In a message dated 4/1/2001 9:23:14 AM Central Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:


> What type of patriotism are we demanding from the Gambian
> people?Is the opposition doing anything ensuring them that now a change will
> mean for the better ?it will bring total freedom,It will change their
> condition,it will give them three daily meals,their groundnuts will be
>

((((((((((((
Saikss,
Thanks for your analysis, and it is certainly food for thought because things
may not be as simple as the buying of votes etc. Personally, I think that a
lack of understanding of government's responsibility to the people is why a
party like the APRC can still win votes after all that has transpired,
including the precarious situation the farmers have found themselves in.

Our people are also  still too easily fooled by some new building, or a bag
of kola nuts here and there, and throw in a ticket to the Hajj, and bingo,
the person can do no wrong. If these people could understand that it is the
direct economic policies and actions of the government that has put them in
the hardship they are in, abd that these are the parameters that they should
use to decide who to vote for, then  I cannot see how they can vote for the
APRC.

These   people may not know if things will be different if they vote for the
opposition, but given all that has transpired, I think that it is just common
sense to at least give the other guy a try to see if things will be
different. In any election, no voter is certain that the opposition will
deliver, but what they are certain of is what the incumbent has done so far,
and the APRC's record is not a good one no matter how you look at it. I do
hope that our people get to the point where they understand what one uses to
judge whether to vote for a candidate. Years of nepotism, corruption and lack
of dedication to the services that a government is put in place to do has
unfortunately led to our people lacking an understanding of the role of
government. Most of them think selecting our representatives is just a matter
of
 "us against them" "they are just jealous of us" "put the people in who will
curry favours for you" " they sent uncle so and so to Mecca" etc etc, and so
long as this stupid ctriteria of selecting our representatives persists, then
we will continue to have landslide victories for political parties whose
record should have sent them packing a long time ago given a population that
is politically educated and therefore knows what the real rols of our
representatives should be.

Jabou Joh

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