We have heard it before and they are at it again. This is what they are good at. Instead of congratulating President Barrow and his delegation’s China trip successes, haters return to their hateful behaviour. They launched personal attacks on President Adama Barrow and Foreign Minister Ousainou Darboe.
Alagi Yorro Jallow is in the forefront of the army of Barrow haters and it seems he will not give up even when his own integrity is at risk. More and more people have come to realise the real colour of Alagi Yorro Jallow. I was very concerned about his article in some online media on the recent trip of President Barrow to China. Instead of summarising and analysing the outcome of the entire state visit for us Yorro Jallow picked the interview with Adama Barrow and made it the theme of his analysis.
Adama Barrow did well beyond expectation during the said interview in which he conducted himself as a statesman especially with regards to his encounter with the China leader. The body language from the Chinese interviewer was one of satisfaction because President Barrow candidly answered all her questions. The interview took place in an atmosphere of mutual respect and understanding for both countries. President Barrow responded eloquently on the cause of diplomatic breakdown between the Banjul and Beijing, fittingly blaming it on one man’s decision which was against the will of the Gambian people. Adama Barrow has clarified his government’s position on One China policy, a policy that had been in place long before Yahya Jammeh came to power. There is no room for Dollar diplomacy which allowed Jammeh to extort millions of dollars from Taiwan. Dollars that were intended for the impoverished people of the Gambia. The agreements the two countries signed in China were on bilateral basis and that Chinese companies intending to invest in the Gambia will undergo strict scrutiny before they are given green light. The President made this clear during his interview.
What we expect from Alagi Yorro at least is a fair and balance analysis of the trip and the agreements being signed, the restoration of relations with China after so many years. In the same vein, we are in no illusion that Alagi Yorro will ever embark on that route of fair and balance reporting.
There is one comment in the interview that makes these PDOIS people like Alagi Yorro Jallow and company go bombastic on President Barrow. PDOIS political surrogates felt like committing suicide when President Barrow said we as a nation are not Marxist or Leninist. This is the ideology (Marxist or Leninist) PDOIS has in store for the Gambian people, hence the reason for not taking part in the Coalition government which to them is tantamount to surrendering or giving up their ideology. They felt targeted by President Barrow without him mentioning their names. Folks, let’s call a spade a spade. This ideology of Marxist or Leninist has been sold to the Gambian people since in the 1980s but without success. First, by Sidia Jatta whom Halifa Sallah outmanoeuvred in the crusade. Unfortunately, he too has not been successful either in conveying the PDOIS political ideology. The PDOIS failed in marketing its political ideology which simply doesn´t sell.
To conclude, I want to make it clear to Alagi Yero Jallow that we the supporters of Adama Barrow have not hold anything against him for criticizing or saying the truth about President Barrow. That is his inalienable right. Equally so, we want to remind Alagi that the same democracy gives us the right to defend our President when we feel he has been unjustly criticised or unfound allegation levelled against him. On Barrow supporters are far from being blind supporters who go against dissent as you wrongfully claimed. If what is taking place in the new Gambia today is not democracy for Alagi Yorro Jallow and PDOIS, then I am afraid you are ill-prepared for the task ahead. The American context of politics you mentioned in your recent post on the Freedom newspaper is not appropriate in the Gambian context. The average American is ill-informed when it comes to international relationship and their knowledge of their domestic politics is also very low. America is a consumption society, period. Spending is what the government wants the people to engage in and leave politics in the hands of the establishment. Our system in the new Gambia calls for inclusion and engagement at all levels of the Gambian political spectrum. Therefore, Alagi Yorro Jallow’s assumption that journalist and critics are being bullied in today’s Gambia is nothing but a distortion of what really is happening in the country.
Please cease blaming Barrow supporters for your journalistic blunders and shortcomings. The America you mentioned in your article and some of their former presidents is far from being perfect; they too have their own democratic deficiency like all other countries in executing democratic principles. Save us with your analogy that has stood time and memory and attributed to no one individual, it is a universal consensus. Former American presidents Theodore Roosevelt & John F. Kennedy advised people to “tell the truth pleasant or unpleasant.” This is exactly what is taking place in the Gambia as we speak.
Alhagi Touray
Stockholm, Sweden
Ends
Alhagi Touray – we are in for a very rough ride with such perception of journalism and the role of a journalist in this trying time.
Thanks for your take on this very important topic about these so-called journalists flourishing all over cyberspace. Journalism comes with codes of conduct. That the ”Said- man” of the article you respond has overlooked and/or intentionally ignored the very ethics that gives him legitimacy indicates clearly his motivation is subjective. That is the only reasonable explanation of selling such an opinionated piece of writing – that pays no attention to content or context.
Journalism comes with rights and responsibilities; one cannot claim privileges without adhering to the responsibilities that render those rights. The “Said-man” is nothing but an agitator that wants all his rights served on a plate of gold. Regardless of the fact that he tramples on the very responsibilities that enable those rights. In other words, he wants to reap what he did not sow.
However, I am assuring him that those days are over; when Monkey eats whiles Baboon works.
By Samba Juma Mballow