Tackling Ethnic Animosity Through Mature Dialogue

 

By Lt. Colonel Sheriff Samsudeen Sarr (Rtd.)

 

 LT. COL. SHERIFF SAMSUDEEN SARR

Dear Editor:

                   It looks like Suntou Touray was not quite up to what you were working on. He probably thought he had in his last piece written the final story of my demise. If possible, I suggest you please publish his paper along with mine back to back for the readers to refresh their memories on his earlier position, which seemed to have changed radically.

I was however going to start by sincerely apologizing to Momodou Manneh for doubting his credentials but I will have to straighten out certain important issues with Suntou first. I couldn’t believe his far-fetched allegations that I was attempting to instigate tribal uprising in The Gambia National Army (GNA). I know what the army is made of. Tribal rebellion will never happen there. He could take that to the bank.

Introducing his paper with that subject was a calculated move aimed at positioning me in a collision course with my Mandinka Service colleagues. After reading that, it became clear to me that he is still not as honest as he has attempted to show in this presentation.

Fancy the fellow starting this time with his parents being Wolof and Mandinka for the readers to appreciate him as someone incapable of tribal prejudice because of his paternal roots. That information about his family background would have been more genuine in the beginning and perhaps could have either stopped the whole debate there and then or mellow the rhetoric. Instead, these were his exact words calculated and more believable to represent his true convictions

 “The Mandinkas from the provinces were not seen to be among the clique in the UP,” that the Wollofs were unwilling to speak Mandinka while the Mandinkas wouldn’t hesitate to speak the Wollof language; and also his ability to match any Mandinka identified for tribal misbehavior with a Wollof who is equally guilty of the same misconduct.”

Obviously, going by those statements I thought Suntou was the very kind of person I was alluding to, those impregnated with anger against Wolofs on reasons that I always thought were never worth the bad feeling. That’s why I went to great lengths trying to reason with him along the premise that if it had to do merely with Wolofs being unable to speak Mandinka, the cause is not deliberate as he thought it was. To him those Wolofs with the inability to speak Mandinka was an issue of unwillingness to do so. I had forgotten to mention that one of my mother’s sisters was married to a Wolof settled in Gunjur village where all their children were born and raised. Her older sister was also married to a Mandinka at Brikama Bojang Kunda, a family compound where everybody spoke Mandinka and Wolof fluently. Their children given their predominantly Mandinka environment, grew up to be multilingual and very eloquent in both. I was also told that the Fana Fanas, living in provincial dwellings located close to Mandinka settlements spoke Mandinka better than even some Mandinkas although I never knew why they were called “Jambakatang Suruwa”. I heard that it was a derogatory phrase, and I am yet to get a second opinion about what it means. Simply put, if the British had first started their colonial settlement in predominantly Fula, Jola, Mandinka or Manjago surroundings, the language of that tribe would have naturally been like Wolof was in Banjul where everyone from everywhere rushed to for the Toubab jobs. But, beside that, scientists have long ago established that people able to speak more that one language, especially, when they are very young usually grow up to easily learn other languages. And I think that evidence was always demonstrated in the manner most Mandinka students in The Gambia spoke the English Language faster than their mostly, monolingual Wolof counterparts. I therefore, used to think that my inability to speak Mandinka was more of a lost opportunity to be multilingual than anything else, let alone having any bad feeling against them. I have always said that humans in any race, tribe, nation and religion are alike. There are the bad and good ones in the same way we have the tall and short ones, black or white ones affecting the tribe, religion or nationality we belong to. That’s why I find it unacceptable when people say Mandinkas, Wolofs, Fullas, Jolas or people from certain countries, religions or race are generally bad or good. Certainly there are bad people among us who thrive better in this world by peddling bad ideas, and I believe those spreading tribal or racial hatred to stereotype other groups of people different from them are the worst. When it becomes politicized, it adopts a more dangerous perspective.

It was also important to argue that the inhabitants of Banjul at the time in question were not all Wolofs as many thought they were. Anyway, Suntou in his new position came up with statements that cleared that doubt once and for all. The following is from his latest paper. It appears as comments he collated from colleagues defending him on his new position. It might be possible that these were the ideas that helped him to alter his position.

“The author made no mention of the fact that M C. Cham, M C. Jallow, Andrew Camara were all UP candidates elected under the UP banner and later cross-carpeted to PPP. Yes we the bigger picture is what should be amplified and promoted. Even the likes of the late PS NJIE was connected to both Jola and Wollof. According to professor Sulayman Nyang PS NJIE's mother is Jola and Father Wollof just like Samsideen Sarr's father is Serere and mum Wollof. Let the Gambia and Gambians look at the great blessing. To mess up with that for the sake of point scoring will lead us into disharmony will encounter incidences of minor tribal derogatory remarks but.

