Fellow Colleagues
I think "critics" of UDP should now take note of the
fact that they treated Saihou Mballow with contempt.
Prior to the ALD symposium, they were indications that
Mr Darboe and his delegation won't be attending. From
that moment, we received series of emails questioning
UDP's seriousness in debating issues of national
interest. Moreover, some even asked why UDP can't send
a delegate, they even question whether UDP was a one
man party-OUSAINOU DARBOE AND NO ONE ELSE.To justify
my comments, here are some of the remarks which were
posted on the "L"
(1)Joe Sambou- UDP delegation postpones US trip
"How many people are in the UDP governing?" posted on
23/05/01
(2) Bass Ndow-UDP delegation postpones US trip
"What happened to the principle of delegation? Is UDP
a one man party? Why not delegate other officials or
UDP NAMs?" posted on 22/05/01
(3) Lajorr Ndow-UDP delegation postpones US trip
"Mr Jasseh-Conteh , I do not understand how we can
have you represent the UDP at the event when we have
no way of ascertaining if you are the official
representative of the UDP or not." 24/05/01
Well after careful consideration, I find it difficult
to accept that UDP have to explain the reasons for
their absence. According to very reliable information,
Mr Saihou Mballow was elected as an Executive member
of the UDP during its first annual congress held at
Brikama on 29 May 1998. Moreover, he was a UDP
candidate for the last parliamentary/National Assembly
elections held on 2 January 1997. The question which
one has to ask is why Saihou Mballow was not given the
go-ahead to represent UDP at this Symposium? Are we so
obsessed with seeing leaders of political parties
giving speeches. By the way, the APRC never sent their
"heavy weights"-the likes of Yankuba Touray APRC, Buba
Baldeh , Tamsir Jallow and many others were not part
of the delegation. Since UDP had a executive member
currently "residing" in the US, then surely the ALD
oraginising committee should have used him as a
substitute to Mr Darboe. The decision to deny Saihou
Mballow that opportunity makes it difficult for me to
blame UDP on their non-attendance.
The blame should therefore be split equally between
the ALD organisers and the UDP National Executive
Committee.
Apart from that I would like to commend the ALD
organisers for spear-heading such a great occasion.
I therefore wish them all the best for future
symposiums
Thank you
Sanusi
--- saihou Mballow <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > On
behalf of the UDP i would like to thank the ALD
> organising committee for disallowing me to speak for
> over 147,000 Gambian people who support the UD.
> I must thank all the ladies and gentlemen who took
> their time and made to the ALD conference.Mr Gomez
> must know that i am not a dictator who force himself
> to lead the people.I am an official of the UDP and i
> was democratically elected to represent the interest
> of the party at a UDP congress in Brikama on the
> 29th
> May 1998.I was not hand pick by any mamber of the
> party and secondly i scored over 4000 votes in the
> last National Assembly Elections which today some
> people who talk nonsense in parliament didn't
> scored.Today there are members who representing only
> 500 votes and i think i have more voice than those
> APRC MPs.
>
> I will report more on this when i am ready.
> Saihou
>
> --- astrid christensen-tasong <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>
> <HR>
> <html><DIV>
> <P><BR><BR></P>
> <DIV></DIV>
> <P>Mr Jassey:</P></DIV>
> <P>With all due respect, you are not setting the
> record straight by saying that the ALD organisers
> did
> not reach out to The Gambian community in the Metro
> area and beyond. On the contrary, EVERY ONE
> was
> invited to participate in the planning of the ALD
> but
> as usual, everyone likes to take the back seat and
> "nit pick". Give credit where it's due...if
> you
> feel that the ALD was a two man show...well that's
> because YOU know of two people giving their all to
> make it a success. </P>
> <DIV></DIV>
> <P>Please criticize constructively!</P>
> <DIV></DIV>
> <P>Astrid Christensen</P>
> <DIV></DIV>
> <P>From: MLJ Conteh <[log in to unmask]></P>
> <DIV></DIV>
> <DIV></DIV>
> <DIV></DIV>>Reply-To: The Gambia and
> related-issues
> mailing list <[log in to unmask]>
> <DIV></DIV>
> <DIV></DIV>>To: [log in to unmask]
> <DIV></DIV>
> <DIV></DIV>>Subject: Re: ALD Symposium
> <DIV></DIV>
> <DIV></DIV>>Date: Tue, 29 May 2001 17:29:57 -0400
> <DIV></DIV>
> <DIV></DIV>>
> <DIV></DIV>
> <DIV></DIV>>James:
> <DIV></DIV>
> <DIV></DIV>>
> <DIV></DIV>
> <DIV></DIV>>I hereby repeat that the ALD
> symposium
> was a two-man
> <DIV></DIV>
> <DIV></DIV>>initiative and that Mr. MBallow had
> requested to represent the UDP and you turned him
> down. I hope Mr. MBallow had read
> <DIV></DIV>
> <DIV></DIV>>your posting, so that he can set
> light
> to your denial.
