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Dalton1
3485 Posts |
 Posted - 16 Jan 2006 : 22:46:30
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GOOD MORNING MR. PRESIDENT
Good Morning Mr. President and Esteemed Readers!
With Lamin Jatta
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January 16, 2006
Your excellency, I have the pleasure and honor to launch this edition of Good Morning Mr President on ALLGAMBIAN.COM. This column is specially dedicated to an extraordinary mentor, teacher, and a freedom fighter, Mr. Deyda Hydara. One of the outrageous theories put up by the so called "Confidential Report" prepared by the National Intelligence Agency, NIA, unwittingly suggested that his death could be linked to Mr.Hydara's anchormanship of the column, Good Morning Mr President,where he attacked the person of the president and a bunch of other craps.
Your excellency, we are privy to information that your government has ordered for the immediate termination of Good Morning Mr. President column on the pages of Point News Paper. This morning, we are going to complement the initiative of our sister on line paper, The Gambian Journal, to be coming up with a weekly edition on Monday mornings to serve as a befitting substitute for that of the column on Point News Paper which is conspicuously absent in its pages. I hope you will enjoy reading this column every Monday morning.
I intend to contribute my little way to keep the great legend's thriving memory and belief for freedom and democracy alive and bouncing it up to the door steps of his ruthless murderers. This, I believe, will not only taut his killers, Mr President, but will prove to them and all Gambians that no body can kill freedom of a great people like Gambians.
Your excellency, The cliché that our contemporary world is a global village cannot elude the great people of the Gambia. That is to say the entire world, and the Middle East in particular, are embracing democratic principles. Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, among a host of other countries are enjoying the ideals of democracy and ensuring that the freedom of their peoples is guaranteed. We Gambians will not be cowered into accepting a few power intoxicated and dishonest elite condemn us back to the quagmire of the pre-civilized era of our nation's history as a mean to meeting their selfish ends.
Being a great son of Africa, coupled with his unflinching patriotism, Mr. Hydara as it appeared, has willingly paid the ultimate price and stood firmly on his beliefs until he breathed his last breath. Mr President, of course, this great man is this morning, laying in his peaceful grave , thanks to your government's failure or refusal to arrest the systematic and deliberate atrocities targeting the independent media in the form of arson attacks by the Green Boys that is sending a reign of terror hovering above innocent journalists and climaxed in the gruesome murder of a great man..
Your excellency, your failure to provide security and protection to independent journalists in the backdrop of your frequent use of diatribes on the public media that put the lives of Gambian journalists in danger, criminally is a dereliction of responsibility that Gambians bestowed on you and a breach of oath to protect the citizens without ill will or affection. This morning, your excellency, Mr. Hydara is looking at us with total amazement at the extent to which we Nodomie Adama allowed our sinful worldly penchant for power, injustice, and falsehood compromise our very conscience that distinguished us from beasts.
Your excellency, frankly, the comportment of your government in the wake of the assassination of Mr. Hydara is a frantic confluence of cover ups, defamation of the blameless character of Mr. Hydara, lies, and the involuntary expression of guilt. The world is flinching at the conspiratorial role played by the NIA, police, state control media, executive, parliament, and even the judiciary among other state apparatus in the events leading to and after the assassination of Mr Hydara. Your Excellency, in an all true democracy, all these state apparatus are supposed to serve as checks and balances on one another as opposed to working in cohort to abuse the rights and freedom of their own people.
The marriage of all these state functionaries was what kept Deyda hollering at you until certain blood thirsty gun men decided that he should be shut up. Mr. Hydadra was assassinated with the sole purpose of keeping him quiet for good as he refused to be threatened into a state of silence. It is reported that even when Mr Hydara would not keep quiet from his grave at the rampant injustices of your government, it took a presidential degree to shut the Good Morning Mr President column with the ultimatum that if the Point newspaper continues to stubbornly relay the voice of Mr Hydara from the grave, it will be made to follow its founding father's path.
Your excellency, it is in view of your government's excesses, especially in the case of Mr Hydara, that other numerous students and I who passed through his soft and able hands that sparks fire in the fight for the truth, freedom, transparency and accountability, will accept his torch and sword for these principles with the greatest humility, challenge and honor. Mr President, I have always had the suspicion that the killers of Mr Hydara strategically targeted him to decapitate the independent press in our country. I hope that this will prove on no uncertain terms that no living power can kill the voice of the voiceless which is obviously the voice of Allah subhana wa tallah .
