Mr. Owens:
It is interesting that we are in principle as a
united front against the dictator. Whether we
decide to critic issues in their entity, we have
reasons to be critical of the dictatorship.
It is disturbing to hear Hon. Touray's expulsion
from Kebba Jobe, though he Kebba said the opposite
of the truth. It will serve members of the L if
UDP and NRP can have their propaganda secretaries
listed on the L so that we can engage them in
substantive debates. I commend Brother Halifa Sallah
for coming forthwith with his analysis on PDOIS's
position.
My position on Hon. Touray's case has not changed.
I believe that the UDP has a moral obligation to
tell us what really happened rather than reading
the trend of events from third parties.
As we move in a threshold, we as an opposition must
clearly define our purpose and seek unity. We should
not be in any position to create disarray. I believe
that the UDP leadership acted improperly in expelling
Hon. Almamy Touray.
Naphiyo,
Comrade ML Jassey-Conteh
------Original Message------
From: =?iso-8859-1?q?Sanusi=20Owens?= <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: May 8, 2001 11:24:57 AM GMT
Subject: Re: UDP EXPELS HON. ALMAMY TOURAY/INDEPENDENT
Comrade Conteh
This was a brilliant point. However, I wonder whether
it is sensible for UDP to have someone like Touray in
their camp.
I have carefully followed the activities of Mr Touray
as NAM of the UDP. At no time have I heard him made
any significant contribution to the Adjournment
debates.
In addition, I have heard no contribution from Mr
Touray on the following motions sponsored by the UDP;
The Crude Oil Saga,
The motion to defeat the Government's amendment to the
Indemnity Act.
Comrade Conteh,
Lets face it Almamy Touray's expulsion from the party
is a blessing in disguise. This man already has a
criminal record and it would be difficult for him to
defend his record as an NAM of UDP in the next
parliamentary elections. I think UDP should have
expelled Mr Touray after his release from Beligian
jails. It was an embarrassment to the party, but thank
God the matter has now been settled. According to
reliable sources, Mr Touray is seen as a possible
defector to the APRC. If this is proven to be true
then surely they have taken a wise measure; EXPEL HIM
BEFORE HE EMBARRASSES THE PARTY.
Having said so, I agree with you that UDP should have
waited until after the dissolution of parliament, but
why should they tolerate someone who lacked the
political courage to defend the party's interests in
parliament?
Finally, Mr Touray represents a constituency which
were affected by the April 10/11 Students Massacre. If
Mr Touray could abstain from voting on the Indemnity
Act then surely we wonder why he should continue
representing the people of Barrajally,who lost their
kids in that brutal act by security forces of the
APRC. What message does it give to the Gambian
majority yearning for justice? The NAM who should have
been at the forefront decides to keep silent about the
whole issue. In all fairness, UDP has set its
standards and we should commend them, other parties
should take note that a principles must never be
compromised for individual interests or else political
freedom from APRC will be a myth.
I understand that it was Kebba Jobe who first sent us
this information entitled a Terrible blow to UDP.
There again we saw our University Graduate in
Engineering trying to act as a passive supporter of
the APRC Government. One fundamental blunder committed
by Mr Jobe was to regard Touray's "resignation" from
the party as a terrible blow to the party. What's
wrong with this man. I have read all his articles, but
this one was the worst. We all know what is a terrible
blow to a political party. Did he read Mr Tamsir
Jallow's comments on Musa Suso's conviction. Did
Tamsir Jallow not say that Musa Suso's conviction was
a terrible blow for the ruling APRC? If Mr Jobe was
honest with the situation, we would heard his views on
this case. Here the party in power got humiliated and
they had to recover by making Touray's expulsion a big
issue. It is my view that Mr Jobe must have been
acting on orders from above to disseminate news that
Touray has resigned from the party in the hope of
diverting attention from the Musa Suso's conviction.
They have used this tactic before, take for instance
the April Massacre. At a time when people were
mourning the death of those youths murdered by the
security forces, APRC decides to announce that Almamy
Touray is serving a prison sentence in Beligium.In
fact this news was always kept under the carpet and
their decison to make it an issue was all political.
The whole ploy by APRC was for people to focus on
Touray's imprisonment and forget about the APRIL
Massacre.
With this in mind, the APRC have suffered a terrible
blow from last week's sentencing of Musa Suso's
conviction for drug trafficking. If APRC had the guts,
they would have suspended Musa Suso from the party,
but instead even gave him an award some two weeks ago.
I think that award was to indicate that he will be the
First Member of the National Assembly to be convicted
in the Gambian Law Courts.Well Done Musa Suso for
being Mile 2 Prison's VIP- very important person or
vagabonds in power.
I await your response.
Have a wonderful day
Sanusi
--- MLJ Conteh <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >
Pah:
>
> I read with interest your posted message on
> Hon. Almamy Touray's expulsion from UDP. You
> indicated that one of the reasons was that
> Hon. Touray did not follow party rules of
> conduct and also was silent during the passage
> of the last controversial bill in the legislature.
> You further stated that he was working with the
> enemy forces against the interest of UDP.
>
> I am really concern about the subjective
> interpretation by the UDP leadership in this
> situation. Hon. Touray was elected to represent
> the people of Niani. His duty as a member of the
> legislature is to interpret legislative issues
> objectively and if he fails to do sure, he has
> breached a contract with his constituency.
>
> I am further concern that with the present state
> of affairs in our country, the opposition should
> be engaging in building a family tree rather than
> cutting it down. I do not condone Hon. Touray's
> behavior, but I am concern with the lack of
> independence that elected members must exhibit
> during parliamentary proceedings. No elected
> representative should robber stamp any initiative
> endorsed by his or her political party. As we
> reach a finer moment in our struggle, we need to
> embrace each other rather than destroy the
> bridge building initiative that the opposition
> started.
>
> In this analysis, I condemn the leadership of UDP
> for expelling Hon. Almamy Touray. Hon. Touray has
> all the rights to be a renegade member of The
> Gambian legislature. I have not heard from the
> speaker or the clerk of the legislature of any
> violations committed by Hon. Touray. If it is
> true that the gentleman did not violate any
> parliamentary proceeding, then the UDP leadership
> acted unwisely to expel Hon. Almamy Touray. It
> seems that the UDP leadership is enabling a void
> in inflicting a serious wound to the image of its
> party. Though I am a passive supporter of UDP, I
> have a duty to disagree in principle in expelling
> a member of The Gambian legislature from an
> opposition party trying hard to unseat a dictator.
>
> Naphiyo,
>
> Comrade ML Jassey-Conteh
>
>
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