> <DIV></DIV>
> <DIV></DIV>>
> <DIV></DIV>
> <DIV></DIV>>I am not here to personally attack
> you,
> but to set the
> <DIV></DIV>
> <DIV></DIV>>record straight. I hope you will
> reach
> out to more
> <DIV></DIV>
> <DIV></DIV>>Gambians in metro DC area to be part
> of
> next year's events.
> <DIV></DIV>
> <DIV></DIV>>You indicated that Dr. Nyang was
> going
> to participate and
> <DIV></DIV>
> <DIV></DIV>>you never explained why he did not
> show
> up. You have a
> <DIV></DIV>
> <DIV></DIV>>right to sit on the fence. It is
> disturbing that you
> <DIV></DIV>
> <DIV></DIV>>work for an organization that is
> fighting fearlessly for
> <DIV></DIV>
> <DIV></DIV>>the rights of African Americans.
> <DIV></DIV>
> <DIV></DIV>>
> <DIV></DIV>
> <DIV></DIV>>I hope you have a good year and I
> look
> forward to working
> <DIV></DIV>
> <DIV></DIV>>with you next year.
> <DIV></DIV>
> <DIV></DIV>>
> <DIV></DIV>
> <DIV></DIV>>Naphiyo,
> <DIV></DIV>
> <DIV></DIV>>
> <DIV></DIV>
> <DIV></DIV>>Comrade ML Jassey-Conteh
> <DIV></DIV>
> <DIV></DIV>>
> <DIV></DIV>
> <DIV></DIV>>------Original Message------
> <DIV></DIV>
> <DIV></DIV>>From: "James Gomez Jr."
> <[log in to unmask]>
> <DIV></DIV>
> <DIV></DIV>>To: [log in to unmask]
> <DIV></DIV>
> <DIV></DIV>>Sent: May 29, 2001 8:23:14 PM GMT
> <DIV></DIV>
> <DIV></DIV>>Subject: ALD Symposium
> <DIV></DIV>
> <DIV></DIV>>
> <DIV></DIV>
> <DIV></DIV>>
> <DIV></DIV>
> <DIV></DIV>>Let me start by thanking the entire
> participants in the ALD celebration this past
> weekend.
> I thank you for taking time out of your busy
> schedule
> to join us during our annual Gambian ALD reunion.
> <DIV></DIV>
> <DIV></DIV>>
> <DIV></DIV>
> <DIV></DIV>>I want to set the record straight
> regarding the ALD symposium last weekend. The ALD
> organizing committee is a non-partisan organization
> and the symposium was NEVER intended as a campaign
> event for a united opposition. This was communicated
> to all parties (APRC, UDP, NRP, and PDOIS) well
> before
> their confirmation to participate in the symposium
> without objects.
> <DIV></DIV>
> <DIV></DIV>>
> <DIV></DIV>
> <DIV></DIV>>Our goal was to provide all parties
> an
> opportunity to present their agenda for the Gambia
> and
> to have a civil conversation with the audience on
> Democracy, Human Rights, and the up coming election.
> All parties and members of the Gambia-L were
> informed
> about the invited participants and there was not a
> single objection from any party. The question then
> was
> the possibility of convincing all parties to
> participate and we succeeded.
> <DIV></DIV>
> <DIV></DIV>>
> <DIV></DIV>
> <DIV></DIV>>Comrade ML Jassey-Conten's statement
> on
> the ALD being a two-man initiative is absolutely
> nonsense. Gambians on the L and around the D.C. area
> were invited to meeting in preparation for the ALD.
> Their decision not to participate for whatever
> reason
> (s) is beyond our control.
> <DIV></DIV>
> <DIV></DIV>>
> <DIV></DIV>
> <DIV></DIV>>We were communicating directly with
> Mr.
> Ousainou Darboe regarding his participation. We
> learned of his decision to pull out of the symposium
> from the Gambia-L. When we called and talked with
> him
> that night, he never mentioned any replacement for
> him
> and I'm sure Mr. Darboe knew that Mr. Saihou Mballow
> and other UDP officials including Ousainou's brother
> were in the U.S. In fact, Mr. Dardoe's brother was a
>
=== message truncated ===
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