Mr President, another theory for the reason of the assassination of Mr. Hydara is that the assassins thought by so doing they will annihilate the critical Point newspaper as well. But alas! they have failed woefully. Mr. President, today my heart is full of joy as I crave on your indulgence to deliver this important news to our martyr, Mr. Hydara in his grave. Hi Mr. Hydara, the new year has dawn an unprecedented blossom of your dream and beliefs. It is with profound gratification and fulfillment that only matched the sadness, sorrow, and anger that struck us when you were brutally ripped from us by terror, that I informed you that the Point newspaper did not in fact die a natural death as the enemies of freedom and progress had planned. The hatred of terror only serve as a motivation and challenge for our resolve to maintain the fight for the noble principles you were killed for with great enthusiasm and vigor. Not only do we have a daily Point newspaper now, we also have two Good Morning Mr. Presidents on hand to, ( insallah) monitor the president and where possible, commend the president or blow the whistle if the ball falls from his clumsy hands. As you rest in your grave, I will make this commitment this morning, that we will move the darkness of the night and the seemingly indifferent of the APRC government to bring to justice your murderers who are cowardly hiding their grotesque act behind the wall of refusal of this government to launch a serious investigation in this matter.
Mr. President, last night I had a dream. The great Martin Luther King appeared in my dream which coincidentally falls on his birthday, January 15th. I have the honor to share the dream with you this morning: In the dream I saw a Gambia where people were living in a very democratic society that to me is a far cry from what you preside over today. In that dream, the Gambia was a developed and progressive country where journalists were allowed to do their job of informing the people without hitches or hindrance from the government. In that dream, the opposition had access to the public media and are allowed to challenge the government on issues that hinged on national interest, a government where the parliament checks on executive power, the judiciary checks on the parliament, and of course, the citizens were free to express themselves on how they are governed without fear of persecution. Justice finally was done for not only Deyda Hydara, but Ousman Koro Ceesay, all the young victims of the April 10 and 11 students massacre, the death bodies found at Brufut, and of course Lawyer Ousman Sillah. Have a good day Mr. President.
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"There is no god but Allah (SWT); and Muhammad (SAW)is His last messenger." shahadah. Fear & Worship Allah (SWT) Alone! (:
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Dalton1
3485 Posts |
Posted - 17 Jan 2006 : 17:52:21
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Rejoinder: Good morning MR. Dictator.
Following the piece, months before he died, one is left to wonder, if the whole incident happened by coincidence or a matter of one being able to see their ending. Which ever of it is true, i salute this gentleman -very brave and committed to what he believed in.
Good morning Mr. Dictator must live to the end. Rest in peace always Deyda.
EDITORIAL
ACARA GOES WITH PEPPER -MURDERED POINT EDITOR TELLS JAMMEH, AS WE DEDICATE TODAY'S EDITORIAL ON HIS FAMOUS GOOD MORNING, MR.PRESIDENT
January 16, 2006
Our readers, today you will read late journalist Deyda Hydara's famous "Good Morning, Mr.President" master piece which he authored a few months prior to his killing by president Jammeh's thugs. Reading this piece, one will begin to ask if Deyda knew about his killing, which never came as a surprise to him. He sent an early warning message to president Jammeh and his allies reminding them about their evil intentions against the media which includes a culture of terror campaign and also a plot to kill Gambian journalists. But Deyda, one of the country's leading and bravest journalists, maintains that he puts his life on the line to defend and uphold press freedom in The Gambia. The killers of Hydara will today be reminded about their actions and premeditated move to take the life of Gambia's most patriotic son, Deyda Hydara.
Hear Mr.Hydara, in this statement to president Jammeh and his killers, government, and supporters must all know that it is the Almighty Allah that gives and takes life. Government and supporters must also know that some of us have published in this paper in 1992 and 1994 and offered our lives in the pursuance of social responsibility. May be we are crazy but some us would be proud to be gunned down or simply be killed for doing just that.
As our colleague, Lamin Jatta, today published Deyda's famous column "GOOD MORNING, MR. PRESIDENT" on the ALLGAMBIAN.COM, we thought it imperative to reflect on Hydara's past work as a veteran and leading Gambian journalist. The revelations and predictions made by Deyda, in this write up, clearly testified that president Jammeh and his cronies have hands in the death of Hydara. The evidence contained in this master piece speaks for itself.
Fellow Gambians and friends of The Gambia, please bear with us and read my former mentor and boss's August 17TH, 2005, Good Morning, Mr.President, statement to president Jammeh. We want to tell Jammeh that we mean business here at The ALLGAMBIAN.NET. Deyda's column is here to stay and president Jammeh will be shocked in days and weeks to come. We had a lot of stuff to expose about president Jammeh's dirty politics and corrupt pratices. Below, we reproduce Mr.Deyda Hydra's Good Morning Mr. President column verbatim. Please read on.......
