Attention: All Ex-Gambia Armed Forces Personnel
As the Remembrance Day approaches, all good people around the world are urged to remember the ultimate sacrifices others have done for the rest of us can live in peace and freedom we enjoy around the world. Remember to buy and wear a poppy!
It is time, we will all agree, for us to unite and form a formal organization emulating the Gambia journalists associations in the Diaspora, to not only raise awareness of the contributions of the security forces to the development of the Gambia but also to organize and help each other out everywhere we might be on this globe! It is no exaggeration to say that we are the most persecuted group in The Gambia, barely a year goes by without the news of at least one of us, either serving or ex-security force being executed, incarcerated, tortured or exiled! Yet it is our own brothers in arm, most of which we may have helped to train. If the journalists, with all the competitions between them can unite and meet, so can we, with our regimentation and discipline, there is no mountain to high to climb!
It is therefore time we throw our little perceived differences and unite as a force to be reckoned with, abroad and at home! For we have a colorful and brave history, from the trenches of WWII in Burma to East Timor, Sudan to Liberia, Angola to Congo! where most of us served with distinctions, candor, valor and selflessness and will always be remembered by the natives of those far away places, fondly, for fighting for their freedom! We have studied in the best military and staff academies in the world, and beaten home students on their own turfs! Why are we not successful with peace at home? There is no reason why our forces cannot be one of the most discipline, trained and effective forces in the world, as the high status our allies held us, since WWII to 1992, cannot and should not be erased  from the history of this great force. 
We are therefore duty bound to organize this network of ex-Gambia Armed Forces personnel initially as a social and welfare society to cater for the needs of our men and women in the Diaspora, and extend eventually to provide more. For we have our members stranded in some parts of the world who may urgently need our unity and help. A Veteran Club if you like.
Please do remember as Rudyard Kipling said: Nations passed away into history without leaving any traces and one thing common in all those case, is that their people were not fit! We went to places where nobody else wish to go, did things other thought are best forgotten, ask nothing of those who give nothing, for we were soldiers, Gambian Soldiers, officers, men and women!
As reservists, please re -affirm you allegiance to the nation of the Gambia and its people, and your duty to serve our country and God, above all else, and then to the men and women we led, and our selves, in that order, by sending a mail with contact number to: kejau.touray@troonit.co.uk and the rest will be handled discretely! Please do pass this on to any ex Gambia-armed forces personnel who may not be on Gambia Post or Gambia L!

Yours obedient servant,
 
Kejau Touray

Lt.
 
for Commander,

Kejau Touray

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Jon Corzine for Governor of New Jersey

If anyone should argue that New Jersey Governor race has placed the candidates on critical points of the political spectrum at different times, that argument would fall right on the political realities of  the Garden State. Throughout the campaign trail, all the candidates presented varying policy aspects on taxes, job creation, health care and education. The republican contender, Christ Christi aggressively pulled strings dismissing Governor Corzine past years economic, health and tax policies as one that has put New Jersey on a brinks of unemployment and economic collapse; a call that most scholars, analysts and pundits dismissed as political fabrications based on convincing realities that the Corzine administration indeed adopted appropriate policies required to effectively deal with challenges of the Garden State.

Even though Governor Corzine was placed in a delicate governance situation amidst a corruption scandal that marred the New Jersey Political Landscape, the incumbent governor handled the situation responsibly and tactfully. Governor Corzine must be commended for adopting policies that continues to effectively address healthcare, education and unemployment. With the genius of his economic vision as the first Governor to adopt an economic recovery plan, the incumbent Governor has outlined one of the best developmental blue prints, thus stabilizing the rising unemployment, healthcare, education and the private sector.

Unlike his republican contender whose economic policies will only be a perennial source of unemployment, increased uninsured Jersey Residents and Citizens, and the lack of prescriptive policy measures, Governor Corzine’s economic formulas are in line with both national and the international quest of containing the worst economic crisis since the great depression of 1930’s. Developments in public transportation, public works, infrastructure, healthcare and national security will be the characteristics of the incumbent Governors term in office.

Christ Christi’s rejection of the Federal  Economic Stimulus Package in his economic policies, would result to  the lost of over 30, 000 teaching jobs, over 18,000 public sector  jobs and a state wide property taxes increase of $1.5 - 2 billion, according to modern economic analysts. It must be noted that the use of Stimulus Recovery Packages as a major tool of confronting the economic crisis has taken a forefront of global economic recovery efforts. This was echoed and adopted in both the last G8 summit in Italy, and G20 in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, USA. Governor Corzine’s economic policies therefore fall along the right policy trajectories.

For the State of New Jersey to progressively overcome the socio-economic and socio-political challenges of modern times, re-electing Jon Corzine for Governor is the rightful national duty that all citizens should aggressively pursue. A Corzine administration will shape history, mold our communities with sustainable economic growth, strengthen national security and positively influence every doorstep and hamlet of our communities that we could all proudly call home.  

By Binneh s Minteh, Former Gambian Army First Lieutenant, Newark, New Jersey

The author is an Independent Researcher, Analyst and Consultant. He also produces The Sword of Truth at http://www.sofawarrior.blog.com/ . He could be reached by email at bsm235@nyu.edu.