 

 

My intention was therefore to end the debate after writing this paper. Then to my utter surprise I read a paper written by Mr. Saul Saidy Khan published in the Freedom paper. It was the story I think I was all along looking for. It proved to me that the anger I was referring to, one occasionally manifested by certain Mandinkas toward some Wolofs was not just about language or trivial prejudicial remarks made by ignorant Wolofs against Mandinkas. Mr. Khan virtually said it all, and I am highly appreciative of his contribution and his boldness to state it openly. I will certainly respond to Mr. Khan’s paper in due course. I also wish to thank him for what I believe was the timely rescue I needed from the “tsunami” of insults and accusations directed at me since I started the topic. Following this paper, one could see how so many Gambians expressed their doubt over what I was talking about. Even in Kenya where the global consensus according to several mainstream media about the violence there has been associated with tribal politics, my critics now think they can write what is happening there differently. But Mr. Khan who seems to carry the same sentiments, as those I thought were angry about something I wrote exonerates me altogether. This is a short excerpt from Mr. Khan’s tale with the supposedly graphic details of how terrible the Wolofs during colonial days were towards the Mandinkas resulting to the root of the anger and hatred I was all along investigating. I am the Sam he refers to below:

“Sam quotes Prez Eisenhower’s son about his father’s opinion of what he saw in Banjul in 1943. Sam should do more research because Ike went further than what Sam noted. Ike’s summation of Banjul and The Gambia in 1943 was one word: “a Hellhole!” That harsh reality notwithstanding, the residents of this Island which was “ceded” (using Colonial terminology,) to the British in the early 19^thC by a MANDINKA Seyfo, were rabidly xenophobic, and tribalist to the core. Prof. Adu Boahen describes the Ashanti King Obiri Yeaboah as a “martial ardor… who enjoyed blood sports.” In the same vein, many Banjul Wolof in that period had a very twisted sense of humor: they enjoyed Humiliation Sports. Despite their own unflattering lives, they openly poured scorn on people from the hinterland. Some people still alive remember walking down streets in Banjul in the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s, and getting jeered, heckled, and taunted with words like “Santong Ko!”; “Nko!”; “Go back to the farm!”; etc.  

Santong KO, especially only means “someone from the countryside,” in Mandinka. But it was said as if it is on a par with “thief”, “murderer,” “rapist,” or something dirty like that. In essence, country people were routinely demeaned and denigrated. But worse than that treatment, one needs not go far to find old men who remember some country person dying in Banjul at that time, and being unable to find help among the local Muslim population to give the deceased a decent farewell. This, despite the fact that the majority Wolof speakers in Banjul were Muslim as well! Sanjally Bojang talked about this in his chat with Foroyaa before he died. As he remembered it, so does my late grandfather, and two other old men I know still alive. Add to this the open discrimination they underwent in finding employment, and you get a picture of what drove various Mandinka groups under the leadership of people  like Sanjally Bojang, and Pa Keita to shove aside their differences to form a coalition in order to matter in the post-Colonial period. They were simply terrified by the prospects of mainly Wolof-speaking Banjulians taking over from the Toubabs – given their (the Founders) experience at the hands of  those people.  

Fulani, Jola, Manjago, etc were more often than not at the receiving end of Colony Wolof bullying, not the other way around. Yet, it is the Wolof Nationalist who are always crying victim Now people who have been harassed, bullied, or treated these ugly ways for a protracted period could be forgiven for being irrational in looking for anyone who fits the bill (settling for a transplant like Jawara because of his Barajally roots.) Who among us could, in good conscience fault them for their fears? Are these mainly Mandinka-speaking people justified in assuming the worst of the Banjul Wolof? What would Sam Sarr and his have done in their shoes? More importantly, how does Sam’s complaints about Mandinkas compare to what his people did to Country people OVER several DECADES? When some of us mention what was done to Country people in Banjul, we are condemned as bitter and hateful. But the Sam Sarrs never relent in their fabricated tales about what “Mandinka people did to Wolofs in 1960.” And this is used as justification for why they’re kissing up to Yaya Jammeh today. In their mind, they’re “Paying Back what Mandinka people did to them.” Never mind, the truth about what actually happened, or the “others” in our country. How can we ever become a nation with an outlook on things? It’s 2008, yet some are still fighting their parents’ 1960 battle! 

