BROTHER HJK:

You have done a very fine job in vividly pinpointing the "DRY
INTELLECTUALISM" of PDOIS as a political party. Few months ago, I had
written about the "DRYNESS" and OBSOLESCENCE of PDOIS as a political party
in our country in the 21ST Century when we need STRONG LEADERSHIP in
directing, guiding and molding us as a nation of ONE VOICE under God in
building a viable nation. But the moment I released that piece, there was
barrages of rhetoric and brutal criticisms coming from 360 degree angle
trying to silence me for reasons known to only those throwing rhetoric
against me. I was really surprised by those barrages of violent criticisms
because those very people who were throwing rhetoric upon rhetoric against
me were born in the mid and later part of the 20th Century, and some of them
were schooled in modern Universities, and thus have earned modern advanced
degrees, which tremendously equipped them with a modern intellect to reason
and deduce with passion. The point I am trying to make here is that we now
live in the 21st Century when we need to APPLY MODERN SOLUTIONS to MODERN
PROBLEMS, and not APPLY OLD SOLUTIONS to MODERN PROBLEMS. And the latter is
what PDOIS as a so-called viable political party is preaching us an
under-developed nation.

Therefore, the APPLICATION of OLD SOLUTIONS to solve MODERN PROBLEMS does
not and will not produce tangible results. Instead, we will be wasting our
energy, talent, and our nations meager resources. And this approach is
utterly against the fundamental principles of ECONOMIC GROWTH and
DEVELOPMENT. I think FETCHING NEW SOLUTIONS to NEW ECONOMIC PROBLEMS is the
central theme of the up coming "DEVOS" Conference called for by PRESIDENT
ABDOULIE WADE of SENEGAL. We need to build bridges to the 21st Century if
AFRICA, particularly YOUNG INNOCENT GAMBIA would be able to experience
tremendous and sustained economic Growth and Development, we need PRAGMATIC
LEADERS, and not "DRY INTELLECTUALS" like PDOIS party officials. A friend of
mind who had attended the AFRICAN LIBERATION DAY in MARYLAND, USA last year
in which HONORABLE HALIFA SALLAH, a PDOIS representative was invited to give
a speech, I understand he delved into the 1960s era, without lamenting on
the fundamental economic challenges of the NEW MILLENNIUM, though making
references from history some times does aid in making valued judgement. My
friend even labeled HALIFA as a DISHONEST INTELLECTUAL who has been trying
tirelessly to promote the hidden agenda of MORON JAMMEH, and I did also
agree to that label.

In conclusion, brother HJK, I entirely and wholeheartedly agree with your
wonderful and honest comment. For, as I had mentioned in my piece couple of
months ago against PDOIS, since I was in high school in the late 80s, I had
been reading the political views of PDOIS as a chief critique of the then
JAWARA regime, I hardly comprehended their analyses of the JAWARA regime.
The only reason for that is that PDOIS was so SOCIALIST and COMMUNIST minded
and so dried in their analyses of developmental problems and solutions were
so weird that even an "A LEVEL" economic student like me could not absorb
those analyses. I think this is a clear indication that PDOIS as a political
party in the 21ST CENTURY needs to POLISH and ADJUST their IDEOLOGY when it
comes to PRUDENT economic and political analyses. Otherwise, PDOIS as a
political party or change agent will always fail in their pursuit for
searching good modern solutions to modern political and economic problems.

Furthermore, PDOIS' RECORDS in the past six years under MORON JAMMEH have
not been promising, therefore, only deserve a D- grade. Like any other
opposition on the ground during the past six years, "CONFIDENTIAL REPORTS"
emerging from The Gambia have revealed that HALIFA SALLAH, a PDOIS official
was once sponsored by MORON JAMMEH in his political activities behind the
scene. Whether this does hold water or not, I have yet to prove that; in any
case, this is not a good image for PDOIS as a party of change. Similarly,
during the debate over the STUDENT MASSACRE in April 10, 2000 on the L
forum, FOROYAA a leading News Paper, instead of highlighting and condemning
the MORON'S administration for committing crime against humanity, FOROYAA
continued to waste their valuable time energy, talents and resources on the
MORON JAMMEH'S strategy of DECEPTION and DEVIATION away form the real
issues. Instead, FOROYAA had been writing about DUAL CITIZENSHIP which was
completely irrelevant to the issue of the day: MASSACRE OF OUR BELOVED
STUDENTS. Therefore, is a clear demonstration of PDOIS' "DRY INTELLECTUAL"
approach in searching for modern solutions to modern problems; that end
brother HJK, I once again applaud your very fine piece on PDOIS.

