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| Date: | Fri, 18 May 2001 11:25:21 +0100 |
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Karamba
A strong piece of advice and when Darboe comes to the
United Kingdom we will give him the same treatment.
Gambia deserves better and another five years under
APRC will be a disaster. Lets do it for the sake of
our brother who have suffered too long.
Hope you have a successful ALD symposium.
Sanusi
--- Joe Sambou <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
<HR>
<html><DIV>
<P>Karamba, you have my vote.</P>
<P>Chi Jaama</P>
<P>Joe Sambou<BR><BR></P></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>From: [log in to unmask]
<DIV></DIV>>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues
mailing list <[log in to unmask]>
<DIV></DIV>>To: [log in to unmask]
<DIV></DIV>>Subject: The Opposition and the
Doubters
<DIV></DIV>>Date: Thu, 17 May 2001 17:13:29 EDT
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>When Halifah Sallah came last summer as
an invited guest of the ALD , I
<DIV></DIV>>attended all the public fora he spoke
at. I enjoyed everyone of them
<DIV></DIV>>notwithstanding some differences I have
with MR Sallah and his party. But
<DIV></DIV>>what left a lasting impression in me
was the few but extremely dedicated
<DIV></DIV>>supporters who were by Mr Sallah's side
. They were Gambians based here in
<DIV></DIV>>the US some of whom lived as far away
as the midwest. You could see the
<DIV></DIV>>passion in their eyes as they
coordinated everything from occasionally
<DIV></DIV>>adjusting his microphone , to
distributing PDOIS literature and audio tapes.
<DIV></DIV>>Talking to them quickly reveal people
driven by genuine faith in a message
<DIV></DIV>>and a people. Travelling hundreds of
miles and expending resources to help
<DIV></DIV>>spread a messsage they believe in is an
admirable demonstration of
<DIV></DIV>>participatory democracy in which
individuals in their small way contribute
<DIV></DIV>>immensely to the course of freedom and
change. Afterall participation is what
<DIV></DIV>>lies at the very heart of democracy and
it is only when we as individulas
<DIV></DIV>>choose to pertake in the political
process can we shape and influence our
<DIV></DIV>>destiny as a nation. No one is entitle
to great leadership and no such
<DIV></DIV>>leadership miraculously emanates from a
vacuum. We all have a duty to work
<DIV></DIV>>for the kind of society we want to live
in. That means rolling up our sleeves
<DIV></DIV>>and doing the hard work of coming
together to fashion a governmental
<DIV></DIV>>framework that would actually help our
people. If we don't quickly dispense
<DIV></DIV>>with the paralysis and decay that lack
of participation invariably entails,
<DIV></DIV>>we may not have a nation to save. Until
at such time that we as a people
<DIV></DIV>>decide to resort to alternative means
of change , we must give the political
<DIV></DIV>>process our utmost. The politicians we
will meet on Friday and Saturday on
<DIV></DIV>>the 25 and 26 of May are not perfect by
anymeans. Their separate or combined
<DIV></DIV>>platforms may not incorporate all of
the ideas and visions we desire for our
<DIV></DIV>>country. They may not be verulent
idealogues. But Ousainou Darboe, Hamat Bah
<DIV></DIV>>and Sedia Jatta are honourable men
dedicated to their country. They will come
<DIV></DIV>>to the United States to ask you the
sons and daughters of Gambia to fully
<DIV></DIV>>pariticipate in the salvation of the
nation. We, their hosts would come down
<DIV></DIV>>to two profound choices. First we can
offer full partnership by acknowledging
<DIV></DIV>>the scope of the danger enveloping our
country and doing whatever is
<DIV></DIV>>necessary to forestall it. That would
mean committing time and resources and
<DIV></DIV>>actively engaging the politicians on
the ground.On the otherhand we can
<DIV></DIV>>choose the easier alternative of
disengaging, pronouncing events back home as
<DIV></DIV>>hopeless and irreversable . We can
pretend that all fault lies on the
<DIV></DIV>>struggling politicians with no
resources. When we settle for the latter , we
<DIV></DIV>>would have by implication forfeited our
right to complain and consign
<DIV></DIV>>ourselves to the dubious distinction of
being the generation of Gambians who
<DIV></DIV>>sat by while their nation was destroyed
and their people enslaved. We must
<DIV></DIV>>expunge from our system the very
unhealthy habbit of excuse making and
<DIV></DIV>>bickering as a cynical ploy to avoid
doing the hard work we know is required
<DIV></DIV>>for success. We can spend a lifetime
finding fault with everyone or thing we
<DIV></DIV>>encounter . The task for a people
desiring positive change is the ability to
<DIV></DIV>>transcend personal apprehension,
suspicions and other inhibitions inorder to
<DIV></DIV>>achieve the broader objective of the
common good. Even mature democracies
<DIV></DIV>>contend with intra-party disagreements
. Their strength lie in the
<DIV></DIV>>organisations ability to sort out these
inherent differences in a manner that
<DIV></DIV>>leaves them stronger. At this difficult
time in our country , we must learn
<DIV></DIV>>to parlay our relatively minor
differences into a strong and effective
<DIV></DIV>>platform for change. Our biggest
hindrance is our propensity to reject people
<DIV></DIV>>and their efforts out of hand if we
perceive them to be unsuitable. Lets
<DIV></DIV>>embrace our politicians and in the
process lobby them for the things we care
<DIV></DIV>>about. Lets help them financially to
whatever extent we can. We have asked
<DIV></DIV>>sufficient questions. Let us now work
our answers into the kind of
<DIV></DIV>>transformational politics we all say we
want. We must all be the great guys
<DIV></DIV>>who ably served as leutenants for MR
Sallah. It is their kind who would make
<DIV></DIV>>Gambia better.
<DIV></DIV>>Karamba
<DIV></DIV>>
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