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.
> But this is the nature of politics: Dirty campaigns
> are run and it is up to
> the opposition to counter these claims with their
> own effective propaganda.
> The 'non-developemnt theory' also falls into the
> same category as the
> tribalism ploy: Dirty but not illegal. Again, this
> is not an excuse for a
> loss in my opinion.
>
> The 22nd of July movement excuse is very weak. This
> movement is known for
> sneak attacks and they cannot terrorize the people
> of Kiang without severe
> repercussions on Baba's boys. I was once privy to
> what it is like to enter
> hostile opposition territory. Despite my tender age
> at the time, the
> incident sticks clear as day in my mind. I was with
> my late grandfather, an
> old PPP stalwart, when we ventured into he main
> square in Baddibou on a trip
> upcountry somewhere. It took less than 5 minutes
> for a hostile crowd to
> gather and, under desperate barked orders from the
> old man, the driver made a
> quick and narrow escape while bricks and stones
> rained on the PPP marked Land
> Rover from all directions. A truly terrifying
> moment! Baba Jobe's boys will
> probably be in for the same treatment should they
> drive into these
> territories.
>
> Again, it is amazing that you refuse to entertain
> the most plausible fact;
> voter apathy. This has always been a problem
> associated with Gambian
> politics judging by the poor voter turnout in past
> elections including the
> 1997 one. If as is very likely, this was the reason
> for low voter turnout,
> the UDP did not do a great job of preventing this
> from happening. There are
> other reasons for the loss which we should also
> address rather than go with
> the easy answer: Voter Buyout. The oppositions is
> doing a disservice to
> themselves by making such unwarranted allegations
> and by not doing the
> necessary analysis and/or efforts required to avoid
> further defeats like this
> in the future.
>
>
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