To underscore the plight of country people in those days, it is helpful to recall that when a senior British Colonial Official came visiting – in 1958 I believe it was, ABSOLUTELY NONE of the Wollof political leaders of Banjul bothered to seek the representation of country people to get their input. The official came and went without hearing anything from the majority of Gambian people. Country people felt dejected and voiceless. This is a point that both Langley and Dacosta note in their writings. Unlike some people, the two men show integrity. In any case, why should anyone be surprised that these same group of old mainly-Mandinka men rejected the overtures made by some Banjul politicians to lead them a year later (in 1959,) when it became clear to the Banjulians that they stood no chance against the majority rural dwellers? The old Country men did what any rational person would have done: ignore the Banjul politicians’ attempt as insincere and self-serving. Who can blame them?  

So when Suntou Touray raises the flag of caution, some of us recall these stories, among many others. I won’t even go into what some of the Banjul Wollof merchants in particular were doing to farmers – Mandinka, Fula, Jola, even Fana Fana, in those days. You see Sam, we didn’t start off right. A lot of dirty things happened, and CONTINUE to happen, in that country. And I know with absolute certainty that Colony Wolofs are NOT the victims in most cases! Nine out of ten times, they were the ones doing the victimizing. I don’t believe that the sins of the fathers should be visited on the children, which is why I don’t understand why the Sam Sarrs keep bringing up this 1959-1960 campaign, most of the major participants in which are all DEAD! Ironically, the man that Sam’s own parents supported flipped around, folded his party, and joined the same filthy Mandinka political scam artists after he lost to them at the polls! What does that say about Jahumpa?  

... Even in school, they caught hell from some Aku-speaking teachers. However, that attitude proved to be infectious, because the Banjul Wolofs turned around and treated other Gambians that followed them in worse ways!  So in truth, the majority of the Mandinka! Victim of whom?     End of Quotation

Now at least somebody with the guts could say it seriously like a landslide. If what Mr. Khan has narrated as what the PPP founding fathers like Sanjali Bojang and Pa Keita had been instilling in their minds as how the Wolofs brutalized the Mandinkas in those day is behind this pervasive anger and frustration, then going back in time to verify the truth for reconciliation is imperative. Trying to forget the unforgettable would therefore be like trying to cheat our own conscience. Because without verifying something of this negative magnitude which could be totally a fabrication by politicians in their irresponsible quest for power, the story will continue to hurt both Mandinkas and Wolofs as long as it stays in our minds. For instance, here I was thinking that there was nothing wrong to necessitate the anger when on the other hand; some Mandinkas like Saul Saidykhan were there thinking that everything out there was wrong for him to be very angry. Naturally, I must have my doubts over Mr. Khan’s story not only because none of my Mandinka friends ever said or demonstrated anything resembling such feelings towards me, but above all, this is my first time of hearing such a terrible thing about how callous Wolofs were in those days. To even think that when Mandinkas died in Bathurst those days Wolofs would refuse them basic assistance to bury the corpse is beyond any logical reasoning. And my sixth sense tells me that people in Banjul could not have been such kind of monsters.

However, before going any further I would like to know whether this was the same Saul Khan that I, Ebou Colly, wrote with in The Gambia-L forum eight years ago? If he were the one, then I would think that he probably had forgotten the reason that I had said was behind that pen name Ebou Colly instead of Samsudeen Sarr. You see Mr. Khan; I started using the name when I was incarcerated at Mile Two Central Prisons just after the July 22, 1994 coup. Letters I used to clandestinely write from the prisons and sent to the Daily Observer Newspaper and the BBC were signed in that pen name a fact known to most of the detained officers at the time. I was with the impression that if I had initiated the relentless attack I had done against the Jammeh administration, some of those officers would not only know who I was but would also contribute what they could out of their experience. I remember that Saul Khan and other G-L writers supporting my narratives over everything written against Jammeh and his government. I was sure everyone within that circle of Jammeh’s critics knew who I was including that Saul Khan. That Mr. Khan couldn’t have missed a particular incident when Dr. Amadou Scatrel Janneh once asked one of my critics who addressed me as Colonel Sir why he wouldn’t mention my name. I quickly followed that with a rejoinder telling Dr. Janneh that I was Samsudeen Sarr former GNA Commander. I also told graphic stories that nobody other than a person in my former capacity as Army Commander could have known about the Jammeh government. If therefore this Mr. Khan is different from this Mr. Saul Khan, I will refer him to the archives of the G-L to familiarize him with my earlier writings and see whether Ebou Colly was meant to hide who Samsudeen Sarr was. In fact, in my response to his paper I will search for those articles for out readers to see. However, if this was the same Saul Khan coming out lately and accusing me of hidden identity like those whose real names are untraceable but bent on smear campaigns against recognizable individuals, then I am surprised. I don’t know about him but if I were in his position with such feelings crammed in his emotions, I wouldn’t have pretended that attacking Jammeh was more desirable than dealing with the Wolofs who deserved greater hatred.

