Edmund Burke, wrote in “A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful the following:

“No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear … To make anything very terrible, obscurity seems in general to be necessary. When we know the full extent of any danger, when we can accustom our eyes to it, a great deal of the apprehension vanishes. Every one will be sensible of this, who considers how greatly night adds to our dread, in all cases of danger, and how much the notions of ghosts and goblins, of which none can form clear ideas, affect minds which give credit to the popular tales concerning such sorts of beings. Those despotic governments, which are founded on the passions of men, and principally upon the passion of fear, keep their chief as much as may be from the public eye.”

This is so true of the situation in the Gambia. Instilling fear through torture, murder and other vices has been the constant tool in Yahya Jammeh’s authoritarian rule. Raiding communities, arresting, detaining and forcibly making their elderly drink concoctions that are lethal is a brutal way to instill fear and power over a people. Yahya has succeeded to certain extent. Most of the people subjected and will be subject to this craziness will be waiting on God to come and rescue them … as if that ever happens if you don’t put in the effort.

The only bright spot in this saga is the stance taken by a single man…Halifa Sallah. Here is an interview he granted Foroyaa after his release from prison, because he dare question the government on the legality and morality of their actions…vis a vis the witch hunts.

“MY RIGHT TO DEFEND THE SOVEREINTY AND WELFARE OF THE PEOPLE IS INVIOLABLE AND NON NEGOTIABLE” …Halifa

Halifa understands Burke’s assertion clearly and he refuse to be fearful. Go and read the whole interview at Foroyaa online. It is beautiful.

We have a moron running the Gambia into the ground. When men like Halifa Sallah stood up for the downtrodden against the bully, he send his minions to arrest and imprison him. But like all bullies, Yahya has a glass jaw. Anytime Halifa stood his ground, he finds some lame excuse for arresting him in the first place.

Halifa Sallah isn’t only talking, but doing it where it matters the most. For that we are grateful.

For more info check out foroyaa at this link

Halifa Sallah has been arrested and imprison by the thuggish regime of Yahya Jammeh for coming to the defense of innocent victims of Yahya’s witch hunt. As usual and as if on clue diasporan Gambians took to the usual spots online to denounce the actions of Yahya. We have become victims of circumstance…always reacting to the whims of Yahya.

Whatever you may think of the politics of Halifa Sallah, you have to admit that he is walking the walk. He is putting his life and livelihood on the line to defend what is right. I am not going to start asking about the whereabout of the other political leaders on the ground like some of my countrymen are doing from the comfort of Europe and good old US of A. We are asking of others sacrifices that we refuse to make. So while we admire the courage of Mr. Sallah and call for his immediate release, we should be mindful of castigating others.

Here is Foroyaa’s reporting on this outrage:

Halifa Sallah, former NADD presidential candidate and Foroyaa Editorial Board member, told supporters and sympathisers at the Brikama Magistrates Court, that he is willing to become a sacrificial lamb to ensure the liberty and dignity of the people. He made this remark at the close of his first appearance in court since he was arrested on Sunday 8 March, 2009.

“I am ready to suffer for others not to suffer, but what is going on must come to a stop,” he told his audience. He told them that there is no need for them to despair. He asked them to go home, but they need not worry that he could not possibly meet the conditions of the bail granted. He indicated that he was looking for their strength and not their weakness. He stressed to them that they needed to be strong.

These words evidently touched the audience and the grim faces soon became bright.

Shortly after the adjournment of the case he was whisked to the Remand Wing of Mile Two Prison.

Many people in court were dumbfounded when the Magistrate imposed the following bail conditions:
(1) A bail bond in the sum of 1 million dalasis to be signed by three sureties;
(2) Two of the sureties must be Ex-Inspector General of Police or Ex-Brigadier of the army who have been retired for at least eight years;
(3) One of the sureties must be an Alkalo (village head) from Western Region

When he appeared in court, three charges were read to him:
(i) Spying, in that while at Makumbaya, he had obtained confidential information which he knew is useful to the enemy
(ii) Control of processions in that he held a procession while in Makumbaya
(iii) Seditious intention in that he unlawfully assembled the people of Makumbaya in order to collect information that would bring hatred or contempt or excite disaffection against the Government of The Gambia.

