This is an interesting editorial from The Independent.
Just reminds me of a line in one Ifangbondi song.  when translated reads 
"...let God not kill me on my enemy's day, cos if I die on my enemy's 
day, ...my enemy would say, he killed his dog...."

Good to be back on the L.

Malanding


Political Blunder!

The Independent 
<http://allafrica.com/publishers.html?passed_name=The%20Independent&passed_location=Banjul> 
(Banjul)

EDITORIAL
February 13, 2006
Posted to the web February 13, 2006

Banjul

The last minute resignation of the United Democratic Party (UDP) leader, 
Lawyer Ousainou Darboe could be described as a major blunder in our 
country's political history.

Indeed, we respect Mr. Darboe's constitutional right to association but 
his decision to pull out of an alliance that is poised to effect a 
change of not only the government but the system of governance in The 
Gambia, is wrong in every sense to say the least.

If we go by the establishment of the National Alliance for Democracy and 
Development (NADD), the public will know the gist of our editorial. NADD 
came as a result of the popular demand of Gambian electorate who 
pressurized the opposition to come under a united front if they wanted 
to dislodge the APRC government from power. The electorate held the 
belief that it is only through such an initiative that our country would 
salvage Gambians from dictatorial and self-perpetuating leadership from 
running the affairs of our state.

A brawl or fracas within the opposition circles simply guarantees the 
chances of the ruling party to sweep the polls in the forthcoming 
presidential elections. Life without problems is not worth living. So we 
see no reason why the man that held the flag of the country's biggest 
opposition party should call it a quit, without opting for 
reconciliation instead. A keen scrutiny into NADD leadership indicated 
that clash would brew up one day or the other. Frankly speaking, most 
people expect that through dialogue, sanity would prevail among a group 
of intellectuals of diverse fields. Since politics bind them, so we 
don't expect any NADD member to breakaway, especially after trekking a 
long and tedious journey.

Some people smelt the rat that NADD would soon split, as the UDP had 
demonstrated lack of commitment to the ideals of the alliance. It was 
also reported that some NADD executive members have done internal 
campaigns to become the flag bearer. The UDP leader used his US tour to 
dispel rumours.

Who actually is deceiving Gambians: UDP or Lawyer Darboe? While he 
resigned from NADD, two prominent members of his party, Kemeseng Jammeh 
and Yaya Jallow are still members of the alliance.

We have been privy to information that the split within the NADD ranks 
was caused by sideline commentators. Generally, the split has dashed the 
hopes of Gambian electorate who keep questioning the sincerity of the 
opposition.

In one of our editorials, we questioned the democratic nature of the new 
opposition alliance that fizzle over the leadership issue without 
involving the grassroots, as is the case in other democratic nations in 
the world.

What should be made clear to Gambian politicians is to understand that 
the whole world is laughing at them. The split might be treated a 
laughing matter by supporters of the ruling party but it had caused 
hopelessness, disbelief and mockery among the opposition. But the truth 
is that whoever chooses selfishness instead of collective interest would 
be judged by posterity.


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