Ousman ceesay, i'm sorry if my words have offended you in anyway. I was not
saying that you were a wimp or a coward. You were a great ARO!
Cheers
Lamin Manneh


>From: Ousman Ceesay <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Attn: Mr. Lamin Manneh PF
>Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2000 15:47:44 EDT
>
>In a message dated 7/13/00 9:48:38 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
>[log in to unmask] writes:
>
> > Mr. Ceesay, i cannot understand why you should allow a station commander
>to
> >  usurp your duty even after the intervention of the PIEC commissioner,
>Ms
> >  Baldeh. I had a big fight with Jai Sowe, station officer in Sibanor and
>the
> >  chief of Foni Bintang Karangnai on how to transport ballot boxes to
>Brikama
> >  during referendum but i completely refused their plans even after the
> >  intervention of the Returning Officer. Finally they subdued and i drove
> >  behind the Corporative truck(transporting ballot boxes and election
>duty
> >  officials) up to the counting center. I really appreciate your
>resistance
> >  but you should not yield.
>
>You misunderstood me when I said the officer commanding asked me to vacate
>the premises. I never said anybody interfere with the transportation of the
>ballot boxes.
>what I said was ... after delivering all the ballot boxes from the various
>polling stations
>to the commissioner's office [who  at the time is a military
>officer...capt.jassey] my
>colleagues and I were asked to leave the premises. Therefore my contention
>is
>...
>I couldn't account for the discrepancies that we later encounter during the
>vote
>counting process.
>I am not disputing that new security measures were put in place during the
>subsequent presidential election. All I am saying is that if what happened
>on
>referendum day in Mansakonko [forcing AROs to leave the counting premises]
>for several hours  ..only to allow them in at the start of counting..should
>be repeated
>in the presidential elections..then there is room for fraud.
>I was never a wimp..anybody who worked for the P.I.E.C  in mansakonko will
>bear witness to that. I stood against modou soma jobe and his group of
>July
>22
>thugs in LRD. Like I mentioned in my previous piece I did resist the OCR's
>command
>that I should leave the premises. But you gotta to understand that the PIEC
>has
>no jurisdiction whatsoever on the property of the commissioner of western
>division.
>We shouldn't be there in the first place.
>I know this is a sensitive issue for the both of us, but the fact remains
>that the
>PIEC has more resources to be independent during the referendum when the
>European money was flowing at its peak into our operations.But despite this
>we
>depend on the govt.for most of our transport needs.This dependence on the
>regime
>compounded the issue at hand [their ability to use this dependence to rig]
>With regard to the general elections, I made it clear that I was not in the
>country
>at the time. I have no knowledge of the operations of the PIEC. during that
>period.
>Lamin ..all I was trying to say is that if events that transpired in
>mansakonko on that fateful day should lurk their head into the process
>during
>the presidential election
>then there is room for fraud. Anybody can call me a wimp for not fighting
>the
>officer commanding mansakonko.But Iam happy that I live to tell the story.
>  Regards,
>ousman
>
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