Sister Jabou,
If president Jammeh continues to act statemanly, calling for national
participation in development, stops harassing the press, places a heavy lid
on the excesses of green boys, allows the opposition to use the national
radio and tv, calls inccesantly for reconcialition and peace, many leaders
both in politcs and the wider society are going to rally around him.
Ousainou Darboe who went into politics to challenge the militarisation of
politics and its attendant plateau of human rights abuses, will have little
else to campaign for. Let us recall also that the people Ousainou Darboe had
been defending in the courts just after the coup are former PPP, NCP, and
GDP old hands, who now that Jammeh is magnanimous have little opposition
left in them. The "confusion" we are seing now is the disorientaion of this
class of politicians, who eventuallymsut have to find a home.
----- Original Message -----
From: <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, March 08, 2006 12:35 AM
Subject: Re: Ss. Daffeh : Jabou
Ndey,
Thanks for your response and I know we both want what is good for our
country but I must say that I disagree with you that we do not need to spend
time
and energy trying to get the opposition to reconcile and to take the
politicians to task if we feel that their actions may hurt the chances for
progress,
especially when it comes to the critical and very urgent issue of ejecting
this regime before they do any more harm. The democratic process which we
all
want to depend upon to bring about not only a positive but lasting change
in
our country has at it's core, the ability and freedom to debate, the
expression
of individual opinions and the resolve to hold any politician seeking
office
to be wholly accountable to all of us and to engage in actions that will
result in protecting the interest of our country and our people first.
These can never be separated from the process, otherwise, we are only
fooling ourselves into thinking that we are fighting for progress.
In the effort to eject the APRC, nothing that may compromise this
opportunity should be tolerated by the people and we must relay this
message to the
politicians because any action that increases the chances of the APRC
staying
in power spells another 5 to 10 years of doom for our country, and no
Gambian
should engage in anything that increases chances of that happening. A split
in the opposition does exactly that.
While it can be argued by both sides that the different opposition camps
all
have the interest of the country at heart, and some of them may even
actually believe that they can win against Jammeh without coming under one
united
opposition platform, there is no doubt that the chance to eject the APRC
has a
far better chance of becoming a reality if the opposition alliance as
originally organized under NADD stays intact. No one has taken any up to
date,
reliable polls that have taken into account all of the variables that have
come to
bear since the last elections to assure any camp a victory against the
APRC.
However, one united front can wipe Jammeh off the Gambian map and the very
notion of it will also energize our people and give them the courage to say
no
to the APRC knowing that the collective force of a united opposition has a
very good chance and they can feel comfortable throwing their weight behind
it.
The opposite effect of the split among the opposition is the chaos we are
witnessing, with all kinds of uncertainties about where different
politicians
stand and whether others who were not necessarily part of the opposition
alliance but whose subsequent involvement and allegiance had they seen a
solid
front in the form of the original NADD may have enhanced the opposition;
but who
are now making decisions that signal their confusion to say the least. We
are also witnessing the fact that some who belonged to these opposition
parties
who have now split into two camps and who are not necessarily happy with
the
decisions that have been taken by some in their respective political
parties
are either being bought by the APRC or in limbo and no one knows where
their
allegiances will end up.
There is no doubt that the decision by some people to split from NADD has
given the impression that self interest is the order of the day and so now
others are following suit.
The other very important reason for the necessity of this discussion is to
make it abundantly clear to all political aspirants that not abiding by any
democratic process is something we cannot afford to sweep under the rung
because anyone elected to serve in public office has to demonstrate that
they will
always abide by the rule of law and the democratic process which is really
what ultimately ensures that government belongs to the people. There can be
no
exception to that and no amount of reasoning is a good enough substitute
for
that.
This effort to unseat Jammeh is about the Gambian people being tired of our
rights being hijacked and the resolve to put an end to it and this can only
be
done if the people insist without compromise, that those who have come
forward to say they can serve in this capacity must be accountable to us and
they
demonstrate this first and foremost by keeping to the democratic process.
We
cannot afford the possibility that another Yaya Jammeh will come to power
in
our country so we cannot afford not to keep making the effort to bring the
opposition together.
Therefore, let all of us direct our energies towards the effort to have
these opposition politicians come back to the NADD agreement so that
Gambians can
feel confident that they will be replacing Jammeh with people who will
refrain from behaving like the APRC regime.
My heart does go out to our people. It is time for some real leadership
because we are so tired of serfdom and partisan politics which is the tool
of
those who have only their own interest at heart so their modus operandi to
continue to pit the people together all the while claiming otherwise.. I
hope the
focus of this effort will be what is best for the people and the country as
a
whole and that is not something anyone has to guess at.
Jabou Joh
In a message dated 3/7/2006 9:48:17 A.M. Central Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
Hi Jabou,
I am not relegating your imput to personal attacks and personality politics
because i made my point very clear.
I agree with you on the point below but how much energy do we have to spend
in getting these people back together. If these people represent the
interest of Gambians i don't see what the problem is. So i guess one might
rather direct its energy to a victory against AFPRC than a no win
situation.
Yesterday on GRTS news Mr Peters went to reconcile with Jammeh and when
interviewd by the journalist he insist that he is still the Campaign
Manager
of UDP. He sound so confused that i myself got confused as to what his
visit
to the President was all about. I tried to read the papers to really
understand why this guy went to reconcile with Jammeh but it is still not
clear to me.
One thing i believe is if we all believe in what we say and do i don't see
the reason for the split. I agree with you this requires a lot of sacrifice
and to add to it, it is a test for the opposition as to how prepared they
are to save our nation. How much they have to give to make sure that
gambians are free.
The situation at home calls for sacrifice and dedication from all
Gambians.
The Struggle Continues!!!
Ndey Jobarteh
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