Ironically, on reading Samsudeen Sarr’s “analyses”, I have the same feelings he had about Suntu Touray’s initial response. I’m totally confounded, and I’m not sure where to begin. The utter disregard for established historical facts shown by Sam is really shocking. Not to talk about obvious ethnic bias, given the man wants to be taken as an impartial commentator slamming tribalism.  

First, unlike Sam, it matters not to me whether his first respondent’s real name is Suntu Touray or Haddy Juum. We have read many online postings in the past under names like “Ebou Colley,” “Egu S.”, “Kujabi” etc, on different websites, yet many of us know these are mere pseudonyms that Sam might know something about. So what’s the fascination with the name “Suntu” –even if it is another assumed name? As we willingly played the fool, and took “Ebou Colley” at face value, so is the approach many readers adopt towards online bylines. The name is less relevant than what is said! And going by the dictates of natural justice, how can someone notorious for hiding behind assumed names, condemn someone else for doing so? Anyhow, I’m inclined to believe that Sam latched unto this irrelevance in an attempt to skirt the substance of what Touray wrote, while unnecessarily denigrating the fellow. After re-reading the man’s posting, I cannot for the life in me figure out why Sam thinks this man is any sort of bad representative of people who would identify with the Mandinka.  

If I understood anything from what Touray wrote, it was to raise the flag for Sam to say that “there is another side to the story that you’re is trying to make us believe.” For which reason, I agree with Suntu whole-heartedly! Suntu Touray, at no point said or suggested that “nothing could be done about tribalism.” Rather, the man was cautioning against the MONO-view that Sam has taken on the subject. From what Sam has written, you’ll have to concede and conclude: Poor, Poor Wolof people! Look how Mandinka people have been treating them! IF what Sam wrote is true, and complete. 

However, the version of Gambia’s political history that Sam Sarr is peddling is neither accurate nor original. It is a five-decade old Branding of Mandinka people as irredeemably tribalist by orientation, and therefore less than patriotic relative to others. We are constantly bombarded with the notion that all Mandinka politicians do is to use ethnicity, NOT ideas, to get into office. What is left unsaid is the implication that politicians from other ethnic groups in The Gambia use OTHER THAN ETHNICITY to get elected. And the story line continues that while in office, all these Mandinka politicos do is look after only their kind. Never mind, the reality of three decades of Mandinka-led governments in The Gambia makes a canard of these allegations! But these are what we hear. 

I say the false branding of Mandinka people is not original because world history is replete with examples. In present day America, the Far Right, through relentless demagoguery of Liberals over time, has turned the term “Liberal” into a dirty word. They have been so effective that even well-known Liberal politicians recoil when asked if they are Liberal. Many even try to qualify what type of Liberal they are! (Read John Kerry in the 2004 Prez Campaign.) Ironically, almost all the people that we revere or celebrate around the world (prophets Mohamed and Jesus Christ, Buddha, Nelson Mandela, Mohandas Gandhi, Mother Teresa, ML King, Nkrumah, Sankara, etc) were all unabashed Liberals! American Liberals had wrongly assumed that ordinary people would be able to see through the falsity that the Rush Limbaughs and Sean Hannitys are peddling about them. They were wrong! The Liberals’ mistake is to let the Far Right define them, such that people don’t know who Liberals actually are, and what they stand for; they only know what the Limbaughs feed them about Liberals.  It was only when Liberals woke up to this fact and started fighting back with Air America and similar media that they’ve been able to repair some of the damage that the Far Right demagogues have inflicted on their image. As is the case with American Liberals, so has it been with Mandinka people in The Gambia. So be warned! Human beings believe what they often hear –unchallenged. Sad, but true. 

It is precisely because of this fact that letting the version of Gambian history being peddled by the Sam Sarrs stand unchallenged would be to help Hogwash History germinate. Wolof Nationalists like Sam Sarr (bear with me and this will become clear,) have through the decades used a combination of One-liners, Half-truths, and at times outright concoctions (often in coded-language) to brand, label, and stigmatized Mandinka people in every conceivable way as The Gambia’s problem. You hear them say things like: “It (Tribalism) is not going to work any more…;” “We know what happened before...;” “You know them (the Mandinka)”; “They (the Mandinka) are power-hungry. Me I don’t care about power…” So on, so on. But are these true, or the whole truth?  

Allow me to give Sam credit for breaking with their tradition to state clearly what he truly feels about Mandinka people. Often, outside of their Choirs, Wolof Nationalists employ Coded Language to spread their anti-Mandinka sermon. The Coding is deliberate: to avoid being held responsible for what they say. If you challenge them, they play the victim, and claim they meant something else by what they said. Sam, at least has saved us that toothache. But true to tradition, he couldn’t help himself when it comes to another Wolof Nationalist hallmark – Transference. Note how Sam tries to portray Suntu Touray as the tribalist when in fact, unlike him, the man did NOT SAY ANYTHING derogatory about Wolof people!  In Sam’s Wolof Nationalist mentality, all the negative things he just happens to recall about a people call Mandinka, has nothing to do with his inner feelings, it was to condemn generic tribalism like is happening in Kenya. But Suntu Touray’s response? Ooooh No, that is motivated by Tribal bigotry! Classic Wolof Nationalist trickery. Somehow, we are to believe the stories Sam Sarr made up about Mandinka people as sincere, but we are to condemn Suntu Touray who cautioned him to be cognizant of an alternative view. It is noteworthy that as usual, some people have fallen for this trick. 

