Gambia: The compromise

*The compromise*


By Musa Jeng, Atlanta

At a crossroad of any revolutionary change, there  is always a need for a
bold and visionary leadership. It has become evident that our country found
itself at that crossroad, and is yearning for a bold visionary leader, to
make the sacrifices and give us the opportunity for change. As the General
elections 2011 draws near, many of us who see a united coalition of
opposition parties as our only realistic option to be competitive are
getting nervous. We are at the point that any extra day spent without a
united front, is making it lot more difficult to put an effective challenge
against the APRC. The postmortem has already begun, and there is already the
talk of 2016 because 2011 is already seen as a lost cause. Most people in
the inside cannot see a scenario where PDOIS, UDP, NRP, PPP and all the
other parties can embrace and enthusiastically launch a serious campaign
against Jammeh. What is really behind this pessimism?

For starters, we need to look at Agenda 2011, the PDOIS policy document that
is seen as one of the solutions put forward by PDOIS as their position for
bringing about a coalition,  and the opportunity to build real democracy in
the Gambia. In this document there are three key issues that one can see as
fundamental in our search for a united coalition: the selection method
utilize to find a leader of a united front and under what entity;  secondly,
what kind of a government do we have during this transitional phase and will
the leader be term limited at the end of the transition; finally, will this
campaign be party driven or alliance driven whereby all partners sit on the
table as equal partners to find a consensus and together work to remove
Jammeh and the APRC. Agenda 2011 solution is  couch with a fundamental tenet
that the decision making for a united a coalition should be grassroots
driven, and should not be left in the hands of leaders or organized parties.
They argued that this exercise belongs to the people and it can be done
through a primary to choose the leader of a united coalition. They have made
the argument that by only going to the people, we will be able to get the
right leader that people including APRC supporters will be willing to vote
for. Since they rolled out agenda 2011, PDOIS has been reluctant to sit down
with party leaders to discuss a way forward for a united front because it
defeats their own belief that this needs to be done through grass root
supporters rather than relying on leaders. Even though they have rolled out
this agenda almost two years ago, the general respond from the grassroots
has been lukewarm at best, and to the Diaspora, an important constituency
for a united coalition, see the PDOIS method as ideologically driven and
unrealistic. As a friend told me, PDOIS is indeed losing the politics, and
they are looking rigid and unwilling to demonstrate flexibility for a
compromise.

Now, UDP on the other hand, the party seen as the largest political party
and since 1994 has demonstrated the ability to pull over 30% of the
electorate to vote for them, is also very much adamant with their own
perceived position. Most insiders will tell you that without a doubt UDP has
the largest constituency and any united front will have to rely on the UDP
to be successful. Even though, they have not come up with a formal policy
document to indicate their own position for a united front, people are very
much able to glean from their surrogates and party leader what their
position is in regards to a united coalition.  They continue to argue that
they see a UDP led coalition as the only realistic method if we are
interested in removing Jammeh. Their mantra is that, this is in accordance
to international conventions, and all over the world coalitions are done by
using the party with the most support and bringing the smaller parties along
to fight against the incumbent. They have also gone further to make the
argument that they believe that all parties should be able to sit down
without any precondition to find a formula for a united front.  But again,
preconditions from the UDP basically means that everything is on the table
except that it will have to be UDP led. As for a transitional kind of a
government, term limiting the leader of the transition and making the
campaign against Jammeh as alliance driven instead of a party affair, UDP
has not been very clear and this is a concern to some observers.

*What is the realistic compromise?*

As an insider, I cannot see a scenario where PDOIS will ever come and be
part of a UDP led coalition. After their experience in 2006 and the
aftermath, it will be very difficult for PDOIS to just go along with what
most people think should be considered if we are to come up with united
front to confront tyranny. On the other hand, I cannot see a scenario where
UDP will go along with a primary scenario whereby an Independent person will
be elected to lead a united coalition, and expect the entire UDP party to
throw their support. The only realistic option is to go back to the NADD
formula, this is one entity that was created as a neutral entity and
basically belongs to all the opposition parties, and can be used to launch a
campaign against Jammeh. Maybe, the compromise is to bring back the
memorandum of understanding and make the necessary amendments that will
accommodate the UDP principal concern, that the leadership of any alliance
should be the party with the largest support base. Secondly, the leadership
of the alliance will be the party leaders and the entire campaign and
government after the election will be led by these leaders. This will be
seen as a government of national unity, a transitional government for a
period of five years, and none of the leaders in the government of national
unity will qualify to run for the presidency in 2016. Their job during this
transitional phase is to focus on building the institution of democracy, shy
away from party politics, also on the building blocks of the Gambian economy
and restoring our country in the international arena.

It is recommended that a summit be convened right away to table the NADD
memorandum with the relevant amendments. Time is of essence and I am hoping
for the STGDP to adopt this formula as a last ditch effort  to find the
compromise and give ourselves the opportunity to take our country back and
give the next generation the opportunity  to build a better Gambia for all.
It is recommended to organize a summit immediately, preferably in the USA
and invite the key leaders to come and be ready to make the final deal and
launch the campaign to remove Jammeh in 2011.

MUSA JENG

ATLANTA


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GOD BLESS SHEIKH PROFESSOR ALHAGIE YAHYA AJJ JAMMEH*
*(PRESIDENT FOR LIFE.)*
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*GOD BLESS THE GAMBIA*
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*GOD BLESS APRC*
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*DOWN WITH THE FAILED OPPOSITION *

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