Matarr,

Now it appears as if you are representing Sidi or have some kind of vested interested in this. Here is my response to you. First, I did not make any claim or accusation of nepotism or otherwise against the Jawara government or even Yaya what I did was share an article I found to be very low in persuasion and asked a few I think may have something to say about it.

Secondly, you want us to limit the scope of this discussion to “the 3 kinds of scholarships that the author said were available under Jawara” no, that is to narrow ourselves along Sidi’s line of argument of which reason may be, he himself knew very well that the “empirical” data to refute him is not available for reference. This is why I even think you are owning up Sidi’s charges in the first place by forcing this line of argument. Why would you want me to limit my enquiry of the validity of sidi’s claims of smart “resource allocation” as the reason behind the sending of Gambian students to African universities than to the UK or US? I know that those African countries as well as others around the world including the UK and US through other organizations did provide funding for educational purposes to governments like that of the Gambia under Jawara and even Jammeh today. I find Sidi’s argument on that line to be unconvincing and for you trying to do the same by disconnecting the two is not helping either. Did the Gambia government under Jawara pay the cost of education in of Gambian students in any African country or where they sponsored under other programs? If there were any how does that compare in terms of quantity to those that were not funded by the Gambia government? These are legitimate questions especially if Sidi’s attribution of cost as the reason for the preference of African universities to those in the UK and US by the Jawara government.

Again, Matarr the discourse is not going to be limited to “children of ministers” because the machinery and cabal around Jawara was much more and not limited to the number of children of all the ministers that served under Jarawa’s three decade long government. And for your argument of what constitute nepotism is quite telling of your mindset on the issue and the yardstick with which you measure service delivery by government officials as related to their relatives and offspring’s, and to that I will not argue with your opinions as that is not going to help us. The dictionary definition of nepotism is not even necessary here as your argument on this issue is quite telling and revealing.

And by the way I know not a single one of those names you gave and just like I said above, I did not make any charges and therefore have nothing to prove. And just questioning the reason being paraded by Sidi and now being defended by you. By the way who told you that as a backbencher at I would not have been miles ahead of where I am today if smart “resource allocation” was implemented in the education system sort to destine me as a wood or metal worker and left me without a high school to go to after 1995? How about that, or is this one also a myth?

Regards,

Nyang

On Thursday, May 22, 2014 12:42 AM, Bamba sering Manka Mass <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Hahaha Gambia is very interesting with so much fake intellectuals.  Please can we suspend this topic for our supposed debate on Kibaaro radio and Television services when we choose the date and time so that those in the know and with proof would call in to substantiate either for Sidi's version or those challenging him?

--- Original Message ---

From: "Matarr Sillah" <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: 22 May 2014 04:31
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Sidi Sanneh Says Bring the forth the Evidence

Nyang,

There is no nepotism if one meets all the set criteria for a scholarship award; none whatsoever.  And remember, you are yet to provide anything to substantiate the claims of nepotism (as it relates to the children of ministers) on this scholarship issue.  It is only in Gambia that one can be accused without any evidence and asked to defend him/herself.  Sidi gave you a simple task, which is to name one son or daughter of minister who received scholarship and he will come up with evidence and name 10 that were of poor background.  Is that not good evidence to support his claim?  The onus is not on him to provide "evidence", but for you or those who believe in this myth to give him 1 and in exchange he will provide 10. Now it seems that coming up with 1 is a tall order for those who have been repeating this lie for decades.

On technical assistance, commonwealth etc, you will do yourself great service if you go back and read the 3 kinds of scholarships that the author said were available under Jawara.  Although there is yet to be evidence that the sons of ministers were favored, you do realize that nepotism will not help a son or daughter of a minister who does not have the sponsors required academic qualifications; this was and is still a core requirement.

Providing evidence may "not the be all and end all of what constitutes truth" but it is a pretty good start...no?  Seriously, coming up with one son or daughter of a PPP minister should not be this difficult.  We can talk about allocation of resources all we want, but the question remains - did the children of ministers get scholarships to the U.S and the U.K while the rest went to the University of Ibadan?  If yes, who?

I actually hate to "drop names" but unless you mean to tell me that the likes of Ebrima Mbenga, Serign Cham or Halifax King (all excellent students) are undeserving of their scholarships to study in the U.S or U.K, I will say the onus is on you to find one underserving son or daughter of a civil servant that received a scholarship they were not suppose to receive.

Thanks,
Matarr

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