Comrade Conteh

I have been following this debate but could not bother
to keep quiet on this issue of vote-buying.

Most of us define or regard vote-buying as the system
whereby a voter receives cash in exchange for
abstention. I am afraid under the dubious political
tactics used by the PPP/APRC respectively, it is not.
Vote-buying as I said to Yus consists of
inducing,bribing voters. This practice has always been
unlawful even during the PPP era.

Comrade Conteh

I understand you were a staunch militant of NCP in its
hey days. NCP have never advocated for a boycott
except on one occasion when it decided not to
participate in the Local Government Elections of
1982/1983. They decided to boycot on the grounds that
the Gambia was still under a state of emergency.
Coming to this talk of boycotting an election, we are
million miles away from it. The Opposition must first
come up with proposals before advocating for a
boycott. At present, Halifa Sallah has given us
PDOIS's position concerning the forthcoming elections,
UDP/NRP are currently challenging the sacking of
Bishop Johnson as IEC Chairman. What we have not seen
yet is the holding of a multi-party conference to
remedy the situation.

With this in mind, the question of boycotting should
be put on hold.

Have a wonderful day

Sanusi
--- MLJ Conteh <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >
Mr. Owens:
>
> Your analysis on vote buying and comments by
> Yankuba Touray is serious.  How can the opposition
> guarantee a free and fair election?
>
> My position is that the opposition must set
> conditions
> and if they are not agreed to, the best way forward
> is
> to boycott elections.  It does not make sense to
> participate in an election when the APRC exhibits
> intolerance and a desire to violate elections laws.
>
> 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 18, 2001 9:47:43 AM GMT
> Subject: Re: My opinion.  - Kebba Dampha
>
>
> Yus
>
> I have enjoyed your arguments with KB but I beg to
> defer with your analysis.
>
> Vote-Buying was certainly the main cause for the UDP
> to lose its Kiang seat. It seems you have literally
> confined vote-buying to that of cash in exchange for
> abstaining.  I am afraid vote-buying goes beyond
> that.There are other devices which constitute vote
> buying. A classic example is where a voter is given
> cash and being told to swear by either the koran or
> bible to switch allegiance to another party. Its a
> pity your beloved grand father(RIP) is no longer
> with
> us, he would have been in a better position as to
> tell
> us how GPP were losing possible strong-holds to PPP
> due to vote buying during the 1987 General Election.
> Seats like Kantora, Lower Niumi, Fioni East, Kantora
> were easily won through vote-buying.
> Based on information received from reliable sources
> vote-buying was used to capture the Kiang seat. This
> practice is however illegal under the Elections
> Decree
>
> 1995.
> Another factor which contributed to UDP losing this
> seat was the inducements imposed on the people of
> kiang. Didn't we hear Baba Jobe urging Fabakary
> Jarjue
> to stand down from the contest and will be offered a
> lucrative job within APRC, What do you call this?
> This
> is actually illegal according to the Electoral laws
> of
> the Gambia. I am sure you will call it another piece
> from Radio Kang Kang but please go through the
> archives of www.africanews.org and you will notice
> what I am certainly stating. With regards to your
> claim that how come UDP retained Central Baddibu, we
> heard Suku Singateh NAM of Lower Baddibu promising
> 200
> former supporters of UDP from Njabakunda that they
> will get tractors if they vote for APRC.  Is this
> legal or not? based on the provisions of the
> Election
> Decree, APRC were breaching the rules by making some
> economic threats.
>
> Yus
>
> I am pretty impressed with your statistics but find
> it
> difficult to concur that UDP would have lost if
> there
> were no VOTE-BUYING/INDUCEMENTS.
>
> Have a wonderful day
>
> Sanusi
>
>
>
>
> --- Yusupha C Jow <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > KB:
> >
> > I was going to respond to your post yesterday but
> my
> > postings had reached the
> > daily quota (6) by the time of your last posting.
> > So my responses were
> > rejected by some silly message which informed me
> > that only the list manager
> > was worthy of this privilege ( more than 6
> > messages).
> >
> > It is extremely refreshing to see you partially
> > emerge from the shell called
> > 'voter buyout'.  At least you have acknowledged
> the
> > possibility of other
> > reasons for the loss.
> >
> > The premise for the buyout theory is extremely
> shaky
> > for several reasons:
> >
> > 1.  The number of absentees was roughly equal to
> the
> > amount during the
> > parliamentary elections in 1996.  That time
> around,
> > almost 800 voters were
> > absent.  The opposition won then.  Was there voter
> > buyout then too? Or does
> > this strengthen the 'voter apathy' theory which
> > others have postulated as a
> > reason for low voter turnout?
> >
> > 2. Let's assume that your buyout theory is
> > legitimate for a minute here.
> > Don't you think claiming all 1000 of the absentees
> > to make up for the 800
> > vote loss is pushing it a bit too far? This would
> > assume a 100% voter
> > turnout, an unprecedented event in the history of
> > The Gambia and the World
> > perhaps.  Even if 801 out of the 1000 absentees
> > voted for the UDP resulting
> > in a 1 vote margin for the opposition, a record
> for
> > voter turnout would be
> > set (over 95%).
> >
> > 3. On the alleged confessions of Baba Jobe and the
> > APRC, we need more hard
> > evidence than a story from Radio Kang Kang.  The
> > fact remains that there is
> > no hard evidence which supports these claims.  An
> > admission to vote buying by
> > the APRC, would be grounds for the UDP to go to
> > court for the reversal of
> > election results.  Why didn't the UDP take up this
> > strategy if there was hard
> > evidence that this was indeed true? You call this
> > irrefutable evidence! And
> > no Jokes from Jobe please.
> >
> > 4. On the thousands of voter card story, it sounds
> > like those extremely
> > frivolous Bantaba or barber's shop topics which
> have
> > no basis.  There are
> > just too many frailties with this story and it
> would
> > be an absolute waste of
> > time trying to point them out.  A school kid of
> > about 12 would be able to
> > figure this one out.
> >
> > 5.   The Kebba and Baldeh money exchange deal is a
> > remote possibility.   But
> > taking this as gospel is to assume an overwhelming
> > majority of Kiangkas have
> > no integrity or common sense.  This is hard to
> > believe because from my
> > experiences in The Gambia, people still do have
> > pride despite the
> > overwhelming amount of poverty there.
> Nevertheless,
> > this contrived story
> > loses its credibility completely when you state
> that
> > Kebba, despite being an
> > APRC supporter, was somehow part of the entourage
> > which delivered the pile of
> > uncounted ballots rumored to be in the 1000s to
> the
> > UDP candidate.  And I am
> > accused of speculating here?
> >
> > Let's look at your other reasons for a moment
> here:
> >
> > Tribalism is not illegal in The Gambia in the same
> > way racism is not illegal
> > in the USA.  If your allegations are true, Buba
> > Baldeh lead a dirty campaign
> > but this is nothing new to politics back home.
> > Yahya Jallow (ex-comissioner
> > of Basse) was one of my father's best friends.  He
> > is definitely an excellent
> > gentleman and probably would not associate with a
> > party stooped in tribalism.
>
=== message truncated ===


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