I was stunned at the churlish and condescending tone of the July 17 editorial
of the Independent newspaper regarding the strong exceptions two of their
readers took to their assessment of President Jammeh on a previous
publication. Like the two objectors I thought the whole thing smirked of a
clumsy attempt at fairness by presenting aspects of this regime they felt
were meritorious. What they succeeded in doing  was to leave an overall
impression that things were somehow both good and bad; a proposition very few
people would consider valid. What characterizes this regime is pure and
unadulterated evil. Nobody has clear testament of that than the people at the
Independent Newspaper since they live and catalogue all of the events.
Citations of buildings and other aspects they referred to as being things of
positive impact strikes most of us as absurd particularly if as in the case
of the editorial it is meant to balance the murderous and Gestapo tactics
Yahya Jammeh is using against the Gambian people. Furthermore the editorial
writers found it necessary not to see Ebrima Ceesay and Cherno Baba Jallow as
individual readers of their papers who felt they were wrong in their
characterizations. Instead they go on a harangue foolishly attempting to
belittle these folks for not staying in Gambia as they chose to do. What
difference does it make if a critic to an expressed opinion lives in Gambia
or Kuala Lumpur? Nobody has any quarrels with your reporting and we have all
recognized your efforts as you operate in the very adverse conditions of
present-day Gambia. What you have no right of doing is to think less of your
former colleagues just because they are not in the midst of the repression
you are under or declare yourselves as sacrosanct by dint of your decision to
stay home. If as you have done you express you opinion in a public forum like
your newspaper, you must naturally take objections in stride and understand
that your readership is diverse. You can't declare your critics as
illegitimate, claim sainthood and declare the debate close. It is unhealthy
and unworthy of a paper that otherwise does a great Joe of reporting.

Karamba

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