I join Hamjatta, Saul and other List subscribers and respectfully counsel
that we wait for an Official word from the UDP leadership before we throw in
the towel and declare a clean APRC victory and start blaming people for
voting the way they did or for not voting at all. My initial reading of the
results in Kiang leaves no doubt in my mind that this election was stolen.
In that vein, Saul, I would not retract what I said the other day if I were
you. But for the rigging of the votes, APRC would have been humiliated.

My reason for saying this is very simple. If we factor in the people that
were registered but did not vote, the APRC majority in Kiang will evaporate.
We do not need an UDP official word to decipher what went on here as far as
vote-buying is concerned. Crimes were committed. Vote-buying is illegal even
under our watered-down electoral laws. That is what went on here. I am not
trying to condone the behavior of people that would sell their souls in this
way. But think about it. Some of these people wait for two months to even
see ten dalasis. To a person like that, it would not be difficult for him to
part away with a voter’s card if he is offered 25 dalasis and the assurance
that his vote will not make a difference. Still, this despicable ploy by the
APRC should have been countered vigorously by the Opposition. The less than
800 votes APRC bought, would have cost them less than thirty thousand
dalasis. This should be money we in the Diaspora can avail to the Opposition
back home. Some of us also send more than $3000 back home. We could have
called our friends and families and ask them to vote for the Opposition.
These simple gestures make a difference.

But instead of using the money to illegally buy the votes of our opponents,
we will use the money to safeguard the votes of our supporters. Let us put
money up and buy all the votes we need to defeat Yaya. Let us keep the cards
until election day and give the cards to our supporters to vote for us. This
is not as over ambitious as it might sound. It is doable. We can prevent our
wavering voters from selling their inalienable right to vote in October and
next January. Together with safeguarding the voters’ cards, we have to (in a
more forceful way) communicate to voters that every vote counts. The power
to get rid of Yaya in a peaceful way, lies in the hands of the people. If
they do not want other means to be used in order to get rid of the murderers
of our children, they should exercise their right to vote Yaya out of office
and parade him before the regular courts where all criminals belong.

There is no point crying over spilled milk now. The Opposition have options
here that they can follow as a matter of principle. As Hamjatta and I have
counseled them before, the firing of Johnson and reinstatement of Roberts
was going to taint this election no matter who won. Since the Opposition was
pursuing that matter in the courts, they can continue to see where that suit
will lead them. If Roberts’ appointment is vacated by the courts and his
actions at the IEC declared ultra vires, there might be possibilities for
another by-election. It is entirely up to UDP to pursue this avenue.
Frankly, I think I would have sorted out the IEC mess before partaking in
the by-election. But like I said, there is no point dwelling on what could
have been done.

UDP also have another option with the courts if they see it fit to pursue
that. There are  clearly some electoral mal-practices here. And those
irregularities could have made a difference in Kiang. If we just take the
number of people that did not vote, that amount overshadows the APRC
victory. If UDP can get affidavits to show that those voters’ cards were
bought by APRC stalwarts, the election would be overturned. This ground for
overturning the election, does not take into account other irregularities
that UDP people on the ground might have witnessed. For instance, did we
have multiple voting? Did we have people that were ferried to Kiang from
neighboring constituencies? Did we have UDP supporters that were prevented
from voting by Baba Jobe and his thugs from the July 22 Movement? UDP need
to probe these and other tactics APRC might have used to steal the election.
We are dealing here with vermin that will do anything to stay in power.

On the other hand, UDP might decide to accept the results and regroup for
next October and January. The APRC candidate that won Kiang, would just have
one of the shortest stints in parliament. We should meet fire with fire and
outspend these people. As far as ideas are concerned and moving the country
forward, UDP, NRP and PDOIS are no match to APRC. The difference here is
money and gutter tactics. We should be prepared to get into the gutter with
them. This is life and death. Electing this man, translates to murdering our
children in broad daylight and denying their families justice. This moron
has nothing to offer us but misery.

This is not time for arrogance and questioning the integrity of our
potential supporters. We should avoid alienating people that we might need
in October 2000 and January 2001 because an APRC rubber stamp is going to
parliament for a few months. We should not be demoralized by these results.
Let us look behind these results and see how we can avoid them in October.
We should not allow Yaya to steal the elections again. I entirely associate
myself to the call Hamjatta made yesterday that the Opposition parties
should liaise with the organizations in the Diaspora to see how we can work
together to get rid of Yaya through the ballot box. If we miss this
opportunity, I can guarantee you that there are others ready, capable and
willing to get rid of Yaya through other means.
KB

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