By Hammadi in Maasinah.
First let me please reiterate one thing here for all and sundry to understand. The main duty towards The Gambia as a nation thats submerged in tears is not personal,it is national. There are many thorny petals on this dusty tree called APRC development projects There is still so much to be desired in this small country called The Gambia. I cannot understand it when I see people of high caliber(?) trying to equate decent democracies with Yahya Jammeh's??? Camon! stop that trend.Stop rolling down the cliff only because you have a bowl of 'benachin' waiting for you because you made chicken change calling that successful "Investment". I would have been the first to jump on on Michael Scales if he was behaving too "whitish" before us especially as a son of a former coloniser. He is not doing that! He criticises objectively. When he writes I read between the lines then see him yearning to speak for those who dare not say a word! For goodness sake the man is married to an African. A Nigerian I believe with "C"pital L.
We should not see easy targets in white people when they criticise our countries because of past "sadness", that is wrong. The man CAN be challenged if he writes but challenging Michael should NOT be based on race. Be he white or not I care less. Remember there are white south Africans too who never liked appartheid. Africa should NOT accept these coloured labels on its shoulders. As Peter Abraham a South African born writer said in his books:"All blacks are good and all whites are bad is false,likewise all blacks are bad and all whites are good is also false"
Here is an author who wrote so many books to help promote social justice in then appartheid South Africa. Some of us so-called African intellectuals tend to lean on this " white man-black man" easy route of criticism everytime we spew garbage. Only to escape our part of the duty. Thats not it! None in this generation can ever go beyond Mandela Nelson on that. Maturity urged him to forgive but not forget before speaking his mind without any desire for vengeance or engage on endless blame-games.
I respect Mr Scales because he says things in a way that shows he belongs. He is not taking sides here as a white Britton. I have seen him hammer too hard on his own people and government everytime he writes directly or indirectly. I would not also call a person who built a house in The Gambia,married an African woman an opportunist searching for business. How about our own Amadou Sambas and others who scrape out farthins and fifteens only to elope at night and dump their booty in Swiss bank accounts? Is that what our learned critic calls successful investment? One thing is certain writing on a paper like freedomnewspaper is not personal for me and others who care for the country. It is a national duty to amplify the voices of those who have been trampled upon by the dragon called APRC opportunism and deceptive machines of false news! Thats opportunism. So does it mean Yahya Jammeh because he is Gambian has the right to steal and then be praised as a citizen? Michael Scales is just a character in the story he is not the end result. Michael cares, thats why he spends on the paper he uses. That is not BRIBERY. Please Mr look at the word bribery again and come back here.
How can this be called bribery when the editor shared the news with the whole world and then publicly delcared he was going to install these equipment in the bureau? Bribery does not go with transparency. Tell me if the editor was not transparent. Of course you he was because the archives have his articles kept for posterity. Let me tell you one thing Mr pseudoname. The people working with freedom will never be bribed. If that was the case this paper would have been sold to the slippery offers from Yahya Jammeh's secret agents a long time ago. Ask those who really know! Bribery is something that suits the Yahya you are trying to wash much more than Scales and the editor of this paper.
Supporting a movement that entrenches social justice is what you call bribery? Then will you accuse Salif Sadio and Alexandra Djibba of Casamance of the same thing? Are they not being "bought" more than being "bribed" by the Yahya Jammeh you are calling a developer? Using our own tax money to buy arms to destabilise Senegal. Did you forget that when your breasts were pounding with anger. You are telling us.."Bugga sa reew". The same way I will tell you this.."Ngorr du andakk bugay yow danga bugay"
Infact I made my conclusions after reading your last para. You have certainly showed us your true colours. You selfishly said you have business in The Gambia. Now one challenge for you. Please send the names of those British people who succeeded in The Gambia to the freedom editorial with facts and raw data it will be published. Alongside we will also publish the names of so many who failed doing the same business in the same country under the same Yahya Jammeh. Look Mr successful Gambian in the UK do not try that trend cause we are out to stage a huge show on people like very soon just wait and see. Journalism is not meant to recognise race it is meant to recognize merit and eject malfaisance.
Once again Mr Scales can talk about problems affecting any part of the world.This is why we have the institutions called UNITED NATIONS. United Ideas makes United Nations!
Tell us something else or shut up!
Editors note. Thanks Hammadi for the powerful reaction. This paper is not for sale. We are not in this media business for fame or self enrichment. As rightly stated it's a national duty. This paper is here to stay God willing. Allegations of bribery confirms how desparate this administration is. They like to blackmail people all the time. Freedom is not in for blackmail. Thanks for the piece.