Dear Dr Saine,
RE: NADD’S POSITION ON THE CALL FOR UNITY AMONG THE OPPOSITION
The proposals made for a united front to contest the forthcoming
presidential election has been reviewed by the Executive Committee of NADD.
All those who comprehend the demand of the political situation in the Gambia
cannot belittle the importance of building a durable united front to contest
the 2006 presidential election. Since the AFPRC/APRC regime came into
office, it has been making every effort to entrench itself by any means. Since the
1996 presidential election, the opposition has only been able to challenge
the regime through a united front. What made previous united fronts to fail
should be our major preoccupation. This is why the NADD Executive welcomes the
debate regarding the nature of the united front we need to contest the 2006
elections.
We wish to convey our deep appreciation for the patriotism demonstrated by
Gambians who have been sending their criticisms and proposals. This confirms
that the duty to guide the destiny of the Gambian people is a collective
responsibility.
The Executive Committee of NADD has taken note of the view of the UDP/NRP
alliance that their adoption of Mr. Darboe and Mr. Bah as presidential and vice
presidential candidates respectively, must be given uppermost consideration
in any negotiation.
What is of fundamental importance to NADD, however, is the task of removing
the present government and further ensure that a government like it never
emerges again.
The key point to draw your attention to is the fact that NADD sprouted from
the vision that a divided opposition will be tactically disadvantaged in
prosecuting its objective of unseating the present regime.
The goals and structure of NADD were carefully hammered to address this
tactical question of overcoming the weakness of the opposition.
Considering the statements unremittingly repeated by president Jammeh that
he will be in office indefinitely, the primary goal of the alliance had to be
linked to the agenda of putting into sharp focus the need to put an end to
self perpetuating rule. Hence measures were taken to ensure that future
presidents would accept a two five year term limit. In order to build a foundation
for the consolidation of the culture of imposing a term limit to the
presidency, it was considered prudent to restrict the tenure of office of its
transitional president to one term of five years.
The NADD Executive strongly maintains that this goal of limiting the term of
office of the flag-bearer of a united front is a key platform in galvanizing
the people against the Jammeh regime and offers great opportunity to a new
government to put an end to a culture of impunity and self perpetuating rule.
In any negotiation to forge an alliance such goals should be maintained. In
fact the NADD Executive cannot comprehend how any Gambian would be opposed to
the establishment of a one term limit for a transitional president. What is
envisaged is a debate as to whether the five year term limit of the
transitional administration should be reduced to a two year term limit as some had
proposed. All the indications are that NADD will give positive consideration to
any such proposition as a package for promoting unity.
Secondly, the task the opposition parties were called upon to perform was to
form a united front, irrespective of the tribe, ideologies, place of origin
or party affiliation of their members.
Suffice it to say that if the task of the first meeting of the leaders was
restricted to the selection of a presidential and vice presidential candidate
from parties which had this or that percentage in a previous election, we
would not have signed a memorandum of understanding in unanimity despite the
diversity of interests and idiosyncrasies of the leaders. What the leaders
sought to do was to enhance ownership of NADD by all parties by advocating for the
principle of sovereign equality of all parties. It gave equal opportunity to
all members to seek the mandate of the people on the basis of consensus or
through the holding of primaries. The consensus principle was designed to
encourage party representatives to accept a candidate who they can convince their
respective party constituencies to support. Where the leaders cannot agree
on the basis of consensus their respective constituencies were to be consulted
directly to select the electable candidate.
It goes without saying that some of the critics have questioned why NADD was
created as an umbrella party. The answer is simple. Since no single party
could remove the present regime the combined efforts of the parties were deemed
necessary to achieve that aim. Most members of NADD acknowledged that if the
combine efforts of all were to promote the candidature of one party, all the
other parties will be marginalized during the period of promoting his or her
candidature. This comes with its disadvantages. First and foremost, upon
victory the single party may isolate the other parties and attribute its victory
to its own efforts. On the other hand, in our circumstance at the time of
our negotiation some parties may not have been too keen in doing their best to
support the candidate of a single party. In that respect, NADD became a
natural offshoot of our internal debates and struggles and not the creation of an
individual reformer or idealist.
Hence the creation of an umbrella party provides the basis for its
constituent members to claim victory after an election. Needless to say, people of
diverse backgrounds may vote for the umbrella party for diverse reasons.
Finally, the umbrella party will not be judged by the shortcomings of any individual
party as their members compensate for such inadequacies. These are the
advantages of creating an umbrella party. In short, ownership of the party will be
equal. No dictatorship can be imposed by any flag-bearer or any single
party.
It was envisaged that if each party surrenders its sovereignty to the
umbrella party for a transition period of five years all of them will retain their
original size and political weight and would be guaranteed a level ground for
contesting the next following elections. This is when the size of a
political party would matter. As far as the 2006 presidential election is concerned
NADD sought to have a candidate who the representatives of parties can present
to and be accepted by their respective constituencies. Furthermore such a
candidate would have to accept and respect the agreement signed. A NADD
National Assembly would be able to cast a vote of no confidence should the president
violate his/her mandate to prevent any dictatorship of an executive
presidency.
Hence it should be abundantly clear that the establishment of NADD was not
designed to give any party a ladder to climb to any height. Any party
representative could have stopped the candidature of anyone and propose for a
decision to be made through a primary. At no time did any member put the issue of
the percentage earned in previous elections as a bargaining chip to contest
elections. At no time did any member call for a primary to determine
candidature. NADD selected a flag-bearer after the UDP and NRP leadership decided to
withdraw their support for NADD. The selection of a NADD flag-bearer was done on
the basis of a criteria agreed upon by all the political parties including
the UDP and NRP. Since their departure the two parties have not called for a
review of NADD’s MOU or the selection process. They have also not drawn up an
agenda that will attract the other parties to create a new united front. NADD
is open to consider any opinion on these matters.
In our view, an alliance is a tactical instrument which is designed to
increase the support base of political parties. The checks and balances expressed
by NADD on the presidency is meant to earn the trust of the people so that
they can see a difference between NADD and the APRC.
We in NADD are convinced that the way forward is to have a programme that
most Gambians will subscribe to and select a candidate that all the parties can
promote in their respective constituencies with success. This is the way
forward.
We are open to any negotiation that would consolidate the ownership of a
united front by all its members, guarantee the sovereign equality of all
political parties, promote collective leadership of the members of a transitional
government and give assurance of a level ground in future electoral contest.
It goes without saying that this is the only way we can demonstrate to the
Gambian people that we will not repeat the same mistakes of the past in
bringing about change of faces while the governance environment sinks into the abyss
of impunity and self perpetuating rule.
Time however is not on the side of the opposition. The situation is imposing
its demands. We have no choice but to open up and take all genuine concerns
and proposals on board. Only those who seek to lead by walking one step
forward and then two steps backward can afford to ignore the opinions of the
people.
We in NADD are ready to negotiate in good faith to promote the interest of
the people. We hope all those who are in the opposition will negotiate in good
faith by explaining how their proposals can earn us greater support among
the people and greater unity among the opposition.
While anticipating the surge towards a unified opposition will receive an
accelerated power of motion.
We remain.
Yours In the service of the Gambian people and humanity,
Halifa Sallah
For the Executive Committee of NADD
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