THE STOLEN VERDICT: ELECTIONS, THE MOST  

                CORRUPT EXERCISE OF "DEMOCRACY".  

 

                       By: Ousainou Mbenga            
      

 

Subsequent to the "selection" of Jammeh by his
"Illegal Electoral
Council" (IEC) as oppose to being elected by the
"voters"; how many of
us still have doubts that "those who cast the votes
determine nothing
but those who count the votes determine everything"? 

 

Before we get into the core issues of this topic, let
us first
acknowledge the fact that September 22, 2006 and its
aftermath presents
another important lesson for us to take heed and learn
from. In my view,
this is the final lesson from the Jammeh regime. If we
haven't learnt
anything from the past 12 years, this episode makes it
amply clear that
Jammeh's declaration that he will "reign for thirty
years" is not only a
threat to our livelihood but a threat he intends to
act and impose upon
Gambians unless it is met with escalated resistance.
Consider the
intoxicated tongue-lashing that Jammeh resorted to
following his "stolen
verdict": "the whole world can go to hell" (including
the people who
supposedly "voted for him"), "I will close any
newspaper..." and "....I
put people in jail until they grow old...".

 

Aside from the apologists and the defenders (maggots)
of this carcass
(AFPRC-APRC), what are the rest of us willing to do to
put an end to
this tyranny? The vast majority of us didn't vote
ourselves into
Jammeh's tyranny or the general miserable African
condition and to think
that we can vote ourselves out of this African dilemma
is the highest
state of illusion. As we can see, the vast majority of
Gambian people in
no uncertain terms expressed their disillusionment of
the "electoral
process" than any other period in our history. Whether
it is because of
the alleged anger at the split within the "opposition"
or the deep
seated contempt of Jammeh's 12 years of unprecedented
horror, it is a
good sign of political consciousness, an indictment of
the graveyard
regime, APRC. Suffice to say, Jammeh tells us in the
clearest of terms
that "votes cannot remove me, a coup will not remove
me"; to put it
bluntly, "political power comes from the barrel of a
gun". 

 

ILLUSIONS, GOOD INTENTIONS AND ELECTIONS

 

Our illusions of what constitute political power; a
consequence of the
good but dishonest intentions of politicians of the
ruling and
opposition parties and the periodic ritual of sham
"elections" has been
the major deterrent for revolutionary changes. In
general, governments
do not as a rule derive their powers from the "consent
of the governed".
This exercise known as "election" has been skillfully
designed centuries
ago as an instrument to deflate the volatile anger of
the masses (every
4,5,10 or 20 years depending on where the "democracy"
is professed) to
assure the continuity of the status quo that allows
room for "reforms"
and accommodate demands of the oppressed masses as
long as they don't
erupt into the skies and overturn the existing social
relations.

 

Elections perpetuate the illusion that the masses have
a say in the
selection of their leaders. See The Point Newspaper
post election survey
of "voters". The vast majority of the responses were
from the people who
have a stake in the carcass APRC, whether it was
coerced to protect
their maggot jobs or "private sector" businesses is
beside the point.
The point is, all these shiftless respondents who
consider themselves as
part of the "elite" have no say in the decision making
process, it is
all left to the one-upmanship of Jammeh, the aspirant
fascist-monarch. 

 

Election(s) is the most advanced system of flattery in
"democracy" with
its many empty promises of reforms, lies and outright
fraud. Our
conditioned minds subscribe to the notion that nothing
can be done
without elections, the vehicle through which
neo-colonial "democratic
despots" like Jammeh legitimize the system of
repression and
exploitation of the ruling elite. This legitimization
goes even further
with popular catchwords such as "free and fair",
peaceful and worst
still when the "opposition" request for "a level
playing field", a pipe
dream at best. There will never be a level playing
field in any
election, especially in the neo-colonial states where
the resources
(radio, TV and print media) belong to one pinhead
president whose
dictates reign supreme.

