9Here goes Jammeh's healing process Instead of accepting defeat, he went ahead and oragnised a VICTORY celebration for Banjul. Going through the information as reported by the Daily Observer, I ask myself the following:
What disunity ensued within Banjul - None, only that the people REJECTED an APRC sponsored candidate as Mayor of Banjul
What reconciliation ? Lie Bah was never an enemy of Samba, he only exercised his political right to take part in elections and won with a landslide. Moreover, what else is left for Samba Faal, the guy got defeated and no longer holds any weight in the administrative affairs of Banjul City Council. If Jammeh and the APRC were sincere with their politics of reconciliation, then they should have paraded the 9 elected Councillors from the APRC camp to demonstrate their committment to work under the leadership of Lie Bah.
What was the essence of trying to broker peace between Lie Bah and Samba Faal?? The people of Banjul are not aware of any differences between the duo and Jammeh's attempt to broker peace is just cheap propagamda. The whole idea was just to stiffle Lie Bah's plans to organise a separate VICTORY celebrations in the near future. For fear of Lie Bah creating a political base in Banjul, our beloved President has gone head lose to reconcile. Well Jammeh should be reminded that the Banjulians demanded changes and the trend strted since the last National Assembly Elections when
2 of the APRC candidates narrowly escaped defeat from the Independent Candidates.
What lessons are there to be learnt - Jammeh should have organised a separate VICTORY celebration and publicly rescind his decision to expel APRC militants for sponsoring candidates at the last National Assembly Elections.
Until then I regard Jammeh's latest ploy as baseless. Banjulians have just started the process of Operation Regime Change through the Ballot Box
President Jammeh reunites Banjul political opponents
Africa » Gambia
Monday, May 06, 2013
Divided by politics during the race to the mayoral seat in the just concluded April 4th Local Government Elections, Mayor Abdoulie Bah and his forerunner, Samba Faal, have charted a new beginning in the political and development dispensation of the island city through a historic reconciliation initiative brokered by The Gambian leader Saturday at the July 22nd Square in Banjul.
In the presence of thousands of supporters from both camps, as well as top government officials and business executives who gathered for a Local Government Election victory celebration, Abdoulie Bah who won the race under an independent ticket, and Samba Faal, the ruling Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC) flag-bearer, shook hands and embraced each other courtesy of His Excellency Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr. Yahya Jammeh.
By embracing each other, the one-time political rivals not only buried their differences, but have also reunited their two political camps in the city of 35, 000, in the interest of peace and development. But the credit, all go back to the man who is synonymous with brokering reconciliations between different parties both nationally and internationally as has been witnessed over the years. This symbolic gesture of the president also points to his absolute commitment to the ideals of democracy and good governance. In a way, it has served as a point of reference for the two reconciled political opponents; the message was quite apparent. Just like the president has constantly maintained, there cannot be any room for development in the face of animosity among the citizens of the country, let alone political actors who should come together and work for the development of the city.
Many people who spoke to the Daily Observer towed that line; they were not the least surprised as, in the words of former mayor Samba Faal, “we have to give credit to His Excellency – this is a great stride and I think all Banjulians should join forces and have a common goal of making sure there is peace, stability and development”. Praising the Almighty Allah and President Jammeh for taking what he called a bold step in the right direction, Faal argued that Banjul is one and has always been so, saying “we shouldn’t see it disintegrate”.
“We have seen the political stability over the years and we have to maintain that. We should all join hands and complement the efforts of the president in working to see unity in Banjul. Elections come and go, but national building or governance is a continuous process. We are in the stage of developing Banjul and we have to understand that Banjul is bigger than any individual whether me or Mayor Bah,” Faal underscored.
To the former mayor, the verdict has been made, and it is now the duty of all Banjulians to come together and work in peace and harmony to complement the development process of the day.
“I have done my part over the years. I have served the people of Banjul diligently and I had worked in the interest of the people of the city. I have had the support of His Excellency, the government and people of Banjul,” the veteran politician told the Daily Observer.
For Faal, development is a tripartite one, which comes along with many challenges. In this regard, he observed that no institution can do it alone as it needs the support of the government, the people and development partners. He added: “It is heartening to note that the new mayor has accepted the reality to work with the government to implement the development agenda for the city.” Samba Faal concluded by thanking the president, APRC and people of Banjul for giving him the opportunity to serve them as mayor of the city.
On his part, Mayor Abdoulie Bah, described the Gambian leader’s move as commendable. He said: “We have nothing to say but to thank the president because he is working in the right direction.” He commended the pragmatism of the president, because in his own words, “he could have sat down and given instructions to make it happen.”
The minister of Fisheries and Water Resources, Mass Axi Gye, who is also one of APRC’s liaison officers for Banjul, also said the president should be commended for resolving what he called a difficult situation amongst the people of Banjul. His words: “We had a problem and until at the time that we were coming to the Square it was there. But fortunately, we have a great leader who knows what was happening and made sure everybody was here and do it in the presence of all. So there is no speculation now because the president has now stressed for all to come under one umbrella. This was a very difficult situation. So my message to the people of Banjul is for us to foster unity because if the president decided to reconcile us, nobody has any cause to stay away. We should all come on board,” Minister Gye urged.
The APRC national mobiliser and mayor of Kanifing Municipality, Yankuba Colley, expressed similar sentiments. For him, this was “democracy at work” saying the move by the party leader shows how “democratic” the APRC is. “This shows that for us we don’t hold grudge for any party. We believe as a party we are a true representation of the country. So today’s reconciliation is done by the president, whom we all know is always thinking about The Gambia and her people. So I think the best [thing] is to reconcile the two parties and I am sure the two people can work together very well given their maturity and experience,” Colley told the Daily Observer.
Recast
Readers would recall that the Local Government Elections were held on April 4th 2013 across the country. In Banjul, four mayoral candidates contested the polls that saw the APRC’s Samba Faal lose to one of the independent candidates, Abdoulie Bah. He scored 4980, whilst Faal
________________________________
From: suntou touray <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Monday, 6 May 2013, 10:39
Subject: [G_L] Papa Faal author of the failed 1981 coup
http://www.kibaaro.com/ Muhammed L Sillah interviews Papa Faal on what happen when his family were kidnapped and how friends turn foes. Enjoy the Gambia experience. The chat provide personal accounts of the bloodbath in 1981.The book is 375 pages. Suntou¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html
To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html
To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
|
