M-L-Jassey Conteh,
I agree with you, that the old PPP come back will put our country into chaos. Frankly, people should be
honest to themselves to accept that these people should believe in God, and get out of politics. Most of them
are old, and has reached the age where they should concentrate on their prayers and ask God, for forgiveness.

I am totally against Yaya Jammeh, because of the killings and the abuses of human rights against our people,
and believe that he should be uprooted from there. Both the ex-PPP and the AFPRC regimes are thieves, and no
thief is better than the other. They all are thieves! We want decent, honest and new leadership to rule our
country, but NOTHING more from those old crooks. I made my position very clear, that i am not supporting any
political party, and would only like to see any NEW peaceful regime to rule us. The time for the old
politicians is over! We don`t want to get them anymore! May God save our country. Aameen!
Elhajj.

"[log in to unmask]" skrev:

> Brother "Ceesay":
>
> I am glad that I have company on the L.  I salute
> you on SM's biography.
>
> Two corrections:  Busumbala is in Kombo South, and the
> late Alhagie Kebba Bajo resigned his parliamentary
> portfolio in less than a week after SM let the Ministry
> of Economic Planning and Industrial Development.
>
> The meeting at Albion Place was attended by Hon. Yahya
> Ceesay.  Mr. Ceesay at that time was rumored to also
> resign his post and the PPP to join SM.
>
> I hope you will keep company.  We in NCP are not opposed
> to an Alliance.  We are, however, opposed to this suicidal
> marriage between the UDP and PPP.  We want equity and
> fairness.  A PPP comeback will result in retaliation,
> especially on APRC's supporters.
>
> Naphiyo,
>
> Comrade ML Jassey-Conteh
> Greensboro, NC/Kombo East Constituency
>
> Original Message:
> -----------------
> From: Kebba S Ceesay [log in to unmask]
> Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2001 01:58:26 -0500
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Fw: MR.SHERIFF MUSTAPHA DIBBA,"THE MAN WHO HAS SACRIFICED A LOT
>               FOR HIS NATION"
>
> --------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Kebba S Ceesay <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Date: Wed, 22 Aug 2001 10:07:27 -0500
> Subject: MR.SHERIFF MUSTAPHA DIBBA,"THE MAN WHO HAS SACRIFICED A LOT FOR
> HIS NATION"
> Message-ID: <[log in to unmask]>
> X-Mailer: Juno 4.0.11
> MIME-Version: 1.0
> Content-Type: text/plain
> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
> Full-Name: Kebba S Ceesay
>
> FELLOW L-MEMBERS AND GAMBIANS AT LARGE,
>
> Since the fall out in the effort to form an opposition alliance by the
> various opposition parties in the Gambia,some subscribers have engaged in
> making some unkindly remarks against Mr.Sheriff Mustapha Dibba,leader of
> the National Convention Party (NCP).I believe that those who made remarks
> such as; "he puts his own interest above the nation's or he has vendetta
> against PPP and therefore saw the current situation as pay back time" did
> not make those remarks out of malice for Mr.Dibba but rather their
> ignorance of the biography of the latter. Having read a few postings, I
> felt obliged to engage in the current political discourse by going back
> to some of the events that occurred in the political life of Mr.Dibba.
> The purpose of doing so is to dismiss some of the misgivings as stated in
> some postings and also to paint a picture of Mr.Dibba as the man he has
> always been since the founding of PPP in 1959. I will begin from after
> when Mr. Dibba and his colleagues founded the PPP party in 1959. Mr.
> Dibba was working at CFAO, Banjul Branch as accounts clerk. He resigned
> his post at the CFAO, Banjul Branch, to become an active player in the
> newly founded party,PPP. That indeed was a sacrifice because there was no
> promise of any income in the subsequent months that he would be
> criss-crossing the length and breath of the Gambia campaigning for the
> PPP. No body including SM, knew how long it would take for PPP to the win
> the hearts of the Gambian people from a well established and stronger
> party,United Party(UP). Let us examine the action that Mr.Dibba took in
> this case; was this putting his own interest above the nation's or
> sacrificing for the nation that he loved so much? Indeed it is the
> latter.