 

A semblance of a level playing field may exist in the
so called
"developed nations", the nations that have the "god
given rights" to
exploit the rest of the world, particularly Africa
then categorize us as
"underdeveloped". This level playing field in the
"developed nations"
can only accommodate two players, generally the
Democratic and
Republican parties; both serve the same interest.
Consider this; in the
USA, a battle has raged for nearly 100 years to allow
a third party -
the Independent Party to no avail. Yet the ill-advice
given to Africans
is to allow "multi-Party democracy" which translates
into 5-20 political
parties in each neocolonial entity or "failed
state(s)". May be these
were the reasons why Winston Churchill said "democracy
is the worst form
of government except the others".

 

THE STOLEN VERDICT:

 

The Gambian voters should consider themselves a bit
lucky in using a
marble to vote. Had the touch screen computer been the
method of voting,
Jammeh would have added an earthquake onto his
"landslide victory" with
a perfect 100%. Because who else might be touching
that screen other
than the voter? Thanks to the marbles, a repetition of
Florida in the
Gambia would have been beyond disastrous. 

All elections are set on floating standards to assure
the fraudulent
manipulations of the entire process. Rigging of votes
is an ongoing
process; it doesn't take place only on Election Day,
though it escalates
as Election Day draws near. To us, the process of any
exercise is
equally as important as its end result, and in this
instance the
"results" clearly exposes the corrupt nature of the
electoral process.
Sadly enough, many of us are only interested in
results.

 

Let's examine the process utilized by Jammeh's APRC to
rig the
elections. The gun and the judiciary are the primary
instruments
utilized by Jammeh to assure him the "easy victory" in
all his
elections. The gun serves its obvious functions,
murder, assassinations
and intimidation, while the judiciary and its courts
tinker with the
laws and eventually created the "bayonet constitution"
that have given
the Jammeh regime absolute "rogue power". This
"bayonet constitution"
enabled Jammeh to erase "term limit", the "second
rounds" clause, in the
event no candidate captures more than 50% of the
"votes", indemnifies
murderers and the creation of his own illegal IEC.
Jammeh's courts; "the
arena of personal vendetta" has crippled the national
consciousness of
the entire country with help from his "mercenary
judges" and the timid
Gambia Bar Association.

 

It is arithmetically impossible for Jammeh to win an
election without
buying votes and bribery of illegitimate voters from
our porous borders
with Senegal. The 2006 elections show the lowest voter
turn out in the
history of the Gambia. It was reported that, out of
600,000 registered
voters, only 260,000 voted; a below 60% turnout. There
are many
attributes leveled at this unprecedented low voter
turn out ranging from
voter apathy following the split within the opposition
to contempt for
the APRC.

 

A third attribute in my view, is that the dormant
social consciousness
in the Gambia is being awaken and for it to sprout on
the already
fertile ground, it requires a revolutionary leadership
not in the form
of the "opposition" but a "radical alternative".
"Oppositions" are
generally satisfied with regime change and the
maintenance of the status
quo, the aspirations of the renegade UDP/NRP
coalition. It's time for
the dead to bury their dead so that we can engage the
masses in fruitful
struggle to bring about fundamental changes in our
beloved country.

 

Let's consider another senseless and corruptible
aspect of elections.
The plunder and waste of resources during the election
process is what
fuels the greed of the unscrupulous "politicians" and
perpetuate the
chronic dependence of the masses on hand-outs and
bribes from these
useless "politicians" as oppose to freeing up the
potentials of the
masses to do for self. Adding insult to already
injured "voters", the
electoral process condones and instigates VIOLENCE of
the most
reactionary nature among the masses while the opposing
candidates fan
the flames. The victims of these violent acts rarely
include the
criminal politicians who, once in office impose the
permanent violence
of POVERTY over the people. The immature and senseless
behavior of
candidates towards each other rather than addressing
the social issues
makes a mockery of the democracy.   

