Well folks this is a message from Kukoi Samba Sanyang.

Enjoy :)



Ebou Jallow







AFRICAN DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS

(FREEDOM AND JUSTICE)

ROUND THE PEOPLE ROUND THE COUNTRY

BANJUL THE GAMBIA

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BIG THEFT, PROFESSIONAL THEFT, EMBEZZLEMENT OF PUBLIC FUNDS, PETTY CORRUPTION IS GAMBIA'S HIDDEN SCOURGE.



A sink of Corruption



The painful ordeal of hard labor in the Gambia to feed ones impoverished family to save their lives ends each day without a butut , poor Gambians witness the daily ritual of extortion of monies by the corrupt and criminal class of thieves from those who even think all day and night long how to feed ones family, how to survive and to save one's job or be given the following day a chance to see the doctor for his or her sick child. This is seeing the ghost of oneself by living from hand to mouth i.e. (Kissing death).

If you want to maintain your job, be employed or obtain treatment for your sick child the following day you have to accept to give bribes or succumb to the dicta of professional thieves or corrupt sensible criminal administrators.

The practice is common throughout the Gambia. In some cases one is told to make quick to give the bribe money because office is about to be closed and the boss man or woman wants his or her share before living the office.

The slaying of the slain

The grand theft of neo-colonial rulers in Africa may be more infamous but the bitter experience of daily petty corruption in the Gambia, less apparent but no less invidious, is an everyday trial for thousands of poor Gambians.

Increasingly, it is being recognized as a major obstacle to Gambia's economic development, robbing the impoverished of already measly incomes and corroding the public services they desperately need.

It is a stomach-churning chronicle of theft, bribery, corruption, brutality, casual violence and intrigue as well as endless nose jobs.

The bribes vary from place to place and in the services affected, but stretch from cradle to grave. In the Gambia people pay to give birth, and to collect their loved one's bodies from mortuaries and for everything in between: garbage collection, clean water, medicines, admission to public schools.







Even our policemen and women with no ethics and morals double as shakedown artists.

Imprisoned Abdulai Kujabi (Former NIA Director) and Hon. Baba Jobe (Former ruling Party majority leader in Parliament) [praecognita] are witness from Jammeh's inner sanctum, and the devil is in the details.

Regressive tax:

(To get blood from a stone)

Such petty bribery acts as a hidden regressive tax, where the poor people are asked to pay 17 or 20 per cent of their incomes in bribes for medical care, while the middle class pay only 2 to 3 per cent.

The poor not only are paying much of their incomes to get the same medical services as the middle and richer classes, but they are also discouraged from seeking basic medical care because they can't afford it and sometimes the results are bitter, awful and fatal.

When low-level officials pick the pockets of the poor, it is also often a reliable indication of greater corruption higher up the bureaucratic and political hierachy.In the Gambia it is common practice that people pay bribes to senior bureaucrats or elected officials to get good jobs, to get a passport which is a national birth right for all citizens and pay to obtain a driving license which is the cause of many accidents because the license holder doesn't know how to drive and fears to face the test by a testing officer who will fail him during the test say investigators civic leaders and senior civil servants.

The health professionals then exact payments from subordinates and patients, emulating their bosses. Most of the district and divisional health officers, and also teachers, customs officers, policemen and women office workers have to pay bribes to get promotions and postings and they in turn collect bribes from their staff and patients, clients, parents of school children, business men and women.

The Uncertainty of Gambia's future



A leap in the Dark

The sad thing which threatens the future of our education system and future leaders, scientists etc, etc is the practice where parents have to bribe teachers, examiners, invigilators and those charged to make the correction of examination papers. How can we strengthen our education system and preserve our intellectual level when bribes produce passes in examinations and certificates.

The offices of those in power are often used for unfair gains. Some local authorities grant "tax breaks" imaginary levy and unwarranted privileges to businesses of their choices, to benefit certain civil servants or a given class.

There is the problem of ghost workers whose salaries are been collected by the top brass of all offices. Those whose deaths are not announced their salaries run into the pockets of criminal paymasters in collaboration with the head of the service or department where the deceased worked.

The over staffing levels of law enforcement bodies in the cities, business centers like Banjul Ports,Yundum International Airport, Banjul Barra ferry crossing points, and Farafenni -Soma ferry crossing point not forgetting all Hotels for Tourists and our markets are constantly growing, sometimes to the detriment of their professionalism because they frequently interfere in economic life.