AMSUMANA KUJABI:(Truth Telling, Integrity, Honesty, Responsibility and
Democracy)


>From: Hamjatta Kanteh <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: On the PDOIS' Hubris: Time to Call a Spade a Spade
>Date: Thu, 8 Mar 2001 11:05:15 EST
>
>For all that it is worth, i'm not amongst those who were taken aback by the
>smarmy, cynical, treacherous, arrogant, self-righeous and tawdry posting of
>the PDOIS on the London Briefings. Whatever these left-wing turncoats do or
>say when it comes to Jammeh never surprises me.
>In their condescending and smug posting, the self-righteous editorialists
>informed us that:
>"PDOIS considers its self to be more effective in promoting change in the
>Gambia than a British MP. In our view, the limited work of trying to
>promote
>the restoration of democracy in the Gambia should be done by human rights
>advocacy groups. PDOIS is engaged in the work of transforming the Gambia.
>We
>are now building grassroot committees for the enlightenment of the people."
>Needless to point out that for all their servile treachery, PDOIS has
>nothing
>to show for succumbing to the tyranny of Jammeh. Since the slaughter of the
>students in April last year, PDOIS was exceptional amongst all the parties
>in
>swallowing the lies that Cheyassin came up with. Even then i pointed out to
>them that given their record, the APRC can ever be expected to keep their
>pledges. Talk less of the very terms of reference of both the Coroner and
>Commission set up to "investigate" the slaughter of the students - a move
>which the PDOIS was only full of plaudits for. So since then, what
>practical
>achievements has the PDOIS got to show for its servile reception of the
>crap
>that the APRC continues to throw at them? Last time i checked with them,
>they
>are still burying their heads in the sand chanting songs of, ahem, truth
>and
>reconciliation commissions. Are these people for real? For more than six
>years they were witnesses to the most violent political repressions and
>thuggery the Gambian peoples had experienced ever in their entire history
>since independence. Since that fateful day in July 1994, nothing has
>changed
>with this gov't. And we have the editorialists of Foroyaa still claiming
>that
>"PDOIS considers its self to be more effective in promoting change in the
>Gambia than a British MP" What nonsense. Can they honestly point out to me
>what their servile  low risk and soft criticism of Jammeh brought for
>oppressed Gambians? Froth and nonsense. Save revealing that they have been
>reduced to an appendage of the APRC and a rump of fanatical obsessives for
>whom the enemy can only be Jawara, Jawara, Jawara and only Jawara! Somehow,
>it must be grinding them inside to see the likes of OJ re-invent themselves
>and being accepted by Gambians after being in the political wilderness
>since
>July 1994. Sharing the same table with the likes of Jawara, OJ, Femi
>Peters,
>et al to discuss issues common to all Gambians is just too much to ask of
>these holier-than-thou do gooders.
>What i did find utterly nonsensical about the PDOIS posting is their
>assertion that to convene at the House of Commons to dialogue with British
>MPs tantamounts to treason - perhaps the editorialists of the paper helped
>draft the gov't's line of argument against the London Briefings. Indeed,
>with
>all the usual froth, it told us that:
>"PDOIS also call on opponents of the government to trust our own abilities
>to
>change the country. We must not undermine our achievements. We must not see
>our salvation to depend on a British MP. We must show that we are capable
>of
>defending the sovereignty of this country. We must therefore rely on our
>people for change. Gambians abroad should know that they do not have
>impotent opposition parties who need to be  rescued by British MPs."
>Cobblers. It is this type of hubris that has helped fuelled all these
>monstrous travesties of justice that currently prevails in the Gambia. In a
>posting a day before the London Briefings, i noted categorically that: "The
>West no longer has a moral duty to do for Africans what is their duty to do
>for themselves. If there is any role left for the West in Africa, it is to
>complement locally initiated endeavours to turn the tables around -
>especially with "preventive diplomacy" and working with democratic
>opposition
>forces to fight the scourges of African despotism."
>This was the very spirit behind the London Briefings. If the Gambian people
>continue to get  repressed incessantly by the terrorists of the APRC
>notwithstanding  PDOIS' servile  and futile efforts, why on earth should we
>not ask for help from outside when we feel it could complement our efforts
>in
>rescuing the situation in the country? But that is precisely the problem
>with
>PDOIS: its jockeying back and forth as some sort of rational middle course
>between Jammeh and a return to Jawara. It is all part of the hypocrisy they
>have been finessing since they did that historic U-turn after their trial
>in
>1995.
>Witness how they caricature the meeting as being instigated by "refugees"
>who
>were formerly PPP officials. Or the sheer cynical manner in which Malick