But in order not to jump the gun, lets take a multi-faceted look at this Notorious “Mandinka anti-Wolof campaign” that Sam is using as a ruse to unload his pent-up prejudice against the Mandinka. Let’s start by putting things in perspective: 

1. Sam is talking about an election campaign that happened forty-eight (48) years ago!
2. As most still do, almost ALL Gambians voted along sectional lines in that election. (The over-whelming majority of Wolof people voted for the THREE Wolof candidates that ran; and the over-whelming majority of Mandinka people voted for the one Mandinka candidate who ran.)
3. The Gambia has had dozens of elections since.
4. Close to 80% of Gambians today were not even alive at the time.

Having made these clear, let’s look at Sam’s allegations, and please allow me to quote Sam himself extensively. He said: “However, it was not until the PPP in their quest for independence from the British started spreading the inaccurate political message that the Wolof had stolen their country, Gambia, and kept them under suppression for centuries that I began to realize the filth behind tribalism. As far as some of them were concerned, colonialism with all its degradation had nothing to do with the “Toubabs” in charge for over three hundred years but everything to do with Wolof hegemony.” 

This is very interesting. In essence, Sam is giving us the impression that he saw and experienced these things first-hand during that period! This notorious campaign happened between 1959 and 1960. The first thing that struck me is simple: How old is Sam Sarr that he understood things around him in 1959-1960, and more specifically, the meaning of what Mandinka (PPP) were saying about Wolof people on the campaign trail? I ask this question because Sam has told us that he didn’t begin to realize the “filth behind tribalism” until the PPP came along and started blaming Wolof people for Mandinka misfortune, while giving a pass to the Toubab. Going by his words, Sam had to have been not only alive at the time, he had to have been matured enough to understand what the Mandinka PPP politicians were saying, which was the only way he could have “realized” that the polity –which was hitherto pristine, was suddenly being defiled with “filth!” I remember seeing Sam Sarr in military uniform many times in the ‘80s. If Sam Sarr was alive at all in 1959-1960, he must have been very young by my reckoning. In that case, Sam was the genius infant who not only understood what adults were saying, but who also understood the implication of their words as well. Quite remarkable!  

If Sam Sarr is fighting his parents’ and grandparents’ battles, which I believe to be the case (because I know Sam Sarr was NEVER part of the audience when the PPP first campaigned against Banjul Wolof parties,) why not be honest about this basic starting point? As children, we all have an innate instinct to fight for our parents. My own father passed on a year ago, and there are many things I’d do for him. But fight a dead fifty years old issue for him? What’s the point? 

Like Sam, I believe in putting everything on the table to discuss what ails our society with honesty. Only then can we forge ahead to higher heights as a collective – in my view. But when we start such discussions couched in misrepresentation (to be very generous here,) and obvious prejudice, what possible good could ever come out of such initiatives?    

Sam began by couching his language in an aesthetic Pan African façade, but his language is classic Wolof Nationalistic: it’s rabidly anti-Mandinka, and latently dishonest to the core! They say however much lipstick you slap on a pig, it’s still a pig! Sam discounted the relevance of ethnicity very well (for good measure,) but repeatedly, he went to extraordinary lengths to paint a single group –the Mandinka, in an ugly light. I actually have the creepy feeling that Sam Sarr is a disciple of the renowned Psychologist Maslow and his Theory on Conditioning because each time Sam mentioned a particular Mandinka, or Mandinka people in his original piece, it was with reference to something negative.  

To begin with, of all the “minor” problems that Sam could recall from his childhood on the streets of Serekunda, it is the seldom (his own description) confrontation between Mandinka girls and their Wolof counterparts over Female Circumcision. It hasn’t escaped notice that Sam feels it necessary to remind us that he is referring to the much loaded, and controversial TOUBAB-ASCRIBED term “genital mutilation of females.” For the record, this is a practice that was picked up from Middle Easterners in medieval times (during the reign of the first real Islamic ruler of the Mali Empire in the case of Manden people, Mansa Kankan Musa.) The practice remains common among Africans that had significant contact with Arabs – the Manden, the Fulani, the Somali, the Amharic, as well as Swahili speakers in East Africa. A true Pan Africanist would call the practice what its African practitioners call it: Female Circumcision. (I’m not debating the medical merits or demerits of the practice. That’s simply beside the point.)  However, for someone who started off slamming Africans’ blanket acceptance of everything Toubab, Sam’s Goal Post-shifting leaves some of us scratching our heads about his true agenda. But then again, Sam’s real agenda was never far off the surface.  

