http://www.kaironews.com/executive/kairos-open-letter-to-cordeg/

The Editorial Board of Kairo News this morning dispatched an open letter to
the leadership of the newly established Committee for the Restoration of
Democracy to the Gambia (CORDEG), raising concern about a whole range of
issues, including the public's right to scrutinise the leaked document.

Read below the full text of the letter.

March 14th, 2014

AN OPEN LETTER TO CORDEG LEADERSHIP

Dear Mr. Chairman,

We write to you with the deepest sprite of human relations and love for our
Country.

Our dear Gambia is undoubtedly in real deep Trouble! For almost two
decades, Gambians have been governed by the most improbable type of mad
tyranny. Gambian masses are yet to see any light in the dark tunnel ahead.
Everyone in the country has something to lose in the continuity of the mad
and virulent dictatorship. Ironically, the key players - the people, their
political representatives and leaders - have yet to come together and
assemble their resources in order to easily take the bull by the horns. At
home the parties have been unable to get together, communities are being
torn apart as the flames of ethnic tensions are being fanned most
especially by government leaders. Since the inception of this dictatorship,
tens of thousands of Gambians have fled from the terror and the economic
hardship. The Gambian émigré population has more than doubled under these
years of privation and oppression. Though most of these émigré Gambians
tend to turn their backs from the fate and condition of their folks and
country, there is a dedicated few who have consistently manifested concern
over the appalling state of things back home. Though Gambian immigrants
generally live in better organized, enlightened and affluent societies,
they have not appeared to be better able to display any better in
organization and front-building. Like microbes, their groups, organizations
and coalitions multiply by division, leaving a dizzying array of acronyms
that few can manage to comprehend.

Democracy, the best system of government, has been tried and tested; the
one we all hope and strive for our dear Gambia is party-based. It is
modeled on Westminster and its other variations. Democracy is based on the
weight of numbers. To be able to have any chance of attaining political
influence like-minded citizens must come together and form organizations,
and reach out to other citizens in order to create their kinds among other
citizens and the general public with the ultimate aim of boosting numbers
among electorate to be able to muster political influence and power.

The like-mindedness is centered on principles, policies and programs. No
two persons agree on everything all the time but those who share the most
thoughts and feelings on what the principles of politics should govern
based on (e.g. democracy, republicanism, monarchy, market economy,
liberalism, political Islam, permanent democratic renewal, etc.) what
policies of governments should be (for instance a policy of fighting
unemployment through self-employment), through programs (of skills
training, soft loan disbursement, business advisory services, tax-cut
incentives, etc.). If all is well, then citizens belonging to the same
party share more opinions than they share with others not belonging to the
same party. The groups of organized citizens, or parties must compete for
the support of the rest of the electorate to be able to get the critical
majority needed to practice its policies and programs in government.

This is broadly what it looks like in almost all multi-party democracies
the world over.

But there are occasions in the history of most people and their states that
they are thrown into emergency situations caused by either natural or
political calamities, aberrations or abnormal flukes when it behooves on
all the parties in a given political arena to temporarily bury their
hatchets and come together for redress. The realization that The Gambia and
her peoples find themselves in such a situation cannot be over-emphasized.
Many of us were keenly watching developments emanating from last year's
Raleigh Conference for Democracy and Good Governance and the Committee for
the Restoration of Democracy to the Gambia (CORDEG) that stemmed out of it.
We all genuinely hope that endeavor will finally succeed in bringing
together the broadest front exclusively for the defeat of the bloody Jammeh
autocracy and the restoration of democracy.

Yes, those are the two objectives around which a genuine National Front can
be built. To be effective and sustainable such a front cannot broaden its
objectives by bringing in principles, policies and programs cut out for
political parties in the coming post-Jammeh era. Forming of fronts, we dare
say, is as old as the political parties themselves. Since parliamentary
politics is the game of numbers, parties have long ago forged alliances in
order to maximize chances of electoral victories. But those are usually
fronts of convenience. What we are tasked with today is to forge a Front
for National Salvation, the holiest of fronts. During the Spanish Civil war
of the 1930s democrats, communists, trade unionists, Trotskyites and
nationalists all joined together to fight fascism. This coalition lost only
because Hitler was openly supporting Franco while the rest of the world
folded their hands and looked on until Hitler entered Poland in 1939
followed by almost all of Western Europe. Then the politicians of the West
began to smell the coffee, resulting to the founding of the largest front.
That was not a front of convenience but for survival against the NAZI
peril. Ours too is as important as that!

