Taking issue with the Independent
Gambia-L, lest I be found loquacious over an already-discussed issue, permit
me if you will, to take issue, once again, with the Independent over its
most recent editorial, "Disappointing rejoinders," which was a response to
two commentaries Ebrima Ceesay and I wrote on a previous editorial by the
paper.
In all honesty, it had never dawned on me that my criticisms would produce
words of gut reaction from the the Independent. Evidence is, the editors
reacted more viscerally rather than rationally. That's stunning. Why?
Because it shows that the Independent is deficient in its editorial
relationship with its readership. Just like in business parlance, the
customer is always right, equally, the newspaper reader is always right
never mind his/her wrong opinions. Respect for readers' viewpoints and
sensibilities however wrong or senseless they are, is one way of measuring a
newspaper's professionalism and credibility.
Editors must know what to react to and what not to. And they must do this
ethically without being emotional or myopic. Take the current Independent
editorial;it is more reactive than assertive to the criticisms Ebrima and I
levelled against them. Responsible newspapers with more pertinent issues to
handle, would have simply read our commentaries, make sense out of them,
disagree with some issues, trust that other readers were on their side, and
then move on to other pressing subjects. It is a mark of professionalism for
a newspaper or its writers to maintain a studied silence on readers'
comments, learn from them and do away with what is not tenable or realistic.
It is unhealthy and grossly disrespectful for a newspaper to lambast its
readership.
Which is what the Independent did in its current editorial. In fact to call
it an editorial is a misnomer;it is not. It is a jumble of falsities,
half-truths, bickering and dithering, pieced together and shamelessly called
an "editorial." To use that as the Independent message to the world is yet
another proof of the less-than-impressive editorials emanating from the
editor's chair at the Independent. They are shorn of objectivity and
adroitness.
The Independent says our rejoinders "were written and posted in very bad
faith. They samck of extreme irrationality and a desire to destroy our
credibility." That's false. Our criticisms were meant to steer the
Independent from its editorial mediocrity and muddle-headedness onto the
path of level-headedness. They must do the job and do it right. And one sure
way of helping them attain this feat is by tapping into the feedbacks from
their readers including Ebrima and I. At the moment, we are distant avid
readers of the Independent. We will lend our moral support as former
colleagues, but we shall also register our criticisms as loyal readers. The
Independent must understand this dichotomy.
But the Independent tells us in very emotive terms to go back to the Gambia
and "fight their own battle on the ground...or delegate someone to establish
papers for them ... to which they could be sending their truthful,
hard-hitting and uncompromising editorials, rather than sit out their on
their ivory towers casting aspersions on others suffering hell on the
ground." And this is an editorial? What fatuous nonesense!
I don't need to go back to The Gambia and fight my own battle. I already did
while I was there. My record speaks for itself both in the national and
international press. And so it is with Ebrima. And I don't need to delegate
anybody to establish a newspaper on my behalf; I have the Independent and
others through which to communicate with the Gambian people. Consider this
Guest Editorial I emailed to the Independent just before the National
Assembly debate on the crude oil scandal:
"Hold the president accountable"
"The politics of join-the-side-you-are-on is a malady afflicting many an
African parliament. Oftentimes, and with grave consequences, ruling parties
in Africa use their numerical strenght to thwart good legislative
undertakings by a wafer-thin opposition in parliament. This political
malaise will hold captive our National Assembly unless its ruling party MPs
muster the courage and conscience to fathom the essence of a parliamentary
investigation into the crude oil scandal.
"Hold President Jammeh accountable they should. Blind loyalty and smugly
parochialism aside, both ruling and opposition parliamentarians should heed
the national collective for a thorough soul-searching on the circumstances
surrounding the crude oil saga. Too much government propaganda and
rumour-mongering have been peddled much to the obfuscation of issues. We
have yet to get to the heart of the matter. And the government is not
helping in attaining this feat.
"When the crude oil deal between Jammeh and the late Nigerian dictator Sani
Abacha was first publicized, friends close to the president denied there
ever existed such a deal. The president's response up till now, has been
part dodgy, part ambiguous, part misleading. What does he know about the
deal and when did he know it? Did Abacha tell him to lift thousands of
barrels of oil for his own personal enrichment? Or was the wealth accrued
meant for The Gambia? How much money out of this transaction went into
secret bank accounts?
"These and some more relevant questions should preoccupy the minds of the
MPs as they look at the specifics of the crude oil deal. Since the president
is not willing or able to set the record straight, the only recourse is for
a parliamentary investigation to ascertain the facts for public
acknowledgement.
"Good governance is grounded in the accountability of leaders. Gravely
though, accountability and transparency, the by-words of the then Army
lieutenant Jammeh are now all but whittled to nothingness. That's cause for
concern. All the more reason why our MPs should acknowledge the significance
of Minority Leader Kemesseng Jammeh's proposal and let passage of the vote
for a probe into Jammeh's surreptitious transaction with Abacha. Even if
nothing dubious came out of it, at least the investigation would have been
in tandem with public accountability.
"That's the lesson for the the APRC representatives. They've nothing to fear
but God, and the people who voted them in office."
Up till now, I have received neither an acknowledgement of receipt of this
proposed editorial nor an editor's comment why my editorial wasn't
published. I was of the opinion that the crude oil debate in the Assembly
was of political and historical significance. And I reasoned that truth and
honesty lied with an investigation into the deal.
Unless I have missed it, I have not seen where the Independent stated its
stance on the debate in the Assembly. If it didn't, then it was a sabotage
of Gambian public opinion. The Gambia is awash with news nd events whose
complexities and relevance must be understood and carefully analysed for the
benefit of a well-informed citizenry. With controversial issues like the
crude oil deal bringing huge consequences for our polity, Gambian editors
and opinion writers must take principled positions, state their views
without pandering to government dithering or playing safe-safe with
neutrality.
The Independent should get this: I will defend them anytime they come under
attack from government, but they must also note that my criticisms know no
boundary. I don't care whether it is a rotten political system or a mediocre
editorial written by a newspaper called the Independent. I will register my
comments without the faintest of hesitation or fear or favouritism. They
don't have to like them. And I mind less.
Correction: The Independent states: "We are not interested in 'basking the
limelight' as Cherno Baba suggests we are." Wrong. I never said anything
like that. What I wrote was this: "The Independent is basking in the
limelight thanks, in part, to the frontal assaults...."
Cherno Baba Jallow
Detroit, MI
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