Now that the presidential election is all but over, I would like to
congratulate the victor, Alh. Dr. Yahya A.J.J. Jammeh and his campaign team
for well a deserved victory. My congartulations also go to the enitre
Gambian people for turning out in their hundreds of thousands to make their
voices heard.

We Gambians have every reason to be proud of this day. Today we witnessed,
for the first time in our history, an election fought more on issues than
cheating, intimidation or the exploitation of the ignorance of the
electorate. The APRC government has not only allowed an open discussion of
the issues that affect us all, but has actively encouraged it. The public
media was accessible to all political parties for regular broadcasts and
also covered their campaigns. The opening of the jammeh forum is another
indication of the APRC government's commitment to the free exchange of
information. All those who've visited the website will agree that people
from works of life posted anything they so desire freely. You don't have to
be subscribed, you don't have to disclose your identity and nobody is
censored.

The private media also needs to be congratulated for their role in
desiminating the election issues as well as others that matter to all.
Private media houses made termendous efforts in ensuring that these issues
were translated into most of the major Gambian languages and broadcasted
widely. Special thanks goes to Citizen FM for reading the local papers to
our illiterate majority and to Radio 1 FM for its Sunday newshour and other
similar programmmes which allowed people to openly discuss issues of
national interest as well as allowing others to phone in.

Fellow Gambians, the President having won such a clear-cut victory against
all the odds goes to show how much a free people can take their own destiny
in their hands and do the right thing. Those who queued for hours to cast
their votes for the president did so because of their believe and trust that
he will continue to safeguard the peace and tranquility of the country and
continue to stear it towards national development. The 40 or more percent of
the electorate who did not vote for him only exercised their basic right to
choose.

To the president, I say please pursue a policy of national reconciliation so
that you can count on the support of all Gambians for the development of our
country. One of the many ways of going about it is to address some of the
genuine fears and needs of those who did not vote for you.

To the opposition, I say hard luck and better luck next time. All
indications seem to suggest that the election was free and fair. This is
supported by the preliminary observations of some of the international
observers. The fact the Lawyer Darbo conceded even before all the results
were in and called the president to congratulate him strenghtens this claim.
It will therefore not do justice to the hundreds of thousands of people who
left all their endevors to vote, if poeple start to question their verdict.

The presidential election is now over and it is our collective duty to help
improve on what we've got by compromise and respect for each other. It is
about time to join hands for the development of our country.

Whereas in 1996, the main opposition UDP did not concede defeat and
continued to question the legitimacy of the APRC government, this time round
Lawyer Darbo had nothing but praise for the IEC and the Gambian electorate.
He has gracefully conceded and I hope his supporters will follow his lead.
It is now time for the two main parties (the APRC and UDP) to open a new
chapter and mend their past differences in the interest of our country and
people. The ordinary Gambian people have exercised their right to determine
who is to lead them for the next 5 years and this must be respected.

With National Assembly elections to come later, I urge all political parties
to review their selection procedures for National Assembly candidates. We
need selfless NAMs who will debate national issues without prejudice. Voting
along party lines regardless of what the issue is not the reason why
important national issues are brought to the Assembly to be debated.

On that note, I wish all Gambians the best of luck and to the President and
his campaign team, I say celebrate your victory as if the world will never
end!!!!

Have a good day, Gassa.



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