Gambia-L:

As usual, the e-mail below came from a source in the heart of the Gambian
Government.

Ebrima Ceesay

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Hello Ebrima,

I thank you for the note you sent me the other day. It was really
great and motivating for that matter, to have received those encouraging
words from good Gambians and our friends in the International Community,
appreciating the positive Gambia-L is having in impacting public opinion in
the Gambia of today. I was already aware of that fact and in fact, did
mention it on the L some time ago, but it was nonetheless encouraging to
hear it from others. So I would now take the opportunity to reassure
Gambians that I'll continue to supply them with information on Government
activities without fear or favour. Ebrima, ordinary Gambians now rely on the
L to hear the other side to the Story. So we'll continue to provide Gambia-L
users with accurate information. We will continue to do just that until we
succeed in unseating Yahya Jammeh and his rogues from the Presidency.
Ebrima, let me now talk about today's message which will deal with the
country's energy sector. Ebrima, first of all, the Gambia lacks a coherent
policy in the energy sector, as is already the case in the Agriculture,
Education, Communication and indeed the entire economy. Anyway, in his 22nd
July speech, Yahya claimed that over 90% of the country will be provided
with electricity by the middle of next year. Well, Ebrima, this is just
another empty rhetoric from Yahya designed to placade the population and to
hoodwink us into thinking that the energy problems of the Gambia will be
solved before the next elections. I SAY TO YOU AND ALL THOSE WHO CARE TO
LISTEN THAT HE WILL NOT BE ABLE TO ADD AN ADDITIONAL 10 mega watts in the
next five years at the rate that Yahya continues to micromanage the energy
sector. Ebrima, Yahya Jammeh controls the entire process from the
diagnostic, identification, design and implementation of projects. As if the
electricity sub-sector doesn't have enough problems of its own without
constant meddling from Yahya and his cohorts, he has now added to the
confused state of the sub-sector by inviting a dubuios man, Sam Sarr, to
once again, participate in the Energy Sector investment programme. And this
is the same Sam Sarr who was involved in the Crude Oil saga. Ebrima, Sam Sar
is of course being rewarded because of the "favour" he extended to Yahya on
the Crude Oil Saga by his (Sarr's) retraction of his first statement he made
about the involvement of Yahya Jammeh in swindling the Gambian people of
millions of dollars in the Crude Oil Deal. Enough has been said about the
character of Sam Sarr; so I will not belabour the point in this message,
except to remind the Gambia-L readership that Sam Sarr is a certified crook
of the first order. He is a wanted person in many African and European
countries. Sam cannot travel to Gabon because he is wanted there. The same
Sam Sarr cannot go to the UK because of his criminality. In short, Sam's net
worth is no more than yours, Ebrima, yet this man continues to be encouraged
and entertained in The Gambia. Why? Of course, we all know that Yahya's
interest comes first, ahead of the nation's interest. Yahya has demonstrated
that on so many occasions to the extent that we have all come to expect that
he will only extend an invitation to you if there is something in there for
himself. By inviting Sam Sarr to participate in the energy sector as an
Independent Power Producer (IPP), Yahya is jeopardising our entire energy
sector investment programme. To illustrate my point, let us look at the
current players: apart from NAWEC, we have BIWATER (UK-based), BASAM (Ivory
Coast-based) and ESKOM (South African state-owned company). ESCOM is the
biggest power producers in Africa and ranks in the top percentile world
wide. Although still state owned, it is a highly competent, well-run and
well-managed company. In fact, ESCOM is slated for privatisation by the
South African Government shortly. Ebrima, ESKOM, in short, is a world-class
company with excellent reputation. At the last count, they have signed two
contracts with the Jammeh regime to supply us with electricity. But those
two contracts were soon to be abrogated at the last minute because of the
lack of transparency and commitment by Jammeh and his corrupt regime.
Ebrima, the ESCOM thing is a good opportunity for the Gambia, because with
them in charge, for sure, our electricity problems would be solved for once
and for all. Certainly, the Gambia cannot afford to frustrate ESKOM any
longer lest we miss the golden opportunity to resolve our electricity
problems. But Ebrima, I am afraid to say that Jammeh has started the process
of frustrating the efforts of ESKOM by instructing the Office of the
President to officially write to NAWEC to favourably consider the two
proposals of Sam Sarr, a criminal who has not even got a butut in his
pocket. This will undoubtedly be at the expense of ESKOM and perhaps
BIWATER. That is not all, Ebrima. The other donors who are actively involved
in the Energy Sector will also be driven away by involving Sam Sarr in this
extremely important sector. Sam does not have neither the expertise, despite
his brief involvement with GAMPOWER (another IPP in The Gambia), nor the
resources to invest in the sector. ESKOM, meanwhile, is watching the
situation and so are the donors. We risk the chance of having the entire
group of potential investors (both private and donors) withdraw from the
sector entirely if this nonsense is not stopped forthwith. JAMMEH YOU CANNOT
TURN AROUND THEN AND SAY YOU HAVE NOT BEEN WARNED. LEAVE THE LEGITIMATE
INVESTORS TO PARTICIPATE IN THE SECTOR WITHOUT INTERFERENCE. The stakes are
extremely high and it is the Gambian population that will end up paying for
your meddling which we all know as being driven by your personal and chronic
taste for money. I WILL GO ON RECORD TO SAY THAT IF JAMMEH PROCEEDS WITH HIS
PLAN TO "AWARD" SAM SARR WITH THE CONTRACTS FOR THE ELECTRIFICATION OF OUR
COUNTRY, THEN THAT WILL BE THE END OF THE INVOLVEMENT OF NOT ONLY ESCOM BUT
OTHER DONORS AS FAR AS THE ENERGY SECTOR IS CONCERNED. If Jammeh does not
believe me, I invite him to go ahead. You will wish you never did as was the
case with GGC. My advise to Jammeh is to let the system of awarding
contracts be open and competitive; and in this case, ESCOM is the best deal
for the Gambia, not a criminal of Sam Sarr's calibre. With the ESCOM deal,
The Gambia will benefit; its people will also benefit. Ebrima, finally, I
say bravo to you and the entire team at the Gambia-L.

________________________________________________________________________
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