M.B,
        I want to discuss your outburst about the UDP lead coalitions'
decison to boycott the upcoming elections and all subsequent elections until
all the very serious matters that determine the integrity of the electoral
process are fully and finally addressed. By your own admission illegal voter
registration, illegal vote transfer and all the irregularities stipulated in
the coalitions' public pronouncements are serious and pertinent. For reasons
known only to you , all of these are insufficient grounds not to partake in
an election. How on earth can any country have a functional democracy in
which the electoral system is overtly abused by padding the rolls with
illegal voters? In a country of 500,000 voters, adding tens of thousands of
ineligible voters is an unacceptable assault on the wishes of those Gambians
genuinely concerned about a free and fair contest. Similarly subverting the
election laws of the country in a bid to adversely affect the wishes of a
specific constituency using voter transfers is an absolute and cynical
attempt to deny individual constituencies their choices of representation. It
is your right to participate in a process laden with such flagrant
abnormalities but blaming people who have worked hard and gotten their
members murdered in the all important endeavor to uphold and validate the
rights and wishes of the Gambian people is spurious at best and vile at
worst. You don't seem to be interested at all in the integrity of the
election process. But even worse is your harangue about how the UDP ought to
validate a fatally flawed election system but participating in a poll that by
design would not reflect the wishes of the Gambian people. You may not like
politicians of the coalition, but attempting to blame them for discarding a
thoroughly compromised electoral system and then turning around to accuse
them of undermining democracy is incredibly galling. I think you ought ask
yourself what you as a good citizen of the Gambia has specifically done since
1994 to enhance the democratic experience in your country as it continues to
reel under the thumb of a brutal tyrant. Casting aspersions on people who
have sacrificed life and limb to uphold the dignity and rights of our people
is foolish and unfair. You try desperately hard to ascribe motivations to
people whose stands are clear to anyone objectively looking at what is
happening to the Gambia. You seem willing to give the benefit of the doubt to
a regime with an established record of unprecedented cruelty and lawlessness
because you have some lingering dislike and suspicion of some people in the
coalition. Why can't a discussion about Gambia transcend personalities? You
know deep inside that participating in a flawed process constitute more
betrayal than standing up and refusing to be part of a charade. But like many
a Gambian over the generations, you are encumbered with perceptions, fear and
suspicion of people. As a result you are willing to make truth, justice and
even basic decency a casualty. The way forward requires all of us to resolve
to do what is right as opposed to what is expedient. We must try to embrace
the truth and aspire to work for the common good based on that truth. Unless
we evolve a formula that recognizes the strength of what is right, we will
find that the battle for a better Gambia elusive primarily because of
internecine battles precipitated by silly perceptions.
        I will respect your right in wanting to perpetuate illegal behavior.
Support or participate in anyway you wish. Just recognize other people's
wishes to not be part of such an enterprise.
Karamba

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