Bamba Laye,

Pardon me for not addressing your concerns earlier. I have the intention to
deal with every concern. That is my duty. Never assume that I am being
overburdened. It is our conviction that each Gambian is unique and that we
have a duty to communicate with each person concerned. Your intervention is
certainly not a distraction. It is simply helping to clarify issues all the
more.

You quoted the following : "It is important for you to know that at each
given stage there can be a legal and illegal opposition. LEGALITY AND
ILLEGALITY ARE DEFINED BY THOSE WHO CONTROL STATE POWER IN HAVING THE
CAPACITY TO ARREST, DETAIN AND TRY THOSE THEY ACCUSE OF CARRYING OUT ACTS TO
REMOVE THEM FROM POWER. (My emphasis).  The tactics of a legal opposition
and that of an illegal opposition cannot possibly be the same."

You then raised the following questions: "Are you implying that as it is
right now, Yaya Jammeh, being the one "who control State power in having the
capacity to arrest, detain and try  those they accuse of carrying out acts
to remove them from power" can  declare PDOIS an illegal opposition when he
sees fit? What happens to the constitution at this stage? Is this how things
are supposed to be in a true democracy? How would Yaya feel about such a
statement from you?"

Allow me to make it abundantly clear that Yahya Jammeh has no power to
declare PDOIS or any other existing party illegal. The Constitution does not
give Yahya such powers. Democracy would have indeed been enshackled if Yahya
was given such powers.

The statement simply means that at each given stage there are parties which
provide candidates and participate in elections. These are called legal
political parties. There are also parties or groups which go underground and
make it their primary role to overthrow a government by violent means. These
are called the illegal opposition.

I was trying to kill too many birds with one stone. This is what has dragged
me into making the statement you have quoted. I remember someone saying that
Yahya Jammeh's government is illegal since it carried out a coup d'etat.
Therefore, anyone who wants to overthrow him should not be seen to be
engaged in an illegal act. This is why I tried to indicate that as long as
one controls State power and has the machinery to be able to arrest someone
for subversion, detain the person and try the person, one can be considered
to be operating a State with all the clout of legality even if one's moral
base to control that State is contestable.

What I was simply trying to say is that the tactics of  a party which is
trying to win the people to remove a government through the ballot box will
be different from that of a party whose aim it is to carry out some form of
warfare to overthrow a government. The former is an open activity while the
latter is an underground activity which develops until one can wage a power
struggle to take over. In the tactics of the latter, one finds effort to
combat attempts by those who control power to mislead the people or
strengthen their despotic arm. It requires methods of expanding the
democratic space by making the people more conscious of their rights and
help them to be free from intimidation or inducement so that they can assert
their will without fear, and motivating electoral bodies to become more
competent to carry out free and fair elections and containing the excesses
of the State through reliance on the popular will.

On the other hand, in the tactics of the latter, one looks for reliable
basis to start one's guerrilla campaign, maintain supply lines and agitate
for more disaffection in areas where one has little control and then proceed
to take territory after territory. One may also collaborate with people in
the army and exploit situations of disaffection in order to carry out a coup
d'etat.

I hope I have answered your questions.

Greetings

Halifa.



----- Original Message -----
From: Bamba Laye Jallow <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, August 26, 2000 1:19 PM
Subject: Re: Mr. Sallah>>Re: On Prog.............REPOST


> Mr. Sallah,
>
> I know you have a lot on your plate at the moment and probably lost my
> message in the shuffle. Please reconsider the following I sent over a week
> ago:

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