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kobo
United Kingdom
7765 Posts |
 Posted - 01 Apr 2011 : 12:45:24
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Politics is a dynamic process Same basic parameters or criteria apply on these "Banjul Mafia" and "Teri Kafo"; at any given situation
Tijan Sallah might well present a good academic paper, conceptualised the social and political order during Jawara's time (1980s - 19900s); but it should not be taken out of context to support Bamba K. Mass
Bamba K. Mass presented this article at time of Jammeh's second wife marriage; bent on being malicious, slanderous, smearing campaign and directly attacking names individuals and families; to make a POLITICAL STATEMENT (AS "AGITATOR OF TRIBALISM" & UDP MILITANT)
AS HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF AND FOR POSTERITY; RELEVANT UPDATE ON CURRENT "BANJUL MAFIA" FROM Bantaba Gambian politics topic Banjul Mandinka Society tours NBR, URR under http://www.gambia.dk/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=10586
WHY THE "INFERIOR COMPLEXES"
WHY DESPISE "BANJULIANS"
WHY "BANJUL BOY" & "PROVINCES BOY"
WHY "KAU KAU", "BOY CAPITAL" OR "NDONGO BANJUL"
WHY "URBAN" AND "RURAL" DIVIDE OR POLITICAL COMPETITION
WHY POLITICS OF CRUDE CULTURE OF "TAIGA", "GERR", "MANSAYA", "CLANS" AND "TRIBES"
ANY POLITICAL STATEMENT, POLICY OR STRATEGY THAT FALLS SHORT OF ADDRESSING AND PROMOTING "INTEGRATION", "UNITY", " "DIVERSITY", "EQUITY" IS A FARCE |
Edited by - kobo on 01 Apr 2011 13:08:55 |
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Janyanfara
Tanzania
1350 Posts |
Posted - 01 Apr 2011 : 13:21:12
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Kobo,
you have to ask the writer about those staements but I thought when I defended him I was accused of being tribalist as well. Bajul mafia and terikafo have and still continue to play negative politics in Gambia and if you or anyone has any problem with that fact, then start seing your GP because people would talk about it now and always. If anyone wants to politicise it then so be it because mafias are in PDOIS, UDP, APRC ect and that doen't mean no one from an opposition shouldn't talk about it. Late Ousainou Njie was mentioned because he was a core mafia and had used his sister's position to distroy all sectors of the economy that is a fact and I am happy people are talking about it all the time. |
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kobo
United Kingdom
7765 Posts |
Posted - 01 Apr 2011 : 14:02:13
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WE MAY ACKNOWLEDGED "TRIBALISM" OR "PLAYING TRIBAL CARD" EXISTS IN GAMBIAN POLITICS; GENERALLY ACROSS AFRICA AND SOME OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD
PDOIS IS EXCEPTIONALLY OUTSTANDING AGAISNT THOSE POCIES; TRYING TO ERADICATE THOSE CRUDE IDEAS, TACTICS, POLICIES AND STRATEGIES BY FOCUSING ON CIVIC EDUCATION, SENSITISATION AND MOBILISATION OF THE POLITICAL FORCE TO UNDERSTAND RIGHTS TO EXERCISE POLITICAL WILL; ON INDIVIDUAL BASIS; "FOR EVERY CITIZEN TO DECIDE DESTINY OF THE COUNTRY, LEADERS BECAME SINCERE POLITICIANS, ACCOUNTABLE AND SOUND DEMOCRATS" SO RULE PDOIS OUT OF YOUR LIST OF ADVOCATING TRIBALISM
WHAT ARE YOU GUILTY OF AND WHO ACCUSE YOU ALL THOSE COMMENTS ARE AGAINST BAMBA K.MASS; AS "AGITATOR OF TRIBALISM" AND SELF-CONFESSED "UDP-MILITANT" MAKING MALICIOUS POLITICAL STATEMENTS; AT TIME JAMMEH'S SECOND WIFE
GOOD BYE! |
Edited by - kobo on 01 Apr 2011 14:13:52 |
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Janyanfara
Tanzania
1350 Posts |
Posted - 01 Apr 2011 : 16:47:25
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Hey you need to write a book.I knew you would respond that is why. But don't you think if you call Bamba Mass a tribalist he too can call you one? Are you not kobo? Come-one be a man and don't lie.
