Yusupha, welcome back. I know you were trying to address some general issues
that took place while you were away, but you touched on matters that
directly affect me. So I see the need to respond to you directly.

There is nothing wrong in trying to rebel and be different from other
people. But differing with people just for the sake for being different,
makes very little sense to me; especially when the difference is premised on
shaky grounds. One should have the courage and confidence in oneself to the
extent that one does not need a forum like this to showcase ones
independence from people. In short, I think we will agree that not all
'dissenting views' are for the common good. On the other hand, sycophancy is
also an evil we must fight. I would have appreciated your piece more had you
specified on the postings that actually made you see the need to make the
generalization you made in your opening paragraph; i.e. thinking alike is
hurting the Opposition. From the topics you picked in subsequent paragraphs,
I can only assume that you are criticizing people from the Opposition since
we sent the bulk of postings 'lambasting' Kebba Joke.

Having said that, let me now try and address some of the issues you raised.
You wrote that Joke's support for the APRC is a 'very conflicted one'. This
is simply not true. Either you have not been following the debate as you
should, or Joke has bamboozled you. Joke clearly is a loyal supporter of the
APRC. He has NOT admitted to a single atrocity that Yaya was to be blamed
for. Whether Yaya is solely responsible or not is not the point. No one
except Joke is saying that Yaya should or should not be solely responsible
for these crimes. Yesterday, I pointed that out to Joke (again). When Joke
talks about the Massacre of our children, he says that it was a 'tragedy'.
Yaya Might have given the orders to shoot, but the orders Might have been
from Isatou Njie-Saidy since Yaya was not in the country. Few postings
later, he will come back and say 'forget the orders. The soldiers are so
evil that they do not need orders from Yaya in order to shoot the children.
In any case the children asked for it. The Ebrima Barry case was moving
along fine. There was no need for a demonstration'. When Joke realized that
he will be attacked for blaming the victims, he turns around and blame the
Opposition parties and the media for inciting the children to stage a
demonstration.

This is just one illustration of the slimy nature of Joke. Now tell me what
ground Joke has given? Where is the conflicting loyalties? Apart from
showing that he is a pathological liar and a hypocrite, Joke has not given a
thing in terms of ascribing even the littlest blame to Yaya who we all know
gave the shoot-to-kill orders. Now what do you suggest we do with Joke? In
an attempt to express our independence, we should swallow his lies? I do not
understand your justification for us not to debunk Joke's lies. The only
thing I could discerned was where you said that attacking Joke will not
change the minds of people that think like Joke. But I have to point out
that not attacking them will also not change their minds either. But worst,
by not attacking them, we run the risk of them convincing the majority of
Gambians that Yaya is good for us. Is that what you want? Because I want to
be different from people I should come here and support Joke in his lies or
stay mute? It is important that we endeavor to speak the truth all the time.
Even if people accuse us of subscribing to a herd mentality, we should speak
the truth. If you have confidence in yourself, you will care less if people
accuse you of subscribing to a herd mentality because you spoke the truth in
support of another comrade in the struggle.

It is also NOT true that people are neglecting the elections while wasting
time with Joke. Don't be fooled by what you read on G_L. Most of the
meaningful work people are doing vis-a-vis the elections and strategies to
remove Yaya, is not being done on G_L. Some of us do not publicize on such
forum everything we do in this struggle. I for one do not see the need to
convince doubting thomases in our midst that I am contributing to the
struggle more than they see on G_L. I do what I do because of (first and
foremost) our dead children that can no longer read G_L. Besides, attacking
Joke (APRC propaganda) also helps the elections drive. That is what
elections are about. Opposing sides try to convince people towards their
ideas; unless of course you are APRC and want to intimidate people. What do
you suggest us to do again? Allow APRC a free hand to convince our people
about their lies while we in the Opposition only talk about forming a
coalition and how to raise funds? Not everyone is debating Joke. When was
the last time you saw a posting from the MRDG(UK)? Do you know what the Org.
is currently working on? Do you know what the Movement in New York is
currently working on? Do you suggest we ignore Joke and his lies and
duplicate the noble efforts our other comrades are doing?