"Mr President,
The situation befalling the press in this country is to say the least alarming. The unprecedented situation has been creeping in slowly but surely into the fabric of Gambian society to the dismay of many observers who blame the regime for this trend of things hitherto unknown during the first Republic.
Citizen FM was the first causality of this policy of physically disabling media houses. Then came the turn of Radio One which was almost totally gutted by fire wounding its owner George Christensen. Alieu Bah of the same station was also subjected to a deadly arson attack. Then the Independent offices were touched before their printing press was totally destroyed by the arsonists.
In the meantime, draconian laws to cripple the media have been devised; they are decree 70/71 and the Media Commission. There were also the verbal (anonymous phone calls) and written threats many us as published in our papers just like the written ones that reached the Independent, BBC and some few days ago Demba Jawo for expressing opinions in his column with the Independent. He did not even write news per se but expressed his opinions on matters of national importance. Just as you Mr President did when criticizing the UK and the US under the clout of your right to freedom of expression. If you, a President, can use such a right we wonder what journalists would be waiting for as it is their trade.
The danger is some people somewhere cannot respect opinions published in Newspapers including the column conspicuously titled Independent Critique when you did ask journalists to "please criticize your government when you go wrong".
From the word go, your regime wrongly identified the independent media as its opponent which led you as early as 1994 to describe media people and human rights activists as illegal sons of Africa. The discourse was clearly saying that press freedom and human rights were alien to Africa, thus throwing our rights to the Greek Calendars. From then on government's supporters began antagonizing the media in all spheres of life as we predicted in this Newspaper when you made that dangerous statement.
The problem is that Mr President you and your supporters antagonizing the press failed to understand one thing; that journalists do not invent news they forward it as they gather it. We are the messengers of both government and other actors of national life. The government and its supporters must also know that we take very seriously our role as translators of the people's aspirations. We said when one wants acara one must be prepared to bear the pepper. Put simply that means if someone takes public office he or she must be ready to be scrutinized. People who do not want to be in the news must not take up public offices;for all in the public domain must be exposed for the people to pass judgement.
Government and supporters must also know that it is the Almighty that give and take life. Government and supporters must also know that some of us have published in this paper in 1992 and 1994 offered our life in the pursuance of social responsibility role. May be we are crazy but some us would be proud to be gunned down or simply be killed for doing just that.
Government and supporters must understand that the regime's stewardship must be checked by media people in normal circumstances more so when section 207 of the Constitution asks us specifically to make government accountable to the people. Government's stewardship must be closely examined and reported on for the benefit of the governed and no amount of threat or danger would deter us from carrying out such a responsibility. Mr President these attacks are unacceptable."
The late Deyda Hydara has said it all. He had confirmed in his write up that Jammeh and his supporters were engaged in domestic terrorism against the media fraternity in The Gambia. Deyda knew that president Jammeh and his government were after his blood, but for the sake of posterity, he decided to issue a warning statement to those concerned that it was"the Almighty that gives and takes life",and that he, Hydara, was not scared to be killed on the line of his duty as a journalist. Despite his predictions and warnings, his killers went ahead to take his life.
We at ALLGAMBIAN.NET had been investigating on Deyda's murder and God willing, we will come out with a report soon. President Jammeh will be shocked about our findings. We are on the final touches of our investigations and will publish information given to us by our sources. We owe it to The Gambian hero,Deyda Hydara, who contributed significantly on the life of this editor and the Gambian media in general. Gambian journalists should remain steadfast and be vigilant. We are dealing with a regime which prides itself with killing, maiming, torturing, abducting, and imprisoning Gambians. Despite these atrocities meted out to us, we shall emerge victorious one day, as president Jammeh and his government will soon be history. Going to Mecca to seek repentance for the atrocities you committed against our people will not save you from paying for the ultimate price of justice. Going to Mecca will also not save you from leaving the presidency this year. President Jammeh, there is too much blood on your hands. Deyda's column is here to stay. We rest our case.
The author is the former Secretary General of The Gambia press Union and also a former Voice of America radio Banjul Correspondent. Mr. M'Bai who now resides in the US State of North Carolina Raleigh was a leading political and crime reporter with the Point and Daily Observer newspapers respectively. He can be reached by email at the following addresses: panderry@allgambian.net, panderrymbai@yahoo.co.uk or pnmbai@hotmail.com
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"There is no god but Allah (SWT); and Muhammad (SAW)is His last messenger." shahadah. Fear & Worship Allah (SWT) Alone! (:
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kondorong
Gambia
4380 Posts |
Posted - 12 May 2006 : 00:39:30
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| Has the dictator woken up yet or is he still asleep? |
“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it--always.” |
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