Suntou,
While believing and advocating like many others for Presidential term-limits for The Gambia and other African countrie, I consider a refusal by opposition parties to pertake in any elections before guaranteed term-limits as you are advocating as a self-defeatist strategy for any change agenda. To my mind, most Gambians working for positive political reforms would rather campaign for a coalition of opposition parties to put up a unity candidate as a means of bringing about essential democratic reforms such as term limits and an independent, effective Judiciary.
I wish to raise the following with you:
1) PDOIS is generally considered by both UDP and NRP Party militants as having highly limited or insignificant electoral impact based on votes casted for the Party candidates in past elections relative to the total opposition votes.
2) Also the same category of peoples who consider PDOIS to be insignificant would not even hesitate to accuse PDOIS as having influenced the outcome of the 1996 constitutional referendum in favour of the AFPRC.
How could you reconcile the two?
In the final alysis, there is no perfect person and by implication any perfect form of association, anywhere on earth. Whether in respect of an individual or a political party there are always pros and cons and it's up to an individual to make their choice.
We could still have the best or most rosy constitution throughout the world but if the our leadership are not sincerely committed to upheld the enshrined laws guaranteeing our rights and liberties, then no extent of blaming others who are not responsible for the status quo will yield any general good.
Bye for now,
Bailo
--- On Tue, 20/1/09, SUNTOU TOURAY <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
From: SUNTOU TOURAY <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: How PDOIS Misled Gambians over a Flawed Constitution
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Tuesday, 20 January, 2009, 10:20 AM
Thanks Pierre. The junta that ended up swapping cloths are the same people ruling us in what we now call a democracy. The current president never seize what he started doing when he was a military. It seems then that the intention of the executive members of PDOIS of a speedy return to democracy never produce any tangible result.
Better we endure all hardships as a nation and come of out it once and for all than this way. What has PDOIS achieve politically since our return to DEMOCRACY? How many Gambians today are living in fear and the threat of jail in the mere utterance of an alternative political view? How many members of parliament has NADD has?
I am a peace loving Gambian Pierre. But You and many other voted yes, how many of those who voted yes among the 70 percent illiterate population knows any thing about the implications of the YES VOTE?
Who went to the radio stations, printed news bulletins, made cassettes and other materials to convince us to vote yes?
Remember the UDP and NRP also calculating join the fray after bans on parties were lifted. Did their massive support change anything? No. in fact the UDP party leader have to run for his life before results were announce. What happen to constitution's guaranteeing the rights of all?
History is not one big mirror that we all see things the same way. History Pa Pierre is about variable analysis, if you think mine is wrong. well and good, certainly i believe yours is wrong also.
You mention prolong military rule, well, then how long shall the disguise military rule be? since party politics hasn't shown any indication that Yahya will be removed in the usual every five years elections.
my claims:
THE OPPOSITION SHOULD NOT PARTAKE IN ANY ELECTIONS WITHOUT A TERM LIMIT INSERTED IN THE GAMBIAN CONSTITUTION.
Unless they are willing to spend all their lives having 4, 5, 6 members of parliament. which all decent observers know is not genuine democracy.
Suntou
--- On Tue, 20/1/09, Pa-Pierre Gomez <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
From: Pa-Pierre Gomez <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: How PDOIS Misled Gambians over a Flawed Constitution
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Tuesday, 20 January, 2009, 9:53 AM
Dear Suntou,
I totally disagree with everything you have stated in the piece. You have deliberately disregarded the fundamental issues that gave rise to the adoption of the 1996 constution.
Firstly, there was the National Consultative Committee (NCC) comprising of every sector of GambiaN society. Next the Constitution commission who produced the draft. The draft was then submitted to the council. The AFPRC council like every decision making body did not like certain aspects of the draft and they went ahead and amended those aspects. It is their prerogative because they held the power. Now, if some Gambian, somewhere in Europe, Asia, America, you name it, seemed unhappy with council at the time, they had the option to pick up arms and unseat the AFPRC council or force them to accept the original draft; which by the way was unknown to us except through spectulations. You can read and so do many other Gambians. If you think PDOIS was misinterpreating the document to Gambians, why take the back seat Suntou. Jump on the spotlight and tell the Gambian people what you think was in the document. So don't blame PDOIS for so-called misleading you or
Gambians.
You see, common sense will tell any sensible and peaceful Gambian that THE 1996 YES vote casted was not a BASTARD VOTE as you indicated. People like me who voted yes for the draft are proud of that vote. It was a lesser of two evils. Because rejecting that draft was not a good idea. Firstly because, we bbelieved the military had outlived its welcome. So rejecting the draft means prolonging military stay in power because they can claim "we have to go back to the drawing board to re-do the draft again". And this means more time. Secondly, there was no clause so entrenched that it could not be unchanged in the future. Thirdly, PDOIS has figured out if your enemy decide to pack up to leave the stage, you don't lay mines in their way. Think carefully about it Mr Suntou.