Due to accepting bribes organized crime, drug trafficking, theft and rape are becoming very serious sources of finance for the sensible criminals.



Dirty War.

His Excellency President Yaya Jammeh set up a commission of enquiry to investigate on all cases of corruption in high offices and throughout the entire super- structure of his government declaring the dirty war.

Very sad for this commission of enquiry will only give ex-parte evidence on the cases of those within the system. He authoritatively with arrogance forced all Gambians to face the commission of enquiry for interrogation and declaration of all assets owned. This is just a compact summary on the corrosiveness of absolute power.

This commission of enquiry which is set up to protect those within the Jammeh system and punish the innocent honest and hard working Gambians is a fully dressed plan.

Unknowingly it will put innocent people in a funny position and arbitrarily imposes guilt on them. It is like the case with a dumb man who made a good deal in the market buying a very good and fat sheep just only for 150 Dalasis.

This is how the deal took place and was concluded between the sheep seller and the dumb man. The lucky dumb man was passing by the animal market when he saw a crowd of men seriously bargaining over the price of a sheep with the seller.

The dumb man approached the crowd and saw a man holding a fat sheep he is trying to sell, and then speaking in signs with his fingers he asked for the price of the sheep and to be told in finger signs that it costs only 150 Dalasis.

The dumb man agreed to buy the sheep by nodding his head and paid the money.

Holding the sheep in his hand on his way home happily for making a good deal people he met on the way asked him in making signs with their fingers how much he paid for the fat sheep.

As a dumb man he has to reply in making signs with his fingers to give the price of the sheep, and then trapped in his handicapped situation and unaware of the trap he released the sheep which ran away with full speed for safety as he was trying to explain in signs with his fingers to the people the price of the sheep. Because he is handicapped an unable to speak he lost his sheep he genuinely paid with his lawfully gained money.

Similar to this dubious and trickish commission of enquiry innocent people will be lured to error ending up loosing everything and be found behind prison bars.

One can ask the question whether the commission of enquiry is a tool for Jammeh making political abortion to set up something like a civil harmony law or a hypocrite attempt for national reconciliation.

Does the President aim to emulate democratic countries fighting corruption and theft? How democratic and clean is he to set up a commission he hand picked without Parliament wetting that represents the Gambian masses? Gambians need a Commission of enquiry that will hold up the mirror.

The commission of enquiry is a declaration of war against opponents and not a declaration of principles about the causes of theft and corruption and the strategy to combat this social epidemic that have plunged the Gambia into economic backwardness and decay of government institutions.

Can this commission of a witch-hunt nature and with a mission to silence former associates like Abdulai Kujabi and Baba Jobe and eliminate enemies play a positive role to fight corruption and theft? After this concert of so-called commissioners investigating theft and corruption scandals what will their agenda at the end of their investigation define, is it a fake exercise to divert the attention of the public to turn the page of Jammeh's sponsored criminality intelligently to spare the big thieves (The weathercocks)and corrupt sensible criminals from investigation and persecution?



We are not going to dwell on the history of theft and corruption in the Gambia, but we think that one has to make a retrospective analysis of corruption and theft that took place in the days of yore since Jawara's era. When the neo-colonial regimes of Sir Dawuda Kairaba Jawara and the Military Junta of Yaya Jammeh created class differences some living in luxury owing unlimited powers and others in abject poverty and misery, Gambians fell prey to a cycle of political and economic corruption, theft and immoral acts like bribery and theft having the fate of Gambians sealed up.

All the stealing of public funds and institutionalizing corruption was the making of the two neo-colonial regimes (PPP and APRC) and here Gambians are locked in this cycle of evil practice. The criminal failure of Jammeh's military Junta with its so-called revolution is the results of a lack of political will and an administrative justice system on the part of their power that is to identify the perpetrators and courageously bring them to justice. This is like living in a fool's paradise.



The government's Hidden Agenda

In trying to reconcile with the oppressed Gambian masses and for electoral purpose the Junta regime in trying to square the circle is beating the shadow of the real thieves and corrupt sensible criminals not the real criminals themselves but at the same time the regime is unjustly arresting innocent people seizing their properties and imprisoning others ( taking the shadow for the substance) allowing the big thieves and corrupt elements to go free and continue their corrupt practices but they are also called to do everything possible at any cost to maintain the criminal regime in power by any fraudulent means and practices. All what these sensible criminals are doing there is the devil to pay. President Jammeh's Commission of enquiry is not worth its salt.