 

In general, the resources (especially money) wasted on
elections should
make us question this notion of the "democratic"
process. It's quite
obvious that the mere exercise of elections will never
liberate us from
the tyranny of the neo-colonial state. Elections have
become synonymous
with the lottery. The candidate who raises the most
money; the highest
bidder, is most often guaranteed to win. Think about
it. Is there any
sense in wasting all these huge sums of money to
"elect" a
"representative of the people"? This outrageous misuse
of public money
and resources is the bedrock of this corrupt practice
of the "democratic
process"; the breeding ground for the-never-ending
supply of the
unscrupulous and greedy present day politicians. We
never see them until
elections time.

 

According to reliable sources, which I have no doubts
about; Jammeh
spent $7 million to "thief" the elections. Why should
anyone doubt this
amount, when in July 2004, Jammeh spend $3 million
(D80,000,000) to
celebrate the 10th anniversary of AFPRC-APRC. If we
recollect, few
months before the elections, the "old boys club"
(African Union) held
their summit in the Gambia and again Jammeh dipped his
bloody hands into
the public coffers to entertain his guests.

NADD spent a meager D619,368.60 in its campaign,
thanks to the STGDP,
the Minnesota Group and all the contributors on the
ground and abroad.
We have no figures on UDP/NRP expenditures but we
understand they are
heavily indebted with campaign expenses. 

 

Just consider what else could have been done with all
this money towards
tangible human development. To show the folly of his
reasoning in this
elections, Jammeh gave instructions to his
distributors of sugar (a
poison at best and the culprit in the high prevalence
of diabetes) to
exclude all the "opposition" in his "benevolent act"
for the Ramadan. 

 

This is the disturbing irony with Jammeh's despicable
behavior. Here is
a person who was severely deprived in childhood into
adulthood and
instead of eradicating the conditions of deprivation,
he reinforces the
wretched conditions of deprivation beyond comparison;
the source of his
anger and violence. Now, all Gambians must suffer the
wrath of his
childhood. 

 

Elections are seen as the be all and end all of
society but to the
contrary, the ballot box is truly the "great
equalizer" because the vote
of a poor farmer and the vote of Jammeh count for the
same thing.
Fundamentally, neither of these votes counts for a
damn thing; Jammeh
(or his "class of crumbs-sharers") doesn't need to
vote to exercise
"political power" and the poor farmer or battered wage
worker will never
exercise political power no matter how many votes they
cast. This is the
more reason why some of us advocate a radical system
change as oppose to
a mere regime change. There will never be a revolution
through the
ballot box with all its inherent corrupt and violent
practices against
the impoverished people. 

 

THE "GUARDIANS OF THE OLD BOUNDARIES" (AU/OAU) RATIFY
ELECTIONS

 

It comes as no surprise that congratulatory messages
of Jammeh's
"selection" are flying all over the pages of the Daily
Observer, the
only "legal newspaper" (a property of the "emperor")
in the Gambia. The
Independent has been burnt down, The Point is
emasculated following
Deyda Hydara's assassination and the Foroyaa belongs
to a political
party. Are these messages tendered for the sake of
protocol or are we to
believe that these "heads of states" truly believe
that Jammeh won "free
and fair"? The AU just convened its periodic summit in
the Gambia and
after all the waste of resources agreed on one single
"resolution"; that
no more coup d'etat will be tolerated in Africa. They
agreed to gang up
on any coup makers to protect the "sovereignty" of
that neo-colonial
entity. Here we have Africans being slaughtered in
Darfur, Sudan and
there are no plans to gang up on the racist Arab
regime.   

 

With the exception of the lone female president,
Sirleaf Johnson (we
hope she can resist to be "testosteronized" by the
failed patriarchy
amidst her) the AU/OAU remains an old boys club still
Obedient to the
empire, thus the title O.B.E (Order of British Empire)
bestowed upon
those who tirelessly work for the imperialist interest
of the British.
At the height of the anti-colonial struggle the O.B.E
took a different
meaning to Africans, it meant to us "Obedient Boys of
the Empire". We
must remind you that the neo-colonial state still
serves the interest of
the imperialist empire. The AU and their ally the
"international
community" will ratify any election results because it
is to their
interest that ruinous regimes like their own remain
chaotic to maintain
the status quo. It's to the interest of blood-suckers
that blood still
flow in our veins lest we constrict the flow of blood.