His story went downhill from the aforementioned point. He dwelled on a Mandinka onslaught against a Wolof Hegemony, but the mere concept of a “Wolof hegemony” in The Gambia in 1960 is a figment of the imagination of Wolof ethnic chauvinists. Period! It simply did not exist! Why then would anyone campaign against a non-existent entity? In 1960, the dominant group among Africans in Gambia was the so-called Akus. And no, not all of these are descendants of repatriated slaves. One of the first West African people to voluntarily take to the Toubabs are the Yoruba of Southern Nigeria. Not only did they flock to Western schools early, they even had college graduates in the 1890s! To this day, people from Abeokuta and Ibadan remain some of the most educated Africans anywhere. Some of those educated Yoruba people followed Europeans around West Africa including to The Gambia. Look for names like Tunde, Bola, Femi, etc (Ola-Tunde, Ade-Bola, Oba-Femi) among the so-called Akus of the Gambia, and you can connect the dots. (Don’t be fooled by The Western Last Names. It’s by “choice.” The Fantes did the same in Ghana.) These were the people who had what you might term a “hegemony” in The Gambia in 1960. They had such a hold on the social scene that many Wolof people including that most famous of all Gambian Wolof – Pierre Njie, joined them. Yet, we continue to hear of these stories that the main theme of the PPP Mandinka “political scam artists” was to overthrow  “Wolof hegemony.” Which one?   

Also, Contrary to the false impression we often get, Pierre Njie was in fact, another Jawara:  provincial roots; educated in Banjul; abandoned his religion in order to assimilate into what was seen as the cream of Colonial Gambia, until it became expedient to revert to those same roots. Like the Spanish say: Ayos Mismo. They’re all the same! Sam asked the question: “How was Jawara who came to Banjul as a child, got raised and educated there, converted to Christianity and married an Aku Christian woman got chosen as the PPP leader when the main target of the party was to burst the Banjul clique?” We shall get to what pushed the PPP founders to settle for Jawara, but for now, let’s note the similarity between Pierre Njie and Jawara. Pierre was a Saloum Saloum. Unlike his brothers (Sheriff, etc)  he converted to Christianity, and married an Aku woman, etc. Some of Pierre Njie’s children like daughter Mary Langley (former Establishment Secretary,) live their lives as Aku, not Wolof. Just like Jawara’s first four children do. So why did the Banjul Wolof choose Pierre Njie of all the people they could? So why is Sam Sarr interpreting the experience of the two men differently? Why not raise the same question about Pierre Njie as he did about Jawara? Sam is supposed to be an ethno-blind commentator. Or am I assuming wrong? 

On that 1959-1960 campaign, was there anything  unique about the way the PPP Mandinka campaigned? In other words, were they the only people who injected ethnicity or sectionalism into their politics at the time? The answer to this question is an emphatic No! Sam has been kind enough to let us in on the fact that his own parents were supporters of Jahumpa and his Muslim Congress, and not Pierre Njie “because he’s Christian.” If we are to be honest with each other, Sam’s own people voted with “their hearts, and not their heads” as he labeled Suntu Touray’s reaction. In other words, they were guided by emotion instead of reason. Pierre Njie’s religion had absolutely nothing to do with his ability or lack thereof to run our country. So why was that a factor at all in the choice that Sam’s people made? If Sam has any problems with his parents’ political choice, he hasn’t said so. But evidently, he is less understanding about the majority Mandinka who voted the same way! LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE, they voted with “their hearts, and not their heads.” They DID NOT BUCK ANY TREND. So why single them out for criticism? 

On I.M. Garba Jahumpa especially, Gambian history would record that he was the one who formally injected sectionalism, or ethnicity into Gambian politics! This is a serious charge, so allow me to elaborate. 

You see, between 1943 and 1959 (before PPP joined the political scene,) roughly 95% of all Aku speaking people in Banjul were Christian, and the same proportion of Wolof speakers were Muslim. The so-called Aku were by far the more educated locals. Now if you want to dislodge an Aku from elective office, you have a choice of going after him as an “Aku candidate,” (with clear ethnic undertones,) or as a Christian (with subtle ethnic undertones, even if an overt religious one. “Aku” was synonymous with Christian.) Jahumpa settled for the more subtle option, a characteristic that has now become a tradition among Ethnic Nationalists in The Gambia. They never say anything direct; they only talk in codes! Anyhow, regardless of Jahumpa’s tactics, the effect of what he did was the same. By deftly injecting this Sectionalist wedge between Banjul people, Jahumpa was able to achieve what he sought, which was to get himself elected into office at the expense of more qualified Aku speakers. In fact, that divisive tactic of hiding behind religion to sideline the more educated Aku speakers was so effective that the man that PDOIS folks keep telling us is the Father of Gambian Politics – Edward Francis Small, was crushed at the polls! This was well before the PPP was even formed.  

PDOIS people never tire of reminding us of the patriotism and issue-driven politics of late Mr. Small. So why was this patriotic, and decent man defeated? More importantly, was the agenda of the candidate who defeated EF Small more progressive? Not according to PDOIS, or Jabis Langley, or one Mr. Dacosta, all of who have written extensively about early Gambian politics. The main difference between PDOIS and the other writers is that the latter two emphasize that “before the advent of the provincial-born, Banjul-educated Dawda Jawara, no Banjul politician (including EF Small,) championed the cause of the disenfranchised rural majority.” They both advise that we see EF Small in that context. Where their opinions of Mr. Small converge is that relative to all the other politicians, he was the one candidate who saw himself as a Gambian first. It is for that reason that they all agree that he deserves to be seen as the Father of Gambian politics. 

