In a letter he personally delivered to The Standard offices yesterday afternoon, Dr Carrol wrote: “I was perturbed, extremely flabbergasted, and provoked beyond all human endurance, when I read in the Wednesday 12th March 2014 publication of your newspaper, a highly defamatory letter to the editor captioned ‘Re: Tribute to Archbishop Dr Johnson’ which was written by one ‘Sitaba Darboe of Bakoteh’ who fallaciously claims to know me ‘for a long time’. For a start, I do not know any Sitaba Darboe in my entire life. I do not see any reason why this prestigious academic achievement of mine should ‘tore the heart’ of Ms. Darboe, because it is very factual”.
Whilst referring to Sitaba Darboe’s dismissive mention of his chairmanship of the Law Reform Commission, Dr Carrol asserted:
“Ms Darboe is alluding to a grand launching ceremony that took place at the Ministry of Justice on 11th February 2011. Everything said in my tribute concerning this official ceremony in relation to the late archbishop and my humble self are also factual, and this can be confirmed beyond all reasonable doubt by official records in the Attorney General’s Chambers and Ministry of Justice. I also do not comprehend why the official role I actually played at the aforesaid official ceremony should cause “enormous embarrassment” to Ms Darboe.
“I do not know any Sitaba Darboe in my life and all the negative things he/she is saying about me is nothing but a Mount Kilimanjaro of lies. He/she is accusing my humble self of not supporting the entrenchment of justice, democracy and good governance in society. Any person in his/her right senses who reads my tribute in its entirety will definitely come to the inevitable conclusion that these are the noble ideas which I have been constantly promoting in our beloved Gambian society ever since I qualified as a barrister at law several years ago. Contrary to what Ms Darboe is asserting he/she is in fact discouraging me from continuing my positive contributions to national developments that are presently ongoing in our beloved motherland, I am not in any way forcing myself into the national consciousness.”
Concluding, the aggrieved Dr Carrol wrote: “In the light of the aforesaid, since you went ahead and published the aforesaid highly defamatory letter to the editor written by Sitaba Darboe, I am now requesting you to urgently publish an apology to me in a place of equal prominence as the aforesaid published article within 7 days from the date of this my letter, and please let me know in advance in which edition of your newspaper the apology will be published”.
Author: Sainey Darboe
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