While the name Pa Keita does not immediately ring a bell, Sanjali Bojang was quite familiar. The ups and downs of his political legacy depending on what he wanted at different periods was common knowledge within the Banjul area. We were there with him as a prominent PPP icon until July 1981 after Kukoi put him through that memorable speech over Radio Gambia. The man was anyway a politician and in my arguments I have accentuated my concern over politicians armed with political ideologies for vendetta. This story, if at all is from him, I must add that it stinks high way to heavens. Well this is no longer about Samsudeen Sarr against any particular Gambian group or my attempts to drum up imaginable tribal disunity but about the entire Gambian people being subjected to a compelling litmus test. If we don’t come out in the open and discuss this intelligently, for a common understanding, then we might as well forget about trying to manage this dilemma with any kind hypocrisy. This paper however is not about Mr. Saul Kahn’s narrative but about Suntou’s rejoinder. I will definitely respond to Mr. khan after he finishes his paper.

Well it seems like after some reality checks with more reasonable people cautioning Suntou of his earlier remarks showing his actual tribal feelings, he therefore decided to try the image altering tactics by claiming parents of Wolof father and Mandinka mother. But even before warming up in that new image, his true feelings often imbedded in the subconscious, betrayed his calmness and he threw in the issue of irrelevant Saja Taal once telling a Mandinka fellow how he “sibs”(despises) Mandinkas. That was from his first declaration that he would match a tribally biased Wolof with any Mandinka identified with such bigotry. Hence Saja Taal, a Wolofnised Fula, I suppose, became the match for my mention of Dr. Manneh and Dr. Saho, two Mandinkas. I think a positive Suntou with his new outlook would have acted more believable if he had concluded that this bad fellow Saja Taal he considered a Wollof was not like his good father another Wolof who fell in love with his good mother a Mandinka resulting to their marriage and productive lives. He could have also reckoned the possibility that Saja might have come from the same bi-tribal family like him and the rest of us and was just an ignorant person making a fool of himself. That is how a fair-minded person genuinely on a path for positive harmony and co-existence behaves.

I would not however pretend like Suntou to please the crowd and change my position into saying that there are no tribally biased Gambians. In fact, the main theme of my argument is tribalism’s pervasiveness in African societies (including The Gambia) usually negligible because of its silent attributes under normal circumstances but also very dangerous when unscrupulous politicians use it for electioneering. And certainly, among all tribes like in all races, religions, sects, nations regions or so, there are those menacing elements who would mask their feelings publicly but in private, behind the scenes, always promote their core beliefs with fanatical zeal. To such elements, their kinds are the best and all else is not good enough. One doesn’t need to care much about them if their convictions are not involved in national politics; but whenever they are, they usually pose a serious threat to social peace, harmony and welfare. It’s the mindset of the genocidal, the ethnic cleansers and also the senseless warmongers. That’s what I saw in Liberia, Rwanda, The Congo and now in Kenya where over 800 innocent civilians have died in ethnic violence and two opposition MPs assassinated. That’s what my argument was all about until Suntou Touray came out to defend the politicians I gave as examples well before I even completed Part Two of my analysis. Quite frankly, I only used Manneh and Saho as metaphors of the kind of divisive politics that exploits the poor as long as their ends were met.

 

I think he made it an issue of Samsudeen Sarr unfairly targeting the Mandinkas and not the Wolofs, taking the debate to a different level while failing to address the tangibles. 

Anyhow, we might all want to put a stop to the discussion because of the discomfort it is causing some of us, but doing so, to me will be like running away from the importance of confronting the past problems which I think demand urgent attention. It wouldn’t help if we characterize Jammeh as a leader encouraging tribalism and still want to deny that it ever seriously existed anywhere in the country. Jammeh could not have possibly known how to effectively apply tribal politics if he didn’t find the practice deeply entrenched in Gambian or African politics in general. That’s why he does it with ease and gets away with it without any serious problems. This is another paragraph extracted from Suntou’s latest paper:

 

 “In the Gambia for example, our tribal, religious, and economic divisions tends to have neutralized one another, so that our political (and other behavior) cut across tribe, religion, economic, and other affiliations. No particular group is completely marginalized to the point of feeling angry. This perhaps is our source of stability. Now in Kenya this might not be the case. If…witnessing today. This is different from what obtain in the Gambia. The Gambia has a tradition of political and economic inclusiveness. I hope Jammeh does not destroy that tradition.”

 

Suntou needs to read Saul Khan’s commentary ASAP. That was however a statement he made after his earlier indication that both the PPP and APRC practiced tribal politics.

He could have pin pointed those political malpractices in the Jammeh government that most Gambians agree are tribal politics such as illegally registering his kinds, the Jolas from Cassamance to vote for his party in The Gambia; unjustifiably diverting the resources of the nation to his home village of Kanilai that many Gambians disapprove of and the appointment of his kinsmen to special government positions even if by qualification they do not merit those positions.