>
> When PPP gained power, SM held numerous ministry portfolios, and made
> exemplary performance at each of those ministries hence his promotion to
> the second highest portfolio in the nation, Vice President. At this
> portfolio, SM made another sacrifice by putting the nation first and
> himself last. I belive most of you will recall the "BUTUT CASE". This was
> a case where his brother Kutubo Dibba along with a driver at Number one
> Marina Parade, the resident of the Vice President (residence of SM at the
> time) were accused of trafficking to the Republic of Senegal a particular
> denomination of the Gambian currency, the  BUTUT. Mr. Dibba in view of
> this accusation of a member of his familly who at that time was also
> residing at the Vice President's residence, #1 Marina Parade, wrote a
> letter of resignation from both posts of Vice President and Minister of
> Finance and Trade and sent it to the President, Sir Dawda K Jawara. In
> this letter, SM told the president that he had no knowledge nor
> participated in the action, that his brother had been accused of but
> lamented the fact that a member of his family had been accused of such
> illegal trafficking of a Gambian currency, he could no longer continue as
> Vice President and Minister of Finance of the nation. He told the
> President that he would resign to allow the investigators of the case to
> carry out their functions without fear of any interference. It should be
> recalled that the President acknowledged that he had no doubt what so
> ever that S had no involvement and expressed regret that he had to
> resign. However the President in his response after accepting SM's non
> involvement in the BUTUT case, told the latter that he would accept his
> resignation from the post of Vice President but would not accept his
> resignation from the post of Minister of Finance and Trade and therefore
> SM would have to continue as Minister of Finance and Trade. Folks, this
> is  another example of SM putting the nation first and himself last. You
> will all recall the allegations made by Sana Manneh in his news paper
> against former Vice President Saihou Sabally, former Minister of Tourism,
> Dr.Lamin K Saho, former Minister of Local Government and Lands, Landing
> Jallow Sonko and former Managing Director of the Gambia Co-operative
> Union,Momodou Dibba. These public officials, not only did they fail to
> resign their positions to allow an investigation free of any interference
> but used their offices to ensure that they do not become casualties when
> the dust settled down. They used their offices to make sure that Sana
> Manneh was punished for the publication. What we have seen in this latter
> scenario is a bunch of public officials who cared more about themselves
> than the people that entrusted them with the positions they held. These
> are totally the opposite of SM.Dibba.
>
> Subsequently after a World Bank meeting in New York, SM made a brief stay
> at the Ministry of Finance before he made his final exit. He was
> appointed the Gambian Ambassador to the European Union and had his office
> at Brussels. After a long tenure at the European Union, SM was recalled
> to Banjul and asked to open a new ministry, Economic Planning and
> Industrial Development. It must be recalled that during his tenure at the
> European Union, he was the only Ambassador among all our overseas
> representatives who was also a cabinet member. SM did not have a long
> tenure at the Ministry of Economic Planning. Rumours had it that certain
> cabinet members, "Jerreh Daffeh and Kalilu Singateh were mentioned" told
> President Jawara that SM was soliciting their support for a vote of non
> confidence in him,the President. According to the same rumours, President
> Jawara
> confronted SM about the said solicitation of non confidence vote against
> him(Jawara) but SM would not say whether he was or was not engaged in
> such an endevour unless if President Jawara would disclose his
> informants. President Jawara would not disclose his informants and SM
> would say nothing. After a long silence between the two, SM was called in
> by the President one day and warned  that if he did not come up with an
> answer, he (Jawara) would have no choice but to fire him. Dibba,
> according to the same rumours, told the President that the constitution
> had empowered him(Jawara) to appoint and terminate ministers as and when
> he desired and therefore if he choosed to terminate him, he(Jawara) could
> do so. Few days later SM was fired. After he was fired, SM held a grand
> meeting at the Albion Place in Banjul and explained to the General
> public, what brought about the fall out with President Jawara. Couple of
> days after that meeting at Albion Place in Central Banjul, PPP held an
> emergency meeting in their Bureau at Leman Street, Banjul South, and
> announced at the end of the meeting their decision to expel SM from their
> party,PPP.
>
> A few weeks or may be months after he was expelled from the PPP, SM along
> with people like late Alhaji Kebba Bayo founded the NCP party at
> Busumbala in the Kombo East District. President Jawara would be recalled
> to have prophesied that the NCP would not last more than three months as
> was the case with PPA of Late Sheriff S Sisay (may God have mercy on his
> soul). That prophecy fell flat on its face because not only did NCP
> lasted more than three months but continued to gain momentum in the
> nation. SM.Dibba has been an honest man with an impeachable  character
> who believes in Responsibility, Accountability and Equal treatment for
> all under the Constitution and other laws of the nation. He is not a
> coward at all as has been implied by some people in their postings on the
> L. He has and still is a thoughtful fine human being, who does not act on
> impulses but rather confronts issues with a lot of studies and
> consultation before making any decision. The foremost in his mind when
> making any decision is the Gambian people always.