You admit that some of the issues Joke brings here might be used by the APRC
during the elections campaign. Now, if we agree on that, don't you think it
is prudent to debunk those lies before they are fed to our people? I think
Sanusi touched on the issue you raise about Pesseh Njie. I will reiterate
the point that unless you know more than I do, I think you are criticizing
the man unjustifiably. The last I heard, Pesseh was approached by the APRC
to cross over to them from UDP and he refused to do so despite that they
(APRC) offered him an enormous amount of money. Are you telling us now that
Pesseh accepted the money and moved to APRC? If Pesseh accepts the money and
go to APRC, how can you blame that squarely on the UDP? How many Gambians
have sold their souls to the Devil for lesser amounts than was reportedly
offered to Pesseh? People like Buba Baldeh and Nafa Saho jump to mind. Their
defections have more to do with them than the parties they belonged to. What
sorts of policies do you think UDP should have adopted in order to weed out
people that would not cross-carpet to APRC? Please don't talk about
education or wealth or coming from a good family. We have seen the
Fatoumatta Jahumpas and the Saja Taals and the Sedat Jobes and the Sarjo
Jallows of The Gambia. They all willingly sold their souls to the Devil.
There is very little any political party can do to make certain people
decent human beings.

I asked you your suggestions for policy changes in the UDP to make a more
fundamental point. That is, if we claim to be staunch Opposition supporters,
our criticism of our leaders should be constructive and discrete. Don't just
throw out accusations. Give solutions as well, preferably in private to the
parties concerned. You do not put someone forward to lead you and then try
to undermine them. It is easy to castigate the Opposition. But what do you
suggest in place of their 'wrong' policies?

Brings me to the issue concerning Waa Juwara's comments about the women and
politics. I cannot understand how you can say that he does not believe in
the equal representation of women in politics and other walks of life. First
of all, as I understand it, the man was not being asked to spell out UDP's
policies vis-a-vis the uplifting of women in society as a whole. According
to my reading, he was asked a specific question about the role of women in
political parties. Among other things, he said that all the political
parties were open to women. There was NO barrier stopping women from
entering into and thriving in politics in Gambia. No glass-ceiling in
Affirmative Action parlance. To buttress his point he pointed to people like
Mariam Denton to show that UDP is NOT hostile to women. What Waa did not
also point out was that the influence and respect Mariam has in UDP CANNOT
be compared to the influence any woman has in APRC. The woman is a
professional that represents the party in court in very important case. She
campaigns vigorously for the party and the leadership listens to her ideas.

Now having demonstrated that there was no glass-ceiling in the UDP hierarchy
to the detriment of women, does it make sense for the man to turn around and
tell the interviewer how to solve a problem that does not exist? Can you
solve a gender bias that does not exist? Before you subscribe to the notion
that Waa and UDP are 'antifeminist', why don't you point out to tangible
examples that show that the party discriminated against women. How many
women has shown an interest in politics and were turned away by the UDP? Waa
gave you Mariam's example. Come with a counter example. The fact that there
are very few women in politics in Gambia can be explained by a number of
factors. To narrow the factors down to gender bias, is absurd. There are
equally few highly educated people in politics in Gambia. Do you want to
tell us that political parties discriminate against educated folks and that
is why we do not have a lot of MPs with post-graduate degrees? Is it not
conceivable that women and educated Gambians are generally disinterested in
politics?

It is unfair to castigate Waa and the UDP without digesting the issue
properly. Joke (and you in your piece) discourage people from confusing Yaya
and the APRC; stating that Yaya is not solely responsible for what the party
does and vice versa. Yet you pick up Waa's statements, twist it, and then
ascribe the statements to the UDP. I am not trying to dissociate the party
from what Waa said, because I think what he said was perfectly in line. I
just want to highlight the inconsistency of your arguments. Again, I
reiterate that I firmly believe in what Waa said until you or Joke can give
us tangible examples to show that UDP is biased towards women. Counteract
Waa's examples. He was simply saying that if Mariam can do it in the UDP,
surely other women can do it too without the need to give them stuff on a
plate. It is UNFAIR for Mariam to struggle with the party while some of our
'women-libbers' sit on the side-lines or support the APRC and once the UDP
comes to power, they surface with their entitlement mentality saying that
they are entitled to top positions in the name of affirmative action. That
is wrong and that is what Waa was talking about. Am sure Waa will say the
same thing about some of our educated folk that want to stay aloof during
the struggle, but when things change they appear and start demanding things.
It is not about gender bias. It is about fundamental fairness. The party is
NOT stopping any woman from joining the struggle now. But it has every right
to warn off parasites that want to use affirmative action to get things they
were not willing to struggle for.