But would that mean upsetting my buddy’s icons like Dr. Manneh and Sheriff Dibba who are now despite what they had represented in the past, devoted loyalists to Jammeh and his DISDAINED GOVERNMENT? 

That said, I would want us to now critically examine one unwarranted statement taken out of context by Suntou. It all started on comments I had made about his remarks in his first paper. In the seventh paragraph, he had emphatically argued that the Mandinkas were the greatest opposition to Jawara. These were his exact word:

 

“Both Yahya and Jawara have been guilty of fanning tribal politics, but on a closer scrutiny, one will see a clear difference between the two. During Jawara’s time, his biggest opponents were Mandinka. This is vital in the discussion.”

 

From what I deducted, the man was evidently referring to that phenomenon with absolute pride. It was like portraying the Mandinkas as staunch opponents of the tribally biased PPP government, even though he was still disputing my argument that the first breakaway in the original PPP by Sheriffs Ceesay and Dibba was to a great degree predicated on tribal disagreement.

He then went on to say:

 “He Jawara was seen to abandon the core members of the Gambian community that helped brought him to power.”  (I now know exactly what Suntou meant after reading Mr. Khan’s paper)

However, after clearly taking pride in stating that the Mandinkas were the greatest fighters against Jawara followed by my rebuttal that the Mandinkas were also the most active in the operation that overthrew Jawara, Suntou twisted the logic and told readers that Samsudeen Sarr was attempting to agitate tribal uprising in the army. 

I just couldn’t see how that statement could cause tribal rebellion in the army. What is indisputable is that Jammeh was not among the planners of the coup; all were mainly Mandinka young officers whose names were publicly announced at our first meeting at the State House organized by the coup plotters on the evening of July 22^nd 1994. But they appointed Jammeh Chairman against very serious odds.

However, since Suntou was taking pride on the Mandinkas being the greatest fighters against Jawara, I thought the idea of Mandinka officers being the most active in what finally led to the downfall of the PPP should have been another added notch in that battle he felt was worthwhile fighting. I therefore, never saw anything in that statement out of the ordinary to suggest an agitation for tribal rebellion in the army.  I have seen rebellious soldiers always bent on conspiracy and agitation; but I have also seen them fail miserably in their aims and ambitions because of one fundamental reality; they have little faith in God and lack the guiding conscience to understand that the evil they usually craft behind the scenes end up making them the first victims in its execution. Soldiers who know me well, know better than believing the tale that I am capable of such unprofessional actions. So Suntou must have thought about this one very well as a possible twisted idea but powerful enough to send the wrong message to my Mandinka military colleagues.  

I wished he had checked the statistics and know why the Mandinkas were more prominent in everything that happened in the political and military spectacle. In parades, road running and marching, in shooting competitions, in guard of honors, sports name it within the army; and one would find that the Mandinkas were always the most prominent and effective. That’s the same reason why they were also dominant among the opposing people to the government of the day. But my man couldn’t just see that because of his trend of thought focused on another point-scoring opportunity.

I even made it sound like a joke by adding the names of Halifa Sallah…and Kukoi as being equally important in the PPP opposition campaign; he then perhaps realized the irrelevance of what he was boasting about and decides to use it against me.

I will however go ahead and now apologize to Doctors Manneh and Saho. By proving me wrong in what I figuratively consider as bad judgment for doubting their credentials, the man is now on a zealous crusade to discredit everything I had ever said or written even if it means trying to change what is obviously indelible. When I first mentioned the two former PPP political stalwarts mainly to support my central argument that they had used tribal politics, doubting their academic credentials was simply a minor factor in the whole equation. With or without the degree, as politicians my perception of their legacy has not changed in anyway. Nevertheless, I will be honest to admit the correction and apologize to everyone offended particularly, Manneh. Dr. Manneh I think should also thank us for the debate that triggered the effort that yielded more than what I anticipated.

It’s now clear from the same web page that the following are revealed about the man:

1. Dr. Manneh was the first black to earn a PhD in the Rutgers University Political Science Department.
2. He returned to The Gambia and became the highest-ranking member of the Gambian Parliament (something I never heard about).
3. He was second to the President of The Gambia. (Another new revelation to me).

I think many Gambians will thank the web link for such information that I believe was confidential to perhaps Suntou alone and a few others. At any rate, I will very much appreciate if Suntou could further furnish us with the dates and times the doctor became the highest-ranking member of the Gambian Parliament and also when he was second to the President of The Gambia.

