Thanx again Modou for sharing the continuum of the flood disaster in Gambia. I commend Foroyaa for not publishing the contentious letter of Mr. Maudo Amadou Jallow because of the following reasons: 1.Mr. Maudo is the government's flood response and disaster-relief officer. So he works for The Gambia and Gambians. He should know that because apparently that seems to elude him. 2. He should have made a trip to the area to gather first-hand information on the casualties and destituted and to comfort the victims. 3. He should devise a response and mitigation plan to address the disaster and its attendant victims and learn from this disaster to inform him during subsequent disasters in any other region of Gambia. He should NOT engage in argument with other citizens and Assembly men and women who take it upon themselves to review casualty, damage, or assistance to victims of DISASTERS. So Maudo should begin ernest work instead of sitting on his fanny looking for brawls and debates. There are victims of this disaster and they continue to be victims. If Maudo ascertains that there are 6 horses washed away, how is he aleviating the loss to the 6 victims???? What is he doing to comfort those whose houses have been destroyed or farmlands destroyed???? Life is not about looking for fights. It is about meeting challenges when you are entrusted with public office. The idiocy is too much. I also encourage Hon. Sidia and PDOIS, UDP, NRP, and GMC to work hard and organise disaster response and mitigation programs within their structures and work together for Gambians, at least in times of natural disasters. Donors and benevolent organisations like to gift to structures, not piece-meal to individuals or Assembly men and women. So set up a Wulli disaster relief unit in PDOIS and let that unit seek assistance and implement relief programs. This is long overdue. We cannot continue to have kneejerk reaction every time there's a disaster or flood in this case. The more coordinated these relief units are, the more comprehensive the response to calls for assistance will be. These government idiots cannot think right if their very lives depended on it. Haruna. -----Original Message----- From: Modou Nyang <[log in to unmask]> To: GAMBIA-L <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Tue, Aug 31, 2010 3:35 am Subject: Foroyaa News: MAUDO AMADOU JALLOW REACTS TO SIDIA=?utf-8?Q?=E2=80=99S_?=PRESS CONFERENCE MAUDO AMADOU JALLOW REACTS TO SIDIA’S PRESS CONFERENCE Foroyaa received a letter from Maudo Amadou Jallow, the Regional Disaster Management Coordinator for the Upper River Region which aimed to react to our publication of a Press Conference convened by the Member of the National Assembly for Wuli West. The letter started as follows: “Please allow me space to react to an article published on the Monday edition of your news paper captioned “Sedia Jatta to lunch Disaster relief Fund, calls for national and international support” This created some confusion at the level of the Foroyaa Editors. First and Foremost, Foroyaa published Sidia’s Press Release on Friday and not on Monday. Secondly, our caption was not as stated by Maudo Amadou Jallow. Hence we had to give Maudo a call to indicate that we could not publish his letter because it dealt with issues which were not covered by Foroyaa but offered him an interview to clarify any contentions he had regarding the Foroyaa report. He raised only two contentions. First and foremost, he said that Sidia claims that 27 houses were washed away whereas only six houses were destroyed and 15 compounds affected. Secondly, he said that Sidia said that 8 horses were washed away by the flood in SutuKoba whereas only 5 horses were washed away. Foroyaa has raised his concerns with Sidia Jatta, Member for Wuli West. He indicated that as Member of the National Assembly for Wuli West he has gone to find out what happened in his constituency. He said the members of the Regional Disaster Management Committee should commend him for complementing their initiatives instead of raising contentions. He explained that he knows the Act which calls for the establishment of Village Disaster Relief Committees. He argued that what was written is that seeds were washed away but that 27 Compounds were affected. He calls on Maudo to do further investigation. He added that as far as Sutukoba is concerned he said that 6 to 8 horses were washed away. He stated six because he had first hand information that Siraba Khan, Suntu Fatty and Alhaji Suwareh Jatta, each lost one horse while Numo Touray lost three horses, adding up to six. He said other losses were mentioned of a donkey and other horses but he was waiting for confirmation by the time he held the Press Conference. This is why he mentioned 6 to 8 horses so that he would be between the bounds of truth. He said he has intention to get the authorities to establish the District and village disaster relief Committees so that he could work with them to give the support required to those affected by the disaster. ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.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://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