day and were farmers were perpetually exploited.

Sir Dawda might be surprised to know that the Gambia has changed a lot while
he was away. No matter what grievances he has got with this Government, he
has got to be thankful that the country he is returning to has a brighter
future now than on that sunny morning of July 22nd 1994.

>From: Dampha Kebba <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Jawara --- Come-back Kid?
>Date: Wed, 1 Aug 2001 09:41:50 -0400
>
>News from the BBC that Jawara might go to Gambia in time for the October
>Election, is a welcomed one. Here is a chance for the man to vindicate
>himself. Power was unlawfully usurped from him by a bunch of bandits seven
>years ago. These low-lives should NOT prevent him from going back to the
>country he worked for for the better part of his productive life. There are
>still many people in the country that love the ex-president. Those people
>should come together with the current Opposition and give the elder
>statesman a hero’s welcome.
>
>These bandits currently running our country have nothing over Jawara.
>According to the White Paper that was supposed to impose a ban on Jawara’s
>political activities, the only corruption this government is accusing
>Jawara
>of, is the transfer of Jawara’s life savings from the then Meridien Bank
>after the president left the country. Nothing was said about crude oil or
>other corrupt activities these bandits were talking about in order to
>justify hijacking our country.
>
>The Opposition on the ground should set up a tight security apparatus for
>the former president. The international community should be lobbied to hold
>Yaya responsible for the safety and welfare of Jawara if he decides to
>return to the country. If anything happens to him, Yaya should pay with his
>own life. I am confident that nothing will happen to Jawara, just like
>nothing happened to other Decree 89 politicians. The cowards now know that
>they will be held accountable for their actions. It has began to dawn on
>them that this party is over. Pretty soon, they will be hoist in courts to
>account for their crimes. They know that.
>
>I respectfully counsel the current Opposition leaders to engage OJ and
>other
>PPP members in the country and encourage them to convince Jawara to come
>back home and return to political life. The Opposition can work with the
>PPP
>militants and the diplomats in the country to ensure Jawara’s safety. Once
>he is in the country, the Opposition should provide him with a stellar
>security detail and encourage him to tour the country and campaign for the
>presidential candidate the current Opposition is going to field in the
>coming election. Who best to defend the PPP record and discredit these APRC
>bandits than Jawara himself? Jawara owe it to the Gambian people to explain
>how well his government was doing before these bandits stepped in to render
>the country backward and end up making the Gambian people poorer than they
>were seven years ago. Jawara should explain what he would have done if he
>was the president the last seven years with millions of dollars of debt and
>aid money coming into the country. In short, Jawara should tackle APRC if
>they want to run on the PPP record, while the current Opposition focus on
>their plan for the country and Yaya’s mishandling of the country the past
>seven years.
>
>History will treat Jawara kindly if he returns to the country and
>selflessly
>helps to get rid of Yaya. But his return should be premised on an adequate
>security apparatus to be put in place by an Opposition Alliance. The
>current
>Opposition should field a presidential candidate as soon as possible and
>ask
>for the support of the Decree 89 politicians. One of the promises the next
>president might want to give the Decree 89 politicians is that the age
>limit
>for presidential candidates will be eradicated. With the imposition of term
>limits, we do NOT need this upper age limit. That is one concession that
>might be attractive to the Decree 89 politicians that Yaya CANNOT give
>them.
>There are many more which I trust our leaders on the ground will negotiate
>on as soon as possible in their quest to form an Opposition Alliance
>between
>Decree 89 politicians and the current Opposition.
>
>Finally, I hope the current Opposition sees Jawara’s impending return as a
>positive thing for the Opposition. Let the man come and defend his record
>and vindicate himself. The current Opposition should give him all the
>support he needs in order to help the next presidential candidate defeat
>Yaya.
>KB
>
>
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