>
> We all recall the 1981 abortive coup. The focus of the PPP administration
> under Jawara was on the supporters of NCP, hence the incarceration of so
> many staunch supporters including the party leader,SM himself. False
> accusations were made against SM and others resulting to his eleven
> months confinement at the Mile Two Prisons. During his incarceration. his
> supporters in many parts of the country were intimidated,threatened and
> in some cases beaten. One sambujang Kanteh of Salekene, Central Baddibu
> district was beaten at the dictate of a former Minister in the Jawara
> administration. This old man sustained some internal injuries and without
> any medical treatment,later died. No body  including the former Minister
> was brought to justice till this day. Another incident according to some
> eye witnesses, occurred at Jokadu,where a pregnant woman was also beaten
> by the PPP thugs at the watch of a  high ranking officer of the PPP
> administration. The actors in that incident have also never been brought
> to justice up till now. Another happened at Sabach Sanjal. The NCP
> candidate, Momodou Gaye and his pregnant wife were also beaten by PPP
> thugs accompanying the foamer Minister of Agriculture, Saihou Sabally
> whilst on tour of the Sabach Sanjally constituency. This matter was
> brought to the attention of President Jawara but did nothing about it.
> One may be tempted to ask the question; WHAT CRIME HAVE THESE PEOPLE
> COMMITTED? The only crime they have committed was supporting NCP, whose
> leader was wrongfully jailed at the time. Why am I recounting all of
> these? I am recounting these incidents so that those who have jumped so
> fast to embrace the recent marriage between Lawyer Darboe and OJ would
> take a step back and reflect on the ugly deeds that were carried out by
> the leaders of PPP and their militants when they were in power. If one
> were to do a statistics on the number of people that were fired from
> their jobs or disallowed promotions even when they were due just because
> they were active players in the NCP party or merely suspected to be one,
> the numbers would be alarming. Those who are suspicious of this sudden
> alliance between PPP and UDP, you have reason to be, because we do not
> want PPP to use UDP as a cover only to show up their faces again. I
> believe the Gambian people have had enough of the rampant corruption and
> nepotism that prevailed during PPP administration that no sober Gambian
> would want to see them come back again. Perhaps we should remind OJ and
> other PPP members about the PPP convention held at Mansakonko, Jarra West
> District. The out cry was Jawara would not retire. They all cried, as if
> Jawara had retired, no other Gambian was capable of leading the nation
> hence the Gambia would be doomed. It was unbelievable to see  so many who
> claimed to true belivers of God the Almighty, to cry their eye balls out
> begging Jawara to hang on because his departure would create a vacuum
> that could not be filled. Only non believers would do what the PPP
> leaders and their militants did at Mansakonko. This was a clear
> manifestation that these people, some of whom may have lost their parent
> or parents at birth or few months after birth survived the trauma with
> the help of the one God that caters to all mankind have now deemed Jawara
> the omnipotent. Was this out cry against Jawara's retirement done in
> pursuant of the interest of the greater majority of Gambians?
>
>  No it was not because they knew that God still existed but they feared
> the person who was likely to be the next President. At that time the
> conventional wisdom of most Gambians was that if Jawara had left no body
> in the leadership of PPP could run against SM.Dibba and defeat him. It
> should also be recalled that  this announcement to retire by Jawara
> happened at a time when both Jawara and Dibba had numerous meetings in
> the Gambia and abroad. In one of his press conferences, in answering a
> question posted by Baboucar Gaye about why he(Jawara) after all these
> years was  meeting SM, Jawara stated "an important person like Mr.
> Dibba,why should I not meet him. We did not meet in the past because
> attitudes have not changed but now that attitudes have changed we will
> meet.Infact this is not the first time we have met, we met in London and
> we met here and we will meet again if the need arise" In response to the
> PPP leadership and their militant's lack of trust in God to provide us a
> much better person to replace Jawara and lead our nation, HE(GOD) gave us
> Yaya. Folks, Yaya is no accident, he is what God has rewarded the Gambian
> people for their lack of trust in Him.
