The piece below was culled from the Daily Observer. I think Director General Ford needs some education on Yaya's real record. Yaya's record of ordering the murder of more than a dozen innocent children. Yaya's record of ordering the abduction and unlawful incarceration of innocent Gambians. Yaya's record of sponsoring thugs that kidnap innocent Gambians and burn down their properties. Yaya's record of harassing journalists and deporting Gambians from their country of birth. Yaya's record of stealing millions from government coffers. Yaya's record of stealing power from a democratically elected government. Yaya's record of stealing the last elections. Basically, Yaya's rag to riches story. Someone who five years ago depended on government supplied uniforms to put clothes behind his back, now boasts of owning millions of dalasis. Someone who did not finish high school, now boasts of having a doctorate degree While educating Mr. Johnson, we must also remember that under Yaya's watch, Gambians have grown poorer. Gambia has grown more dangerous. The list goes on. In short, we should endeavor to make Mr. Johnson and the world 'recognize' Yaya for who he really is. As many can tell from my writing, I am not a diplomat. I will be the first to admit that it is a big struggle for me to find appropriate words (for certain audiences) to describe Yaya and the despicable state he has put our country in. So, I appeal to the better writers in our midst to mount a campaign aimed at educating Mr. Johnson and his organization. Ebrima Ceesay, Hamjatta, Saul Khan, Drs. Touray and Saine etc. can all do a superb job at straightening the record for this clearly ill-informed man. There are numerous others that can help, whose names have not been mentioned. I appeal to everyone that can help to come forward with ideas. As demonstrated by the campaign at Rust, we are doing a good job at exposing the callousness Yaya metes on our people on a daily basis. But we have to also recognize that so long as there are people like Mr. Johnson, that means that we can do a better job. We cannot rely on these people to make a thorough research of Gambia before they make their clearly erroneous utterances. We have to be more aggressive with Yaya and his cohorts. This circle of us reacting to people like Stovall and Johnson has to stop. The opposition must do a better job of exposing Yaya and painting him in his true colors before the Johnsons and the Stovalls of this world are fed with the garbage that comes from the likes of Sedat Jobe. Should people like Johnson escape the opposition in the Diaspora and end up going to Banjul, the opposition back home should ensure that people like Johnson do not leave Gambia with a false impression. Johnson cannot come to Gambia and escape reading the newspapers. They can claim that they did not read their own governments' briefings. They can also claim that they did not do basic research on Gambia on the Internet. What they should not be allowed to claim ignorance of, is the glaring truth in the country. When these ill-informed people come to Gambia, the opposition should tell them that while they bask in their luxurious hotels and ride around in expensive vehicles, the average Gambian cannot be guaranteed a square meal a day. These ignoramuses should also know that while they are guaranteed 24 hours' supply of electricity and clean drinking water, we cannot say the same for our only general hospital in the country. We should also tell them how parents have to struggle to put their children through the schools Yaya is trying to claim credit for. We should also tell them about the plight of our farmers. If these people come to Gambia and do not hear the opposition organizing marches, they think that everything is fine with us. If they come to the country and attend dinners with opposition members and see them talking to APRC cronies as if nothing is wrong in the country, these visitors go back home thinking that all is well in The Gambia. If these visitors pick up newspapers and all they see is lies from Yaya stating how much he is 'donating' to Gambians, they will go home and describe Yaya as a benevolent man. We all know that Yaya is a crook and is using our own money to feed his inferiority complex. The Johnsons of this world should also be aware of that. At times, I think the people back home are so close to this problem that some of them has become numb by it. Apart from a few courageous journalists and opposition party members, very few people raise their voices against the callousness Yaya visits on them on a daily basis. Some cowards even go to the extent of denouncing us in the Diaspora for working towards freeing people from Yaya's tyranny. This is very wrong. Anyone that thinks Yaya is a good leader for our country needs his or her head examined. I can understand (though I vehemently disapprove of it) the corrupt Gambians benefiting from Yaya's regime to stand by Yaya. What I cannot understand is the behavior of some of Yaya's victims. To take unjustifiable punishment from an impotent moron like Yaya and then turn around and criticize people fighting for you, is incomprehensible to me. Take the case of the former head of the IEC. When he was sacked, some members of the opposition sympathized with him (against our warnings). The man did not even have the guts to criticize Yaya's illegal moves. When he was challenged, he gave excuses, saying that he could not talk during the festive season. What kind of nonsense is that? How can we enjoy festivities knowing that we have innocent Gambians languishing in jail, courtesy of Yaya, and we have families that lost their children in the senseless massacre of April 10 and 11, 2000, and we have children still in hospitals suffering from their wounds from the senseless state sponsored terrorism? Now that the festivities are over, what is the man's reason for not speaking up against Yaya's clearly unconstitutional and undemocratic behavior? We must not be lulled into complacency. We must attack each and every illegal move this government makes. They are nothing but a bunch of criminals. We must not stop until we get rid of them. KB _____________________________________________________________________ GAMBIA TO HOST WORLD CONFERENCE OF MAYORS The director general of the World Conference of Mayors, Mr Johnny Ford, today made a courtesy call on President Yahya Jammeh at State House to inform him about their proposed plans to host the next World Conference of Mayor in The Gambia, June, 2001 Declaration According to the director of press and PR at State House, Mr Ford made the below declaration after his audience with president Jammeh: We are very pleased that the World Conference of Mayors are to honour President Jammeh because of his strong and positive leadership for The Gambia. As you know, The Gambia is not a big country in terms of geography but its impact is being watched and observed throughout the world. It is a democratic country. It is a country that is moving forward. When you look around the country and see the progress that is being made, the schools that have been built, the development that has taken place... the attractions of investment is all due in great part to the leadership of the president of this country. That is why the World Conference of Mayors which represents mayors from throughout the world, are to pay honour to this young and dynamic leader. We want him to know that we appreciate his leadership, we appreciate his courage for standing up. Because indeed, African leaders must stand up. Africa has a tremendous debt that they are faced with. Many times, the assistance that was coming to African countries are being withdrawn and the World Conference of Mayors are going to say that we want Africa to be supported and we want the world to recognise leaders like the president of The Gambia. President Jammeh will be honoured by the World Conference of Mayors for his strong positive leadership for The Gambia." _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at 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. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------