Election 2011: 'Vote for the opposition or you won't get my dollars',
US-based Gambian professor tells family members at home
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Published 09/07/2011 - 12:45 a.m. GMT
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President Yahya Jammeh is seeking a fourth term in office.
*PLEASE STAND UP AND BE COUNTED*

Over the last 17 years, The Gambian people have been subjugated into a
dictatorship in which several have disappeared and countless have migrated
to foreign countries. As I write, Dr. Amadou Scattred Janneh sits in jail
for exercising his democratic rights and Sister Ndey Tapha Sosseh and Mathew
Jallow have been charged in absentia by the kangaroo courts of the
dictatorship for fearlessly standing up for their democratic principles.
Unfortunately, The Gambia is no longer the “Smiling Coast of West Africa.”
Interestingly, I left The Gambia and Kombo East Constituency because of the
PPP thugs and the same people have shamelessly paraded their loyalty to the
dictatorship.

Candidly, Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara was not a bad leader. It was his MPs who
fought to destroy the opposition candidates in their constituencies. My
situation was the “Jalang” that the PPP MP was rumored to have put on me. It
was a shock to the people when I met this former MP and I proudly shook
hands with him. He even asked if I could eat from the same bowl with him. To
his surprise I concurred, but his supporters pulled him away from me.
Unbeknown to the people of Kombo East, this MP’s late father promised that
he would vote for me because my late great grandmother and his father came
from the same mother and father. As a small child in Perang Berending, I
used to follow the old man to his house when the PPP thugs shouted insults
at him for supporting Pierre S. Njie. In another dimension, it was the late
grand “marabout” of Perang Berending who had convinced me to seek the NCP
candidacy.

Over the last 5 years, I have remitted over $60,000 to Gambia. I know with
certainty that countless Gambians have even remitted more. Though I am not
convinced that a disjointed opposition can mount a serious challenge to an
unfair election, I am withholding funds to any family member who cannot
promise me that he or she would vote for the opposition. While this decision
may affect my dear family members, I consciously cannot continue to give
them a blanket support. I believe the entire country of The Gambia is my
family.

How can I continue to do business as usual when the dictatorship that has
turned the country into a pre-colonial period, several have disappeared and
countless have migrated to foreign country? It is often said that a
politician never leaves politics. Thus, my fellow Gambians, please join me
in sending the same message to your family members in The Gambia.

Sincerely,

Dr. Lamine Jassey Conteh.

-- 
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GOD BLESS THE GAMBIA.
LET US JOIN HANDS AND SUPPORT SHEIKH PROFESSOR DR. ALH YAHYA JAMMEH (NASIRU
DEEN) TO BUILD OUR COUNTRY. *


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