Various UK papers today reported that Microsoft's boss Bill Gates has made a grant of £26 million to the london school of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. This comes at a time when it has been announced there should be a push to halve the deaths of children from maleria by 2010.

The school will use the money to develop new drugs, insecticides and vaccines.

Brilliant, Anything that can be done to reduce maleria at a price the 3rd world can afford is very welcomed.

Since the unknown Andy, criticised the thinness of parts of the site and particularly my comments to the student riots, I subscribed to Gambia -L and have followed the mail from 20 or so active L'ers.

The current political power in The Gambia certainly appears to be acting in a less than democratic way. This is blamed by most active L'ers directly on President Jemmah.

There are moderate voices, that of 'foroyaa' appears to be one, but the journalists who publish as 'foroyaa' "The Honest Truth" are criticised as having lost the plot and being from a different planet.

I am also corresponding with a Gambian friend in the States, who was in Banjul at the time of the July 22 coup, so I hope to get something from that source.

The voices that call for education are the ones I favour most. The people must understand that they are an active part of a government and even if they seem powerless during its term of office, they can vote it out of office when the next elections are held.

Governments that rule by totalitarian means, aim to intimidate an uneducated population by brutal tactics. If this is what the current Gambian government is doing then it risks losing the next election.

When I was younger, I was sure that revolution could establish a better life for more people, but as I get older and I think wiser, I have seen that revolution seldom helps the people, it gives them a new set of masters intent on their own agenda. Maybe this was true of July 22, 1994

Had I been advising President Jammeh then, I would have argued for change through due process of the law - my advice, for what it 's worth, to those wanting change in The Gambia would still be the same.

Running any country is a near impossible task, but resolving the problems caused from hundreds of years of use and abuse by foreign powers, debts from previous administrations and little help from anyone, must make it difficult for anyone to remain one of 'the people'

What is for certain is that eventually time changes everything and everyone is judged - in this world or the next. This is true for the most powerful dictators and the simple orange sellers.