The truth with this commission of enquiry is that it precludes Gambians from discovering the truth about the magnitude and effect of this immoral disease and other atrocities. It does not raise the prospect of a truth commission to investigate and hold accountable the perpetrators. It offers more safety in defending Jammeh loyal associates' quislings and traitors but much more hiding the true faces of the real big thieves and sensible criminals.

The constitution of the hand picked commission of enquiry suggests nothing that the government and its notorious security service de facto impunity will be questioned. Also there is a manifest disinclination to name the real perpetrators since they are loyal elements to His Excellency the President.

This commission of enquiry denies Gambians the right to know all the truth on the rapid decline of their economy and how the regime is sending the Gambia to the dogs. The fact is that the Junta military regime has abused existing laws in its refusal to go the right way democratically and by the law to cleanse the society of evil practice and vice.

The tenor of this dirty war makes it crystal clear that this will be a standard practice in The Gambia they are promoting.

To silence critics and democrats crying foul the military Junta criminally butchers Gambian patriots with impunity and a systematic torture of freedom fighters is carried out, while the notorious criminal dogs of torture and murder engage in reprisals and summary executions of civilians. This criminal activity has destroyed the fabric of Gambian society.

Now let it be said for Jammeh empowers himself with self-defense laws to seek out a safe exit in the name of democracy and all other victims of what he refers to as the national tragedy must face the law.Jammeh's secret wish is to make a show of democracy and to seek recognition by the Western world as a democrat aiming to obtain aide and credit facilities and to win votes in the next general election in 2006.This is his ambition and his hypocrite initiative is just a grand publicity stunt.

ADC do not substitute for the rights of Gambians to know the truth and to see that justice is done to do away with Jammeh's flimsy execuses.These rights cannot be dismissed by Jammeh so lightly even by his use of violence and intimidation. To end this crisis, a neutral commission of enquiry not hand picked by the President with Parliament wetting is indispensable.



And the best way for President Yaya Jammeh to rightly and democratically win the hearts and minds of Gambians is to tell them the truth nothing but the whole truth, giving a full account of all murders, assassinations, destruction of life and property and the disappearances, of Gambian citizens, theft and the evil practice or corruption and bribery then resign and bring back all stolen Gambian money and properties and with honor and dignity accept to stand trial to prove his innocence.

To successfully fight corruption, theft and bribes Gambians need to be under the leadership of a reform-minded government that will uphold to the rule of law and respect for human rights and administrative justice.

We want to make it very clear that as freedom fighters that our love for our dear country is far greater than our hatred of Jammeh's regime. As responsible patriots with a mission we taught ourselves to go forward because looking back is a waste of time, we will lose the future (The wish being father to thought).



Lessons to learn and many questions answered.

Thief-man catches thief-man

Once upon a time there lived in the Serrer Niominka kingdom of Megemege in the Town of chialokunda a very bad, cruel, oppressive and exploitative king (Butut wise and Dalasis foolish) who was a very greedy Serrer Niominka king who loves feasts, corruption and stealing becoming rich, fat eating of haram and cruel whilst his poor subjects are living in abject poverty, misery having nothing to eat living from hand to mouth. The whole people of that kingdom are all skinny due to the hunger and misery.

In order to prevent and frighten people not to steal giving himself a free hand to loot and rob his kingdom he set up a kangaroo commission of enquiry to investigate on all framed cases of theft, corruption and bribes. This is just to mislead the popular masses and play with their intelligence.

The poor people of the Serrer Niominka kingdom were struggling very hard everyday to make ends meet for their survival and because of the hard conditions they were forced to do anything to keep their families alive even doing things or going against the royal crown and law.

One day the never satisfied greedy, cruel and thief-thief king His Royal Highness Sangomar Serere Niominka who is reputed for his stealing, corruption and cruelty decided to empty the coffers of the National Treasury leaving all the inhabitants of his kingdom at the mercy of daily deaths and endless burying of their dead from hunger,diseases,torture and imprisonment.

