Jai, I sincerely shared your subject, I happened to know and worked with Sarjo Jallow. What a wonderful and thoughtful human being! Your conscience is clear and so is many Gambians who sacrificed so much for the country and yet end up victims of a sadistic and barbarism. I met Sarjo in New York a few years when he was a Minister traveling with the President. We shared some memories while he was Assistant Personnel Officer at DoSE [Department of State for Education] under Kumba Konateh and I was a Records Supervisor 1. I didn’t bring my concerns to him but wondered why such a thoughtful and principled man is working under such a leader.
Your household political relationship is how we had project our country to continue from the 1st Republic where couples, siblings and all other works of life could thrive on a decent social, economic, cultural and yet shared a different political beliefs and ideologies. I read most of your articles on the struggle and on Koto Dumo Sarho and I kept wondering who is this eloquent writer.
Please kept praying and keep up the struggle so as the rest of our beautiful country and people can be free.
December 2016 is waiting to be the game changer. I believe our electoral system works (although hijacked under the current system) Gambians the world over should speak with one voice for a change. We worried about the elections in our respective adapted countries, worried about Hilary and the The Donald or the Brexit but these are democracies and the outcomes shouldn’t be a doubt. It’s our time to force our politicians to blink and cough up one big sacrifice for The Gambia and her future.
To all political parties and their surrogates, please hear such messages from people like Jai, people like Sarjo Jallow, people like Ousainou Darboe and his team of Executives – the lives of journalists, the unknown numbers in prison and dead. The number of decent valuable citizens on self exiles who with their knowledge the country is losing a lot. Just blink and do it for them.
I have the pleasure of meeting the President in New York a few times and also have the pleasure of extending a Gambian Hospitality in a New York five star Hotel. I find him charming and eager to know a lot of things. I find a lot of things while I helped him and his entourage settle down for their collective or individual commitments. I find him a bit insecure but the people around are worst off in terms of insecurity.
I have questions about The Gambia on my mind but I never asked for my first time I met him. And his team inside the elevator or some call it lift and I asked how is Gambia? He jumped and said, “you look like a Fula”. But his people thought I was an Ethiopian. I find that interesting and kept wondering, why didn’t he think of Being Gambian first rather than Fula.
If the President had strenghtened the Foundation laid by the foundering fathers, our country would still remain the Smiling Coast of Africa. We might not get to Singapore but our democratic credentials would most likely surpass most African countries like we did from independence to 7/21/94.
I apologize for any ill-intended consequences this may cause some folks. I read Jai’s article and decided to write something while on a train ride to work early morning in New York.
Ousman
Ends