Ebrima, I agree entirely with your source; especially her last paragraph. I think it is incumbent upon the opposition to take this matter up and ensure that our farmers are not taken advantage of again. Farmers should be informed that they do not have to part with their groundnuts for prices that are below market value. Under no circumstances should farmers exchange their goods for worthless promissory notes. It is very important that when the farmers sell their goods, they get cash in return. The characters that are reported to be involved in this scheme are not creditworthy. The opposition has to inform the farmers of this. Another thing is that the EU and other agencies that were prepared to get involved in the trading season should be informed of the background of this Collins fellow and the dubious businessmen that are supporting him in The Gambia. Ebrima, the bottom-line is that these people do not have the money that is required to finance the groundnut buying. Any idiot can do what they are attempting to do. They want the government to give them the money to buy the groundnuts. The problem is that the government does not have the money up-front. It tried commercial banks to no avail. The donors are also reluctant to put their money into a bottomless pit. A few millions of dollars could have financed the transactions had the market been favorable to Hilo. But because of the Alimenta problem, Hilo will have difficulties selling the groundnut it buys from Gambia. The EU should ask Hilo to show them binding contracts that manifest that Hilo can sell the nuts expeditiously. This is vital if Hilo does not have the money (up front) it would require to purchase all the nuts. My suspicion is that Hilo wants to recycle the $3 million they claimed to have already invested. If they do not get financing from the government, they will attempt to use this money over and over again to buy the nuts. The only problem with this scheme is that they are going to encounter difficulties selling their nuts. To solve this problem, they will attempt to give farmers promissory notes. That would be like toilet paper. Farmers should reject that outright. Ebrima, for now, I think the ball is in the court of the leaders back home. Tell your sources not to worry about Collins and Hilo as far as their American operation is concerned. We can guarantee them that if and when the need arises, appropriate authorities would be informed of any criminal activities Collins or Hilo might have been involved in. Collins' collaborators in Banjul might be ignorant of the system in America, but Collins knows the implications of an IRS investigation. Just the investigation alone can wreck an organization. Ignoramuses like Amadou Samba and Tarik Musa can sit in Banjul and spur Collins to engage us because of selfish motives. But Collins must have realized by now that he eventually has to leave Gambia and go to an environment where the rule of law prevails; an environment where one cannot use bully tactics to hide ones criminality. When the day comes, we will deal with Amadou Samba and Tarik Musa appropriately. I also want to take this opportunity to tell the opposition that they should be prepared for all out war over the impending constitutional amendments. Reports on the Independent that the government is contemplating disqualifying Sidia Jatta, Halifa Sallah and Ousainou Darboe from running for office, should not be tolerated. The opposition should have a plan ready for what to do if Yaya and Secka are dumb enough to propose such undemocratic laws. Months ago when the government framed Darboe with these bogus charges, I was calling for his supporters to take Yaya on and demand that the charges be dropped. It was in anticipation of such slimy moves from Secka. I hope the government will rethink its position and not mess with peoples' rights to run for office. If the government continues in this senselessness, the opposition should challenge them in the streets of Banjul. The opposition should also vigorously challenge the government in its attempt to take away peoples' rights to elect their own local representatives. With the revelations in the past few days concerning the contents of the constitutional amendments, I guess the Commonwealth officials that visited Gambia should now be revisiting the statements they made earlier on regarding the appropriateness of the amendments. So far all the reports that I saw talk about depriving people of their rights and not giving people more power. I cannot see how these proposed amendments can be hailed as good for ordinary Gambians. This is all a ploy to perpetuate Yaya. We must not stand idle and watch that happen. Finally, I hope Gambians learn a lesson from the worthless slaying of Ansumana Mane. This is what happens to arrogant ignoramuses that disrespect God. At one point, Mane thought bullets cannot kill him. Ignorant people run around the sub-region spreading nonsense that Mane has supernatural powers. Well where were his powers when he was shot like a dog in the streets? Soldiers that buy into this nonsense will also meet the same fate. It is high time people get rid of these ridiculous notions. Yaya, Secka, Mane and all these nonentities have no supernatural powers. People should challenge them and make them accountable. They are mere mortals who should be held responsible for their actions. No one should allow Yaya or Secka or their cronies to intimidate them and feed them ridiculous lies like they are immune from bullet wounds. That is ridiculous. KB >From: Ebrima Ceesay <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list ><[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Re: Gambian farmers mistrust HILO >Date: Sat, 2 Dec 2000 17:48:15 -0000 > >Gambia-L: > >The unedited e-mail below came from a source in the Gambia. > >Ebrima > > >_______________________________________________________________________ > >>To: [log in to unmask] >>Subject: Gambian farmers mistrust HILO >>Date: Sat, 02 Dec 2000 >> >>Ebrima, >> >>Reports reaching me are that the Gambian farmers have lost complete faith >>in the HILO company after the revelation on the L about the company. >>Farmers have vowed not to part with their groundnuts without being paid up >>front. In fact, a majority of those that I was able to talk to, have >>decided to sell theirs to Senegal. >> >>Gambian politicians should follow-up on this important development in the >>groundnut sub-sector and demand explanation and an enquiry into the affair >>before it is too late. >> > >_____________________________________________________________________________________ >Get more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download : >http://explorer.msn.com > >---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > >To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L >Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html >You may also send subscription requests to >[log in to unmask] >if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your >full name and e-mail address. >---------------------------------------------------------------------------- _____________________________________________________________________________________ Get more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask] if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------