His Royal Highness Sangomar Serere Niominka without being observed and seen he succeeded to enter into the National Treasury building by the window at the first blush of Sunday morning to steal the money.

Just as His Royal Highness King Sangomar Serere Niominka finished emptying the coffers of the National Treasury carrying his big bag full of the stolen money on his back and was about to leave the building did he hear a noise of someone breaking the back door to enter inside.

Who was he it was old man Jola Apalom Jarjou who also have come to steal the half loaf of dry bread that the General Manager of the National Treasury left on his table to feed his dying family.

Not to be seen as he doesn't know who was coming in by breaking the back door His Royal Highness Sangomar Serere Niominka hide himself behind the coffers to see who is coming and make sure he is not seen or caught.

To the surprise of His Royal Highness he saw the poorest man in his kingdom old man Jola Apalom Jarjou who came to steal the dry half loaf of bread left on the general manager's table to make use of it to feed his family, but he was unaware that this was the evil hour for him.



The cruel greedy thief-thief serrer niominka king took a big stick and started beating the poor old man Jola Apalom Jarjou who only stole a half loaf of dry bread, shouting for public help( Kaiey len I catch a thief, I catch a sungngo) that he has caught the big thief who is troubling the whole town.

As thief-man catch thief-man His Royal Highness King Serere Sangomar Niominka did not throw away the bag full of money on his back he stole from the coffers of the National Treasury but continued beating poor Jola Apalom Jarjou and shouting for help.

The police and the public who came to give a hand to His Royal Highness gave a good bashing (beating) to Jola Apalom Jarjou and in the end he was dragged to the police station where he was charged for stealing. Stealing what? No mention of the stolen bread but people were pointing to the half loaf of bread in Jola Apalom Jarjou's hand but not to the bag full of stolen money on the king's back.Jola Apalom Jarjou was put behind bars awaiting trial for his crime of stealing a half loaf of dry bread.

Poor Jola Apalom Jarjou remained behind bars for one week only to be arranged in front of a specially arranged kangaroo tribunal with lawyers, judges and prosecutors hand picked by His Royal Highness King Sangomar Serere Niominka who according to him is determined to stamp out corruption, theft and bribe in his kingdom by severely punishing Jola Apalom Jarjou to give a signal and warning to other thieves in his kingdom.

During the court proceedings to try Jola Apalom Jarjou for his crime of stealing half loaf of dry bread His Royal Highness himself was present in court to show to his subjects that he is very serious in the fight against the crime of stealing, corruption and bribes when the verdict was given.

As the sentence was passed for poor Jola Apalom Jarjou to be jailed in prison for three years six months, His Royal Highness stood in front of the poor man making comic remarks that he is very determined to end crime in his kingdom and make it clean and safe from thieves.

The cruel greedy king Sangomar Serere Niominka made a big show case all over his kingdom that he was the one who caught the biggest thief and that now the whole kingdom can sleep in peace without the fear of thieves. Hiding behind his hand picked commissioners in the commission of enquiry he was trying all he can to hide his crimes and those of his acolytes.

Escaping arrest for stealing money from the National Treasury his Royal Highness quickly passed a royal decree dissolving the commission of enquiry he set up on the grounds that as long as the big thief who gave hard times to the people of his kingdom is caught and now is behind prison bars it is of no use to continue the investigations and no need to know where the money is gone for he has succeeded to stamp out theft, corruption and bribes in his kingdom.

To chop logic

Our revolutionary Leader, Teacher and guide KOUKOIE SAMBA SANYANG say that Human conscience dictates human conduct, and if the conscience is corrupted, then evil takes over. He asks the same question all the time, how we can deal with a person who has scant respect for the rule of law, and continues to indulge in illegal activities and criminality of killing innocent citizens and destroying property even after being exposed by men of integrity,revolutionaries,freedom fighters and democrats.

OUR LEADER'S ADVICE AND GUIDANCE TO WISDOM:

My dear readers, no matter what kind the work is there should be certain aspects for criticism whether you are a President, a Minister, NIA Director, Manager, an Incharge, a Doctor, a Teacher, a Salesman, a Religious leader (Imam or Priest), a lawyer, a Judge, an IGP, an Army Chief of staff, a soldier, a football player, a writer or whatever you are.

Criticism is a must(in all our life) therefore if this is the case then all you need is to get oriented with this criticism and make it your ladder to climb up or to employ it in improving your performance at work and to advance with your personal matters.

