Someone just highlighted to me in private how infested my last piece was with
grammatical errors. Sorry i had never bothered to double check the grammar
content of the said posting. The usual apologies apply. Below i have pasted
an edited version of what i had earlier sent. I hope people understand the
time constraint bit at work here.

*******************************************
I counsel those of us who sincerely believe that Jammeh and or the APRC
cannot win free and fair elections in the Gambia or anywhere else for that
matter, not to jump the gun by conceding "defeat" in Kiang and treat these
unofficial elections results with bridled scepticism. The case for such
bridled scepticism is overwhelming: reports of vote-buying, voter
intimidation and political skulduggery by the APRC thuggish philistines were
rampant, in especially, where the Opposition are alleged to have lost.
At any rate, the playing field was never level to the point where one can
allude to or even attach fairness and freeness to the whole exercise. We must
all allow for the UDP to officially concede "defeat", independent media
reportage, the IEC - Oh dear! That outfit again - to make public its figures
before we draw up any final conclusions. I wouldn't be caught aback if we are
duly informed that indeed the results of Kiang were questionable and
contestible legally. Kiang being in the LRD - home to a fanatical imbecile
like Baba Jobe and where his terroristic activities are effectively networked
and entranched - had more cases of voter intimidation, vote-buying and
political shenanigans than elsewhere. I submit that at the very hint of
attempts to influence
the outcome the elections through such modus operandi, the Opposition should
have thrown in their towels and not legitimise a process where there was
abundant
evidence that the outcome was being illegal influenced. It tantamounted to
sheer complacency, naivety and hubris to go ahead with a process you keep
crying foul over and expect to look plausible when you contest/protest the
outcome of such process without extricating oneself from the said process. If
in the event the Opposition goes ahead and protest/contest the Kiang results
- as i suspect they will - they will have none to blame save themselves for
being taken for another ride - yet again.
Another point that needs highlighting is the question of the vote-buying
spree the APRC embarked upon, in especially, Kiang. Here the Opposition's lack
of funding - in terms of logistics to effectively coordinate their activities
and not matching the APRC in vote-buying spree - was laid bare. Those of us
who want to walk the walk and not merely talk the talk, should start planning
ahead and finesse means that will aid the Opposition's logistic base to be
effective in stamping out vote-buying sprees, and other fraudulent election
mal-practices. The Opposition should start liaising with those groups
interested in
aiding/complementing the Opposition's decent efforts to bring some degree of
normalcy in the Gambia. To this end, i propose the various political parties
elect representatives in the Diaspora who will act as their official
mouth-pieces to lubricate/smoothen our work with them. We need to start work
on this - immediately. We simply cannot sit on the side-lines and await
Jammeh to nick another election right in front of our own noses and start
whingeing non-stop about it. The action has got to start NOW!
Brother KB and i are here on the record for raising the flag that these
by-elections and all elections administered by the current IEC set-up for
that matter cannot be free and fair under the present milieu. In particular,
i wrote two pieces [check them in the archives: A Dose of Cynicism on the
Sami Chieftaincy Elections and The Opposition's Adaption to a Fait Accompli]
a while back stating with finesse and vigour that there is a sense in which
we ought to play the game according to our own terms and not those imposed
upon us by Jammeh's unilateral wet-dreams. These by-elections bear such
imprint. In the first place, contesting these by-elections contradicts the
very noble spirit which propelled the Opposition to contest such unilateral
wet-dreams like the unconstitutional sacking of Johnson as head of the IEC
and the appointment of Roberts as his successor. After all, what is the
Opposition going to gain from retaining these two seats in a parliament that
has less than a year to expire? To be sure, there is pschological dimension
to retaining the seats - especially as a morale booster to rally the troops
against the enemy. Save that pschological dimension to the equation, there
was an overwhelming case for applying the same rationale and or wisdom
applied earlier to Johnsons illegal firing to the by-elections. I grant it
would make things murkier constitutionally - and to a qualifying degree - the
practicalities of ironing out the wrinkles of the election agenda would be
engaged in a deadlock. On the face it and in principle this is preferable to
inherently inconsistent actions of contesting both Roberts' chairmanship in
the courts and by-elections administered by him. After all, if the Opposition
concedes "defeat" in Kiang, the psychological argument becomes a morale
booster topsy-turvy. Besides, it just doesn't make sense for the Oposition to
participate in elections which they admit to not being conducive enough for
free and fair elections, lose such elections and turn around pointing fingers
at such inherent flaws as grounds for contesting results that emanate
from aforesaid. This is simply ridiculous. We must question and ridicule this
election-at-all-cost mind-set. If we assess the situation and feel the flaws
that continue to make the playing field ruggedly dishevelled in favour of the
APRC, then by all means we must extricate ourselves from the whole process.
People like Darbo - who should know better after the harrowing experiences of
1996 - should never allow themselves to be hoodwinked a second time round by
a person of Jammeh's mental calibre - a man who cannot even compete with a
mosquito in terms of the number of brain cells each is endowed with. I have a
sense of foreboding - or is that deja vu? - that a replay of the 1996
scenario is set to be replayed again in the event that the general elections
ever
do take place. This is why i'm opposed in principle to elections being held
under the current milieu. It just doesn't tell well on us as a nation to have
a crass imbecile like Jammeh play these stupid games on us - games that
toddlers can even decipher from the word go.
In conclusion, i reiterate my earlier call that we exercise bridled
scepticism until the whole picture emerges before conceding "defeat" - i
cringe at the thought of it. Be that as it may, and in the interim, as KB
warned earlier, any attempts to intellectually rationalise an APRC "victory"
as plausible or holding water would be fully engaged and debunked as the sham
it is - albeit all the time constraints present circumstances circumscribe my
efforts/desire to engage in fruitful exchanges on this List on topical
issues.


Hamjatta - Kanteh
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URL: http://hometown.aol.co.uk/hamzakanteh/myhomepage/newsletter.html

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