But from the foregoing, it is obvious that sectionalism, tribalism, or ethnicity (choose whatever name you want,) was part and parcel of The Gambia’s political scene before Protectorate (PPP Mandinka) people even came along! Yet, we continue to read about, and hear of allegations and insinuations from the Sam Sarrs about how the PPP people used “filthy” tribalism to dislodge the Wolof (from power they never had) as if the PPP folks had intruded on the scene and introduced something new. Fact: Banjul people were already DIVIDED ALONG SECTIONAL LINES BEFORE the PPP was formed. If the PPP people did anything at all, it was to do to the Banjul Wolof what they did to the Akus - thanks to their relative numerical strength. Nothing more! The Aku moved on when reality hit. But Wolof Nationalists seem to be stuck in a time warp. This is 2008 for goodness sake! 

Why are Wolof Nationalists still bitching about a forty-eight years old election? It does give a whole new meaning to the term “sore losers” -doesn’t it? When will this sulking end? What are they after? An election happened half a century ago. Why not get over it? Isn’t it about time that we concentrate on more pressing things – like, say Gambian politics in 2008? Our politics still remains primordial and dominated by complete frauds and idiots of all shades. There is absolutely nothing exceptional about Mandinka politicos. If through some magic, you remove ALL the “Mandinka political scam artists” from The Gambia’s political scene today, you’ll still have a mess in your hands because the rest of what you’ll be left with are no better. So why are we being dragged back to 1960 when our house is on fire in 2008? Do the Sam Sarrs follow what goes on at The Gambia’s parliament? Why not pursue an agenda that will segue our politics to the next level? 

Lest I forget, let me hasten to note here that a distinction needs to be made between PPP politicians and PPP founders. PPP politicians like Jawara were in fact Carpet Baggers. They are “Monkey Work, Baboon Chop” characters like the GNA Military Boys call such people. Jawara did not sweat at all to get the top position. In fact, he was even unwilling to sacrifice the loss of his salary, for which reason, the Founders PAID him a salary to lead them. In essence, he was handed a finished product on a gold platter. Was he the wrong man to lead these people? Of course, he was – in my view. 

On the other hand, the PPP Founders were a motley crew of Country, mainly Mandinka-speaking illiterate old men who were driven by the desire to have their voices heard in the affairs of the country in 1959. At all cost! Their story is akin to a David v. Goliath scenario. The odds were prohibitively against them. Now, what was eating away at these old men? The answer to this question is what Wolof Nationalists NEVER acknowledge, nor want to hear anyone else say! But let’s set aside the affliction call Political Correctness and cite some of the complaints Country people (some STILL ALIVE) had against Banjul Wolof especially. 

Sam quotes Prez Eisenhower’s son about his father’s opinion of what he saw in Banjul in 1943. Sam should do more research because Ike went further than what Sam noted. Ike’s summation of Banjul and The Gambia in 1943 was one word: “a Hellhole!” That harsh reality notwithstanding, the residents of this Island which was “ceded” (using Colonial terminology,) to the British in the early 19^thc by a MANDINKA Seyfo, were rabidly xenophobic, and tribalist to the core. Prof. Adu Boahen describes the Ashanti King Obiri Yeaboah as a “martial ardor… who enjoyed blood sports.” In the same vein, many Banjul Wolof in that period had a very twisted sense of humor: they enjoyed Humiliation Sports. Despite their own unflattering lives, they openly poured scorn on people from the hinterland. Some people still alive remember walking down streets in Banjul in the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s, and getting jeered, heckled, and taunted with words like “Santong Ko!”; “Nko!”; “Go back to the farm!”; etc.  

Santong KO, especially only means “someone from the countryside,” in Mandinka. But it was said as if it is on a par with “thief”, “murderer,” “rapist,” or something dirty like that. In essence, country people were routinely demeaned and denigrated. But worse than that treatment, one needs not go far to find old men who remember some country person dying in Banjul at that time, and being unable to find help among the local Muslim population to give the deceased a decent farewell. This, despite the fact that the majority Wolof speakers in Banjul were Muslim as well! Sanjally Bojang talked about this in his chat with Foroyaa before he died. As he remembered it, so does my late grandfather, and two other old men I know still alive. Add to this the open discrimination they underwent in finding employment, and you get a picture of what drove various Mandinka groups under the leadership of people  like Sanjally Bojang, and Pa Keita to shove aside their differences to form a coalition in order to matter in the post-Colonial period. They were simply terrified by the prospects of mainly Wolof-speaking Banjulians taking over from the Toubabs – given their (the Founders) experience at the hands of  those people.  

Now people who have been harassed, bullied, or treated these ugly ways for a protracted period could be forgiven for being irrational in looking for anyone who fits the bill (settling for a transplant like Jawara because of his Barajally roots.) Who among us could, in good conscience fault them for their fears? Are these mainly Mandinka-speaking people justified in assuming the worst of the Banjul Wolof? What would Sam Sarr and his types have done in their shoes? More importantly, how does Sam’s complaints about Mandinkas compare to what his people did to Country people OVER several DECADES? When some of us mention what was done to Country people in Banjul, we are condemned as bitter and hateful. But the Sam Sarrs never relent in their fabricated tales about what “Mandinka people did to Wolofs in 1960.” And this is used as justification for why they’re kissing up to Yaya Jammeh today. In their mind, they’re “Paying Back what Mandinka people did to them.” Never mind, the truth about what actually happened, or the “others” in our country. How can we ever become a nation with an outlook on things? It’s 2008, yet some are still fighting their parents’ 1960 battle! 

