For all that it is worth, i'm not amongst those who were taken aback by the
smarmy, cynical, treacherous, arrogant, self-righeous and tawdry posting of
the PDOIS on the London Briefings. Whatever these left-wing turncoats do or
say when it comes to Jammeh never surprises me.
In their condescending and smug posting, the self-righteous editorialists
informed us that:
"PDOIS considers its self to be more effective in promoting change in the
Gambia than a British MP. In our view, the limited work of trying to promote
the restoration of democracy in the Gambia should be done by human rights
advocacy groups. PDOIS is engaged in the work of transforming the Gambia. We
are now building grassroot committees for the enlightenment of the people."
Needless to point out that for all their servile treachery, PDOIS has nothing
to show for succumbing to the tyranny of Jammeh. Since the slaughter of the
students in April last year, PDOIS was exceptional amongst all the parties in
swallowing the lies that Cheyassin came up with. Even then i pointed out to
them that given their record, the APRC can ever be expected to keep their
pledges. Talk less of the very terms of reference of both the Coroner and
Commission set up to "investigate" the slaughter of the students - a move
which the PDOIS was only full of plaudits for. So since then, what practical
achievements has the PDOIS got to show for its servile reception of the crap
that the APRC continues to throw at them? Last time i checked with them, they
are still burying their heads in the sand chanting songs of, ahem, truth and
reconciliation commissions. Are these people for real? For more than six
years they were witnesses to the most violent political repressions and
thuggery the Gambian peoples had experienced ever in their entire history
since independence. Since that fateful day in July 1994, nothing has changed
with this gov't. And we have the editorialists of Foroyaa still claiming that
"PDOIS considers its self to be more effective in promoting change in the
Gambia than a British MP" What nonsense. Can they honestly point out to me
what their servile low risk and soft criticism of Jammeh brought for
oppressed Gambians? Froth and nonsense. Save revealing that they have been
reduced to an appendage of the APRC and a rump of fanatical obsessives for
whom the enemy can only be Jawara, Jawara, Jawara and only Jawara! Somehow,
it must be grinding them inside to see the likes of OJ re-invent themselves
and being accepted by Gambians after being in the political wilderness since
July 1994. Sharing the same table with the likes of Jawara, OJ, Femi Peters,
et al to discuss issues common to all Gambians is just too much to ask of
these holier-than-thou do gooders.
What i did find utterly nonsensical about the PDOIS posting is their
assertion that to convene at the House of Commons to dialogue with British
MPs tantamounts to treason - perhaps the editorialists of the paper helped
draft the gov't's line of argument against the London Briefings. Indeed, with
all the usual froth, it told us that:
"PDOIS also call on opponents of the government to trust our own abilities to
change the country. We must not undermine our achievements. We must not see
our salvation to depend on a British MP. We must show that we are capable of
defending the sovereignty of this country. We must therefore rely on our
people for change. Gambians abroad should know that they do not have
impotent opposition parties who need to be rescued by British MPs."
Cobblers. It is this type of hubris that has helped fuelled all these
monstrous travesties of justice that currently prevails in the Gambia. In a
posting a day before the London Briefings, i noted categorically that: "The
West no longer has a moral duty to do for Africans what is their duty to do
for themselves. If there is any role left for the West in Africa, it is to
complement locally initiated endeavours to turn the tables around -
especially with "preventive diplomacy" and working with democratic opposition
forces to fight the scourges of African despotism."
This was the very spirit behind the London Briefings. If the Gambian people
continue to get repressed incessantly by the terrorists of the APRC
notwithstanding PDOIS' servile and futile efforts, why on earth should we
not ask for help from outside when we feel it could complement our efforts in
rescuing the situation in the country? But that is precisely the problem with
PDOIS: its jockeying back and forth as some sort of rational middle course
between Jammeh and a return to Jawara. It is all part of the hypocrisy they
have been finessing since they did that historic U-turn after their trial in
1995.
