Barrow,
As an honest PDOIS supporter, i welcome your forthright views. No one
[certainly not me or Dampha] has a problem with PDOIS doing what they deem
fit for them. The latest exchange is not based so much on their hostility
towards the mov't or the London Briefings but the irresponsible and cynical
nonsense and plainly erroneous stuff inherent in their response. PDOIS
caricatured the meeting as instigated by "refugees" and former PPP officials
in the UK. This is just plain nonsense. Let's get stuff straight here:
Bahoum, who chairs the mov't sympathises with PDOIS and indeed informs me
that he has always voted for them; Ndey Jobarteh also on the executive of
mov't is sympathetic to PDOIS; Malick Kah who has been invited on the mov't's
executive and did in fact attend a meeting and was made aware of developments
is a PDOIS operative and reporter; Olly-Mboge certainly is a supporter of
PDOIS and very active within the mov't; i was once upon a time a supporter of
PDOIS. None of the aforementioned members [who are still on this List] are
"refugees" in the UK and have no links whatsoever with the PPP. Be that as it
may, this mov't is non-partisan and shouldn't comprise just members of
PDOIS;those who are of other affiliations shouldn't be barred membership if
their intention is to further the interest of the Gambia. Are people suddenly
telling me that the Gambia belongs to only PDOIS supporters?
 I noticed also how Chongan's name is bandied about cynically as a former PPP
operative thus the PPP penetration of the mov't. The mov't as i tirelessly
try to point out to people, is a braod church of Gambians as diverse as the
country itself. This nonsense about Chongan has got to stop. People like Sam
Sarr and indeed, the leadership of PDOIS know what Chongan did for them
whilst he was a Deputy Inspector General of Police. Chongan would often go
out of his way and in ways that could lose him his job by giving permits to
the PDOIS to hold rallies. Chongan as a former DIGP, was an employee of the
State and NOT working for the PPP just as people like Sanna Sabally, Sadibou
Hydara, Edward Singhateh and Yaya Jammeh were when they were guarding Jawara
and defending the sovereign integrity of the Gambia. I notice people cannot
even tell the difference between the State and the gov't; just about tells
the level of our political maturity.
As you rightly pointed out, Gambia is faced with extinction as a functioning
state left un-attended and what is needed at this stage is the technocratic
politics of pragmatism and Realpolitik. This is not achievable when we hang
onto ideals that can only derail any coalescing of efforts to bring sanity
back to that country. Gambia's immediate problem is not that of haggling over
ideals and irrelevant political philosophies but basics like bringing a
degree of normalcy in the country so that opposing political philosophies can
operate alongside each other without intolerance from any party. The Gambia
is teetering precariously on the brink of anarchy; the ingredients are all
there for people to see. This is what we should be focussed on and not such
academic stuff like what could have been and what was.
By all means let PDOIS "do their own thing"; no one has a beef with that as
such. What is unacceptable is for them to decline an invitation to attend a
meeting and then turn around caricature those who attended/instigated that
meeting and write erroneous stuff about them. Test this tortured logic from
them: Does it make any sense for Gambian "refugees" to call a meeting about
their welfare in the UK in which Gambian MPs would be invited to give
briefings about the situation in the Gambia? Do you see how ridiculous and
down right nonsensical the PDOIS reasoning is. The meeting as i keep saying
is to sensitise a rather indifferent British gov't and indeed the general
public about the tragedy unfolding in that country. Do you honestly believe
that left to the passive, low-risk and soft criticisms of Halifa in the form
of posh letters that Jammeh would be informed by the donor community that he
has got tolerate the opposition or else he can forget all the aid coming from
the int'l community? Much to the chagrin of Halifa/PDOIS, the meeting
achieved something they have never been able to show for all their servile
relationship with Jammeh. In the very end, it is the right of PDOIS to be
reduced to being merely a rump of irrelevant have-beens and an appendage of
the APRC. That is their problem. But if they start ridiculing people's
efforts, then it will be tit for tat. It is only tragic that the PDOIS of
1987 is now officially an endangered species. I wonder who are the
appropriate authorities to get in touch with before it is too late to rescue
the party. Perhaps you or else can aid me on that score.
I noticed also the re-surfacing of the programmed fanatic virus on the List.
Programmed fanatics and side-show twiddlers like Musa Jeng - who never ceases
to amaze me with his twerpish outbursts - only helped confirm to me an
argument forwarded by the biologist, Richard Dawkin, that "ideas spread mind
to mind much as viruses spread from host to host". When i first read this, i
said it is simply froth. However, i owe Dawkins an apology and will write to
him today and offer my apologies. For those who think they are immune to this
programmed fanatic virus, think twice and install your Norton Anti-Virus
Softwares: A Saint Halifa in the Diocese of Chuchill's Town can still spread
that virus right through the WWW. Be cynical and laugh at this assertion as
froth as i once did to Dawkin. Can't say you've been warned.
Barrow, for the intellectual health of our country, we should stop this
nonsense of accepting wholesale what Halifa throws at us: These people are
smart indeed but not the smartest Gambians around. I, for one, know of
smarter Gambians who suffered more from the hands of the PPP but are not
fanatical obsessives who have dedicated their life to fighting only Jawara.
Can you one for second believe this outrageous rambling from Halifa: " In
fact, Jawara is lucky that he had Hamat Bah Bah instead of a PDOIS
representative present." Do you see why i always say that Halifa, albeit all
the pretense, is very arrogant and NOT a humble person. Well, i'll say this
to him in repartee to the quote above: " In fact, Jammeh is lucky to have a
namby-pamby critic like Halifa; so he can rest assure the ride to the next
election victory is a done deal."
In the very end - and this is by gauging the attacks i get from programmed
fanatics - Keynes was right when he remarked that stupidity inflicts more
damage on already human misery than evil. Finally, i'll use this message as a
server to inform those blind fanatics who think personally attacking Hamjatta
is making a difference to have a rethink: We can either engage in a decent
exchange on the crucial issues or all hell break loose on this List. The
choice is theirs. We have always stated where we are coming from. My quarrels
with Halifa is not private and political. If it is the former, i'll write
privately to him to quarrel with him in private. Yes, PDOIS has the absolute
right to do as they see fit just as others are entitled to such rights. If
they caricature people's decent effort, they are asking for it. Again, we can
keep either keep it decent or this place turns topsy-turvy.
Best wishes,

Hamjatta - Kanteh
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