The following is culled from Burning Issues (FOROYAA Publication) Wednesday, 7
March 2001

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On The Meeting Of Gambian Opposition Parties In London

Dear Editors,
We have been hearing about a meeting between Gambian opposition parties at
the house of commons in Britain. It is not clear to me whether PDOIS was
invited or not. It is also not clear what the meeting was all about.
Gambians are very much interested in knowing PDOIS's position on the
meeting.

The rumours are many. Some claimed that the opposition parties are calling
on the British government to put pressure on the Gambia government to remove
Decree 89. Others are saying that the meeting intends to call for
intervention of the British government  in pressurising the Gambia
Government to have greater respect human rights and democracy.
It would be appreciated if FOROYAA explain PDOIS's position.
A concern citizen.


FOROYAA's Explanation
Some Gambians in Britain such as James Bahoum who is the chairman and Chogan
who was once Deputy  Inspector General of Police have established a movement
called Movement for the Restoration of Democracy in The Gambia. MRD. The
movement saw a British member of parliament to lobby for his support. As the
reader knows Gambian members of National Assembly do ask questions and speak
on certain subjects at the national assembly . The British member of
parliament can also question the policy of the British government on Gambia
in parliament with the view to influence the policy.

According to John McDonald, the  MP for Hayes and harlington there are many
Gambians refugees resident in his constituency. He therefore saw the need to
get briefings from representatives of the Gambian opposition on the plight
of the Gambian people.

Mr. McDonald therefore convened a meeting on Wednesday 28 February 2001 at
committee room 10 at the house of commons to which representatives of
opposition parties were invited to brief him.

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.

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.

What we need from Gambians are resources to carry out the work at a much
faster pace. PDOIS is capable of challenging the APRC regime. We cannot be
intimidated by any one. PDOIS recommended for the banned politicians to
cooperate to have a test case, for example any one of them especially
Sheriff Dibba could have put up his candidature for Central Baddibou to see
whether the IEC will reject his nomination papers or not. He could have even
withdraw his nomination papers if it was accepted. On the other hand, he
could have gone to the supreme court for further declaration on the
constitutionality of decree 89 in light of the rights to stand for election
granted by section 26 of the constitution and paragraph 6 of the second
schedule which requires the modification of laws to suit the provisions of
the constitution.

PDOIS is willing to support any move to ensure that only the Gambian people
will decide who should represent them. PDOIS considers it to be outright
tyranny for any political leadership to arbitrarily exclude any other
Gambian from exercising their right to stand for elections. Regardless of
how we see the PPP, PDOIS holds that it should be left to defend its record
before the people if it has any record to defend. PDOIS maintains that the
APRC's  draconian decree is unconstitutional and should be challenged. It is
an obstacle to the democratisation process. If all parties were allowed to
operate freely after the transition Gambia would have now had a political
atmosphere under which the parties would be pulling their records before the
people and be judged on the basis of the merits of their programmes instead
of the situation we have now when human rights issues are the burning
issues. The APRC needs to gain maturity after 6 years of AFPRC and APRC
government. Going into hysteria just because those it bans are holding a
meeting in London is not the answer. The answer is to lift the ban and then
get the mature party  supporters who can argue their case against the other
political parties in order to win the support of the people.

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. What
they need to do is send resources to the parties of their choice to
facilitate a change of  government.

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