The observations on the subject ''we hate Jawara more'' are
instructive. It is important to make few comments so as to disassociate
PDOIS from any notion that we are involve in a hate campaign. No matter what
our political leanings are there are basic principles that are fundamental
when we talk about democracy. Some people have raised questions as to
whether PDOIS is oppose to other opposition parties or has hatred for
Jawara. The basic principle of democracy is the direct or indirect exercise
of power by the people. Indirect exercise of power is inconceivable without
representation. Representation comes about in a democratic manner by the
people making informed choices. It also presupposes the exercise of right by
those who wish to be representatives to establish political parties and seek
the mandate of the people. The existence of many political parties connotes
differences in interests or principles. These differences makes it possible
for parties to stand in opposition to each other as they seek to get the
mandate of the people. As long as the political parties rely on the people
to get a mandate, they should not be enemies of each other nor should they
hate each other. What is significant is for each to be obliged to accept the
verdict of the people. This underscores the principle of pluralism. PDOIS
had therefore co-existed with the PPP. The PPP did not want PDOIS to manage
the affairs of this country and PDOIS did not want the PPP to manage the
affairs of this country. It was however left to the people to decide. Hence
there was no need for the type of hatred and enmity that is being portrate.
What existed was a democratic battle against the institutions and practices
which undermined the exercise of power by the people. We wrote tonnes of
letters to ex-president Jawara to make him aware of the anomalies of the
system he managed. We did not expect him to adopt PDOIS' policy. Our target
was to make the people aware that his regime was not fit to govern them
without considering Jawara as an enemy or having hatred for him. The
Democratic culture leaves room for expression of opinions without creating
enemies and hatred. One would recalled the exchanges I had with Saul Khna.
When we met in Washington it was business as usual.
As far as I am concerned democracy is not about the idiosyncracies or
personality make-up of leaders. It is about people. Democracy attains its
maximum growth where the people become so aware and organised that they can
assert their will irrespective of the consent of the leaders.
Each Gambian have the prerogative to suggest how the Gambian people can take
charge of their destiny. Some feel that it is best to dwell on the evils of
the present; others may try to legitimise the evils of the present by
pointing out the evils of the past. Our position is that the Gambian people
should know every wrong which has ever taken place in their society so that
they will be able to prevent any repeat of such evils in the future. It is
our view that when the people's mind acquire such clarity they will own
themselves and be no one's tool. The greatest tragedy which befell Liberia
is the failure of the democratic forces to do the necessary work of
empowering the people but concentrated on miliarist agenda by giving all
their support to Charles Taylor.
What Gambia needs are patriots who are truly committted to the empowerment
of the people. Patriots who would link the combat against all abuses with
efforts to enlighten and organise the people for genuine transformation of
Gambian society. We may not agree on a common programme but should not
hesitate to coordinate efforts whenever it is possible to do so. This calls
for greater dialogue to discover weaknesses and build upon strengths.

Greetings
Halifa











----- Original Message -----
From: Dampha Kebba <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, March 28, 2001 5:16 PM
Subject: "We Hate Jawara More"


