More Reactions To B.B’s Interview

Dear Editor: Karamba Touray deserves my high regards because he has expressed true and very lucid commentary that I believe BB will continue to ponder for the rest of his life. I had no foresight to tell BB at the time he made this decision but I can categorically recall telling him as my cousin not to even consider it. However, he seemed to have thought it over, and made a terrible error in judgment. Not only in the junta but history of coups in Africa. This would have assured a person who is a historian, as Bakary is, to have known better. Like Karamba, who I believe is a nephew of a friend and the son or nephew of B.B’s colleague, deserves the apology he requests. I hope this will be the beginning of a new era in the effort to redeem our Gambia with people like Bakary fully engaged to provide both direction and leadership. Precious time has been wasted in fighting over tangential matters and little minds involved in little matters.

Cheers,

Omar S. Saidy-Khan, Louisville Kentucky

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Dear Editor: Let me begin by commending you guys for this wonderful source of information for my family and I and to a large extent, my circle of friends here in the UK!!! I have for a long time been reading the …Newspaper online and only recently did I know about the existence of yours and another called... I must admit that I have lost my appetite in reading the … Newspaper for various reasons but most importantly are the writers'/editors' lack of command for good written English (i.e. horrendous grammar, poor spellings etc.) and the distasteful presentation skills in their stories. Among the first articles I read was the much talked about B B Darbo interview and trust me, I truly enjoyed your writing skills therein. Subsequent articles I read were so brilliantly written in terms of text and substance, and on this note please extend a very warm handshake, a hug and a pat on the backs of Mr. Sankareh and brother Mathew Jallow on my behalf. To Mathew, I say AJAARAMA MAWDO for your thought provoking articles; you are an exceptionally skillful writer!!! Thank you guys and May God bless you always.

Sincerely,

Musa Gassama, UK

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Dear Editor: Please allow me space to comment on Mathew K. Jallow's alleged "Mandinkanisation of the Civil Service" presumably during Sir Dawda Jawara's tenure. I don't know if I was living in a different world then, but the structure of the civil service was in no way Mandinkanized as Mathew tried to portray it. Did Mathew know who the Secretary General, Accountant General, Auditor General, Inspector General of Police, Commander Gambia National Army, Governor General of Central Bank, Managing Director of Ports, Managing Director of Gambia Airways were? None of these position holders were Mandinkas then. There are many more that I can list, but I hope the ones given are reasonable enough to get Mathew to rethink. True, most of the ministers were Mandinkas, but their Permanent Secretaries who were charged with the day-to-day administrative matters were mostly non- Mandinka. Accountant General' Dept. that I worked for in those days had 90% of its senior officers from other tribes than Mandinkas. Matthew, your allegations are completely baseless because anybody in the Civil Service then knew very well where real power rested. If you disagree with my assertion that you are totally wrong and misleading, provide a list of all the Managing Directors, Permanent Secretaries and their names for the readership to be their own judges. The list should not be more than a hundred names, and I challenge you to proof your self. Please, you appear to be a good writer Mathew, write about something that is informative, educative, inspirational, and most importantly, something that is factually correct. Too much of tribal drum beat is complete ignorance, and does not in any way, shape or form, help our small and beloveth Gambia. I thank you at The Gambia Echo for the space.

Sincerely,

Seedy Darboe, Kansas City, MO