To underscore the plight of country people in those days, it is helpful to recall that when a senior British Colonial Official came visiting – in 1958 I believe it was, ABSOLUTELY NONE of the Wolof political leaders of Banjul bothered to seek the representation of country people to get their input. The official came and went without hearing anything from the majority of Gambian people. Country people felt dejected and voiceless. This is a point that both Langley and Dacosta note in their writings. Unlike some people, the two men show integrity. In any case, why should anyone be surprised that these same group of old mainly-Mandinka men rejected the overtures made by some Banjul politicians to lead them a year later (in 1959,) when it became clear to the Banjulians that they stood no chance against the majority rural dwellers? The old Country men did what any rational person would have done: ignore the Banjul politicians’ attempt as insincere and self-serving. Who can blame them?  

So when Suntu Touray raises the flag of caution, some of us recall these stories, among many others. I won’t even go into what some of the Banjul Wolof merchants in particular were doing to farmers – Mandinka, Fula, Jola, even Fana Fana, in those days. You see Sam, we didn’t start off right. A lot of dirty things happened, and CONTINUE to happen, in that country. And I know with absolute certainty that Colony Wolofs are NOT the victims in most cases! Nine out of ten times, they were the ones doing the victimizing. I don’t believe that the sins of the fathers should be visited on the children, which is why I don’t understand why the Sam Sarrs keep bringing up this 1959-1960 campaign, most of the major participants in which are all DEAD! Ironically, the man that Sam’s own parents supported flipped around, folded his party, and joined the same filthy Mandinka political scam artists after he lost to them at the polls! What does that say about Jahumpa?  

What I find very irritating about Sam’s Wolof Nationalist types is the haughty attitude that they somehow have a monopoly on the truth about Gambian history. You see, just because others don’t whine and raise hell doesn’t mean there is only one culprit in Gambia’s socio-political scene. There never has been. Banjul Wolofs themselves were routinely bullied by Akus before others got to the scene. Even in school, they caught hell from some Aku-speaking teachers. However, that attitude proved to be infectious, because the Banjul Wolofs turned around and treated other Gambians that followed them in worse ways!  So in truth, the majority of the Mandinka, Fulani, Jola, Manjago, etc were more often than not at the receiving end of Colony Wolof bullying, not the other way around. Yet, it is the Wolof Nationalist who are always crying victim! Victim of whom? 

This is the gist of what Mr. Touray was trying to alert Sam about. Instead, he just trashed the man. Touray even cited an example that ANY HONEST expatriate Gambian can attest to about the scene at the Christening ceremony he presided over in London recently. What Touray said is NOT an isolated case at all, neither is it restricted to Christenings. You see that same scenario at meetings, at Parks, etc. Yet Sam dismissed this as a fig leaf propagated by anti-Wolof Mandinka people to convince others that “Wolofs are unwilling to speak Mandinka.” Is Sam Sarr one of those Wolof who does not want to speak Mandinka intentionally? Only Sam can say. But are there any Wolof like that? Absolutely! Not only do some of us know Wolof like that, we are even friends with some of them! 

There is something very insulting, and patronizing about Sam’s posture that suggests that he knows how every Wolof behaves. Sam Sarr knows himself, and how he thinks and behaves. Unless if Sam is Dr. TJ Eckleburg (as in The Great Gatsby,) how in the world would he know how every other Wolof behave? Or more pertinently, how would he know what Suntu Touray’s experience is? Sam Sarr encountered Dr. Modou Manneh briefly and diagnosed him as tribalist because he THINKS the man was unhappy with him speaking in a non-Mandinka language to him. Fair enough. Why is it impossible for Suntu Touray, or any other person to have had a similar experience with a Wolof person? This kind of twisted logic is what ticks some of us off about Wolof Nationalists: Wolof people who cannot speak other Gambian languages or dialects just happen to have NO NEED to learn these (going by Sam’s explanation which itself betrays a Colonial Mentality,) but Gambians who cannot speak Wolof are somehow tribalist because Wolof is the Lingua Franca (we are constantly reminded.) But says who?  

This Wolof Nationalistic tendency of assigning themselves the role of Rule Maker, or Definers in Gambian society remains one of the stumbling blocks in the quest to create a Gambian nation. Things are not what they are unless they say so; someone is tribalist because they say so (without bothering to proffer any convincing evidence); something doesn’t exist unless they say it does; whatever they’re involved in is “national”, but anything they don’t control is “tribalist;”  etc. this is not only symptomatic of their inflated sense of their importance in Gambian society, it betrays a very ignorant, and arrogant mindset. Where does this temerity come from?  

If Sam Sarr has an issue with Mandinka people, which I think he does, he should be honest enough to lay it out squarely without hiding behind some dead issue like this 1959-1960 campaign. I say this because Sam went to elaborate lengths to portray a non-existent Mandinka tribal cabal during the PPP era. In my view, Lamin Saho bungled the Radio Gambia News Reading sequence issue. What’s the point in conducting a Census if the results are not used for formulating Public Policy? The largest Gambian ethnic group is Mandinka, followed by Fulani, though you wouldn’t know that from Sam’s discussion, or many things Gambian. That, because the Fulani, by nature have made themselves the Lapdogs of either Mandinka or Wolof people. I know something about this because my own family are Fulani who migrated from Futa about two hundred years ago. They settled among Mandinka people, who they taught, and converted into Islam. They called these Mandinka people “Talubeh” and the Manden called them “Saidy” – thus the prefix to my family name. Anyhow, when Foday Kabah came along on his conquests around 1890, my people quickly abandoned most things Fulani to appease him. We never fully went back to our roots since. And my Fulani friends from Guinea tell me things that make me wonder whether kow-towing is in our genes. 

