Dear Editor:
Please allow me to express my disappointment with the way and manner your associate editor is using his position to 'fight a proxy war' with the Mandinkas by using PPP-era government as his 'weapon.' I am a Mandinka myself, but I had never voted for that party (either at presidential or parliamentary levels). I completed my 'A' levels from Nusrat High School, but you know what,it was not easy at all in securing myself a job; and going by Mr Jallow's , it was suppose to be boom time for people like myself.

It serves no purpose writing names to back up his so-called 'Mandikanisation case'.I will just ask him who were the occupants of the following portfolios prior to july 22nd?

1. Head of Civil Service
2. Foreign Affairs Ministry
3. Accountant General
4. Auditor General
5. Inspector General of Police
6. Head of The Gambia Armed Forces
7. Education Ministry
8. Agriculture Ministry
9. Youth and Sports Ministry
10. Trade and Industry Ministry
11. Our representatives (ambassadors) to:
- the United Kingdom and Ireland
- France
- the United States of America, to name a few.
12. Attorney General and Minister of Justice

I am pretty sure the above positions were not 'left-overs'; and with the so-called mandikanisation happening at the time, I just wonder why these positions did go to other people.

To conclude this letter Mr Editor, I would like to let you know that so many Gambians are reading your online papers...but not many talk, for now. Let us all think with our heads, not with our hearts.

I thank you very much indeed, and keep it up. Cheers!
Kabiro Janneh.

Editor's Note: Thank you so much for the insight and the sense of respect and ease with which you convey your compelling letter. I hope our readers will learn a lot from your candour and discipline in reacting and responding to stories published here. Despite claims to the contrary, we do not censor any one. Those who accuse us of censorship have used this very medium to react and respond and we have the evidence. What we cannot do however, is to accept readers to dictate to us when, how and where to publish their contributions. Besides, it is childish and shameful for people who never even attempted to send us a piece to associate themselves with events and situations that they are totally ignorant of. As suggested elsewhere, it is unethical for other papers to publish rejoinders associated with other papers.

When the Waa Juwara fray began, numerous readers of the Freedom Newspaper sent me damning essays of Waa based on the veracity of the Freedom stories but I categorically refused to publish them although they were well written contributions. Why? Because The Freedom Newspaper wrote about Waa in that instance and ethics dictate that any reponse to that piece shoud be directed to that medium. In the past, we have contributors hiding behind pen names who wrote withering indictments against Mathew and we published them. What we cannot accept however, is for people to turn this medium to a tabloid trash where they can insult people with impunity.    

            Finally, those who have been following our maturation into a fully fledged web paper can attest to the fact that we do try as much as possible to edit our stories. Some of our contributors are so angry that they constantly insult Yahya Jammeh's innocent mother. We usually try to edit such stories as much as we could. But some are so rudely written that we throw them in our waste basket. This is why it has been standard practice since our inception ( Momodou Lama Jallow of Gamway Computers our premier host can attest to this) that once a piece is published in another medium with the exceptions of press releases, we try not to publish the same piece. 

            In the past week, many of our readers have asked that I visit the Gainako paper because they seemed to be bent on tarnishing  my image. The fact of the matter is that they cannot. That paper's proprietor Yerro Jallow as far as I know holds me in high esteem. Yerro has sent me stories to edit for the same paper which were subsequently published. If I were the idiot that some of the angry readers claim, I would have simply said no Sir that would be a conflict of interest. Besides, Yerro and I talk at least twice a month. Therefore, as far as I know Yero and I are "cool." Let us therfore, think before we write and pause before we insult because once done, it is difficult to repair. Let us focus on the bigger picture, the reason why most of us are here and stop this personal vendetta. A word for the wise is enough!