We have been alarmed and shocked by the elements itemized below on the
leaked draft CORDEG Vision, Mission and Objective document. This document
resembles a political party manifesto. Let's revisit the leaked document
published by American Street News and see whether CORDEG has deviated from
The Raleigh Accord.

1. CORDEG endeavors to build a country that once more enjoys respect and
goodwill of the international community; a country that can once more take
its rightful place among respected nations of the world, (especially the
Commonwealth).

2. CORDEG's objective is to build a market-driven, social-democratic
society where principles of supply and demand prevail but also where the
state plays a crucial role in social-welfare concerns to protect the most
vulnerable in society.

3. CORDEG seeks to build an economy that is friendly and rewards personal
effort, economic risk-taking and initiative, and endeavors to
attract/encourage foreign direct investment for profit and realization of
national development goals, respectively.

4. CORDEG's strategy focuses on building an alliance between the state, the
market, and subsistence farmers/small business to stimulate and grow the
economy, create jobs through entrepreneurship and investment in a
middle-class. Agriculture, fisheries, as well as tourism and development of
water resources for irrigation, energy, and recreation will be the
foundation on which various sectors of the economy will hinge. Cereal/
foods production primarily to meet domestic demand and needs and
secondarily for export will be given priority. Education systems must
reflect these national goals and geared to producing young critical
thinkers, problem-solvers, technical training for consumers and producers
of technology, as well as a medical infrastructure that emphasizes
prevention over heavy investment in invasive surgeries and technologies.

Mr. Chairman, as some of us were part of the drafting committee of The
Raleigh Accord, it would be disservice for us to be quiet while the very
essence of going to Raleigh is being defeated. It is our conviction that
the above itemized statements are not only beyond the mandate of CORDEG but
also out of touch with The Raleigh Accord. As a National Front, CORDEG's
key role is to rally the opposition under one roof and provide them support
in their bid to defeat President Jammeh instead of a competitor. National
Fronts cannot be expected to issue out political manifestos, as such
documents are crafted by political parties and pre-party organizations.
Fronts are transient and temporary organizations with limited goals and
programs geared towards providing space for the broadest form of
coalitions. We belief this has been sufficiently provided for by the
Raleigh Preamble.

We must not fold our hands and watch CORDEG assume the role of political
party, let alone a government in waiting. Raleigh delegates did not task
CORDEG with designing a set of governance policies. This is not a slip of
the pen or the tongue, the drafters seem to get it all wrong and must go
back to the drawing board and revisit their committee's mandate thoroughly.
Since The Raleigh Accord has sufficiently dealt with this issue so there is
no reason to reinvent the wheel.

Mr. Chairman, we therefore urge you to make this Document public  to allow
those expressing different or even contrary views, opinions and ideas, to
do so in the interest of making CORDEG a truly National Front as envisage
in the Raleigh Accord. Attempts to trespass on the rights of the home-based
opposition parties must of course be firmly resisted by all fair-minded
citizens.

So, let us not spoil another golden chance, especially when we are yet to
recover from the NADD misfortune. We continue pay for the price of wrecking
NADD and so we will until we are able to form one linked to the masses of
people and led by committed volunteers from its ranks. What we saw on the
leaked CORDEG document is clearly the wrong way of going about business.
The four points above, found in the said document, are totally way off the
line and must be revisited. CORDEG leaders should simply go back to the
drawing board because they seem to be encroaching into the domain of the
political parties who will not hesitate to pull out in protest. Let's
remember that some have already packed up while others are sitting on the
fence. Also, because the Font's focus of tyranny overthrow and
democracy-restoration threaten being pushed out of focus. And because all
that presently divides the opposition political parties risked being tabled
and fought over inside the front, thus possibly rendering the front
ineffective. Political polemics, as we all know, consume a lot of energy,
time and concentration. All of these are in great demand by any successful
front.

Let's do the right thing to get out country from the brink of tyranny. We
have power to wield the storm. As a watchdog, we will not blow the whistle
anytime our collective interest is at stake. We will do so with
professionalism, objectivity and maturity. History will judge all of us
sooner or later.

Please accept the assurances of our highest consideration and fraternal
esteem.

In the Service of Our Country

Kairo News Editorial Board


-- 
www.suntoumana.blogspot.com

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