Final Take on Sam Sarr, Mathew & Ebou Jallow 

By Saul Saidy Khan 

After reading Sam Sarr’s “…Last Nail…” piece, I was beside myself with laughter. So it’s not what Sam wrote that is the problem, it is my lack of depth which hampered my ability to comprehend what Sam wrote that is the problem. Now I see. My only request for Brother Sam is for him to confine his writings to a Distro that includes only Deep Thinkers like him and Mathew Jallow. I believe that would save us all the grief of having Shallow Thinkers like me and Suntu Touray who do not understand that Sam Sarr writes in parables challenging him unnecessarily. Apparently whatever one reads in Sam Sarr’s writing is only a façade to something more profound. What do I know? Now I feel like a cheat for not spending valuable time catching up with my kids who just returned from a three weeks vacation in Gambia. What would life be as a Gambian if we didn’t have literal Houdini characters humoring us? 

Anyways, though I’m also in a haste to move on, let me clear some Parking Lot issues: 

1. I do not loose any sleep over how any person or group of persons see me because I dare tell the truth. For which reason, it matters not to me, who doesn’t want to read me state a historical truth like “almost all the new institutions created by the PPP were held by Wolof-speaking Banjulians.” I will only apologize for, or retract the statement if someone can show me this is not true. 
2. In the same vein, a man named Omar Jallow has not committed any offence by saying (as one of the PPP leaders,) that in their heyday, most of their senior officials – especially Ambassadors were Banjulians. I cannot for the life in me understand why Samsudeen Sarr or any self-described Wolof person would take offence to this simple statement of fact. Unless if such people are averse to the truth, in which case, they really need to seek help – in my view.
3. It is Samsudeen Sarr who is ascribing the label “inferior” to some ethnic groups in The Gambia. All I did was give a very short synopsis of what I discovered about this diverse people who call themselves Manden. But I have to admit that I didn’t know that Western Movie Makers or historians had a positive bias towards this people who incidentally resisted them everywhere they met. From Mansa Wali II who beat back Portuguese incursions into Mali territory through our very own Gambia in the 1450s, to Samory Touray, and Foday Kabah Dumbuya, I don’t know of two peoples who have demonstrated an inability to get along as the Manden and Toubab have. Colonial Gambian history tells us that in 1909, people in the village of Sankandi, W. Kiang, rose up against the colonists, and killed a Colonial officer for interfering in their affairs. Even single individuals like Ansumana Manneh in the Cassamance (a corruption of the word Cassa Mansa – in deference to a conquering general named Fran Camara,) took matters into their own hands. Maybe, that’s why the Westerners are so enamored with the Manden. Anyhow, time allowing, I’ll be more than happy to share what I learnt about all other major W. African groups.
4. There’s no point in apologizing unless one means it. It’s the sincerity that matters, not the mere penning or voicing of the words “I apologize.” Apologies are meant to show contrition for the commission or omission of an act(s.) In short, when an apology is qualified, or is like an after-thought like the ones Sam Sarr gave on Dr. Manneh, and in his last post respectively, it loses its usefulness because of lack of sincerity. When Sam Sarr begins his final piece by reinforcing his beliefs that he has uncovered a couple of Wolof haters named Sulayman Saidy-Khan and Suntu Touray, and goes on to drive home that case against them  - even vowing never to forget this experience, it bogs the mind what Sam is apologizing for at the tail end of the same article. Sam is either wrong or right. Now if Sam Sarr truly feels he has erred, which I doubt, rather than apologize, he should resolve to educate others with similar one-sided and hate-filled views on our country’s political history. Two months ago, Sam Sarr could claim he didn’t know about the things the Kow-kow suffered in Banjul which motivated many of them to oppose Banjul politicians, or even the toxic Intra-Banjul politicking that obtained before anyone else was allowed to compete. Today, Sam cannot claim any such innocence. The evidence against what Sam believed is simply beyond the manufacturing ability of “Wolof haters” like me. Given that the views expressed by Sam are not an aberration among Colony Wolof, it would be very helpful to all of us if Sam would henceforth become an ambassador for a more truthful Gambian Political History. It would be most unfortunate if another generation of Colony Wolof children are allowed to grow up hearing incomplete and hate-filled biased versions of what happened to their forebears eighty, ninety, or even a hundred years ago. So, don’t bother with the apology Sam, just help us educate others so that they understand that this Gambia House has several views, some of them very pretty, some not so pretty. 
5. Next time Sam, concentrate on phony individual characters. If Sam Sarr had gone after the late Dr. Saho, Dr. Manneh, and Sheriff Dibba as weather-vane political opportunists vis-à-vis one Omar A. Jallow who has chosen to jealously guard his honor and integrity,  I Sulayman Saidy-Khan would be Sam Sarr’s biggest cheerleader. The most prominent Mandinka person to emerge in this Yaya Jammeh era is a convict named Baba Jobe. Sam Sarr can find out for himself what some of us were saying and doing about that man’s activities at the height of his fame. As we had no stomach to protect or spare someone we’re related to, we’ll not hesitate to go after any other fraudster on our national stage. But this “My turf is Mine; Yours’ is Ours” mentality is unacceptable to some of us.
6. The truth will always matter to some of us. When I stated the incompetence of our Banjulian administrators as manifested by the public institutions they ruined, or related some of the experience of the Kow-kow in Banjul, it may not be Politically Correct to do so, but the stories are true. That is the key difference between my position and Sam’s “analyses” which are mostly made up.
7. I don’t care who marries who. The very suggestion that I have a problem with anyone marrying the woman of their choice is so silly that I’ll leave it at that. If only Sam Sarr knows.

