How pitiful. Is this your special assignment to save your skin from the
wrath of BIG SAITAN YAYA? What a bunch of BULL!
No matter how you try to tenderize this meat, it's rotten, rotten and
rotten. You can't cook it any better. Food for maggots and you are their
boss. Just eat the rot and don't try to pass it on please. We know better.

Babou

>From: Jungle Sunrise <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Of goats and politics - part 3.
>Date: Sat, 11 Aug 2001 17:34:59 +0000
>
>The AFPRC having dissected and scrutinized every facet of the PPP regime
>announced a series of development projects that almost nobody believed
>achievable. The most significant of all the projects at the time, as far as
>I was concerned, was their commitment to invest heavily in the public
>media.
>Within a few weeks radio Kombo began regular broadcasts in the Greater
>Banjul Area and was to soon begin broadcasting nationwide. This was later
>followed by a national TV service.
>
>They effectively used the public media to showcase the blatant corruption
>and misrule of the government they overthrew. They made sure that every
>Gambian knew about all the corrupt practices of the former government and
>how they’ve come to redeem us. They were actively aided in this by calls
>from the deposed regime for sanctions to be applied on the Gambia and
>threats by some members of the international community to cut off aid.
>
>When the USAID pulled out of the country and the infamous British travel
>advice brought our tourism industry crashing within 48 hours, most Gambians
>rallied behind the government as most thought that our ultimate survival as
>a nation was at stake. Some of those opposed to the AFPRC regime did not
>help either. False rumours were being circulated that the government was
>near bankrupt and that salaries will not be paid after six months. From
>then
>on it was very simple making the majority of Gambians to believe that all
>our woes were the work of former president Jawara and his corrupt officials
>in a bid to come back to power. This, most Gambians were not prepared to
>have.
>
>It seems that the former regime seriously underestimated the power of the
>media particularly the radio and television. If only they had developed
>this
>during the first republic and used it effectively for civic education or to
>explain to the Gambian people what plans they had for the country perhaps
>the coupe could have been averted. But no, they ruled us without having to
>fully explain anything to us. They imposed on us policies that drove us to
>near destitution without explaining the rational behind them. They imposed
>on us the 10% national development levy that nobody seems to know where all
>those monies went, imposed the ERP that brought so much hardship to the
>people without bothering to explain it to us, sold the GPMB, crucified our
>river transport etc, etc. (Like how some are obsessed with the human rights
>abuse of this regime, that is how passionately I feel about the demise of
>our river transport system).
>
>Throughout those trying times the government remained defiant and appealed
>to the people to remain calm and that God was on our side. Many began to
>express concern over the attitude of the regime especially Yahya Jammeh’s
>defiance of the international community. I was one of many who thought that
>he was very crude and that we deserved a more refined leader who could woo
>our development partners to come to our aid. However this view was soon to
>evaporate when during this period Jawara infuriated many when he is heard
>on
>the various radio stations insisting that his overthrow was illegitimate
>and
>that the international community should do something to restore his
>legitimate government back to power. Such calls for his restoration, when
>most Gambians believed that he had overstayed his welcome in State House
>significantly increased support for the AFPRC. Many of us who, earlier had
>reservations about the sincerity of the regime were soon to begin
>trumpeting
>their cause; especially when in answering a question posed by a Senegalese
>journalist as to whether he would be willing, as a compromise, to lead a
>three to six month transition government leading to elections that he would
>not contest, he (Jawara) was alleged to have insisted that the overthrow of
>his government was illegitimate, plain and simple. He is said to have
>insisted that the international community had a moral obligation to restore
>his legitimate government and that if it could be done in Haiti, why not in
>Gambia where a small band of army boys were imposing their will on the
>Gambian people. When I heard this, I said that’s it old Pa. I hope you
>don’t
>come back.
>
>As the weeks turned to months and there was no sign of outside intervention
>and the AFPRC continued to tell the people that despite the efforts of the
>enemies of the country to see them fail, they were going to deliver all
>that
>they promised the people including the restoration of the country to
>democratic civilian rule. In those days hardly a fortnight passes without
>the commissioning or initiation of a development project.  During those
>trying times Lt. Jammeh and his other council members waded through pools
>of
>water and in the rain to meet the people. Thus they identified themselves
>with the suffering of the people and continued to explain to the people
>that
>they were “soldiers with a difference” whose only motive for seizing power
>was to save our country from sinking and to develop it. In all the places
>they went they asked the communities to tell them their problems for they
>will not be able to help them solve their problems if they didn’t know
>them.
>In most of these communities requests were made for the provision of basic
>things like markets, water, telephones, roads, schools, ambulances,
>clinics,
>etc., etc. In most cases they would tell them that while not making them
>definite promises, they would surely look into your problems. During the
>two-year transition period they delivered almost all that they had promised
>the people. Communities throughout the country had markets, schools,
>university, car parks, clinics, roads, bridges, wells, watering holes,
>telephones, a national radio and television, new airport terminal,
>hospitals, energy, etc., etc. As development project after development
>project are successfully implemented throughout the country, these are
>elaborately covered by GRTS.
>
>Having elaborated, from my own perspective, how the previous government
>played its role in putting in place this government, how the international
>community and some members of the former regime (including ex-president
>Jawara) helped to rally most of the population behind the AFPRC and how the
>AFPRC effectively took every advantage that came its way by effectively
>using the public media, I will next elaborate on the role played by the
>opposition, particularly the UDP, in consolidating the AFPRC/APRC rule.
>
>Have a good day, Gassa.
>
>
>_________________________________________________________________
>Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L
>Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
>You may also send subscription requests to
>[log in to unmask]
>if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your
>full name and e-mail address.
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------


_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L
Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask]
if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------