>Kah
>paraded the names of former PPP members in his report to that sodding
>Foroyaa
>paper? And in a delightfully mischievious way, paraded Chongan's name as
>being one of those behind the mov't's activities. They were deliberately
>trying to portray the meeting as an all PPP affair. Was this not the same
>line taken up by the gov't spokesman? Why in God's name does PDOIS resort
>to
>being a last resort defender of the despotism in the Gambia? They can deny
>it
>all but we are not fooled when we hear the gov't spokesman excusing PDOIS
>with the following exerpts from the Foroyaa report:"The secretary of state
>took the
>opportunity to apologise and then proceeded to assert that PDOIS WOULD NOT
>ATTEND SUCH A MEETING". [emphasis mine]How does the gov't know that? Anyone
>familiar with the current political terrain of the Gambia is in no doubt
>that
>PDOIS has more in common with the APRC, albeit all the pretense to the
>opposite. When a situation calls for joint action against the regime, they
>act unilaterally and advocate for inaction.
>Most puzzling about the PDOIS is the manner in which they snootily shrugged
>off the meeting as inconsequential as bordering on hysteria and misplaced
>enthusiasm which was best handled at home by the opposition. As it noted:
>  "While PDOIS has no objection for any Gambian abroad to try to promote
>good
>governance in the Gambia for PDOIS representatives to leave the Gambia only
>to brief a British MP on what is happening in the Gambia so that he can
>raise parliamentary questions when the opposition has earned so much
>respect
>from the British High Commission to the point that the high commission
>often
>reacts to any deterioration of the democratisation process would tantamount
>to acknowledge of impotency. Such briefings should be done by Gambian
>refugees who should be contributing their quota at that level."
>This is just unbelievable. Since the piece in question bears the imprints
>of
>Halifa's mindset and style of  prose, one is stuck between whether to laugh
>or cry over the very disingenuous assertion that attending the London
>Briefings was a trivia and a trifling humbug and not worth the hype being
>made over it. I mean is this the same Halifa Sallah who last year thought
>travelling to London and teaching a nonentity like Hamjatta Kanteh a lesson
>would further Gambian democracy? Just last year this man was all set to
>come
>to the UK to show off to his programmed fanatics by demolishing a non
>person
>like Hamjatta, yet prepared to rubbish genuine efforts to restore decency
>in
>the Gambia - a task to date he has failed to show anything for. Talking
>about
>impotency, what does PDOIS has to show for its potency? Did their potency
>stop soldiers butchering the students?? Did it help bring any of those
>indicted in all the heinous crimes committed against the Gambian peoples
>since Jammeh came to power to justice? Has their potency stopped Jammeh
>repressing Gambians? To this very day, Jammeh and CO remain remain
>unrepentant and remorseless - witness their gov't spokesman's statement to
>the press on the London Briefings. We also hear and see reports that the
>students are on the verge of being tried for the April incidents. Talk
>about
>adding insult to injury. How is PDOIS potency helping these students in
>their
>plights? And they dare serve sermons on what is potential and impotent.
>What
>utter peurile piffle. Needless to say that their potency in taming Jammeh
>is
>just a figment of their feverish imagination.
>Somehow, Halifa and CO has still not come to terms with the fact that they
>backed the wrong side since 1995 and the very fact that they might have
>invested too much political capital in the so called transition process and
>thus haemorrhaging so profusely that they might just have penned with that
>sodding piece on the London Briefings their "suicide note" on Gambian
>politics. One pauses here to reminisce wistfully that PDOIS and Foroyaa
>were
>once conduits to vent out frustration with official despotism and never
>failed/hesitated to call a spade a spade. Today, PDOIS/Foroyaa is a mere
>rump
>and indeed a ghetto of Halifa Sallah's misconceptions, delusions of
>grandeur,
>inferiority/superiority complexes, fanatical obsession with Jawara and the
>PPP, intellectual hauteur, inflated ego, snooty elitism and all the
>personal
>baggages that come with that. This is the tragedy of the PDOIS: How one
>single person's inflated ego, arrogance and grudges has come to exemplify
>the
>very core of a party once upon a time that stood for justice and liberty.
>With their disingenuous stance and in extension their sodding piece on the
>London Briefings, PDOIS left unhinged and unrescued from Halifa's worst
>excesses, might just have penned its "suicide note" in Gambian politics.
>And
>very few will mourn its passing away, tragic as that might be. PDOIS after
>Jammeh? RIP
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>Hamjatta - Kanteh
>[log in to unmask]
>[log in to unmask]
>URL: http://hometown.aol.co.uk/hamzakanteh/myhomepage/newsletter.html
>
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