Laye,

I know nothing about the listserve being shut down, and if I misread your
statement as meaning that you are organizing the effort, then I render my
apologies.

Regarding your allegation that I am trying to set up a rival "compin", I
think my response explained my position very clearly and the reason I decided to
appeal to people to come forward. Please read it again.

My position still stands that I do not want to be part of any effort that
excludes Gambians from this process for any reason,  and that whoever is
spearheading or is part of a group that has our interest at heart in regards to this
process; should open it up to all Gambians because that is the way it ought to
be. If on the other hand the group is limiting who should be allowed to join,
then that is their perogative and  those who hold a different view do not have
to be limited by this decision nor do our efforts have to be based on their
decisions either.The important thing here is to accomplish the end result, not
let it get derailed.

As for my mention of a non-Gambian who made the proposal to exclude Gambians,
I do not know Cynthia Daniels, and have no problems with her or anyone else
so long as their proposals  towards this effort does not undermine the very
purpose for which it stands. I think her suggestion to set up a criteria for
including Gambians is not only inappropriate, but that it is very significant
indeed in that she is a non-Gambian who is advocating the exclusion of Gambians
from participation in an exercise that is meant to serve as the initial steps
for participatory democracy in our country.

Also, that anyone who proposes to be a friend of Gambia and whose involvement
I am assuming is a sign of their resolve to help us determine our own destiny
should then propose the exclusion of Gambians from the process for any
reason, and to also make a statement that all over the World those who control the
money are the ones who make the decisions is not insignificant,  and is
clearly not the kind of philisophy that is helpful to us.  But what is even
more significant is that Gambians agreed with this proposal. With that
philosophy, we might as well be working to set up another hierachical dictatorship.

Again, if anyone has a proposal that is inclusive, I urge them to come
forward and invite all interested parties to participate in the process because that
si the only important thing here, nothing else. It is not a situation where
everything has to be on hold while the decision is made for us as to whether we
can participate in the process or not.
Finally, I have no time to waste on personal agendas. I leave that to those
who "cannot see teh forest for the trees". It will be wonderful when all of
realize that there is work to be done and no energy should be spent on irrelevant
things.

Jabou Joh

In a message dated 8/17/03 10:06:51 AM Central Daylight Time, [log in to unmask]
writes:
>
> <<You have said you are organizing the effort, but I think that should have
> included extending an open invitation to Gambians who are interested, or at
> least giving an update of any efforts under way to include everyone in thsi
> effort, especially when people have taken the time to send enquiries ot
> this list.>>
>
>
> Sis Jabou:
>
> Your statement above is grossly misrepresentative of my role as a member of
> the SGFA list serve. I wish to clarify my role to you and all readers.
>
> When the original SGFA list serve, that was hosted on Gambiapost by George
> Sarr, was abruptly shut down without expalantion to subscribers (not one
> that I know of), I stepped forward and offered an alternative home for the
> list serve. All this just so the discussions can go on while other matters
> of custodianship are being sorted out among those responsible. I also
> beleived at the time that there were many pending inquries about the fund
> that needed to be answered and with the discussions on the way, some of the
> modalities can be worked out as quickly as possible. That's my only crime
> Sis. I think it is clearly a far stretch to say that I am 'organizing' the
> efforts.
>
> I also notice that you have conveniently ignored my main question about the
> wisdom in setting up an antagonizing 'compin' to suit your criteria of a
> coalition effort.
>
> I will say this again; like you, I was 'nominated' to be part of
> a 'committee' to discuss the way forward. I was also subscribed to the list
> serve that was set up to conduct discussions. Though I did not agree with
> the criteria for subscribing others to the list, I did not see any wisdom
> in being a renegade either.
>
> It scares me that you are making statements like : "....a non Gambian who
> is part of the group advocated that...." I honestly do not understand why
> the issue of Cynthia Daniels (the author of the quoted statement) being a
> non Gambian would weigh in so much on your decision to be or not to be part
> of the discussions. This from someone who is so boisterously advocating for
> an all-inclusive effort.
>
> Honestly, I am beginning to see that much of what is going on is more like
> personalilty conflicts than differences in principles. More often, we find
> it very easy to say "as a matter of principle....." when in fact we are
> actually trying to hide our weaknesses in dealing with people of diferring
> personalities. This explains the failure of many group efforts.
>
> When history is in the making, there are two choices to be made: you either
> step up and be a subject of the history in the making or you can just sit
> back and become a mere object.
>
> My last word on this.
>
> -BambaLaye
>
> "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
> -M.L King Jr.
>
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