Just for the record, I am a big proponent of affirmative action here in the
U.S. The difference is that I can point to a glass-ceiling. That is what you
guys that are castigating Waa cannot do. You cannot counteract the examples
he gave in his interview. Now turning to the role of women in society at
large. Why don't you and Joke start by asking the man his views on that and
his party's views on that? You cannot say that by addressing the fairness
issue that was posed directly to him, he evinced that he hates women and
does not want them to get ahead. If anything, that shows that the man
believed in the abilities of our women. He said that any woman that was
interested in politics and wanted to join the UPD would be treated like any
respectable counterpart (male or female). Can the party do more to encourage
women to join politics? Probably yes. But that is very different from saying
that the party is biased against women. I think Hamjatta and others have
touched on the despicable record of the APRC women. I need not get into
that. Suffice for me to say that appointing Njie-Saidy who will partake in
the Massacre of defenseless school children is nothing to brag about. Having
Fatoumatta Jahumpa who will organize a 'million mom march' to celebrate
child murderers while families of the victims are still mourning, is nothing
to brag about. Rather than focusing on a UDP non-record, why don't you
address the despicable record of the APRC vis-a-vis our women and our
families? UDP has not even had the opportunity to appoint people and you
start criticizing them in anticipation of who they Might appoint. This does
not make sense to me.

About the by-elections, I will first of all inform you that the vote buying
was not something made up by G_L. This phenomenon was widely reported in the
Gambian press well before the elections. Few days before the elections, I
talked about it on G_L. APRC stalwarts like Baba Jobe admitted that they
bought votes in order to disenfranchise UDP supporters. We cannot simply
ignore this crime. People have to talk about it and say that it is wrong.
About voter turn-out, the numbers might be the same with previous elections,
but you have to remember that what is at stake now is different from what
was at stake in previous elections. Did you hear reports from the UDP
nominee in Kiang that before the elections his supporters gave him 3000
cards to show their loyalty to him but he told them to hold on to the cards
and vote on election day? Where did those cards go? What we are trying to
say is that the reason for the low voter turnout was because of the vote
buying to disenfranchise voters (which Joke and APRC unashamedly admitted
to). How else are you trying to explain the voter turnout? That less people
turned out in previous elections? The problem with that argument is that
that is SPECULATION; as opposed to FACTS admitted by APRC. Another thing I
cannot understand is how people can arrogantly come to G_L and say that the
Opposition on the ground were not discussing pertinent issues. What do you
think people like Darboe are? Morons? Tell us the specific issues they did
not discuss. Again, I think the best way we can help the Opposition avoid
such a debacle is to be DISCRETE and CONSTRUCTIVE with our criticisms and
suggestions.

Finally, I hope that you see this exchange as a by-product of what you are
advocating: that we think differently. Even though I am not married to the
idea and would not contradict people just for the sake of being different, I
encourage everyone to think for themselves. If their conclusions are
agreeable to me, I will say so if I want to. There is nothing wrong with
'thinking alike'. The issue is to tell the truth and be consistent. I look
forward to your contributions as we move towards October.
KB



