Fellow Gambians:

As we simultaneously bear witness to the greatest act of political 
folly in our nation's history, the urgent question on the collective 
consciousness of those yearning for a new direction under a 
transitional NADD government must be "what now"?

Specifically, whither NADD, and whither Gambia 2006?

The challenges now confronting NADD's realisation of the ultimate 
objective of its political project ? the peaceable removal of Yahya 
Jammeh from the presidency - is clearly phenomenal, but no where near 
overwhelming. The arrest of Hamat Bah, Omar Jallow (OJ), and Honourable 
Halifa Sallah, all members of the entity's executive, offers a key 
strategic advantage to NADD. With Yahya Jammeh ostensibly oblivious of 
the gathering storm of political discontent in The Gambia, NADD must be 
proactive in seizing the momentum created by the arrests, and hold on 
to the attendant opportunity in framing the terms of the debate for the 
soul of a country adrift in the hazardous seas of uncharted waters.

Having played his entire hand, Yahya's extraordinary lack of 
political judgment is quite sobering in the potential gravity of its 
consequences. With brute force as his sole remaining option, the end 
game has effectively commenced. NADD must pursue the parallel policies 
of election 2006, and still assert its natural right to self-defence by 
serving notice on Yahya that he misreads the national mood at his 
peril.

As a people, are we then at a crossroads?

Not in terms of party choice in respect of the 2006 presidential 
race for Gambia?s state house. On that score the direction is obvious. 
The future is NADD.

Barring a postponement or cancellation of the presidential poll, 
NADD's window of opportunity in naming a flag bearer - and a compelling 
one - is narrowing by the day. Into any calculus of selection must be 
factored the non-negotiable constants of charisma, intellectual 
robustness, passion for the rule of law, and across the board 
marketability.

Standing as we are at the edge of the precipice, it is imperative 
that the NADD flag bearer possesses the appealability to convince the 
Gambian people to abandon their flirtation with dangerous living. And 
what penchant we have for precarious existence in our refusal to engage 
reality and call time on the brutal tyranny of an untenable 
dictatorship. I contend for its untenability in the sense that it will 
not endure, but at what cost to human life and dignity before its 
inevitable collapse.

There is no necessity to be a participant in Yahya's high councils 
to decipher the mentality driving the unworkable strategy against NADD. 
The overriding ambition is to postpone the naming of a flag bearer on 
the hope that the attendant acrimony will scupper any realistic 
prospect of a viable coalition to evict him from his presidential 
squat.

In light of the arrests, there is no gainsaying the compelling logic 
of naming a flag bearer whose commitment to NADD is unassailable in its 
clarity and sincerity. The potential choice must be a selfless servant 
of the people with a deep appreciation of the fundamental tenets 
underlying the principle of the rule of law. He must be able to 
interact with the masses, be they the uneducated, the intellectuals at 
all levels, and the accredited diplomatic community to The Gambia. He 
must be a respectable and persuasive force at the international level, 
our pre-eminent face and ambassador to the world community, and one 
particularly able to grasp the esoteric nuances of global diplomacy. He 
must in no small measure demonstrate a personal integrity capable of 
weathering all reasonable scrutiny. The flag bearer must demonstrate a 
positive awareness and concern for his legacy.

It is my contention that with stakes so high, NADD's most realistic 
option is to select a known quantity on the national stage. Where 
better to start than among the executive committee, all of whom are 
willing warriors in the struggle to safeguard the true national 
security of The Gambia. In light of the transitional nature of NADD, 
with a sunset provision for the arrangement to self-destruct after five 
years, the flag bearer must be a visionary with the capacity to 
coordinate institution building across the constitutional spectrum of 
our public life. The person must be capable of strict adherence to all 
facets of the transitional arrangement and must willingly relinquish 
office without precipitating a damaging and potentially destabilising 
power struggle.