The silver lining in all this is that we are now spared the torture of being dragged back to what is in essence an ancient election to most Gambians. To me, this was my grandfather’s election: he was active in it based on his first hand experience. I have no problems stating his side of the story, but since I never lived his life, I’d rather we leave sleeping dogs to their slumber. Thankfully, it is heartening to note Sam’s changing posture as demonstrated by his comments on the late UP leader’s poli-tricks.  Fact is, that 1960 election was simply an ugly political contest – all round. Like I wrote before, some of us will be all ears if Samsudeen Sarr has ideas that will segue the Gambian polity to the next level. Gambian reality today is simply very bleak. I was in Gambia last year, and god-willing, I’ll be there sometime later this year. For “ethno-blind” Samsudeen Sarr to be fuming about the 1960 election when the clock is being rolled back in terms of the modest gains registered in areas like civil liberties, and social cohesion is the height of madness to me. I can count with my fingers the people I met in The Gambia who are doing well.  That reality has more to do with Yaya Jammeh’s misguided Deity-Complex than it has to do with 1960s PPP Political Scam Artists. But why beat down on a dead horse? 

Mathew Jallow; for you my heart bleeds. You see Mathew; I was shocked when I learnt that you’re someone in his sixties or thereabouts. I would never have guessed in a million years because of your antecedents. The chasm between the biological age of Mathew Jallow and my perception of the age of the person behind some of the articles bearing the same Mathew Jallow signature is simply too wide. And I have a hard time reconciling the two. And your take on this debate is in line with that tradition that causes me so much disquiet.  

There is no doubt that as Africans we generally place a very high premium on longevity – and for good reason. There are many things that only age or experience can teach. But the one thing age or experience does not bestow on anyone is the license to falsely malign or condone the false maligning of others by someone else. No one is unfairly attacking Sam Sarr. Myself and many  others have proffered evidence that has exposed Sam’s many fabrications against a single people in what he wants us to belief is a generic commentary on Ethnic African politics. If a twenty-year old kid with a High School education from Ghana can read the articles in this exchange in sequence and tie Counter-arguments to the claims that generated them, there is no excuse for a sixty-year old grandpa like Mathew Jallow to fail to do so. Mathew Jallow need not be anti-Sam Sarr or pro-Mandinka to see the injustice in Sam’s claims. Being pro-truth will suffice. As amply demonstrated by various sources, the facts are simply unkind to Sam’s claims. He chose to rely on the prejudicial and one-sided stories his elders told him, rather than opening his mind to alternative and more objective versions; thus discrediting himself and exposing his real mindset. No one makes up negative stories about another person, or people out of love! I stand corrected on this though. Maybe, it’s because of my relatively young age that I hold this view. Please feel free to set me straight Grandpa Mathew. What am I missing? 

On the suggestion that relative to self-described Wolof, self-described Mandinka people show immaturity by lashing out at the Mathew Jallows anytime they criticize Mandinka personalities, I believe that claim is a little unfair. And here is why: when Mathew Jallow claims that there was a Teri Kaffo of Mandinka operatives who were determined to “Mandinkanize” The Gambia, but fails to support his assertion with facts, while countless others proffer evidence to rebut Mathew’s claims, I fail to see how those people are demonstrating “immaturity” by challenging Mathew Jallow. In my view, Mathew would be doing all of us a big favor by stating the names of the people who were involved in that doomed project, instead of simply regurgitating age-old spurious claims that are based on nothing more than stereotyping. Some of the people who are accused of being members of this mythical organization have no love for each other at all. The only thing they seem to have in common is their ethnicity. But why use that to falsely label them?  

It’s interesting that Mathew is making his Civil Service Mandinkanization claim -again. Maybe, there was such an agenda from the “late 1970s to 1994.” But the problem is the dearth of supporting evidence. The period cited is anywhere from fifteen to nineteen years. That’s ample time for these people to accomplish their agenda if there was one. Yaya Jammeh has made his mark in less time. Yet during that time, the post of Secretary General was vacant thrice; a whole new institution called the Gambian National Army was created; as were other public organs. Question: was the Mandinka element in the leadership of any of these institutions disproportionate to their size in the general population? Mathew Jallow should show us doubters with evidence.  