He pleaded not guilty to all three charges.

The police prosecutor then stood up at this point to oppose the granting of bail. He argued that they took a lap top from Halifa Sallah’s home which is in their possession and if Halifa is granted bail he may tamper with the ‘website of the lap top’.

Halifa Sallah, who was unrepresented, submitted that the offences alleged are bailable. He further submitted that every accused person is presumed innocent until he/she has pleaded or proven guilty. He also submitted that the hearing of the case should be free and fair. He concluded that the court should not restrain his ability to defend himself.

He opined that what is significant is for the court to ensure his appearance whenever it deems it fit. He pointed out that he had sought the highest office of this land as a presidential candidate in 2006. He assured the court that he would comply with whatever condition the court imposes to ensure his appearance at an adjourned date as long as the conditions are reasonably justifiable in a democratic society. The magistrate did not like the last bit of the statement and after a brief exchange Halifa amended it to: “I will comply with whatever the court deems just.” He therefore asked the court to grant him bail.

He pointed out that the submission of the prosecution regarding the lap top is neither here or there in that in the first place the lap top does not belong to him but his wife.

Fishing Expedition
He asserted that the prosecution were simply engaged in a fishing expedition. He emphasised throughout his detention that he had never been confronted with any witness.

The jackasses decided to set insourmountable obstacles to his bail. They are trying to make his life miserable. His courage under the circumstances is exemplary. Take this portion of the story for instance:

“I am ready to suffer for others not to suffer, but what is going on must come to a stop,” he told his audience. He told them that there is no need for them to despair. He asked them to go home, but they need not worry that he could not possibly meet the conditions of the bail granted. He indicated that he was looking for their strength and not their weakness. He stressed to them that they needed to be strong.
These words evidently touched the audience and the grim faces soon became bright.

I hope he realize that he need a movement to get rid of this dictatorship. Telling your supporters to go home while you endure injustice is no way to broke the yoke of a tyrant. He can’t suffer for the people and ask them not to join him in the struggle. This is a fight for the soul of a nation and he need all the help he can get.

Free Halifa Sallah……

The 44th president of the United States been sworned into office is a vindication for the sacrifice made by the thousands of men and women from the abolitionist movement to the civil rights movement. They have a few things in common…courage, conviction, idealism and hope. They stood up to power and along the way some pay the ultimate price. Today’s festivities is the fruits of their labor. Congratulations, President Obama. Good Luck and God bless.

On a different note, I liked this from Nate:

For as much as some parts of the world have developed a habit of looking down on America, it’s highly unlikely that any nation in Europe or most of the rest of the world would have elected someone like Barack Hussein Obama as their leader.

I agree.

The erudite Gambian writer Suntou Touray recently wrote on the Gambia-L that he is embarking on a project to outline the tribal competencies of Gambians. I am one of the respondents pooh poohing this idea as silly and counterintuitive.Mr. Touray tried to allay our reservations with the trust me meme and recently took to his blog and the Bantaba forum to push this idea. He didn’t make mention of my name, so it is fair to say that I am outing myself by writing this post in response to what I think is a mish mash of a very convoluted thought process.Take this sentence from Suntou’s post for instance:

The vital point to note here for all is that, The key word is ‘TRIBAL COMPETENCES’. This doesn’t mean, what one tribe is competent at another is
incompetent with.

Which begs the question what pray tell is the purpose of allocating competencies if it doesn’t empirically settle the incompetence of other tribes at doing the exact same thing? Isn’t assigning a certain competency to a certain tribe in essence saying that tribe X is superior in performing a certain task than the rest? Mr. Touray went out of his way to disprove his own proposition in the same sentence in an effort to allay fears and thus have it both ways.