In the sense that he is not a traditional politician, and with no 
baggage from either the pre- or post-1994 governments, the NADD 
executive member clearly suitable for the mantle of 2006 presidential 
flag bearer is Honourable Halifa Sallah. With his impeccable and 
breathtaking credentials of political maturity and personal integrity, 
Halifa embodies the best hopes of a convincing NADD capture of the 
presidency in the watershed 2006 contest. His name-recognition makes 
him a suitable compromise candidate for the multifaceted variables that 
will come into play, and must therefore be factored, into the dynamics 
of selecting a flag bearer.

Clearly irrelevant on strict equal opportunity principles, ethnic 
background will nevertheless inevitably exercise the minds of several 
reasonable people. Those fears - unreasonable in the main - must 
nevertheless be recognised, frontally addressed, and allayed. On this 
critical front, Halifa is the only national figure capable of 
commanding across-the-board electoral endorsement capable of sealing 
the fate of tyranny in the Gambia.

Over the years, his tireless charting of a vision of political 
dispensation anchored in the mores of social justice and the rule of 
law endeared him to Gambians in all walks of life. He is the 
unquestionable doyen of the political opposition, an embodiment of the 
spirit and aspiration of the unstoppable forces coalescing for 
inevitable change in Gambia?s political direction. He will be a lethal 
choice!

In opposition two decades ago, and still in opposition today, Halifa 
rejected salivating offers of positions in public life, on the 
admirable grounds that he could not partake in the illegitimate 
exercise of public power, especially when the full features of that 
power are on permanent brutal display for all to witness. Himself a 
visionary of the highest order, Halifa?s foresight, complemented and 
energised by the intellectual capital of our country, will enable the 
flowering of a political renaissance to dwarf the soaring heights of 
human possibilities as envisaged and articulated by the high priests of 
the humanistic tradition.

By ?intellectual? I refer to those men and women endowed with the 
common sense to call tyranny by its name, not the certificated buffoons 
choking the air out of our national life. And there are plenty of those 
charlatans assiduously competing to out-excel each other in researching 
and implementing the cutting edge trends in The Gambia?s dastard and 
booming sycophantic industry.

Even as he languishes in unlawful custody, NADD must seize the 
strategic advantage and name Halifa its candidate for president. Any 
show of indecisiveness will play into the hands of the dictatorship. 
The calculated gamble of unlawful arrest and detention as a pre-emption 
strategy against naming a NADD flag bearer must explode on the face of 
tyranny. On even the most charitable interpretation, there is no 
question that this latest escapade represents the height of political 
desperation, not to mention absolute paucity in strategic judgment. 
Jammeh?s analysis and conclusions about the general corruption, and 
corruptibility, of the Gambia character must be comprehensively 
rejected as unfounded.

As to the fabricated charges preferred against the arrested leaders, 
there should be no cause for alarm. I am convinced that events outside 
the control of the courts will render the judicial process moot. In any 
case, all charges with diplomatic dimensions will not proceed. It 
should be reassuring to concerned Gambians that our courts have no 
competence to request, much less to compel evidence from a sovereign 
country. On that scenario, even the most partisan jurist must succumb 
to reality and dismiss the fabricated charges. Although the entire case 
will collapse under its overwhelming dead weight, it is nevertheless a 
perversion of the rule of law, and the doctrinal independence of the 
Judiciary, to assign any of these cases to an ardent partisan such as 
Justice Paul.

I now formally call on Ousainou Darboe, Lamin Waa Juwara, OJ, Hamat 
Bah, and Sidia Sanyang, to demonstrate the assumed courage of their 
democratic convictions, and entrust the mantle of flag bearer to 
Halifa. They should find assurance in the theory advanced by several 
commentators, and endorsed by those who cared to examine the broad 
vistas of history, that a nation?s gratitude is not necessarily the 
preserve of those exercising public power. Most are mere footnotes, 
and the majority never even make it that far. If you are able to help 
liberate us from a tyranny that is threatening to rip the very fabric 
of our nation, your places in The Gambia?s annals of political 
liberation will be assured.

I recommend Halifa for NADD flag bearer of Gambia 2006

Let us embrace Halifa for the first President of the Third Republic. 
The opportunities will never be any brighter.



LJDarbo
"True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice." Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

 
                                          
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