In my view, Gambian News should be announced according to size of ethnic population – Fulani before Wolof any time! Lamin Saho did a half-hearted job, and provided fodder for frustrated Wolof Nationalists who were at the time looking for anything they could latch on, to show how “anti-Wolof” Mandinka people are. This should have been a routine Radio Schedule change. Why in the world is that a cause for a National crisis? Was it tribally-insensitive? Apparently. But is there more to it than that? You tell me. (This was the 1980s, and after Banjul Sankapra  ML Saho resigned his appointment as Health Minister in 1982 (he supposedly campaigned on the belief that he would be promoted to Veep,) there was no Banjul Wolof in the cabinet. Thus, Wolof Nationalists were seething with rage for much of the 1980s.)) Otherwise, Dr. Lamin Saho never ran for national office; he ran against his blood cousin Sheriff Dibba in heavily Mandinka Lower Badibu. (The two men share the same maternal grandfather from what I understand.) Saho was defeated the first time he ran in 1977, before eventually winning twice in a row. How tribalism has helped him in his political career, I cannot fathom. And for Jawara not stepping in, that’s the man’s Signature Attitude. Let’s take a look at a parallel case. 

In 1984, the GNA was inaugurated. I don’t know if Sam was at the Reception they held in Faraja. But a very senior cabinet member who was, told me a story that is very revealing of Jawara’s personality. Lloyd Evans, former IG of Police and Establishment Secretary, pulled this gentleman and Jawara aside, and laid it out (in Wolof): “You see these boys? They are Shy-shy! We cannot trust them for a minute. You HAVE TO get involved in their appointments and promotions. Make sure only people you trust handle certain sensitive positions...” The gentleman quotes Mr. Evans as saying bluntly. But what did Jawara do? He let Ndow Njie run the show. Sam was a senior officer in the army. He can tell us who the officers of the army were before another blunt fellow came by (Gen. Dada from Nigeria,) who told Jawara point blank –in not so many words, that he is ignoring the Army Officer Composition to his own peril. According to who? Someone who was in the thick of things! Anyone who knew the GNA’s Officer Structure can tell you that had Jawara placed someone like Turo Jawneh (his relative,) at the head of the army, he’d probably die in office, or leave at his own volition.  

But my point is, even in this critical area, keeping a tap on which could have prevented the tragedy that ultimately consumed his regime, Jawara pulled back and let the Line Managers use their discretion. Sam Sarr knows the process of how Army Officers got their promotions under Jawara, and how they do so now under Yaya Jammeh. So why then is Sam trying to blame Jawara for not interfering in what was really a very silly matter like a Radio News Schedule? The answer is simple:  Sam Sarr wants us to read tribal bias in Jawara’s failure to reverse Dr. Saho’s decision when in fact, Jawara behaved the same way when Ndow Njie was stuffing the higher echelon of the GNA with a mainly Wolof-Aku cast, which fact was one of the main ingredients of the 1994 coup! The junior officers and soldiers of the GNA didn’t have any respect for the soldierly qualities of their superiors -thanks to nepotism. History shall record that the 1994 coup was as much an internal revolt by junior officers and soldiers AGAINST THEIR SENIOR Officers, as it was against the politicians that led the country! But watch Sam blame the success of the coup on Nigerians. Nigeria’s own first coup was carried out by relatively junior officers based in Kaduna in 1966. Within days, ALL the leaders of the coup were in jail, replaced by their seniors - Gen. Ironsi, Ojukwu, and others.  But it was the responsibility of foreigners to stop the Gambia’s 1994 coup. What claptrap! The question is: why were GNA soldiers unwilling to listen to Captains, Majors, and Lt. Colonels instead of following the Sub-Lt.s they fell behind? 

Sam’s desperation to paint a Mandinka anti-Wolof cabal, betrays his deep-seated anti-Mandinka prejudice. Perhaps, we can’t blame Sam because he must have been fed such sentiments from early in his life. My evidence? Sam is getting really worked up about a fifty years old election campaign he NEVER took part in himself! Where is his passion coming from if he wasn’t fed such prejudice early in his life? And Sam has promised to defile another young mind – his son’s! How does feeding his son half-truths help the boy understand Gambian history? Demonstrably, Sam’s own version of our history is one-tracked and bereft of any context.  Yet, this is the one he is vowing to teach his little boy! Shouldn’t truth matter in how we teach our children? No wonder lying has become acceptable to so many of us. 

On Dr. Manneh, again, it’s more fumes than substance. Sam indicated that someone had told him  that the man is irascible, yet he sallied forth with the allegation that Manneh’s dirty looks at him were due to him speaking “… in a language different from Mandinka” to Manneh. How did Sam Sarr deduce that conclusion from Manneh’s looks? A more probable explanation –given what people told Sam, might be that the man is a pain in the behind. A rude fellow. Why discount that in favor of tribal prejudice? Did Sam notice Manneh being all smiles to those speaking Mandinka to him at the same time? But then again, Sam is on a mission, and no incident is trivial enough for his purpose.   