> We respectfully urge the genuine Opposition to the tyranny back home to
stay
> away from the vision-less competition of: "We Hate Jawara More". By the
same
> token, we counsel the genuine Opposition not to espouse the equally
> ridiculous posture of dwelling in the past and trying to defend the Jawara
> record and saying that: "We Love Jawara to Death." In short, Jawara is
> irrelevant (in the most part) in this struggle to rid our society of
> tyranny, murder, mayhem, corruption, etc.
>
> One can understand why a backward outfit like the AFPRC/APRC (populated
> mainly by High School drop-outs) will be fixated on Jawara and the PPP
> regime which has been out of power for the last seven years. Simply put,
> Yaya and his gang have nothing to offer us. They do not have ideas to move
> the country forward. By their own stats, Gambians have grown poorer under
> their watch. By their own admission, Yaya has stolen more from the Gambian
> poor (in six years) than Jawara and his entire government stole in thirty
> years. Tell me how a High School drop-out who never even ran a household
> before 1994 can now boast of being the richest man in the country.
>
> The Dictatorship could not solve our health problems. They could not solve
> our education problems. They could not solve our employment problems. They
> could not solve our transportation problems. They could not solve our
energy
> problems. They could not fix the economy. They could not ensure that the
> farmers have a conducive environment to sell their crops.
>
> To add insult to injury, the Dictatorship is the most corrupt government
the
> country has ever seen. They steal the little that comes into the country
in
> terms of aid in order to finance their petty luxuries (e.g. sending their
> wives to The U.S. for medical treatments). Yaya and his gang are also the
> most callous people the country has ever seen. By now we all know how Yaya
> ordered the massacre of children as young as three. I would not even get
to
> the other human rights violations and lawlessness that goes on in the
> country up to this day.
>
> Clearly, what is relevant to the farmer up country, as we speak, is how to
> sell this year's groundnuts in order to feed a family. That farmer does
not
> care about a competition called "Who Hates Jawara the Most?" That farmer
> does not care about theories about how the 1994 coup could have been
> avoided. That farmer does not care about how former politicians (that are
no
> longer alive) used to fool voters (that are also dead as I write this).
> These farmers are hungry for pragmatic ideas. These farmers want to know
> what the government can do for them to enable them to enjoy the fruits of
> their labor. These farmers want to know how they are going to pay their
> debts. They want to know how they are going to educate their children so
> that those children would not be programmed fanatics of vision-less
> politicians. These farmers want to know why a corrupt Yaya government will
> get rid of Alimenta and replace them with unscrupulous businessmen
> introduced to the country by Baba Jobe. These farmers want to know why 12
> million pounds sterling worth of aid money is being paid by our government
> to Alimenta in order to compensate the latter for the illegal and corrupt
> activities of Yaya and Baba Jobe. Farmers want to know why the EU money
did
> not go to them instead.
>
> While we focus on Jawara who is thousand of miles away, Yaya and his gang
> are selling   garbage to our farmers that it is not the government's place
> to help our farmers. You have senior government officials going to the
> farmers and telling them that 'it is not the government's place to buy the
> groundnuts from the farmers'. I wonder why our 'smart' politicians in the
> country could not see through this smoke-screen. To be bamboozled by a
moron
> like Yaya, is the ultimate insult. I have no respect for someone that
cannot
> mount an effective opposition against Yaya, but boast of being able to
duel
> Jawara. This is an illustration of the wollof saying: "hold the kids for
me,
> while I beat the adults." Case of misplaced priorities.
>
> Yaya and his gang should have been exposed. Although the government does
not
> buy the groundnuts, it plays a major role in the industry. It is the
> government's duty to provide a conducive environment where farmers can
sell
> their goods at competitive prices. If the government did not have that
role,
> how can they explain the mess they put us in because of the Alimenta
fiasco.
> Who vets the operators that are supposed to buy the groundnuts from the
> farmers? Who levies tax on our farmers? The Agriculture minister goes
around
> the country to inform farmers about what is NOT the government's
> responsibility. He tells them that the government should NOT be given the
> responsibility of buying the groundnuts. 'Smart' politicians would have
> asked the vermin to explain what IS ACTUALLY the government's
> responsibility. Then we will measure to see if they delivered. 'Smart'
> parties will not fall for this smoke-screen. Yaya and his gang should be
> held responsible for the plight of our farmers. Records show that our
> farmers are producing more now (thanks to good rainy seasons). How come
> those very people are still poorer than they were six years ago? The
> nonentities running the country do not have the wherewithal, honesty and
> dedication it would take to move the country forward.
>
> As you can see, there is tons to rip from this illegal government we have
> back home. I just touched on one topic and I am running the risk of
> deviating from the crux of my posting. If one wanted to criticize this
> government and highlight the missed opportunities for the Gambian people,
> one can write a multi-volume book. If one wanted to catalog the
lawlessness
> and callousness of the vermin running our country, one can produce an
> equally voluminous book.
>
> Pragmatism tells us that the war against Yaya's tyranny is the one we
should
> fight NOW. As I said before, Jawara cannot murder our children while he is
> in London. He cannot steal money from the Central Bank of The Gambia while
> he is in England. Saying today that Jawara is not an intellectual or is
not
> a Democrat, does not solve the current problems we have with a moron
holding
> our country hostage.
>
> We have people like Dembo Bojang (MP from Bakau) who has been in the
> Opposition since time immemorial. Bojang battled PPP. So did Gibou Jagne;
> and these people have something to show for it. They won elections against
> strong PPP candidates. There are a number of us (non-politicians) that
were
> not happy with the situation pre-1994 and we voiced our discontent. Does
> that give Dembo the moral authority to constantly preach to people how
they
> never stood up to Jawara like they are standing up to Yaya? Does that give
> Dembo the right to say that because he was opposed to Jawara pre-1994, he
> has authority over anyone that did not expose his or her contempt for
> Jawara? Would it be right for Dembo to think that anyone that did not
oppose
> Jawara is stupid or is corrupt? Is it justified for Dembo to ignore the
> current plight of his constituents at Bakau and remain fixated on Jawara
and
> Sam Sillah?
>
> That is absurd. If opposition to Jawara and PPP is a medal of honor, very
> few Gambians deserve that medal more than Dembo. I do not hear the man
going
> around town boasting about that. The man is moving on and taking care of
the
> business of his constituents. He will stand in the same rallies with Sam
> Sillah, the PPP candidate he defeated. That is what pragmatic and smart
> leaders do. They form intelligent alliances to defeat a bigger evil. They
do
> not stake out ridiculous positions by fighting old wars that have no
> relevance to our current plight. Pragmatic and smart leaders do not let a
> moron like Yaya hoodwink them with his infantile divide and rule tactics.
> Smart leaders learn from the past to shape the future. They do not dwell
in
> the past and stay fixated on things that divide the Opposition. Smart and
> tolerant leaders recognize that people are capable of learning from their
> past errors and changing for the better. Smart leaders do not just condemn
> people because of their associations years ago. Tolerant leaders welcome
> with open hands genuine Opposition members that want to see the back of
> Yaya's tyranny.
>
> Smart and confident leaders will welcome anyone into the struggle and be
> prepared to convince them to abandon some of their redundant ideas. For
> instance, instead of arbitrarily condemning people that previously had
> sympathies for PPP, smart, confident and tolerant leaders, should welcome
> the genuine PPP people into the struggle and endeavor to change some of
> their bad PPP ideas. It is wrong to partake in this PPP bashing
competition.
> The best Gambian politician is NOT the politician that Hates Jawara the
> Most. The best Gambian politician, in my book, is the one that is going to
> spearhead the alliance to defeat Yaya and eradicate tyranny in our
society.
> KB
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
>
> To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L
> Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
> You may also send subscription requests to
[log in to unmask]
> if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write
your full name and e-mail address.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
>

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L
Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask]
if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------