I may not change your opinion, but that isn't my primary goal. If your objective is to write a history to suit your taste, then those on the ground like me will present a more unbias picture that reflected reality. You have a choice to tell it the way you want it. We have an obligation to lay it out the way it unfolded, and this we call HISTORY 101.1A
pa-PIERRE
Jan 18, 2009 07:37:35 PM, [log in to unmask] wrote:
Mr Touray:
These are very serious allegations. If you are going to question the PDOIS Executive's integrity, you should at least advance some facts to back up your allegations. I am puzzled as to how your headline is about ''analysis of events leading to 1996 elections'' then you proceeded castigate the PDOIS Executive. Please read on
My humble analysis of events leading to 1996 elections.
Following the military coup of 1994 a Draft Constitution was drawn for Gambians to approve. Many at the time had no idea about the vital contents of the document under review. During that void period of ignorance and uncertainty the Executive of PDOIS went about canvassing for people to endorse by a 'Yes' vote. With expectations that PDOIS Executive knew what was at stake, majority of Gambians naively voted in favour of a totally bastardised Constitution.
The fact that term limits was not included in the FINAL DRAFT of the 1996 constitution has nothing to do with PDOIS. If PDOIS assessed the 1996 constitution to the best of their ability and found it to be a lesser of two evils(decrees Vs. flawed constitution), then went on to canvass for it, maybe you can question their judgement but not much else.
Vital elements of the draft Constitution had already been sliced out of it and yet PDOIS political experts did not let Gambians know that. One such important input of the Draft Constitution was about the Presidential Term Limit. This was deliberately omitted and Gambians voted for a constitution that was to give any sitting president a blank ticket for life rule.
To put things in perspective: the constitution did not contain term limits previously and it's a bit unrealistic to expect that the A(F)PRC we come to know (or most who came to power by force for that matter) would have yielded to such demands. Term limits is the way froward, but only a tiny minority of countries actually have it enshrined in their constitutions.
It may be argued that though the military knew what they were doing by intentionally deleting that good part of our nation's book of rules, it was PDOIS Executives who confused Gambians more seriously.
Please tell me how PDOIS confused Gambians?!? Your this write up is very thin on evidence.
The question remains as who to blame. There were good reasons why the military deleted anything to do with Presidential term Limit. There were better reasons why PSDOIS Executives decided to trick Gambians into voting for a constitution that was totally flawed.
How did you come to the conclusion that PDOIS did trick people to vote yes? And if so could you explain what they did wrong? The Military deleted the term limits from the FINAL DRAFT yet you are looking for someone else to blame.
The military at that time banned all political parties and believed the next election was a ready beef to bite and chew. Executives of PDOIS thought it was all in their favour being the only active political party operating in total defiance of Military ban on all political parties.
May I remind you that Foroyaa is newspaper. Now can you back up your above sentence with some evidence of how PDOIS was the only operational political party at the time, and how they operated in defiance of the ban on all political parties?
Elections came in 1996 and results showed PDOIS further down rejection lane. Other parties could not heal the fatal wounds inflicted by the long spell of ban that kept them away from genuine politics. Since then the political atmosphere continues getting more and more imbalanced for any decent politics in Gambia.
After wallowing in glee long enough, you might realise that in 1996 new parties sprang up, there where old parties that morphed into new ones, the A(F)PRC had the power to influence the result no matter how people voted. So this was a completely new terrain, your comparison is irrelevant.
For historical reflections, the Executive of PDOIS can now keep the crown for leading Gambians towards a political doom.
This is suppose to be ''analysis of events leading to 1996 elections'', but all you did is castigate PDOIS and not offer any shred of evidence to back up your serious allegations.
Cheers,
E. Jah
On Sun, Jan 18, 2009 at 7:45 PM, SUNTOU TOURAY <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
My humble analysis of events leading to 1996 elections.
Following the military coup of 1994 a Draft Constitution was drawn for Gambians to approve. Many at the time had no idea about the vital contents of the document under review. During that void period of ignorance and uncertainty the Executive of PDOIS went about canvassing for people to endorse by a 'Yes' vote. With expectations that PDOIS Executive knew what was at stake, majority of Gambians naively voted in favour of a totally bastardised Constitution.
Vital elements of the draft Constitution had already been sliced out of it and yet PDOIS political experts did not let Gambians know that. One such important input of the Draft Constitution was about the Presidential Term Limit. This was deliberately omitted and Gambians voted for a constitution that was to give any sitting president a blank ticket for life rule.
It may be argued that though the military knew what they were doing by intentionally deleting that good part of our nation's book of rules, it was PDOIS Executives who confused Gambians more seriously.
The question remains as who to blame. There were good reasons why the military deleted anything to do with Presidential term Limit. There were better reasons why PSDOIS Executives decided to trick Gambians into voting for a constitution that was totally flawed.
The military at that time banned all political parties and believed the next election was a ready beef to bite and chew. Executives of PDOIS thought it was all in their favour being the only active political party operating in total defiance of military ban on all political parties.
Elections came in 1996 and results showed PDOIS further down rejection lane. Other parties could not heal the fatal wounds inflicted by the long spell of ban that kept them away from genuine politics. Since then the political atmosphere continues getting more and more imbalanced for any decent politics in Gambia.
For historical reflections, the Executive of PDOIS can now keep the crown for leading Gambians towards a political doom.
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