We should also be thankful to everybody for raising the issue in this debate orchestrating the fact finding that proved me and all other doubters wrong. I was not alone in doubting them and now the evidence on Manneh is there for the first time for everybody to see. I have even copied and filed the page with the intention of showing it to everyone I run into who ever doubts his PhD degree. I am also looking forward to the late Dr. Saho’s, which I am hoping might sooner or later be dug out from the German University he attended.

There is no doubt that many more Gambians who had questioned the qualification of the two former PPP heavy weights will equally learn from the results of Suntou’s research. It’s only that many Gambians prefer to be silent than to express their feelings in such matters, but if the opportunity and time were given to most of our readers to honestly speak out their minds, one would be amazed by how many of them had doubted the duo. Even Suntou made a remark to support that point when he said in the fourteenth paragraph of his last paper: “There used to be rumors that he bought his doctorate certificate in the U.S; but that is never substantiated.” 

I never said those words before. I’ll therefore, conclude the Dr. Manneh issue by acknowledging that the debate I initiated with many expressing their disapproval over its continuation, has so far yielded a major discovery that so many Gambians over the past years craved to know. Once again, consider this as my sincere apology to Manneh.

Just look at it this way. Before George Bush invaded Iraq in 2001, the entire world relying on false intelligence including the UN thought Saddam Hussein had huge stockpiles of WMDs in his military arsenals. Saddam who knew he didn’t but was by then intoxicated with the defiant blood of a common dictator, refused to cooperate with the UN inspectors who could have easily cleared the suspicion. What happened next is common knowledge. But that didn’t change much about America’s commitment to fight global terror.

In this case therefore, proving that Dr. Manneh actually earned a doctorate degree has not change anything in my original position. Despite all the references quoted to support his point of disputing the global consensus that the political turmoil in Kenya is as a result of tribal politics, I will continue to go by what I read and hear in the news everyday. Someone in London talking to Kibaki’s daughter or Odinga’s son in Moscow with contrary ideas wouldn’t do much in changing my mind. What I hear and read everyday from the news only depicts scenarios of Kikuyus and Lou engaged in senseless tribal violence, thanks to the unscrupulous politicians seeking votes for power. The other day, the BBC ran the following piece:

“Police are struggling to restore order in Kenya, amid a wave of violence linked to December's disputed presidential election Riots are continuing in the towns of Naivasha and Nakuru in the Rift Valley, where dozens of people have been killed in five days of ethnic violence. Violence has also erupted in Eldoret and further west in Kisumu, both scenes of earlier bloodshed. Analysts warn a cycle of violence is emerging amid the political impasse. They say this takes the pattern of attacks followed by reprisal attacks. The national death toll since the elections is now about 800. Members of President Mwai Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe have been fighting with Luos and Kalenjins who backed his rival Raila Odinga in the election a month ago.” Culled From BBC

 

 

 

I have certainly heard about the economic disparity among the Kenyans, which is normal to me because after being elected to power most of these politicians spend the best part of their terms in office fattening their pockets through legalized corruption. The masses that vote for them return to their shanty dwellings managing their lives with only the consolation they enjoy in having faith in God. Meanwhile, competent crooks with no fear of God coupled with lack of basic human conscience exploit the corruptible establishments of almost all government departments in a style typical of greedy gangsters.

We had the same thing in The Gambia during the PPP and APRC days. When elections were near, the masses that have throughout been living in peace and harmony are solicited on tribal lines to vote for the politicians of their kind. That’s why nothing of substance on what could be done to improve the lives of the common voter is ever heard on campaign platforms. It has always been promises of rewards that are unrealistic because at the end of the day, most of them don’t even know what to do better than to continue doing what the colonialist left us to do since independence. And don’t think that there is anything complicated in running these African governments. If a man with Jammeh’s caliber could run The Gambia for over a decade with nothing drastically changing or going wrong in the status quo, then Gambians should know that there is nothing much to it. In fact, the only thing I noticed to have changed in the status quo was how the corruption in Jawara’s era benefited a broader clique within the government while in Jammeh’s, he stands alone to monopolize the right to be absolutely corrupt.

Struggling teachers for instance with higher qualifications earning salaries that barely met their basic needs, had to live with the horror of knowing that Custom officers, Corporative Union Secretaries or GPMB employees engaged in unrestricted and legalized corruption amassed personal wealth from public funds. It was simply a matter of getting hired, stealing as much money as possible with the common citizens calling it luck or the perceived supernatural prowess of a good Marabou’s support. These crooks come from all tribes and gender and would do anything to help the politicians stay in power covertly or overtly with a preference for those that wouldn’t mind much about their jobs and lifestyles. What I was therefore trying to put across were the facts expressed by many Kenyan scholars recently in that we should be mindful of politicians using the only trick they know to get votes for their selfish agenda, i.e., TRIBALISM. They use it but don’t even believe in it. That’s why when Jammeh seized power most of the political icons that for years were champions of youth movements and so-called radical parties sooner or later ended compromising all their principles and shamelessly succumbing to the government they were expected to resist. People like Suntou do not want to hear it when I talk about these political Judases liken to Sheriff Dibba, Dr. Momodou Manneh, Gibou Jagne, Pap Cheyassin Secka and a host of them. Being a PhD holder doesn’t immunize anyone from being scrutinized and criticized if a national debate requires it. Pol Pot of Cambodia was a PhD holder but to fulfill his political ambition he had to murder over a million of his people in cold blood.