Witness how they caricature the meeting as being instigated by "refugees" who
were formerly PPP officials. Or the sheer cynical manner in which Malick Kah
paraded the names of former PPP members in his report to that sodding Foroyaa
paper? And in a delightfully mischievious way, paraded Chongan's name as
being one of those behind the mov't's activities. They were deliberately
trying to portray the meeting as an all PPP affair. Was this not the same
line taken up by the gov't spokesman? Why in God's name does PDOIS resort to
being a last resort defender of the despotism in the Gambia? They can deny it
all but we are not fooled when we hear the gov't spokesman excusing PDOIS
with the following exerpts from the Foroyaa report:"The secretary of state
took the
opportunity to apologise and then proceeded to assert that PDOIS WOULD NOT
ATTEND SUCH A MEETING". [emphasis mine]How does the gov't know that? Anyone
familiar with the current political terrain of the Gambia is in no doubt that
PDOIS has more in common with the APRC, albeit all the pretense to the
opposite. When a situation calls for joint action against the regime, they
act unilaterally and advocate for inaction.
Most puzzling about the PDOIS is the manner in which they snootily shrugged
off the meeting as inconsequential as bordering on hysteria and misplaced
enthusiasm which was best handled at home by the opposition. As it noted:
"While PDOIS has no objection for any Gambian abroad to try to promote good
governance in the Gambia for PDOIS representatives to leave the Gambia only
to brief a British MP on what is happening in the Gambia so that he can
raise parliamentary questions when the opposition has earned so much respect
from the British High Commission to the point that the high commission often
reacts to any deterioration of the democratisation process would tantamount
to acknowledge of impotency. Such briefings should be done by Gambian
refugees who should be contributing their quota at that level."
This is just unbelievable. Since the piece in question bears the imprints of
Halifa's mindset and style of prose, one is stuck between whether to laugh
or cry over the very disingenuous assertion that attending the London
Briefings was a trivia and a trifling humbug and not worth the hype being
made over it. I mean is this the same Halifa Sallah who last year thought
travelling to London and teaching a nonentity like Hamjatta Kanteh a lesson
would further Gambian democracy? Just last year this man was all set to come
to the UK to show off to his programmed fanatics by demolishing a non person
like Hamjatta, yet prepared to rubbish genuine efforts to restore decency in
the Gambia - a task to date he has failed to show anything for. Talking about
impotency, what does PDOIS has to show for its potency? Did their potency
stop soldiers butchering the students?? Did it help bring any of those
indicted in all the heinous crimes committed against the Gambian peoples
since Jammeh came to power to justice? Has their potency stopped Jammeh
repressing Gambians? To this very day, Jammeh and CO remain remain
unrepentant and remorseless - witness their gov't spokesman's statement to
the press on the London Briefings. We also hear and see reports that the
students are on the verge of being tried for the April incidents. Talk about
adding insult to injury. How is PDOIS potency helping these students in their
plights? And they dare serve sermons on what is potential and impotent. What
utter peurile piffle. Needless to say that their potency in taming Jammeh is
just a figment of their feverish imagination.
Somehow, Halifa and CO has still not come to terms with the fact that they
backed the wrong side since 1995 and the very fact that they might have
invested too much political capital in the so called transition process and
thus haemorrhaging so profusely that they might just have penned with that
sodding piece on the London Briefings their "suicide note" on Gambian
politics. One pauses here to reminisce wistfully that PDOIS and Foroyaa were
once conduits to vent out frustration with official despotism and never
failed/hesitated to call a spade a spade. Today, PDOIS/Foroyaa is a mere rump
and indeed a ghetto of Halifa Sallah's misconceptions, delusions of grandeur,
inferiority/superiority complexes, fanatical obsession with Jawara and the
PPP, intellectual hauteur, inflated ego, snooty elitism and all the personal
baggages that come with that. This is the tragedy of the PDOIS: How one
single person's inflated ego, arrogance and grudges has come to exemplify the
very core of a party once upon a time that stood for justice and liberty.
With their disingenuous stance and in extension their sodding piece on the
London Briefings, PDOIS left unhinged and unrescued from Halifa's worst
excesses, might just have penned its "suicide note" in Gambian politics. And
very few will mourn its passing away, tragic as that might be. PDOIS after
Jammeh? RIP
Hamjatta - Kanteh
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URL: http://hometown.aol.co.uk/hamzakanteh/myhomepage/newsletter.html
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