On Lie Saine’s bigotry
Dear editor
I have listened to the Lie Saine audio and if there is anything that I have learned, it is that his bigotry and irresponsible remarks against the Mandinka tribe is because he has been very angry since the humiliation of his godfather Yahya Jammeh. This man and whoever may support him, have been broken into pieces. Lie Saine is under the influence of Satan that engulfed his life over decades. He represents evil which has been making him emotionally unstable with his own surroundings.
He badly needed help before his depression and psychotic problems would lead him to suicide. The man is not himself looking at the ways he contradicted himself in many ways. If Jammeh was a saint, why was he humiliated in such grand style?
I would like to suggest that Lie Saine’s family and friends help him to see a psychiatric doctor before it is too late for him. It is obvious to me that Lie Saine is among the proverbial dumb and deaf people and the anger he harboured in his chest will rot there till he is dead. That is the saddest of any existence. Lie Saine is broken, depressed and confused about his own existence and directing his anger towards what he called ‘Sosseh’ but not Mandinkas, is a hollow expresssion of his sick mind.
May Allah cleanse his heart and remove the cover that is preventing him from seeing the light and accept the reality.
Gambians should know that this man is psychologically challenged. He’s lost his inner self to Jammeh’s jalang (Satan) that is making him to go ballistic. Mandinka or Sosseh and all other tribes that constitute ‘Gambianya’ are here to stay. No amount of hatred or intolerant remarks from Lie Saine and many other of his types can change that.
Master ‘Size’ Gassama
UK
The rise of real estate land grabbing capitalists in Gambia
Dear editor,
A real estate company according to the Cambridge Dictionary company that buys, sells and rents properties”. In recent years, The Gambia has been witnessing the crazy rise of real estate companies that compete for any available space in the country just like the Europeans scrambled for Africa during the colonial era.
Real estate companies in The Gambia mostly put more focus in buying vast swathes of land, divide them into small pieces and either sell them or develop and sell them. These lands include forest covers, agricultural lands, “gardens” of fruit tree like mangoes, oranges and cashew which they raze to the ground. These activities do not only pose threat to the environment and the climate but also to agricultural production and productivity.
It is just talking for talk’s sake to say that real estate companies “are here to help the poor”. On the contrary, they are here to widen the gap between the rich and the poor by giving the rich more opportunity to grab land in all parts of The Gambia.
The poor only end up suffering as they lose their agricultural lands for next to nothing. Sometimes it is the state itself that takes their land from them and compensates them with peanuts.
For example, in Kombo Mandinary, the government took the rice fields of poor farmers who solely depended on farming for the sustenance of their families and turned it into a fuel depot without any proper compensation.
In Faraba, rice fields of poor villagers were seized and given to a capitalist mining company to exploit. In this case, not only were their food security and income generating opportunities threatened but three sovereign citizens of The Gambia were shot and killed in daylight by the police for protesting against government heavy-handedness.
The same scenarios are unfolding in Gunjur, Sanyang and Kartong.
The state should make sure our resources are managed well and benefit all Gambians.
Sanna Badjie
Kombo Kerewan
Re: Man threatens to sue IGP over police ‘maltreatment'”
Dear editor,
Definition of democracy in The New Gambia:
(1) Put the laws into one’s own hands!
(2) Advise the president and government on how to run the country!
(3) If the above two aren’t met, occupy a famous landmark around the Kombos and if the police show up, be arrogant and rude to them and refuse arrest!
Finally associate yourself with a civil society organisation or a political party!
Then we’ll all cry foul play and accuse the government of nepotism and biasness!
You’ll surely be arrested, then you sue the IGP!
Finally everyone else will call you a human rights activist.
AB Sajar
[email protected]
What President Barrow could have said to answer his critics
Dear editor,
I’ve read how Dr Ceesay of the UTG criticised President Barrow as being “incompetent” and lacking the “intellectual capacity” to be president. If true, such remarks are ungentlemanly and insulting to say the least. A person’s IQ (intelligence quotient) can be accessed by widely used IQ tests. Some PhDs in Psychology with specialised training are said to be able to access accurately a person’s IQ after a short interview. I doubt Mr Ceesay has this training, so his remarks are merely uninformed opinions. President Barrow could have said as much.
As I understand it, Dr Ceesay’s remarks could land him in jail given the laws on the books here outlawing criticising the president and the government. Perhaps Mr Ceesay was trying to goad President Barrow to have him arrested for sedition, thereby giving Dr Ceesay another opportunity for a self-promoting drama – like the time he jailed himself during an incident with the police over his right of free speech. The police released him after an interview and Dr Ceesay fought the release, according to the police version of the incident. President Barrow could have noted he does not support these laws and explain that he is wise enough to deny Mr Ceesay such a self-serving opportunity, regardless of Dr Ceesay’s mean spiritedness.
If Dr Ceesay wants to share his expertise and offer the Barrow regime constructive suggestions for the development of The Gambia, it is a bad idea to begin the discussion with insults. Such behaviour places Dr Ceesay at the lower end of the scale that measures political savvy and people skills.
And finally, on the issue about a rule that a president must have a college or university diploma, President Barrow could have cautioned us about the background of those promoting such a rule. If you ask a ‘plumber man’, he will say you need your plumbing fixed. If you ask a surgeon, he will say you need surgery. If you ask a professor, he will say you need more diplomas. After all, a college or university, competing with other educational institutions, is selling a product, which is a diploma, and possibly a quality education too.
He might have landed one final blow, adding he is too smart to waste his time and money on obtaining a diploma given its questionable value for the money these days. Instead, he chose to educate himself about how to build a profitable business, much like billionaires Bill Gates (Microsoft) and Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), both of whom happen to be self-taught computer programmers and college dropouts too. Over and out.
Amet Ngallan
Fajara