It was anyway amazing to see how Suntu compiled all sorts of supporting ideas from Cyber warriors to get ahead. Therein lies our difference. He constantly changes his opinions and statements depending on what he thinks would give his argument an edge over mine. I think this is serious stuff requiring seriousness all the way.

I am however still having problems trying to figure out why he added some of the comments found online with questions that were better directed to him. Let’s again revisit one of those online comments which asked why I didn’t mention of M. C. Cham, M. C. Jallow, Andrew Camara as all being UP candidates elected under UP banner. … The questioner I think didn’t know that Suntu was the one who had written that the UP was  “…the clique that was existing among the founders of the UP.”

And in trying to make him see the composition of that so-called clique differently, I drew his attention to late Alhagie Momodou Musa Njie; a Fula tycoon in Banjul who many people mistook for Wolof. What I failed to add to that was the man supported UP until President Jawara later married his daughter.

I will also go a step further to say that PS Njie, as we used to hear about him was just another lousy politician who screwed the minds of his followers in the same way most politicians did and continue to do. I remember stories about his political rallies with uninformed followers, mostly women, stupefied by the fake telephone hand set he used to hold pretending to be speaking directly to Queen Elizabeth in London. Yet it was reported to have worked perfectly for him, winning him votes until the other Banjul parties started awakening the people on the hoax. They said PS Njie would be protesting on the phone, fisting on the table and demanding for resources to help the Banjul residents who were generally, pitifully poor. As he spoke laying tough demands over the phone sheep-like crowd cheered and screamed until they ran out of gas. That’s how colonial politics had been in the past with slight changes in the way it is conducted in the post-colonial era. Before they unlocked the secrete of the hoax, many Banjulians went to bed convinced that PS Njie was a Wolof hero who challenged the Queen.

So what I was saying about the PPP was that the pioneers who formed it had promised the Mandinka masses in the provinces their emancipation if elected into office; but when they got elected the politicians failed their promises. I was also made to understand that after Jawara consolidated his grip on power, he needed to run his own show, the co-founders, starting from the late Sheriff Ceesay broke away and tried the political trick of going back to the masses with the slogan that the “PPP was no longer Mandinka enough”. Ceesay they said was supposed to leave with Dibba, but latter changed his mind after the former took the first move. 

Dibba we also know had a turbulent record with Jawara, which I think started when his brother was arrested by Senegalese Custom officers for smuggling new boxes of butut coins to Senegal where they were highly valued for jewelry. Dibba was later deployed as Ambassador to Brussels; he then later became the first Minister of Economic Planning before finally breaking away from the PPP. As for Sheriff Ceesay he had by then returned to the PPP after his Party failed dismally.

The NCP, yes there were other ethnic groups in it. But when it came to election, Dibba also tried the “Jawara not Mandinka enough” trick. That’s what I know about the political ideology of our past politicians. I don’t expect anyone to ask me how I could proof that when most stories in those days were only transmitted verbally. Gambians don’t write such ideas. We go by what we hear. Remember that African society is oracular in nature and most of our history is embedded in our heads, handed down from generation to generation. But now that Mr. Saul Khan has come up with the details, I now have somebody more candid to discuss the issue with.

On the fury of the Malapropisms highlighted, I spoke about our homogeneity in Serekunda where growing up as boys, I narrated how we were the same in everything, speaking the same Wolof Language, playing and fighting together and going to the movies and so forth. If that means defining heterogeneous community, I don’t see the relevance of bringing it up other than to tell me that I misused a word there. I have always thought that oneness implies homogeneity. Now I have learnt something new!