Don't let criticism be an obstacle on your way to limit your advancement. Usually a lot of criticism would be destructive and you are the one who decides whether the criticism is constructive and useful or otherwise.

Balance between profit and lost by the criticism taking or leaving, place whatever criticism you receive in a balance to know the benefits you expect to get if you follow the criticism, as criticism could give you important information which helps you to promote yourself and work.

This does not mean you should accept any criticism hurriedly and work accordingly, some criticism may be incorrect and may not benefit you, but on the contrary it may frustrate you and damage your spirit.

On the other hand you should not reject criticism because it irritates you if it came in a form that you did not like and this is exactly what happens when you find yourself adopting a defensive position.

When you think about that criticism you may find that it is extremely good for you.

This last point confirms the importance of estimating the extent of the goodness of criticism, i.e. the estimation of criticism to decide whether the response to this criticism shall be in your favor or not. This means the collection of information whereby your response can be based on properly organized and accurate thinking and not on confused passionate thinking.

When you are able to estimate the extent of goodness of that criticism that will add to your opportunity to increase your chances of reaching constructive criticism after whatever criticism you receive.

Finally we should understand that criticism in all cases is just like an advice, the word "advice" is a nice warm expression that crosses all barriers of criticism, and this is why we accept it at large with more simplicity.

This, if the (criticizer) was sincere in his criticism, although we know that we did not change anything in the object written by the criticizer and what he has implied.

When we place ourselves with a rule that any criticism we receive is just an advice from a loving person or from an angry enemy then we would over-come the complex of criticism.

Fellow Gambians let us always remember that it is human to make mistake and the best Gambian is he or she who will accept being wrong or guilty and repent changing for the good.

THINKIG POSITIVE AND GENUINE LEADERSHIP:

Our revolutionary leader rightly thinks that with sober thinking and genuine leadership the Gambia and Gambians will triumph against evil and backwardness.

He says that Integrity and Credibility drains away when we do not have time to carefully think.

Great leaders are those who have time to think not fooling around.

They find time.

They go away for two or three days to think with their team.

They think for themselves too.

They think to grasp the phenomenon of mental pointing.

They walk the fields. They take frequent breaks.

They shut themselves away and they think.

They think about how to solve problems and resolve difficulties and how to maintain peace and harmony within the society.

They think about setting goals and how to strive to reach them.

They think about how to help poor and confused persons extricate themselves from the tangled webs of conflicting involvements, and how to set them free.

They think about success and failures.

They think about good management philosophy.







They think about their people.

They think about their organization.

They think about what they think.

They think about if the people love them or hate them.

They think about why should the people love or hate them.

They think about why sharp living contradictions exists within the country and political classes.

They think about how to reconcile with the people and not confrontation.

They think about satisfying the popular masses not thinking on acts of satisfying one's ego.

They think very carefully about what people or advisers say to them.

They think on what to say or do not to be hesitant or never to be judgmental.

They think of socially redeeming features whatsoever.

They think about what to be done and how to do it.

It is not easy to think deeply.

It means extracting oneself from all the surface thinking, the reactionary thinking, the egoist thinking, the destructive thoughts and the automatic thinking that happens on a regular basis.

Thinking deeply means thinking differently.

It means challenging oneself.

It means starting from the premise that one could be totally wrong.

It means examining issues from other angles.

It means relating your own behavior to principles.

THOUGHTS, UNLIKE ROADS, CAN LEAD TO A CITY THAT IS NOT THERE.

We feel confident and reassured on the future of the Gambia and Gambians.

This is why we can proudly say out loud with confidence that hunger, diseases, oppression, exploitation, torture, murder and intimidation of state terrorism our poor but strong and brave Gambian people are not ready and will never trade their freedom and dignity with bread.

It is true that poverty leaves depressed discouraged and defeated people at the mercy of any dictator who comes along with promises (solid or hollow) that hold out hope.

Today Gambians have become more and more politically conscious and aware of the dangers ahead seeing the solutions to the conditions that spawn and sustain dictatorship, they are ready and willing to wipe out dictatorship and they will make democracy well established and more secure.



Revolutionary Awareness Campaign

Ideological and Orientation Committee

ADC

Round the People Round the Country

BANJUL THE GAMBIA





















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