Hamjatta,Toure and Barrow,
 UDP strongly appreciate your commentary and
observations on the party's position and statements on
the sacking of Bishop T.Johnson,the bring back of Mr.
Roberts as the electoral commission chairman.
 The fraudulent conduct or the rigging of the Kiang
by-elections by means of voting buying.These matters
were under investigations by the party's legal team
and they recognized strong irregularities in the poll
and concluded that the results didn't reflect the
voters wishes.
 The party had questioned the neutrality of the
electoral commission,whose members are Jammeh's hand
picked and particularly Mr.Roberts who was the the
commission's chairman during the 1996 presidential and
1997 National Assembly elections in which the country
experienced a "transition without change."
  I would come back on tomorrow after consultation
with the legal team and why the inconsistencies.Thank
you.
Saihou



--- Hamjatta Kanteh <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Barrow & Toure,
> Brothers, i share your view that the UDP is capable
> inconsistencies that if
> left unchecked would in the long run seek to
> undermine its combative-ness
> vis-a-vis in the struggle against the Dictatorship.
>
> Prior to the farce that became the by-elections of
> Baddibu and Kiang, Brother
> KB and i raised the flag in the inconsistency
> inherent in challenging the
> legitimacy of Roberts and on the other hand go ahead
> and contest by-elections
> administered by the very person whose chairmanship
> they deem as illegal. This
> we argued then was going to TACITLY legitimise
> Roberts and in the long-haul
> of electoral political positioning in the run up to
> the 2001 elections, make
> the UDP lose its moral ground. Sadly, such
> constructive strictures fell on
> deaf ears as with most critical strictures that we
> have served to them. As it
> happened, the UDP contested the said by-elections
> and the "results" left much
> to be desired for - to  the chagrin and
> embarrassment of the party
> leadership. As it is, the legitimacy question that
> was surrounding Roberts -
> at least in practical legal terms - is virtually
> non-existent because Roberts
> has been legitimised ironically by two of the same
> parties contesting his
> legitimacy: the UDP and the NRP which campaigned
> honorably alongside the UDP
> during the by-elections. This is all thanks to the
> ripples of arrogance that
> one sometimes can't help in detecting coming from
> the UDP direction. This,
> most certainly won't help their case in the fight
> against the Dictatorship.
> It shan't help in courting floating voters who under
> normal circumstances
> would not vote for the UDP but would choose to do so
> now for purely tactical
> reasons. Needless to point out that the UDP's
> current lack of political
> muscle to make certain manoeuvering and moral
> predicatment or dilemma, is
> largely their own making.
>
>  Aside, there is also the issue of engaging those
> who share their concerns
> about the Gambia but do not fully get the picture of
> where the UDP is coming
> from. In my opinion, they need to do more in
> demarcating facts from fictions
> surrounding their alternative programme to the APRC
> and their underpinning
> political philosophy.  Criticising the worst
> excesses of Jammeh and or the
> APRC doesn't by itself constitute a clear
> demarcation of where the UDP stands
> on the crucial issues and where it wants to take the
> Gambia if it does end up
> winning the mandate to govern. To break free from
> this political tight corner
> will need a more humbler but resolute reading of the
> political make-over the
> Gambian polity has undergone since the by-elections.
> Above all, they must
> learn to take on board such constructive strictures
> that will aid them in the
> struggle against the Dictatorship. The tragedy that
> continues to grip the
> Gambian peoples and their society sustained by a
> gang of philistines and
> hustling adventurers CANNOT be held back by one
> single block of political
> interest. It calls for, above all, the unifying
> umbrella of the Gambian
> collective conscience. Yaya Jammeh is not a UDP, NRP
> or PDOIS problem but a
> Gambian problem that can only be effectively
> disarmed by a Gambian collective
> action and conscience. The sooner we realise the
> futility of partisan ad
> hominem bickering in the status-quo and see the
> beauty in coalescing the
> Gambian family in the struggle to bring back Gambian
> decency and tolerance in
> that country, the better for all of us. Arrogance
> and self-importance has no
> place in collective action. And in the event, it
> must ridiculed and placed in
> the back burners of  the dreary routinized times of
> normal partisan
> self-gratification and selfish interest where it is
> less expensive and
> largely dispensable.
>
> The times that we live in are such that no one
> single party can effectively
> disarm the lethal-ness of the tyranny that continues
> to hold the Gambian
> peoples hostage. The times require a modicum of
> political expediency and or
> prudence  the extent  of which requires the
> marshalling of all shades of
> opinion that share the same desire to see the back
> of Jammeh but do not
> necessarily agree with the UDP on most crucial bread
> and butter issues of
> social, political and economic significance. In case
> people reminding, the
> Zeitgeist of our times is not the narrow partisan
> political interests of one
> party but the Realpolitik of taking the bull by the
> horns and recognising the
> need for accomodating views that do not necessarily
> reconcile with that of
> others.
>
> Coming out as it did in saying that it shall contest
> the Kiang East results
> after officially - at least in an implicit Orwellian
> double-talk - that the
> by-elections fared relatively well and in fact
> alluded a clean bill of health
> to the by-elections, surely exposes that something
> is fundamentally amiss in
> the messages the UDP occasionally sends out. I hope
> they realise that a
> political opposition that lays such claims to being
> ready to be mandated for
> election to the highest political office in the land
> should be ahead of its
> times and judiciously endeavour to demarcate all
> fictions, doubts and vile
> rumours from the reality of its ethos, programmes
> and what it ultimately
> seeks to achieve for the Gambian peoples.
>
> Finally, Brolthers i welcome your contributions and
> extend a belated welcome
> to Brother Abdou Toure, who has just joined the
> fray. I hope we get to see
> more display of your lucidity and eloquoence in the
> debates that lie ahead of
> us. Brother Saul Khan, your humility is an
> inspiration.
>
> All the best,
>
> Hamjatta Kanteh
>
>
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