Dampha wrote:

"Gassama, I frankly do not have time to be going back and forth with you
about who said what. Even if the statements you are attributing to OJ were
in fact said by OJ, don’t you think common sense dictates that you analyze
the information and come up with your own ‘reading’. Do I take it from you
that in 1996 a ‘banned’ PPP had bank accounts and other assets it used to
finance Darboe? See, these are the sorts of lateral thinking you need to do
for yourself when faced with such information".

Dampha,

Like I said before, OJ did tell journalists in a press conference that "the
banned PPP party" sponsored Darboe's presidential campaign in 1996. I don't
know the form of the sponsoreship but can safely guess that it was
financial. And Dampha please don't ask me where the money came from, for I
don't know. As far as people like me are concerned, the fact that the PPP
was non-existent, for all intents and purposes is irrelevant. The fact that
he (OJ) did not say "former PPP members" or "former PPP supporters", allows
us to interpret his statement as meaning the banned PPP as a "party"
sponsored Darbo's 1996 election campaign. The fact that their bank accounts
in Gambia were frozen and their bureau seized, are also irrelevant. I have
come to this conclusion the same way that many concluded that even when the
ANC was banned and they had no bureau in South Africa, they (the ANC)
existed.

You again wrote:

"Now, if PPP did NOT exist in 1996 what you are dealing with is former PPP
supporters. Are you telling me that former PPP supporters financed Darboe in
1996? If that is true, are you telling me that that made Darboe a PPP
stooge? What you people need to get into your heads is that before 1994,
there was no APRC or UDP. Gambians belonged to other Parties (mainly PPP).
After PPP was banned, their supporters dispersed to the newly formed Parties
(mainly APRC); Fatoumatta Jahumpa and Saihou Ceesay are classic examples.
How come I never hear you say that APRC is a PPP front because some former
PPP members are in APRC? See, that is the hurdle you have to pass. In other
words, show us how PPP has ever influenced Darboe".

No Dampha, I am not referring to former PPP supporters. I am referring to
the former core members of the PPP who were banned but maintained their
networks and all what not.

There is no doubt in any sane person's mind that many members or supporters
of the then banned PPP such as Fatou Jahumpa Ceesay, Nyimassata Bojang etc,
joined the AFPRC/APRC. However this cannot justify anybody seeing the
AFPRC/APRC as a front of the PPP. The presence within the AFPRC/APRC of
former members of the banned PPP cannot make anybody come to the conclusion
that the AFPRC/APRC is a front for the PPP because the AFPRC overthrew and
banned the PPP. As a result, the PPP cannot have any leverage over the
AFPRC/APRC.

It is however NOT inconcievable to see the covert support of the UDP (the
main opposition party) by the overthrown and banned PPP in any way other
than the fact that they (the PPP) wanted to come back into our lives by
doing all they can to get rid of the AFPRC/APRC. Call it tactical alliance
or whatever, but that does not change that perception, given by OJ, that the
former PPP and UDP had much more going on between them than meets the eye.
The PPP told us that they financed the UDP's presidential campaign of 1996,
that they (the PPP) had all their structures intact and that they were
coming back stronger than ever.

Please note also that NOBODY, certainly not me, is calling Ousainou Darbo a
stooge or the UDP a front of the PPP. What many are saying is that the
alliance the two parties struck, leaving out the other parties, especially
in the light of that press conference given by the unbanned PPP, put off
many who might have supported a united opposition but wanted nothing to do
with the former PPP.  And Dampha, please stop trying to confuse things by
implying that people are questioning Darbo's integrity, independence or
political maturity. Nobody is implying or saying that Darbo hasn't got what
it takes to lead us. All that people are saying, particularly me, is that
the UDP's tactical move of going into an alliance with the former PPP at the
expense of a full alliance turned out to be counter-productive. This is one
example where the PPP influenced Darbo and the UDP.

Finally, considering the performance of the UDP during the last elections,
there is absolutely no evidence to show that the PPP had any significant
possitive impact on the performance of the UDP. If they had much possitive
impact on the performance of Darbo, then one can safely assume that a
significant number of his former supporters must have left him. This, in my
opinion, is a logical explanation of the strong showing of Hamat Bah. My own
guess is that some who opposed the APRC and supported him switched over to
the next biggest opposition party because they could not bring themselves to
voting for the former PPP regime. What is your take on that assumption?

Have a good day, Gassa.


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