Jobe, I will try and respond to some of your points. First of all, I counsel
you to always try and digest what I say before you react to it. I do not
mean this to be seen in a bad light. I myself spend a lot of time thinking
about every word I write to G_L and elsewhere. It irritates me, when people
misquote me.

If you understand the first quotation you cited from me, you will realize
that I did not say that I do not take you seriously (generally). I said that
I do not take you seriously "when you say "minds of the people need opening
up to enable them see that this government does not deserve to be re-elected
come the October and January elections respectively". I hope you see my
point. It is in this particular instance that I would not take you
seriously. I stated the reason why in my earlier posting. I think it is
arrogant to assume that people's minds need to be changed by you or others
that say that people's minds need to be changed. Then I went on to say that
the teachers ('mind-openers') have to make sure that they have what it would
take to move people forward. Preach to people you are more knowledgeable
than. I do not mean Western education when I talk about knowledge in this
context. I am reminded of the adage that it is the occupant of the bed that
knows the nature of the bug bites.

It is incomprehensible to me how you twisted this simple point I was making
to insinuate that I do not take uneducated people seriously. If anybody, you
are the one who is assuming that uneducated folks are wrong and their minds
need opening up. If you follow what I write on G_L, you will realize that
one of the things I hate most, is patronizing people. I never assume that I
know more than people; even in my field of work. I try to put my points
across. I try to listen to what people bring to the table. I do not just
look at outward appearances and certain credentials and make assumptions. To
me, the Phd is not always right and needs to open the minds of our villagers
toiling in the sun at their farms back home. When it comes to certain
issues, that farmer can school the Phd. I pay more attention to what people
say and do and less attention to their credentials or educational
background. Yaya and his cohorts are a good illustration of why we should
not judge the book by its cover. Ten year old kids can make better judgments
than some of these mental midgets.

Going back to the by-elections, you are again downplaying the 35 vote
majority UDP had in the previous election. As I said yesterday, what is
relevant here, is what transpired in the interim; from the previous election
to date. What happened to convince the people of Kiang that instead of
building on the 35 vote majority, they should give APRC an 800 vote
majority? You see my point? The majority did not just disappear because it
was lower than the majority in Baddibu. The connection you are trying to
make does not make sense to me.

No one was obsessing on the vote-buying spree. Or do you not want us to even
talk about it? Again the point we are trying to make, is that if the votes
were not bought, we will not have the results we had. To this day, you have
not debunked that crucial point, even though you called the argument absurd.
We said, the votes that were not cast could have evaporated the APRC
victory. You came back with your 15% argument and we showed you how
illogical it was for APRC to buy the votes of their supporters in order to
disenfranchise their supporters. You did not respond to that point, but
started raising other issues. As I said, let's discuss anything you want.
But please, if you are not clear about something I wrote, ask for
clarification like I did yesterday when I did not understand some of what
you wrote.

You said that the UDP loss cannot just be attributable to vote-buying. Tell
us why you think they lost. It is of little help to people if you raise
questions and do not provide answers. And please do not tell us again that
the 1000 or so people that did not vote are dead or migrated to other
districts and did not want to come back and vote. I see you have somewhat
abandoned that your earlier premise and now openly agree that votes were
bought. Again tell us about the ISSUES that APRC won this election on. I am
yearning to discuss ISSUES with APRC supporters.
KB



>From: Kebba Jobe <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: The By-elections(LpfManneh)
>Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2001 12:29:16 -0000
>
>Mr Dampha,
>
>You wrote "You see, this is why I cannot take you and others seriously when
>you say "minds of the people need opening up to enable them see that this
>government does not deserve to be re-elected come the October and January
>elections respectively". This is one of the most conceited statements one
>can make."
>
>Well, in my opinion if you cannot take the likes of me who are supposed to
>be atleast educated and can communicate with you daily "seriously" thanks
>to
>a medium such as G-L, then I don't see how you expect to communicate with
>the over 85% of the Gambian populace who haven't got that opportunity. My
>opinions may differ from yours and some others on the list, but I can
>assure
>you that I also want the best for this country.
>
>You also wrote " You can be forceful with your opinions without saying that
>everyone else is stupid because he or she does not understand what you are
>saying. Granted, some of our folks need enlightenment. But the
>self-appointed teachers have to be well equipped and they also have to make
>sure that they know more than the people they are preaching to."
>
>I have never suggested that anybody who does not understand what I say is
>stupid and if that is what my posting suggests, then I am sorry.
>
>You again wrote "I also hope that when you said that UDP "should have made
>their own effort to alleviate this problem", you did not mean to tell me
>that you are recommending UDP buy the groundnuts from the farmers. If that
>is what you mean, then you evince a deep lack of understanding of the
>groundnut buying industry. Morons like Yaya can use that garbage, but
>seemingly educated and enlightened Gambians like yourself, should know
>better. Do you seriously think the Opposition can guarantee the purchase of
>goods in an industry as controlled (by the government) as the groundnut
>industry? Where were you when the government was setting the price for
>groundnuts?".
>
>No, I did not mean the UDP should buy groundnuts from farmers and I don't
>believe in the government setting prices that cannot be honoured. What I
>meant was for the UDP to try to establish a foundation that can have some
>impact on the lives of the ordinary people no matter how small. This could
>perhaps be also establish links with organizations and individuals who are
>sympathetic to their course and get them to sponsore projects directly. A
>few weeks before the by-elections, Kemeseng managed to secure, I believe 5
>milling machines which he distributed not only in his constituency, but in
>a
>neighbouring constituency as well.
>
>On most of the other issues, I concur and thanks for bringing to attention
>that it was Dr. Jaiteh who cautioned about a possible UDP defeat in Badibu.
>My point was simply that if the possibility of a UDP defeat could be
>comtemplated in Central Badibu were the UDP margin of victory was very
>substantial, can we readily dismiss the plausibility of the APRC
>overturning
>measely 35 vote majority?
>
>Finally, I have NEVER SUGGESTED IN ANY OF MY CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE CURRENT
>DEBATE THAT NO VOTE BUYING TOOK PLACE. All attempted to do was to cautioned
>people from being very obssessed with vote buying as if that was all to the
>result. In my oppinion the UDP DEFEAT CANNOT JUST BE NARROWED DOWN TO VOTE
>BUYING. My sincere appology to Dr. Jaiteh.
>
>Bye 4Now, KB Jobe.
>
>
>     ==========================================================
>"There is a time in the life of every problem when it is big enough to see,
>yet small enough to solve"
>
>                  (MIKE LEAVITT)
>     ===========================================================
>
>
>
>_________________________________________________________________________
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>
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