Bro,

This was an interesting reading,keep up the good work down there.

For Freedom
Saiks








>===== Original Message From The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
<[log in to unmask]> =====
>Our little Gambia is awash in a flood of lies, big and small, and few
>appear to care. Politicians and their 'Jalibas' in high places routinely
>lie, and if not lie, then dissemble, and if not dissemble, then
>deliberately mislead - and there are no meaningful consequences. The lie is
>often not put to the liar. Cynicism and acceptance go hand in hand in our
>little country. It is a highly infectious combination and it is sickening
>the public life and social progress in Gambia.
>For 38 years, we have witnessed a process of political deception people
>never understood why elections were held. The surprising thing is that the
>churches and the mosques, held up as the purveyors of truth, kept quiet and
>never did anything. Better late than never, the freewheeling, 15 or more-
>day APRC campaigns won't make up for the plentiful years of orchestrated
>ritual, but there's always the next election to look forward to.
>It is almost as though we have become too sophisticated, or too benumbed,
>for rage. The president and his toadies lie, and we yawn. APRC politicians
>hide behind smokescreens of obfuscation and misdirection, and we lose
>interest. Her we go again!
>Did the students involved in the April 2000 demonstrations fire live
>ammunition at the security forces? It was a lie almost from the moment it
>was 'reluctantly' mentioned by Vice President Njie-Saidy. Was there a
>conspiracy concocted by Dumo Saho and others to topple the
>government? "Yes", we were flatly told on the highest authority. It is a
>lie, bald and without qualification. More lies, anyone?
>If all these cooked up, desperate attempts to deny the obvious is not
>deliberate deception, then the long silence when the error on the
>government's part is inescapably evident becomes a lie in itself. Look at
>the case of the allegations by the Bissau president and its aftermath. It
>gave unmistakable testimony about the price that truth telling might
>require if it contradicted the 'official truth'. The continued denial was
>and is a knowing, political deception. That's a polite word for a lie.
>It is a consensus now embraced by the president and, at least occasionally,
>by his cabinet members as well. But what should we call repeated
>presidential statements about the supposed provision of total food security
>by next election?  Politics as usual? And is politics as usual just another
>euphemism for lies in the name of some larger good? Then there are the
>repeated promises of electrification of over 98% of the country. So on and
>so forth.
> The least exclusive club in the country belongs to the legions of big-time
>liars who held or hold positions of high public and private trust and
>abused it for personal gain in connection with the looting of taxpayers.
>Perhaps it is simply the endless repetition of these public lies that has
>so blurred our ethical sensibilities. The media, facing the reality that to
>give the act its proper name might offend many in this exclusive club. But
>whatever the reasons or rationalizations, the result is abundantly clear:
>The public dialogue is being stifled. Lies are left to perpetuate in
>explosive proportions emanating from the executive.
>Lies work in the short run. In the long run, they destroy everything they
>touch.
>
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