The next concept was about colonialism and neocolonialism. The writer thinks that I was wrong to call the post-colonial period post-colonial, which implied Utopia. The person believes that colonialism never left Africa and so we should call what we have in The Gambia neo-colonialism. Of course, I have always said that after the colonialists left Africa, centuries of their presence and control left us completely lost on where we were before their arrival. So we didn’t have any choice but to continue with what they bequeathed to us- their language, system of government-public administration and judiciary, economic structure and lifestyle. If that is what this man is cataloging as neo-colonialism, then I wonder whether even Kwame Nkrumah who loudly echoed this terminology during his days could help us with how we could do it differently. The dictionary definition of neocolonialism is given as: the survival or revival of colonialist exploitation by a foreign power of a region that has ostensibly achieved independence. This concept I am afraid might not resonate well at an African Union conference where African leaders proudly represent their independent nations unanswerable to any foreign power. I think the usage of the terms post-colonial and neocolonialism depends on what the user believes in. I also used to think that it was neocolonialism. I don’t anymore since I discovered that Marxism was all a joke. Arguing about these jargon(s) however show little relevance to tribal politics in Africa if the commentator cannot link his thoughts to the topic.

And now to Janko’s fascinating contribution. This person thinks that the topic is a good example of a Europhonic mindset. I tried to look for the meaning of the term in all my dictionaries but I guess it might be a newly coined word. Wherever he might have been coming from, I think Janko needed to understand that throwing sweeping statements without much details to substantiate his facts end up taking us back to where we started from. It is reminiscent of the proverbial dog trying to bite its own tail. It doesn’t at all help in debates meant to clarify pertinent issues. However, his beef with me started with my statement about how I wouldn’t teach my kids about the crappy cultural mumbo-jumbo stuff we still entertain in The Gambia as cultural values. He sees it as Europhonic. He further attributed the denotation of the term to my personality, which he concluded was in perspective with the anthropologist of the 20s and 30s. He added: “The difference is the anthropologists used the notion of primitivism to strengthen and alleviate the status of their own societies over the rest of the world whilst the author uses it to harm the reputation of his own society and people.” Can anybody tell me what this person was talking about?  But this is what I believe happens when people take things they read out of context. I had simply stated that the primitive concept of witches flying at night to hunt for humans to eat with Fangbondis counter hunting and destroying them in Gambian societies is the last thing I will teach my children to be the truth. I also added my disapproval of the absurd notion of our societies being stratified in the discriminatory configuration that associate certain families to heritages that only tell us the trades their ancestors were preoccupied with, e.g. blacksmiths, cobblers, goldsmiths, slaves and the like. As I pen this paper, some Gambians still feel superior to others. In some villages and communities in The Gambia people who claimed to be of royal heritage are still buried in segregated graveyards from their next-door neighbours that they still consider slaves (Jam, Jungo) even though they eat with them, pray with them and go to school with them. Across the spectrum, some Gambians cannot still marry others from the same ethnic group lest they soil their ancestral purity, whatever that may mean. How such statement could be interpreted as coming from the mindsets of those anthropologists who used primitivism to strengthen and alleviate the status of their societies beats the devil out of me. It’s hard to imagine where Janko has been getting his history lessons on Western civilization, but I strongly recommend that he verifies his facts. To the contrary, Western societies had been in the past, equally plagued by such primitive concepts that were over time fought and removed by thinkers, writers and debaters that eventually brought them the scientific progress that now developed their nations to where they are. The terrible story of the Witches of Salem Massachusetts in 1692 in which some hysterical children accused their innocent neighbors of being witches resulting to the arrest, prosecution and final execution of nineteen of them solidifies my claim. Gallows Hill where they were all hanged now symbolizes the danger of primitive beliefs and their deadliness to human civilization. Today, millions of tourists from all over the world regularly congregate at those tombs to empathize with the people subjected to such horror and stupidity.

Similarly, to hammer the point closer to home, Nigerian novelist Chenua Archebe’s powerful historical narrative in Things Fall Apart illustrates among other things, taboos like twins and albinos considered as evil being thrown alive in the evil forest of Umofia the very day they were born; those infected with stomach cancer were forced to die in the evil forest. In short, I believe society as it develops has to take stock of what is reasonable and what is not with the courage to work diligently to update the thought and actions for the better.

If not, then that society might as well ignore everything in the name of preserving our culture. I have frequently drawn the attention of our readers to the embarrassing situation Jammeh as a President has brought to the Gambian nation by claiming to have supernatural powers that enable him to hear voices from the Quran making him a special doctor of all diseases. I wonder where these people were to remind me of how I was using primitive concepts to hurt our society. That is to say that if it is about Jammeh no matter how much one misunderstands me, my criticisms are almost always well founded; but when similar situation arose without Jammeh being involved Sam is damn wrong!

Looking at what Jammeh is doing I was hoping that Gambians by now are considering the need in the future for constitutional amendments forbidding any future President, vice President, Cabinet Minister or any senior official holding public office to be engaged in such lunatic practices. If any jackass wishes to open his own spiritual clinic for healing sick people, that person must quit his position or be forced to do so.

But what do I know? I think I should just leave things as they are and continue to watch like everybody else. I wish you Luck. 

Mr. Saul Khan expect my response next.