And here is why I’m doubtful: when people want to take over a society, they first target Institutions of Coercion, or domination and control (Law Enforcement, the Judiciary – the army, the police, the legal system, etc.) We know our Mandinkanizers didn’t do any of these. The rest of the civil service, we can scrutinize. I’ve asked a friend to help me with the records of all senior Public Officials (from District Commissioner to Sec. General) under the PPP -again. With that data, we can finally make reliable conclusions on this chapter of our history. Maybe that would enable some of us to move on, or at least assuage our bitterness about that era.  

In the meantime, I think the matured thing to do is to refrain from throwing around loaded terms that are backed by nothing other than our individual preconceptions, or prejudice. When Mathew Jallow confesses that he holds/held the same discredited views on Gambian political history as Sam Sarr does, one would hope that Grandpa Mathew will now abandon these as they’re based only on perception. The verifiable facts against such perceptions is simply too overwhelming to ignore. Otherwise, the onus is on Mathew to educate the rest of us on why he and the Sam Sarrs are right. If Mathew Jallow fails to do this and continues to repeat these same baseless views as his “opinion,” then Mathew cannot blame folks who view him more as an irascible and attention-starved old man out of step with reality, than a serious social commentator. Such people can even point to Mathew’s needless lecturing of Sulayman Saidy-Khan on the latter’s ethnicity to make their point.  

In this very exchange, I noted my Fulani ethnicity, something I was never in doubt about thanks to my parents and grandparents. Not only do I know my background, I know where my people originate from in Futa Toro. I descend from a Fula Keba (my late grand father’s term) named Yoro Khan through his son named Ndaneh.  One of my late dad’s younger brothers is named Baleya/Balaya. You can start from Gambia Manding to Cameroon Manding, and you’ll never come across a Mandingo with these names. So why is Grandpa Mathew lambasting me for not knowing my roots? Or is it because he is disturbed by the “past glory” of the Manden that I wrote about? Why would that be? My point to Sam Sarr and his types is, if you’re going to spend time hating a people, at least try to know who they are first. One of Sam’s problems is, he is clueless about Mandingo people. 

And finally Mathew, falsely pinning something on someone, or group, or people, like Sam Sarr did is an injustice. The very fact that it is considered “pro-Mandinka” to swat away Sam Sarr with his Hogwash History speaks volumes about us who come from that tiny country call Gambia. Somehow, you have to be a Mandinka tribalist to deconstruct Sam’s fabrications. There are many out there who know very well what the man is writing is untrue, yet they keep quiet. With the exception of Ebou Jallow, who I just read, I haven’t seen any real rebuttal. But to the Mathew Jallows, and the Silent Majority –many of who like to see themselves as being above the fray, here is some Words of Wisdom from Dr. Franklin H. Littell, a Methodist minister, college professor, Holocaust expert, and world citizen on his main lessons from the Nazi experience. Sam Sarr is by no stretch on par with the Nazis, but my point is, an injustice is an injustice, and we shouldn’t keep quiet no matter who it is directed against, because sooner or later, it would knock on our own doorstep: 

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out-- 
    because I was not a communist; 
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out-- 
    because I was not a socialist; 
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out-- 
    because I was not a trade unionist; 
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out-- 
    because I was not a Jew; 
Then they came for me-- 
    and there was no one left to speak out for me. 

See Grandpa Mathew, truth need not have an ethnic label. I rest my case.  

Ebou Jallow – I have nothing but respect for your take. You’re a little off on Mr. Fadia in terms of Time Line, but otherwise, you’re spot on on most of the issues you highlighted. Even your counter-argument that the residents of Banjul were not “tribalist to the core,” as I wrote, I accept. I should have made clear that I was talking about Cultural Tribalism: whether you’re Samburu or Hausa, you’re acceptable if you’re willing to adopt Banjul culture wholesale, otherwise tough! That way, Bankali Sylla (a Manden Jahanka) from Guinea is acceptable, while Malamin Conteh (a Manden Susu) from Badibu is not – based on their respective attitude towards their native culture vis-à-vis Banjul culture. So thanks for pointing this out. 

Also, there is a general misunderstanding of what Fadia and his colleagues were saying: “let’s have a government that reflects the population.” Ironically this was the exact same thing Bill Clinton campaigned on here in 1992: “I want to create a government that looks more like America.” At the time, it wasn’t just PS Njie and his folks that accused them of tribalism; it was Jawara himself who led the chorus – because it suited his interests at the time. But time has vindicated Fadia and his colleagues in many ways. Having a government that is out of sync with the governed is a recipe for instability. 

On another note Ebou, stop the tomfoolery, come clean about what you did for Yaya, and you’ll win yourself ardent advocates in some of us. Ebou Jallow never killed anyone; all he did was served as his boss’ courier. Negotiable as far as I’m concern. And Ebou Jallow sometimes shows exceptional courage in sticking to the facts – more than many so-called “respectable” commentators. Not only do I have a soft spot for you now Ebou, I respect you enough to gladly buy you lunch or dinner (at a place of your choosing,) if you would make amends and clear the air on what Jammeh was assigning you to do for him. Watch your back, and stay safe in Iraq. Keep it up. Much  respect!