Dr. Manneh used to contest a Jokadu district, not a Badibu one. His district is one of the most eclectic ones in rural Gambia. Sam should research the ethnic makeup of Manneh’s constituency.  If I recall right, Dr. Manneh actually won that seat as an Independent candidate after he was kicked out of the PPP. Somehow, some people in that district –non Mandinka, must have liked what he was doing for them.  

On Dr. Manneh and Dr. Saho’s qualifications, and the insinuation that unlike one Haidara Ceesay, an impostor who was booted out of the Gambia College Staff, (while Drs. Saho and Manneh were given a pass because they’re Mandinka people,) I can only talk about I know for a fact. In 1987, I was getting ready to leave the Sixth Form. I was with an uncle at the Quadrangle when we bumped into a friend of his named Kebba Dampha (NOT online KD,) a Mandinka fellow. This man is from Saihou Sabally’s area (who as Finance Minister at the time championed his cause from what I understand.) That Kebba Dampha has lived in London for a very long time. At the time, he claimed to have earned a Masters Degree in something. Mr. Dampha was appointed “The Administrator Designate” at the Central Bank of The Gambia. Kebba Dampha was fired faster than you can count “one - two” when his verification came back negative! He had the backing of Saihou Sabally, yet he was fired! Does Sam Sarr mean to tell us that the Mandinka cabal didn’t realize this Kebba Dampha is Mandinka when they fired him? I’ve heard people raise doubts about Manneh and Saho’s qualifications. But the insinuation that they got away with fraud because they’re Mandinka is orphaned by the facts in similar cases. Unlike others, they chose to run for political office instead of the Civil Service. My feeling is the  Civil Service was better equipped at ferreting out impostors than the PPP Party machinery was. Many of their MPs didn’t have much education, so it is easy for an impostor (IF that’s what Manneh and Saho are,) to blend in without much trouble.  

Sam’s take on Sheriff Dibba, and why he quit the PPP and formed his “tribal” party is also unsupported by the facts. Lets quote Sam directly: “Dibba a Mandinka who was among the founders of the PPP when the party was called the People’s Protectorate Party had later broken away when it became the People’s Progressive Party and formed his own tribal party, the NCP, on the premise that Jawara was not Mandinka enough and had betrayed his people to the Wolof. There was no truth in it but the gullible fell for it as usual.” 

First, the PPP never competed an election under Protectorate People’s Party. Jawara prevailed on the founders in Basse to change the party name to People’s Progressive Party before the 1960 elections. Sheriff Dibba remained a member of the PPP top tier (held posts of VP, various cabinet posts, as well as Ambassador to EU) until mid-1975 when HE WAS FIRED by Jawara! Dibba DID NOT resign voluntarily. And the NCP was not formed until late 1975. As such, Sam’s version of events is another concoction being spread by his Wolof Nationalist types to stigmatize Mandinka people. The allegation that Dibba  “…formed his own tribal party, the NCP, on the premise that Jawara was not Mandinka enough and had betrayed his people to the Wolof” is a complete fable! Classic revisionism!  

Having read his postings several times, I keep wondering why Sam Sarr is going to such extent to portray what never was? It defies commonsense. Mandinka folks had a rock-solid grip on Gambian governments for thirty years. They could have discriminated against Wolof people any way they wanted. There was absolutely nothing the Wolof could have done about it! But did they? 

It’s because of the paucity of time that, some of us have not delved into the composition of the various PPP governments from 1962 to 1994. But clearly, there is need for this - a look at every position from Divisional Commissioner to Secretary General: who held the positions; for how long; what their ethnicity is, etc. Perhaps that will finally do for us what commonsense has failed to do: stop the unending fifty years-old Whisper Campaign of calumny that some Ethnic Nationalists have been waging to distort what essentially is Gambian history. As OJ once told me, Colony Wolof ought to “tone down their criticism of the PPP because of what we did for them.” He was talking about a people who constitute less than 10% of the Gambia’s population, yet constituted the majority of ALL IMPORTANT positions in the various PPP governments.  Yet, some continue to cry victim. Victims of Mandinka tribalists. Sometimes, one can’t help but feel sick at what one hears, or reads. A little gratitude would be in order. If truth be told, Mandinka people helped Colony Wolof tremendously. What the Sam Sarrs call a “Wolof hegemony” was allowed to flourish during the PPP era, NOT BEFORE. Before the PPP era, Aku speakers were fully in charge. It was in fact the “tribalist” PPP Mandinka folks who put Colony Wolof on top! This was one area where Jawara should be extolled. 

If I had the time, I’d move from the empirical to the semi-professional by taking a two-prong Cost-Benefit approach to the issue of what The Gambia as a country lost as a result of Colony Wolof defeat in 1960, and what Wolofs as a group lost from same election. Since this is unquantifiable, we can simply rely on publicly verifiable data. But since I lack the time, I’d just summarize it thus: had the Banjul Wolof won in 1960, they’d have put their own “qualified people” in most important positions in government; had they won, they’d have created institutions like The Gambia Commercial & Development Bank, Gambia National Trading Corp, Gambia Utilities Corp, Gambia Public Works Department, Gambia Ports Authority, Central Bank of the Gambia; Gambia Cooperative Union,  etc, etc. Guess what? The horrible Mandinka tribalist people call PPP did exactly what Pierre Njie, or JC Fye, or Garba Jahumpa would have done! ALL the new institutions were headed by mainly Wolof-speaking Banjul people!  Every single one of them!  So where is the Tribalism beef? Methinks, this is a great deal for any people who  lost an election.  You got everything else you would have had you won. Isn’t that consolation enough? Is there any concession Mandinka people can make to Wolof Nationalists that would assuage their resentment? What’s this hatred about? Must you have people wrapped around your fingers to feel relevant? I have no doubt in my mind that this Mandinka hatred has to do with the fact that, they’re the only people in The Gambia who consistently stand up to Wolof Nationalists.  