I had a lot of people on maafanta accusing me and Mr. Mass of tribalism.But the Mr. Mass in question if I am correct is not even mandinka. Maybe it is not him. He is only a Mandinka by what made you wollof brother kobo. Gambia is small ask those who knew history. The Mafia were headed by Chams Cesays and Njies who changed a spoke different dialect but most of them are not wollofs. So what made Mr. Mass a UDP fanatic is what made you a PDOIS fanatic so why a fanatic calling another same names? |
Edited by - Janyanfara on 01 Apr 2011 16:52:38 |
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dembis
Sweden
71 Posts |
Posted - 02 Apr 2011 : 10:53:59
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| we banjulians are always welcoming and making people feel that they are part of us. back in the good old days when the rural people used to send their children to school to banjul, we take good care of them and build a family relationship. when this poor students gratuated and became policemen or military, we the banjulians are their main target or enemy number one. you heard it from them that" ndogo banjuls" are spoiled by there parents. they will beat you twice double when you speak wolof to them. not all of them turned their backs against us but like the author say banjul mafias won the battle because of their contacts. the author speak his mind which i fully accepted but he is not talking more of the mandinka or terikafo skandals. top officials like jawara, amang kanji aka (cokakolastick) , sherif m. dibba, saihou saballi, etc.my friend told me a very funny story, about jawara or his ministers that promised their people that when they win the election, the banjulians will move to the villges and the villagers will move to banjul.when they won the elections people from their town packup their baggages and families and came to banjul. the funny things was they started picking up nice banjulians houses. haaha . it might be a myth but sherif dibba lived most of his life in banjul without speaking a single word of wollof till his last days.he was living in banjul north perseverance street and non of his neibours remember him of speaking to them in wollof. the mafia and the terikafo all of them are bunch of parasites and the same time they are equally dangerous like the other. we banjulians like money and " tey mu neh ". what bamba dont know is lawyer ousainou darboe was a mafia the same time terikafo just like jawara. he is called by many mandinka or udp fanatics sossehwolof. fine out who are darboes wifes and where they come from.we are going to baked darboe half done and for bamba mass we will let him marry a wollof wife then he can eat special "che bu jen bujn roff " and he will know why some of his terikafo brother sellout their tribes. |
dembis |
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Momodou
Denmark
11698 Posts |
Posted - 02 Apr 2011 : 15:45:01
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Hi All,
The following is an article by Dr. Sulayman S. Nyang of Howard University on tribalism and political history in The Gambia. It was sent to Gambia-l back in November 1996 when the list was hosted by University of Washington and had been written in response to an enquiry by Tony Loum into "The Banjul Mafia". An excellent, well written and extremely informative history.
Momodou
 By Dr. Sulayman S. Nyang
This is a brief piece which is designed to shed light on the discussion on tribalism in the Gambia and the need for rationale and sober debates about these matters. But before I go on with the task of reviewing the history of this issue, let me say that the peoples of Senegambia are favored by history and culture to evolve in a manner different from other areas of the world. I will come to that later. First of all, let it be stated categorically that in the Senegambia region, people defined their ethnic identity primarily on the basis of the language they learned from their homes. If the Mother is from one ethnic group and the father from another, chances are the child would end up speaking the language dominant in that area. This would explain the language choices of many Gambians born in the urban centers of the country. It also explains the greater linguistic choices of certain Gambians,particularly those from Basse and Farafeni. These two regions of the country have produced more polylingual Gambians than any other area in the country.Because of the size of the Senegambia region and long history of inter-ethnic contacts it is very difficult for most Senegambians to insist on what some sociologists and anthropologists would call "ethnic purity." Tribalism, like all ideological formulae, is a wall paper designed to cover the cracks in our wall of logic. Whenever logic breaks down, and we have difficulty dealing with serious and real problems of social and political life, it becomes an easy way out to resort to irrationalities. In the special case of the Gambia, parochialism in political life has a long and unfortunate history.