>  The PPP had a strong alliance with the  well to dos in the country and
> therefore a lot of those people made most of their wealth by engaging in
> unscrupulous activities with the help of some high placed public
> officials, who in turn were benefactors too. PPP administration witnessed
> the era of lack of accountability in the public sector, the close
> friendship that existed between the former Auditor General, M.I. Secka
> and the former Accountant General,Abou Denton resulting to complacency of
> the office of the Auditor General to vigorously conduct audit inspections
> of the Accountant General's offices. I am sure you all will recal the out
> cry made by SM.Dibba in the House of Parliament about the lack of
> submiting an annual Audit Report of the books of the Accountant General
> by the Auditor General for ten years. Folks this happened during the PPP
> administration. It was only after SM. Dibba took the PPP government to
> task that the former Minister of Finance, B.B.Dabo had to  apologise to
> SM and other paliamentarians for this very serious failure by the former
> Auditor General to execute  one of the provisions of the Finance and
> Audit Act of the Gambian Constitution. B.B Dabo  who was embarrrassed by
> this lack of action by the Auditor General,pomised his colleagues that
> the report would be made available in the very near future. He  later
> called on the former Auditor General to make the Report available to the
> House in the soonest possible time. I mean no ill for OJ. He is a fine
> human being when you come in contact with him,but he has a share of the
> short comings of the party he served so well and so long. The leadership
> of PPP knew that SM Dibba knew a lot,and as such if he were to become the
> next President, most of them would have danced to their own tunes, hence
> the out cry against the retirement of Jawara was loud and clear. They
> wanted Jawara to stay so that the status-co as it was then would remain
> in force, hence their businesses and assets would remain protected. We
> all remember how uncompromising SM Dibba was about the creation of an
> Asset Evaluation Commission and how long it took  the Jawara
> administration to create one. Even after its creation the only person who
> was subjected to such evaluation was the key player in its creation,
> former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Fafa Mbaye. That
> evaluation amounted to nothing and the Commission although remained in
> the books but was not active again. You will realise that the PPP
> administration under OJ's boss was never serious about this Commission in
> the first place.
>
> There are some of you who seem to imply that SM. Dibba is indebted to
> Lawyer Darboe because he fought for his freedom. I will not disagree with
> you but do you all measure the benefit that accrued to Ousanou after
> Dibba's trial. Before Dibba's trial, Darboe was not well known in the
> mist of heavy weights such as Lawyer Drammeh,Surahata Janneh,Pap Cheyasin
> Secka and Ousman Sillah to name a few. Let us remember that the big
> clients of these lawyers are those  in   the commerce sector, the banks
> and parastatal organisations. The commerce sector was dominated by the
> Banjulians and therefore the lawyers they retained were mostly those from
> Banjul. You cannot blame them for that, because those are the people they
> know and infact some of these lawyers are their kinsmen. The parastal
> organisations and the banks have as their board of directors, Banjulians,
> hence they also retained the Banjul lawyers. This therefore is the reason
> why Darboe was not well known then. The name ,SM Dibba was already high
> on the market when Darboe began defending him. By Darboe defending
> SM.Dibba, Darboe benefited greater than Dibba because his business
> boomed. Most if not all the various businesses who are sympathizers of
> SM.Dibba and his party all left their former attorneys and retained
> Darboe. You will agree with me if Darboe did Dibba a favour, the latter
> did the former a bigger favour. This is  no different from Johnny Cockran
> in the case of O.J.Simpson.
>
> Some people had issue with SM's silence during the past seven years. I
> cannot say more than what he expressed in his recent press conference at
> his residence. Again it was his concern for the Gambian people not to
> create another uprising in the subregion like those in Sierra Leone and
> Liberia, that he kept his calm. That again was a wise and well thought
> out decision. Let us urge Darboe and other opposition party leaders to go
> back to the negotiating table and resolve their differences, We have to
> be suspicious of this sudden support of the UDP party by PPP,after all it
> was the NCP supporters who helped  Darboe and his party to  get to where
> they are today. Finally folks, in as much as all of you want to see
> change in the Gambia at the forth coming election, I urge all of you to
> be mindful of the sheep in wolf clothing otherwise everything you aspire
> for will remain a lofty dream only.
>
> This is my first contribution in the political discourse on the L. I
> apologise if I have scratched any old wounds.
>
> KELVIN
>
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