Bailo, Walahi! You said it all. Chi Jaama Joe >From: Bailo Jallow <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list ><[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: LANG CONTEH: A VILLAIN OR VICTIM OR BOTH? >Date: Thu, 19 May 2005 02:11:31 +0100 > >When Lang Conteh entered a plea-bargain, in essence admitting guilt to >charges including theft of over 200 million Dalasis from the Central Bank >of >The Gambia, I opined the following: > >''From my very little grasp of law, I can dare concude that whereas what >Lang Conteh stands to profit from the plea bargain is by no means clear or >even certain to him as the defendant, the following is at least guaranteed >by the plea bargain: The APRC regime has at least temporarilly been >reprieved of very serious criminal disclosures on how a small clique of >criminals under the direct gaze of Yahya Jammeh robbed Gambians of unknown >millions of Dalasis. Had Lang Conteh mounted a very robust and vigorous >defence of his role in the APRC's regime theft of millions of Dalasis from >State coffers as he originally intended, the trail would have surely led >directly to Yahya Jammeh's mouth. In order to avert such a compounding >disaster on the grossly dishonest APRC leadership, Lang Conteh must have >been persuaded to enter into a plea bargain in exchange for a lenient >sentence from the State.'' > >So it turned out that Lang Conteh got away with a very very lenient >sentence, indeed! Considering the amount of money he's been accused of >having squandered from the State's coffers which is said to be in excess of >200 million Dalasis, a one-year custodial sentence is by all measures A >GREAT GET-AWAY for him. However, if Mr Conteh has been heard rightly in his >reaction, he is quoted of having stated that ''this is not what we >agreed''. >Does his reaction mean that he was expecting a lesser sentence than he got? >I guess so but that's beside the point. I would proceed to get this >unprecedented corruption scandal into some perspective. >Sometime last year a group of 4 unemployed boys in my neighbourhood of >Serekunda were convicted of having broken into a shop and stolen over a >thousand Dalasis of merchandise. They were subsequently each sentenced to a >jail term of 2 years in prison. They are still rightly serving their prison >terms. Whereas there could be no excuse for what they did which was >criminal >and therefore duly deserved their two-year custodial sentences, their >crimes >were directed against only a unit of interest i.e the shop owner and his >dependants and probably the feeling of insecurity caused within the >neighbourhood of the crime scene as well. In the case of Lang Conteh, >however, the crimes he committed was directed against the benefit or >interests of every Gambian man, woman and child and even future generations >of Gambians yet to be borned. If there were any justice in our society, >Lang >Conteh would have had Mile II Central Prisons as his permanent address for >the rest of his life but we know ought to know better, that under the >government of Yahya Jammeh student demonstrators exercising their God-given >human rights were sentenced to death by summary execution while those of >his >associates who are directly responsible for wreaking the havoc of poverty >on >the masses are sent on just a year's leave of absence from society. Let us >just contemplate how many Gambians could 200 million Dalasis lift out >poverty if such an amount were to be invested towards that end? A great >many >indeed! Probably in about 10 months, Lang Conteh would be out of jail to >enjoy the remainder of his loot, safely stashed somewhere. As for the group >of boys serving their two-year jail terms, well, they have at least until >November 2006 to come back to mainstream society. Is that justice? >Without any hesitation, Lang Conteh could be proclaimed a villain. I was >told by someone who knew him that he, Lang, is a very nice and sociable >person. I personally don't think so. To me, his likes however charitable or >generous they feign to be are nothing other than plain wicked and parasites >to society at large. >From another angle of perspective, Mr Conteh, though a villain and a >criminal, is just another fall guy or a guilty scapegoat to cover for none >other than the dishonesty of our head odf State. However hard the APRC >government and their disinformation network try to potray Lang Conteh by >distorting the truth, there could be no doubt that Lang Conteh is not the >head of the thieves in the Gambia. NO HE SIMPLY IS NOT. We should all know >that to be Yahya Jammeh. My justification for so saying is because Yahya >Jammeh has stolen from our coffers more than any of his accomplices and >certainly more than any other Gambian. His only respite for now is that he >is in charge and could therefore send any member of his gang of thieves to >prison as he wishes. In which respect, it could therefore be argued that >Lang Conteh is also a victim of Yahya Jammeh's unscrupulous government. >All said and considered, the real victims from all this web of corruption >spun and spearheaded by the President of The Gambia continues to be the >poor >masses who pay more for his corrupt and dishonest demeanours. > > >Gambians save The Gambia and God save us all. > >Bailo. > >_________________________________________________________________ >Don’t just search. Find. Check out the new MSN Search! >http://search.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200636ave/direct/01/ > >¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ >To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L >Web interface >at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html > >To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: >http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l >To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: >[log in to unmask] >¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