Sectionalism based either on ethnicity or religion in Gambian politics goes back to the 1950s when the late I.M. Garba Jahumpa, an enthusiastic Panafricanist used religion to outpoll his Gambian christian rivals. They were P.S.Njie, Rev. J.C. Faye, St. Clair Joof, another promising Gambian lawyer who died in the fifties, and ofcourse Jahumpa's own mentor, Pa E.F. Small, the doyen of Gambian nationalism. Because of this early manifestation of parochialism based on religion, Banjul society which was then less then 15,000 people was quickly polarised along religious and ethnic lines. Since the christians were either Akus of Sierra Leonean background or Christianised Wolof/Serer, politics quickly took on an ethnic character. Whereas in 1951 Jahumpa employed religion to defeat P.S. Njie and other lesser known Christian rivals, in 1954 P.S. paid back in kind by employing the ethnic coin called Saloum Kheet. Using the statistical fact that the majority of Banjulians then were of Saloum stock, it became a foregone conclusion that P.S. would win. This ethnification of Politics would not only polarise the Wolofs of Saloum from their cousins from Cayor and baol (i.e. Jahumpa and his supporters), but it would also begin to be contagious in the Provinces (then called the Protectorate). It is against this background that one understands the rise of the PPP and the emergence of Sir Dawda as the leader of the Gambia. The PPP came to power riding on the concept of Mandinka Mansaya (for details, see Peter Weil's dissertation by the same name (1967/8). This was the beginning of ethnic polarization in the country.
To his credit, Sir Dawda tried his best to turn things around. I still remember the day in 1959, when young Jawara and his young and beautiful wife Augusta spoke to an audience at Albion Place in Banjul, changing the name of the PPP from the Protectorate Peoples Party to the Progressive Peoples Party. From small beginnings, the former president gradually made peace with a predominantly Wolof-speaking Banjul. Remember, not all Wolof-speaking Banjulians are historically ethnic Wolofs. Banjul is another mini- New York where ehtnics share a lingua franca. As in New York, where children of Jews of various national origins, Italians, Czechs and Poles share a common mental space called the domain of English, Banjulians similarly find themselves in the same zone. This is why Wolofs in the Senegambia region say: "Santa Amut Kerr." This means that one's ethnicity is not determined by one's last iname. Here again, we see the effects of history and cultural interpenetration on the Senegambian peoples.
But to continue the long journey towards national integration among the peoples of Senegambia, let me add that by 1972, the Jawara regime has successfully integrated the Banjulians and the Upper River non-Mandinkas into the PPP. The whole idea of a mafia goes back to the post 1972 period, when the social history of the Gambia began to impact on the distribution system of privilege and opportunities for social mobility. By 1972, the Wolof-speaking Banjulians from diverse ethnic origins whose Islamic background prevented from responding favorably to Western education, began to compete for positions in the civil service. Remember, Jahumpa and his young Muslim followers were actually playing an opportunistic game against their Christian ethnic cousins because these were then the heads of departments and the more responsive to things western.
By 1972, the number of Mandinkas and other rural ethnics seeking employment opportunities have increased also, and the common mantra then was the Christian (especially Catholics) were ruling. Hence the use of the term "Catholic Mafia". As far as I can tell, the horrendous epithet mafia was first used in this context.
Why? Because many of the young aspiring Muslims, Mandinkas, Wolofs and others, saw the late Eric Christensen as the grand patron of the Christians. This led to the formation of two groups, the President's Youth Action Group and what is now known as the Tereh Kafo Group. These two rival factions within the PPP would eventually lead to its downfall because of their self-destructing activities. They had a common "enemy" in the so-called Catholic mafia and when this so-called "enemy" was terribly weakened, they went after each other. Those members of the first group of PPP supporters who were successful as civil servants or businessmen began to use their leverage and connections within the system to enrich themselves in a big way.
A more detailed sociological analysis of the origins of corruption in the Gambia would have to explore throughly this aspect of the social and political history of the country. Elements from this first group and their cohorts would later be duped the "Banjul Mafia." The rivalry between the first and the second group led to in-fighting within the PPP.