 

Dr. Salim Ahmed Salim, the AU Secretary General and
Abdul Salami
Abubakar, the UN Secretary General representative and
Chairman of
Commonwealth led the mission to observe the elections
and report to the
world their observations. Both Salim and Abubakar are
aware of Jammeh's
despicable behavior towards every aspect of Gambian
life, yet they
engage in the usual protocol crap with Jammeh with
total disregard for
the tyranny unleashed upon the Gambians. This protocol
crap is of no
benefit to us the victims of Jammeh's tyranny. We
understand that
Abubakar confided to a colleague that "Jammeh should
grow up". Because
of the mystification of the "authority" of presidents,
they are always
beyond criticisms. 

 

A NEW BEGINNING

 

To the conditioned mind, there is no better way than
the "election" way
with all its corruption, waste and violence. It has
been deeply coded in
our mind set suggesting that we cannot do any better
than this cultural
trap that have humanity, especially the most
vulnerable sector of
humanity, the oppressed, in a permanent state of
retrogress.  

 

There has been a massive shift in human consciousness
after all these
centuries of operating on "fear-based mind-set"
unconsciously concealing
the revolutionary possibilities that await a future of
well being for
life. I am positive that I am not the only African who
has sensed this
massive shift in consciousness but the crushing load
of our fear based
culture has unnerved many of us to accept conformity
and obedience
towards our self-defeating practices that long ago out
lived any
usefulness.

 

A new beginning demand of us to sever all ties with
the fear-based
mind-set that closes our hearts and minds to the
passionate question:
can there be a better world than this wretched one?
The passionate
answer to this question is a resounding yes! For
nature never intended
to have her most conscious species, human beings to
wallow in misery on
planet earth and defer all enjoyment of life to a
"hereafter".

 

"Ku marr geech fekasila" - the river comes to those
who are thirsty. Our
passionate drive and conviction to quench this thirst
is what is being
put to the test. The institutions of the status quo
that run our lives,
be it political, social or religious deliberately
undermine the
revolutionary possibilities for a better world as
nature meant it to be.
Therefore, we must be prepared to accommodate the
changes that come with
an altered mind set into our hearts and minds. 

 

Only a developed open mind and heart can come to the
conclusion that
"traditional practices" such as wasteful elections,
abuse of "authority"
and the acceptance that human suffering was
predestined are all
manufactured to hold back humanity from the expression
of its highest
spiritual potential in harmony with nature. 

 

We should choose our officials and representatives
with minimal expenses
and eradicate the corruption, waste and violence
inherent in the
electoral process. It is through these corrupt
practices that
politicians perpetuate themselves and this foul system
hiding behind
"democracy". Elections as we have accepted it under
this system is just
one of many stumbling blocks in our path to a more
advanced humanity, a
humanity of greed-less-ness and the well being of
life. 

 

In conclusion, opening up to something new and unknown
may be
challenging but very rewarding if we submerge
ourselves in the efforts
to rise and go beyond all limitations imposed by the
current crumbling
and chaotic culture of greed, senseless exploitation
and death. The
entire system has failed under the leadership of its
demonic patriarchy.
Change is more feasible than ever and finally
inevitable.

 

To ensure this change for a new beginning (world), we
need new mothers
who can unleash their fury against this culture of
violence perpetrated
by patriarchy and not to reverse the roles and become
like the failed
patriarchy. All mothers to become must understand the
essential role
nature had always assigned them million years ago;
birthing and
nurturing (mothering) for the well being of society
without violence,
the senseless drive for ownership and restraint from
happiness and a
joyous life. To all African women and mothers to
become, remember that
some of us brothers really do care, the reason why we
raise our sons to
become good and supportive fathers in the inevitable
new society.   




 
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