It is noteworthy that almost every single one of the new institutions I cited was run into the ground. Nobody paid any real price for these crimes. I’m sure in Jawara’s thinking, pursuing them would have amounted to a “Mandinka anti-Wolof hegemony” crusade. Whatever his thinking, he backed off that route. Our country suffered tremendously because of what those Banjul people did. But my bad, this is an Off-Limit topic. The Sam Sarr’s have no complaints about Jawara letting Banjul Wolof crooks bleed us dry, but they’re mighty miffed that Dr. Lamin Saho changed a silly Radio News Lineup. I was wondering what to make of Sam’s recommendation of Isatou Njie as Yaya Jammeh’s replacement until I read this latest outrage. That woman who passed along Yaya Jammeh’s Order To Shoot little kids is somehow good enough to rule the Gambia, but Dr. Saho and Manneh are “filthy scam artists.” If this is not a classic case of using ethnicity as an instrument of bully, and coercion, I don’t know what is: “they hate us, and are criticizing us because we’re Wolof”, “they won’t vote for us we’re Wolof”, etc, etc. No Baba, “they” criticize certain Wolofs because of their incompetence (which they try to hide behind their ethnicity); “they” hate certain Wolofs because of their Beneatha attitude (like in A Raisin In The Sun; )  and “they” don’t vote for certain Wolofs candidates because they’re worse than the alternatives! How about a little growing up? 

So enough of this Western Artist-style neurotic, self-analytical, and narcissistic behavior: “Mandinka people turned against Jawara because they hate Wolof;” “Sheriff Dibba broke away because he hates Wolof;” “they don’t speak Wolof because they hate Wolof people;” etc. There is something incredibly prepubescent about this mindset. It makes George Bush look like a genius. Who said Mandinka lives revolve around Wolof hatred? What is to gain from that? The one thing that we can all agree on about the last forty years is that the two groups of people who cannot stay away from each other in The Gambia are Mandinka men and Wolof women. Some hatred it must be. 

And finally, on this persistent allegation that Mandinka politicians were telling the “Mandinka masses” anti-Wolof puff on their campaigns, please let’s stop being Drum Majors for ignorance! Unlike any other Gambian party, the PPP is a Bottom-Up party. It was FORMED BY THE MASSES who went shopping for leaders! I discussed what pushed them to form their party. Does it therefore make any sense that, these “masses” needed to be told why not to vote for Wolof candidates who didn’t care about them before they formed their own party? Banjul Wolof had an ugly reputation that caught up with them in 1960 – period! But instead of admitting that, we hear of this insulting, and patronizing allegation from bold Story Tellers that the “Mandinka masses were told by ‘scam artists’ that …” – as if that mattered at all in the scheme of things. If the Mandinka candidates didn’t utter a single word at all, they’d have been voted in because of the alternative.  

Did the Wolof candidates use similar language against the PPP? Let’s assume that they didn’t. Yet Banjul Wolof people voted overwhelmingly for them! Why should the behavior of other voters be interpreted any differently: Wolof voters voted for their own WITHOUT being told WHO NOT to vote for, but somehow Mandinka voters only voted for theirs because THEY WERE fed “tribal filth” by the PPP. The mendacity of some people! The “Mandinka masses” that some people heap scorn on, defied their own then-powerful Mandinka Chiefs (who ALL supported Wolof Pierre Njie, something we don’t hear from the Sam Sarrs,) to vote for the PPP! But guess who else voted on ethnic lines? Colony Wolof people! So what’s the problem? Why are some singling out one segment for condemnation in what was a classic Sectional election? 

Another ridiculous story that is frequently peddled is the story that PPP politicians told their supporters that they’ll “take Wolof and Aku peoples’ storey buildings” away to give them. This is part of the reason why it is common to see Wolof Nationalists walking around haughtily with an air of superiority because of such asinine ideas in their heads. I was in Banjul in February 2007. Forget 1960. Excepting  government buildings, there are still far less than 200 storey buildings in the whole of Banjul! In February 2007, the majority of the people who live in the Banjul I saw live in PLASTERED KIRINTING houses! So where are the storey buildings that the hundreds of thousands of PPP supporters were supposed to have been promised in 1960? It’s one thing to hear some nitwit senselessly repeat this kind of fable at some Attaya Vous, it’s quite another to read such garbage from so-called educated people. And this story is told as if it is a caricature of the PPP leadership when in fact, all it does is reveal the incredible obtuseness of the people who continue to spread such improbable tales. How can the PPP leaders take from Banjul Wolof and Aku what they don’t have? Did a particular PPP politician say something like that? Maybe. But was that a the major theme it’s made out to be? No!