The collapse of the Jawara regime could well be explained as the culmination of many social and political crises which were not effectively contained or settled by the Jawara regime. If there was any serious debate among Gambian intellectuals through the press and in various fora around the country, the Kukoi Samba Sanyang coup and the Yaya Jammeh coup would not have taken place. I am making this assumption because I believe the leadership, both the government and the Opposition, would see the negative consequence of a collapse of an embryonic but imperfect democratic order. Apparently, the government and its Loyal Opposition were not listening, and even if they were listening, they were acting on what they knew about the situation.
When we talk about tribalism in the Yaya Jammeh era, we have to bear four things in mind.
The first question is whether the Gambians have resolved once and for all, the ethnic identity crisis.
The second point centers on the electability of a candidate from a minority ethnic group. Are Gambians still judged by the language they speak or the group with which they are identified?
The third question is related to the role and contributions of Islam and Christianity in the cementing of larger identities for Gambians of various ethnic or language background. Even though residues of the pre-Islamic and pre-Christian cultures remain to bracket one set of Gambians from the others, the two universal religions in the country have together created new commonwealth of identities for the peoples of Senegambia.
In addition to the impact of the two world religions, there is the impact of global secularism. This phenomenon is most evident in the field of popular music in the region. Today young Senegambians are much affected by the music of Yousou Ndure, Baba Maal, Toure kunda and others. These musicians try to embrace peoples from all groups and they sing in as many languages as possible. This is a major cultural breakthrough. Some of them are not confined to one region. They sometime extend their music notes to sing songs for African celebrities such as Nelson Mandela.
As Africa moves towards the 21st century it would make a great deal of sense if Africans, in this case Senegambians, to accept the verdict of history that they are too intermarried to be ethnically pure and too thickly crowded within a small area of the African continent to spread the venom of ethnicity. Senegambians, and especially the Gambians among them, must learn to compete without appealing to ethnic or religious prejudices. If some of the politicians in the area manipulated people's emotions and loyalties by playing the ethnic or religious card, the younger generations of Gambians do not have to follow suit. It is dangerous and unwise to do so.
In concluding this brief piece on the ethnic or tribal question in the Gambia, I would like to say that the various battles fought over positions and privileges should be taken as lessons learned from the common past. In order to build a better and brighter future the Gambians must learn a new language of inter-ethnic cooperation and competition. This is to say, they must learn to compete freely and fairly. The common knowledge and experiences gathered over the years in the cricket and soccer matches must be assimilated and incorporated in their political battles. If President Jammeh and his entourage were seriously committed to the cultivation of a new attitude and a new dispensation in Gambian political life, they would make sure that no excuse is given to the tribalists by conducting all elections freely and fairly. Political intimidation is the fertilizer that helps the growth of political paranoia. As Henry Kissinger said sometime ago,"even the paranoid has real enemies." Let us remember this while working energetically to create a political culture of tolerance and goodwill.
Source: A re-post from the Archives of Bantaba in Cyberspace - 04 May 2006 |
A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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Janko
Gambia
1267 Posts |
Posted - 02 Apr 2011 : 20:05:49
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Interesting article
and not forgetting
Musa and Lie Nīgom,
Ousu Lion Njie
Bai Janha
the pioneers Ifangbondi
and all those genius whose work became an eye-opener to the potential of diversity |
Clean your house before pointing a finger ... Never be moved by delirious Well-wishers in their ecstasy |
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Janyanfara
Tanzania
1350 Posts |
Posted - 05 Apr 2011 : 15:11:07
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| Oh Brother momodou, Dr. nyang is great and i am happy he has hit the nail on the head. |
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kobo
United Kingdom
7765 Posts |
Posted - 05 Apr 2011 : 21:02:21
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REFER RELATED BANTABA GAMBIAN POLITICS TOPIC LEGAL LIBEL TUSSLE ON WAR OF WORDS UNDER http://www.gambia.dk/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=10695
WE CAN GATHER WISDOM FROM HISTORY CORNER THAT CAN HELP PROTECT OUR GOOD LEGACY, HERITAGE, SOCIAL AND CULTURE; BEING SHATTERED BY THESE POISONOUS MINDS, CRUDE IDEAS AND DIS-ORIENATION. SO REFER RELATED BANTABA HISTORY TOPIC Senegambian Ethnic Groups: Common Origins and Cult UNDER http://www.gambia.dk/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=9013
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Edited by - kobo on 05 Apr 2011 21:08:00 |
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