Jabou:

With all due respect to you, I never intended to come across as arrogant and
pompous, as you stated in your response to my post.  The point was not to
mute or demean your contribution, but instead to show that these negative
utterances against the PPP are unfounded.  IMO, these are comments being
thrown around by detractors (insidious ones at that) within our midst who,
because of the fear of a complete Alliance, will do anything to tarnish the
image of the Alliance as presently comprised.

You might ask why I call these people detractors?  Well, all one has to do is
to examine then compare the legacies each of the two regimes which have
ruled; i.e., that of the PPP vis a vis that of the APRC.  Once one does this,
your point about striving for better with regard to moving forward with a
better party simply does not hold.  This, unless you are trying to tell us
that the APRC is a better party our country than the PPP..

I strongly believe that the PPP's reign is better than what we have there
now.  A strong pointer is the human rights record of the PPP during their
reign.  Given, there were less economic opportunities back then (regional
movements, globalization, etc., has been responsible for increased
opportunities now), but the PPP did not engage in murder, harassment,
hijacking of the judiciary, etc., etc., all hallmarks of the present regime.

 In this light, I find it quite bit baffling that you say Jawara's regime
murdered people.  Jabou, with all due respect again, could you kindly let us
know who Jawara's regime murdered?  When thinking about your answers to my
question, remember that we are talking about state sanctioned murders here
and not incidental deaths.  The PPP did not have a state sanctioned body that
roused people from their sleep and beat them senseless because they were part
of the opposition or media.  This is why I could not help but chuckle when I
read Adama Gaye's amateurish piece in W. Africa magazine, which I do plan to
address in a few days. This is all propaganda which the Jammeh regime has
spouted all along.

 Regardless of the pros and cons of the PPP, this movement -- so to speak --
was planned with the intention of forming an Alliance with enough clout to
remove the present regime.  No one calculated that Decree 89 would be
repealed thus allowing all banned former Opposition parties such as the PPP
and NCP to come back into the fold.  But, given the clout of these former
parties, it was wise for the UDP to attempt to include them in the fold...

OK, the Alliance did not materialize like we wanted it to.  However,
spreading spurious claims that the PPP is trying to hijack its way back to
power and also equating the horrible APRC regime's legacy to that of the PPP,
gives more credence to the ruling regime and at the same time undermines the
Alliance as presently comprised.


Instead of pointing fingers, we should concentrate on working on the
modalities of putting together a more wide ranging Alliance which will unseat
Jammeh.  This is what we were working towards, not the PPP, UDP, NCP or Party
of Infidels for that matter..

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