My objection to Mr. Touray from the jump centers on my libertarian disposition that nothing is impossible for the cognitively developed individual. Erickson’s theory of nature versus nurture comes to mind. To this point, Steinberg argued that through a process of assimilation we try to “restore cognitive equilibrium by incorporating new information into existing schemes”. Personality development continues throughout the life span as a result of every new experience within that environment. He has the belief that life is composed of changes in which everyone must go through. Therefore it is safe to say that unless a tribe lives as a hermit unto itself, ideas developed in their environment will be shared with other tribes and members of the later may become equally or more competent in task than the originator tribe. Thus assigning competencies becomes arbitrary and caricaturist.

Further reading of Suntou’s posting does reveal a serious flaw in his argument: he is confusing culture and cultural affinity with competence. Why else would he write something as absurd as the following if he is not confusing the two:

I am well aware of prejudice and bigotry and seriously as a Muslim, that is the last thing that comes to my mind. The ’social construct’of each individual is different. Even two Mandingos from different region in one country will have different social construct. A Baddibunka mandingo for instance may culturally value money differently to a Kobomka mandingo. Similarly a Senegalise Wolof may see marriage differently to a Gambian Wolof. Is writing or talking about this peculiarities sensitive? Yes, because our society is very rigid and sensitive.

If you notice that he didn’t mention anything regarding the competencies of the groups of people he is using as an example, you are not alone. It will be helpful, for example if he can enumerate how competent Senegalese Wolofs are at a given task than say a Mandinka from Badibu. Instead we are treated to this caricature of Badibunkas as money grubbing species that has been going around albeit subtly. I happened to be culturally Mandinka and hailed from Badibu. Does this mean I like money than Suntou? Is this the kind of caricature Suntou will be trying to pass off as serious research into our tribal competencies?

Maybe just maybe, my understanding of the word Competency is different from Suntou’s. When I think competent, I visualize skill. Case in point, it is safe to assume that Suntou having spent years in the financial management corridor is more competent to handle issues related to finance than a person of another tribe without that prerequisite training and experience. However, it will be a fallacy to assume that people of different tribes are more competent at doing certain things all things considered.

The question of whether the competencies of humans are the result of predisposed genetics or if their lives and personalities are shaped by the surrounding environment are critical to this discourse. This is why Erickson’s view of development supports nurture. Nurture holds a substantial sway over how we become who we are, rather than whose we are.

If you think political whoring in the Gambia started with the ascendancy of Yaya Jammeh to power, then you are surely mistaken. Granted the brutality that befall Gambia since Jammehcracy is unique in Gambian political life. However, the sycophantic nature our people hasn’t change a bit…if anything it got reinforced. Click on the link below and listen to the 1992 PPP MansaKonko congress and see if much has change in the sycophancy department since, save for the players. 

Nothing in my life has actually changed in the last weeks since Obama become our president elect. I have the same bills, the same amount of money in the bank, my disdain for the dictatorial rule of Yahya Jammeh is at an all time high (granted I don’t talk about it much). Everything in my life is exactly the same as it was two weeks ago; and yet I feel as though everything is different.

I feel so much hope. I feel so much pride. I feel like my one vote was a single drop of water in a great Tsunami of change. I feel like I was one of a million voices screaming in the night, ” I love my country and I’m taking it back!” I’m so proud of the country that I love and have so much hope in my heart that we can together heal the wounds that have been such a source of pain and anger to us all.

I know Obama isn’t going to fix the economy overnight, I know he won’t be able to provide healthcare to all Americans by February ‘09. I know Obama isn’t a Messiah who four years from now will have turned this country into a fabled utopia. But I also know Obama will make moral decisions. I know Obama will try to unite where others try to divide. I know Obama will help to make America the beacon of hope it once was to others. I know that at 33 years of age, I witnessed one of the most important and hopefully glorious chapters in American history.

I know hope.

In a  couple of hours we will be calling Barack Obama …president elect. Ponder that for a minute. The returns coming in are marvelous for our man.