>From: Yusupha C Jow <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Gambian Opposition, Elections and Related Issues
>Date: Mon, 14 May 2001 17:24:57 EDT
>
>In spite of my self imposed hiatus, I have been a 'peeper' of the main site
>of late.   Observing the debate rage on has been an interesting experience
>since it has shown me some of the inherent disadvantages in thinking too
>alike.   This phenomenon which some may call cabals, niches or 'online
>friendships sealed in blood' is, in my opinion, an impediment to
>progressive
>ideas resulting from dissenting views, as slight as they may be.
>
>Case in point, the recent merciless lambasting of Kebba Jobe, AKA Daddy
>Nying
>and Kebba Joke.    The man has obviously shown that his affiliation with
>the
>APRC regime is very conflicted one.   He has openly accepted some of the
>wrongs of the regime but refuses to blame Yahya Jammeh on the basis that he
>does not solely comprise the APRC.  According to Jobe, the blame must be
>shared roundly.   What is wrong with this picture?   In my opinion,
>nothing.
>  The human rights situation in The Gambia is the same as in other African
>countries where atrocities are sanctioned daily by perfectly 'legitimate'
>regimes.   Point is Jobe is no different from many other Gambians who
>support
>the present regime based on the premise that their overall record outweighs
>the evil perpetrated by this regime.   In this light, lambasting Jobe
>really
>serves no purpose because it will not change a thing when it comes to the
>minority of people who subscribe to his school of thought.   Yet, we keep
>on
>lambasting away, wasting bandwidth in the process while neglecting the up
>and
>coming election which will determine the future of the Gambian people for
>the
>next 4 or 5 years.   Because of this conformity or 'thinking alike' issue,
>this diversion becomes less easy to realise and I believe the ruling
>party's
>political pundits are simply using the Gambia-L as a testing ground for
>some
>of their soon to be deployed political strategies.
>
>Another pertinent issue is the state of our opposition parties and their
>apparent disregard for the 101 of political strategies.   Some of their
>representatives, like Ebrima Pesseh Njie, are no more than rubber stamps
>who
>will not hesitate to switch allegiances when the going gets tough or the
>money gets too enticing.   This cross-carpeting problem has reared it's
>ugly
>head before, but the UDP simply will not learn and continue to make the
>same
>mistakes by appointing less than worthy characters who not only change
>faction, but also sully the party's image.    The recent antifeminist
>utterances of people like Wu Jawara  do a serious disservice to the
>opposition in a country where women are perhaps among the most oppressed in
>the World yet make up over 50% of the voting population.  Should it take a
>rocket scientist to figure out that the women of The Gambia not only
>deserve
>equal representation in political positions, but bureaux, ministries and
>movements which will make sure every effort is made to improve the status
>of
>women back home?   IMHO, a well learned man like Ousainou Darboe, would
>never
>make a political gaffe like this one.   It is his troops (MPs etc.) who
>need
>to be reined in to show the unity of a party which speaks responsibly in
>one
>voice.  Again, we see these gaffes but the few who speak are quickly
>silenced
>by the overwhelmingly unitarian cabal.
>
>The issue of political strategy when it concerns campaigning and elections
>also comes to mind when one studies the latest trends of the UDP.  After
>the
>outcome of the last by-elections as a result of the unfortunate death of
>several UDP members, it  became painfully apparent to me that the party did
>not adhere to a strategy which was borne out of any type of detailed
>analysis.   When one compares the amount of people who actually voted to
>those who actually voted, it becomes obvious the voter turnout was
>extremely
>low.   Based on analysis from Foroya, 1056 people did not vote in Kiang
>East.
>  This amounts to slightly more than ¼ of the registered voters in the
>area,
>a significant number which could have made all the difference.    Even so,
>I
>am convinced an equally large amount of residents of these areas did not
>vote.   Interestingly enough, the voting patterns of Gambians during PPP
>days
>are strikingly similar to the voting patterns shown in the 1997 elections.
>
>The opposition won in most of the same places where they had strongholds,
>the
>numbers were roughly equal and the reasons for losing were virtually the
>same.   But, here on the Gambia-L, we cry voter buyout and such without
>bothering to look closely at the numbers.   Again a dire consequence, of
>conformity of thought and an acceptance of the status quo without question
>or
>because this person said so.
>
>In conclusion, I would like to conclusively again reaffirm my opposition to
>the present regime.   Gambians should not settle for less than we deserve.
>
>But the overall picture is dire.   There seems to be an apparent lack of
>political gain (in the true sense) coming from the main opposition party.
>The only headway being made is by PDOIS, a statistical nonentity in Gambian
>politics.   For this reason, I think a UNITED front is the way forward for
>change back home.   I would also implore on all members of the L to put on
>their thinking caps (so to speak) and come up with their own ideas/reasons
>on
>how to overcome this terrible situation.   Let us avoid where necessary
>this
>overly 'thinking alike' affliction which tends to stifle forward thinking.
>
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