The suggestion that Halifa Sallah was not interested in leadership, or was
not interested in becomming flag bearer of NADD is just as destructive to
Halifa himself as it is to PDOIS or perhaps NADD. At worst, one would not
know what corrective measures to take.

The issue of power is as complex as it is protean everywhere; and in our
part of the world abuse of power is so widespread that the connotations
attached to power are almost always negative: power corruption, power abuse,
power-besotted, power-hungry, etc. Yet it does not have to be that way.

Let us suppose that Halifa does not want power, yet he has dedicated his
life to the struggle for the "empowerment" of the people and the pursuit of
knowledge; he does not want power yet has always been PDOIS' true frontal
figure even though Sidia Jatta has been the party's presidential candidate;
he does not want power yet he was Minority Leader in the National Assembly
for many years; he does not want power yet he agreed to coordinate the
efforts to bring other leaders to form NADD, becoming NADD Coordinator and
finally NADD flag bearer. Does this make sense? Has Halifa's leadership
positions throughout these twenty odd years simply been a product of
historical accidents? Of course not, or I'll be damned.

Halifa Sallah has a tiny nuclear plant in his chest powering his energetic
pursuit of his twin ambitions: knowledge and power. The pursuit of both, he
believes is necessary if the lives of Gambians must be capable of some
dignity. He does not want any kind of power; and he does not want power at
any cost (he has sufficiently demonstrated that). He wants power not as an
end in itself, but as a means to enable him to serve. So why then do we not
see this outwardly either from his public statements or from his readable
demeanour? Is it because of sophisticated dishonesty? Far from it, I should
claim!
Halifa Sallah's power ambitions are fiercely kept in check by an even more
deeply seated and an almost religious sense of humility. Extreme humility
combined with extreme ambition has affected Halifa's actions as much as it
stifled the growth of PDOIS as an organisation. Just one example:

In the nineties (1995 or 1996, I think), Sidia Jatta visited Stockholm and
gave a public lecture to a fairly huge audience of Gambians. With him, he
had a long list of materials he said PDOIS badly needed. This list was
distributed. But true to the PDOIS spirit he announced something to the
effect that he was not begging for anything but he will appreciate whatever
could be provided.
The next morning Sarjor Jallow (ex MOJA, ex APRC SoS for Works and
Communications) visited me whereupon I narrated the previous day's meeting
with Sidia, after which he quipped, "it was like a man who comes to your
house, tells you how hungry he is, bud adds that he will not beg for food
though if you gave him some he could use it!" Extreme humility combined with
extreme ambition. In combination with other factors, this goes to explain
PDOIS poor resource base. Many of its supporters and sympathisers must have
noted such clumsiness in different forms, perhaps without understanding it
source.

It is quite okay for Halifa to want power, because I am convinced like many
of you, that with power in his hands, he will easily summon the moral and
intellectual integrity to exercise it wisely. So we should want Halifa to
want power, which does not mean that we should keep quiet when he errs in
judgement in the pursuit of that power.

(This is one instance of a number of issues that I will raise with PDOIS or
NADD privately as constructive criticism).

Cheers,
sidibeh


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Från: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] För Musa Jeng
Skickat: den 5 mars 2007 03:46
Till: [log in to unmask]
Ämne: The truth behind NADD breakup - Halifa

Halifa’s role to the NADD breakup:

Halifa Sallah – The NADD Coordinator:  For me to be able to demonstrate
objectivity, I  have to keep reminding myself that there is a need to make a
clear distinction between Halifa Sallah the Coordinator of NADD; from Halifa
Sallah  the public servant advocate, politician and  civic leader, committed
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