Ms. Joh, Jassey-Conteh and Kats, thanks for keeping your eyes on the ball. I
hope the entire Opposition on the ground (the overwhelming majority of the
Gambian population) also keep their eyes on the ball. We are being taken for
a ride in broad daylight. It is important that we not just object to this
highway robbery, but we should seek ways of stopping this abuse. Gambia is
NOT Yaya's or APRC's property. We are even going to seize the villages Yaya
fenced around Kanilai and regard as his little personal empire. It is
incumbent upon all of us to try and rescue our country.

Jassey-Conteh puts it best when he said that no single Opposition party can
claim to have sole rights to our struggle. This involves all decent and
peace-loving Gambians. Several people and organizations have made a case for
a United Opposition to fight Yaya in October. Word is that there are
encouraging signs from certain quarters and not so encouraging signs from
others. To me it is mind-boggling why some Gambians would not buy this idea
for a United Opposition; instead, they want to operate solo and try their
chances against the Devil. This is like gambling with the lives of innocent
and defenseless Gambian children. Even God advised us not to fight the Devil
solo. When you are attacked by the Devil, you are counseled to seek refuge
in God rather than trying to fight back solo. The analogy wise men give you
goes like this: 'if you visit somebody's house and your host's vicious dog
attacks you, what do you do? Do you fight the dog directly and risk being
mauled to death, or do you do the wise thing and hide behind your host
knowing that the animal will not attack its owner? This analogy also exposes
the foolishness of an exaggerated sense of self importance.

In short, we need to put egos and selfish motives aside and do this for our
country and its people. It is important that we fight this Devil together.
The Opposition back home will be making a big mistake if they want to go
solo in this. We are not doubting their potency. But it is foolish for us
not to use all the might at our disposal. If the Diaspora can give money,
ideas and votes, why should their contributions be limited to just giving
money? If the Opposition back home can unite and prevent Yaya from stealing
the elections, why should they let that chance slip by because one party
thinks it alone can stop the stealing? This is gambling with our children's
future. To this day, I have not read one single coherent argument against a
united opposition. Instead, what we have is feet-dragging and coward
second-guessing from opponents of a United Opposition. This is not right. As
I said here months ago, if the Opposition assists in any way in perpetuating
Yaya through a rigged elections, the Opposition will be as culpable as Yaya
for the plight of our people. When I talk about rigging here, I do not mean
election day. Remember that as shown by Sheikh Lewis in the past
by-elections, election observers are always eager to declare that an
election is free, fair and transparent. I can guarantee you that despite
documented illegalities, Yaya can always get observers that will give the
election a clean bill of health. We should not put our fate in the hands of
such observers. It is the responsibility of the Opposition to ensure that
the election is free, fair and transparent from the onset.

With all due respect to PDOIS, Katchikally Touray, Jassey-Conteh, Ms. Joh
and others that are talking about boycotting the October elections, I do not
think that now is the time to throw in the towel and boycott the elections.
Although the clock is ticking fast upon us, we still have time to correct
some of the wrongs that could cause us to boycott. For instance, PDOIS'
queries about the composition of the IEC is certainly solvable before the
elections. As I indicated in the run up to the by-elections in Kiang and
Baddibu, the personality heading the IEC is irrelevant. Both Johnson and
Roberts are unacceptable. They are both APRC cronies. What we are talking
about here, are legal technicalities that were breached by Yaya and Pap
Cheyassin Secka when Johnson was sacked and Roberts appointed. This can be
corrected by Joseph Joof forcing Johnson to back-date a resignation letter
and having Yaya reappoint Roberts retroactively. If they can back date
Decrees to deprive our children of justice in the April Massacre, they can
surely back date letters to regularize the appointment of a crony so that
elections can move forward. So, if this legal irregularity is PDOIS' only
point of contention, it could be fixed easily and they can participate in
coming elections.

However if PDOIS has more fundamental issues than that, they need to come
out in the open with those issues. For instance, if they do not want Roberts
at all, that is a totally different matter that need other strategies. UDP
and NRP has to be in sync with PDOIS and PDOIS' reasons for wanting to
boycott the coming elections. All the parties need to pay heed to concerns
of ordinary Gambians both at home and abroad that think that the elections
should be boycotted. Can the Opposition on the ground ASSURE us that the
elections will be free and fair? This is do or die. It will be nasty if Yaya
is still in power come November 2001. We are letting precious time slip by.

The voter re-registration effort by the APRC should have been fought by a
united opposition. The unconstitutional sacking of Johnson and appointment
of Roberts should have been fought by a united opposition. The by-elections
should have been fought by a united opposition. A united opposition should
have fought for Local Government elections be held. An Opposition with a
united voice should have appeared in London for the briefing to the British
Parliamentarians. A united opposition should have been on Gambian newspapers
every day challenging APRC lies. A united opposition should have been up
country campaigning in every village in the country. A united opposition
should have engaged the Diaspora by now and ensured that Gambians abroad
could vote in Gambian elections. This are some of the issues that can allow
Yaya to steal the elections.

Well, the ball is in the court of the Sallahs, the Bahs and the Darboes of
the Opposition. We should remember that a heavy burden lies on the shoulders
of our leaders. You chose to lead. People's hopes and aspirations are placed
on you. Do some introspection to see whether under the circumstances you can
deliver. I believe you can. The APRC record is indefensible. But in order to
succeed, we need very aggressive and selfless tactics. Forming a coalition
under one leader that can win Yaya in October, is a good start. Thereafter,
the leader should be someone that will give the utmost respect to the voices
of the other party leaders and their supporters. It is only through this
concerted effort that we can prevent the rigging of elections and ensure
Yaya's defeat in October. Note that I stated 'preventing rigging' first
before I talked about electoral votes. This coalition has more to do with
preventing illegality than amassing votes on election day. With a level
playing field, any of our Opposition leaders can defeat Yaya. Question is
what do we do to ensure that there is a level playing field? United
Opposition. If our leaders are not prepared to do this, we might as well
forget about elections and let Yaya run against himself.
KB


>From: MLJ Conteh <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: BOYCOTT THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
>Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2001 21:35:07 -0400
>
>Comrades:
>
>I concur with Kats and therefore call on the
>opposition to boycott the elections.  It does
>not make any sense to participate in an electoral
>process when the presidential election is
>already won by dictator yahya jemus.
>
>The Gambian dictator will use all costs to rig
>and steal the elections.  By boycotting the
>elections, the opposition will have more
>sympathy from the international community than
>participating, thereby legitimizing the dictator's
>tactics.
>
>This scenario will be similar to the tactics used
>by the Nicaraguan opposition against the
>Sandinistas.  No single opposition party can
>claim to have soul rights to our struggle.
>
>Naphiyo,
>
>Comrade ML Jassey-Conteh
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>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.
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------

_________________________________________________________________
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.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------