Brother Abdoulie Jallow,

Many thanks for quickly responding to the enquiries I made. Judging from your earlier posting, which I find quite useful and inspiring, I should say that you and I are perhaps fellow travellers. That fact not withstanding, the very Gambian conditions that animate debate here may be  better treated when individuals advocating for change are understood as clearly as is possible. I felt that your declaration of neutrality need not necessarily refer to partisanship. 

In fact, your two responses clearly indicate the relevance of my requests (not challenges). Since you are politically non-partisan, one should assume that you would subscribe to a creed whose political objectives, in the main, are not to be found in known Gambian political parties. So one is justified in requesting that you suggest what could be done; and in as much as you maintain that changes can be brought about only by a collective - which I naturally agree with - it still remains a fact that we cannot, as a collective, produce an idea simultaneoulsy on a relevant course of action. Someone has to think, or at least say it first? But there is another important and highly relevant twist to this question of what can be done:

I am of the opinion that Gambians are, generally speaking,  not at home in the field of action. We say so much but we do little; and so the consequences of our activities are only that much effective. At a personal level, that narrows down my choice of activity. Thus my enthusiam for ideas about what can be done from concerned citizens like yourself.
Once again, thank you for your time and I'm wishing you all the best.

Momodou S Sidibeh


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Abdoulie Jallow" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, November 27, 2002 8:26 PM
Subject: Re: What Can be done to revive our dear country?/ Mr. Momodou Sidibe


> Mr. Sidibe,
> 
> I don't think it takes a genius to understand what I meant when I declare
> myself as "neutral" when it comes to Gambian politics. Nevertheless, I will
> give you a scope into it. By saying that I am politically neutral in terms
> of gambian politics, I mean that I do not lean on any political party in
> The Gambia. As far as I am concern, politicians in The Gambia with the
> exception of a few, are not guided by a desire to move the country forward.
> Recent occurrences in The Gambia can prove me right. If you have people
> quitting their parties to join the other side that they've spent the
> majority of their lives lambasting against can be quite disturbing.
> 
> Reading through some of
>  the postings on this list, one can easily identify
> what political party some of the contributors lean on. There is no problem
> with leaning towards one political movement as opposed to another, but
> there is something wrong when one applies double standards as a means to
> judge a party or a leader. That is one of the reason why my interest in
> Gambian politics died out over the past years. A very dangerous perception
> exist in Gambian and african politics as a whole, that loyalty to a
> poltical movement means standing by all their policies even if your gut-
> feeling tell you that it is wrong. That can be dangerous and we all need to
> watch out against for it.
> 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> 
> To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
> at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
> To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
> [log in to unmask]
> 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~