If I remember right, some time towards the middle of July 2000, a gentleman
by the name of Lamin Manneh PF sent G_L some interesting postings about the
electoral process in Gambia. There ensued some exchanges between Manneh,
Ebrima's Sources, Goswell, Jassey-Conteh and myself (if my recollection
serves me right). During those debates, I opined that it was my fervent hope
that politicians engage people like Manneh and learn about the loopholes in
the system that Yaya and his cronies might wish to exploit at the expense of
the Opposition.

I renew those calls and reiterate that the Opposition have to ensure that
they keep these seats by any means necessary. The shenanigans have already
began. As confirmed by Britain's Deputy High Commissioner in Banjul, the IEC
is planning to transport ballot boxes away from polling stations even before
the votes are counted. This, we should not tolerate. If Roberts wants to
deliver the elections to Yaya on a plate, Roberts has to be prepared to pay
with his life. The Opposition should not take this abuse from an impotent
like Yaya.

I hope the Opposition is already in the constituency putting their point
across. Yaya and his cohorts do not have anything to offer us. Gambia
depends on grants and loans to embark on any development project. Yaya, by
turning our country to a pariah state, diminished our ability to get money
from abroad and help our people get ahead.

I read lies from Yankuba Touray blaming the PPP regime for the plight of our
farmers. This just shows that these people are not to be taken seriously.
Six years after they stole power from PPP, they are still using PPP as their
excuse for their (AFPRC/APRC) dismal performance. No one should be blamed
for the state of our farmers except Baba Jobe and Yaya. Thanks to these
morons, EU money ($12 million) that could have gone to poor Gambian
taxpayers, is being paid to Alimenta. This very government, hoodwinked by
Baba Jobe and his hustler friends from Libya, cooked up stories about
Alimenta and drove Alimenta from the country. If what the government was
doing was right, how come they are the ones compensating Alimenta now?

These people do not know what they are doing. They can only run on lies and
intimidation. If they are not lying to the farmers, they are telling them
that if Yaya is defeated, the soldiers will bring chaos to the country. We
should not buy into these blackmail tactics either. I keep reminding people
about what happened during the ambush at Basse. When force met force, it was
an APRC supporter that lost his life. These people are cowards. If we stand
our ground, they will run away.

We should not also allow them to run against PPP. That party does not exist
any more. The current Opposition should not allow Yaya and his cohorts to
convince our people that the Opposition will take us back to the Jawara
days. If anything, APRC has taken us to the Jawara days and worst. They are
the ones using PPP ministers as candidates and 'mobilizers'. The Opposition
have to expose these blatant lies. When Yaya was guarding Jawara and
sneaking to people's offices telling on his fellow soldiers, Ousainou Darboe
was busy earning a living in the private sector. People like Halifa Sallah
and Sidia Jatta were also not part of the establishment by any stretch of
the imagination. So, why should we allow a moron that depended on soldier
uniforms to put cloths behind his back, now turn around and pretend that he
was an outsider and Darboe, Sallah and Jatta were part of the establishment
and would bring back the bleak PPP days? All these nonentities depended on
taxpayers' money for their living during the PPP regime. They benefited more
from PPP than most of us. Buba Baldeh and Ousainou Darboe, who is more PPP?
Dr. Saho and Hamat Bah, who is more PPP? UDP should not allow these vermin
to paint them as the defunct PPP. Yaya and his cohorts should be forced to
talk about their agenda and their dismal record and stop these lies about
PPP. The independent media should take them to task. The Opposition has to
be very aggressive in countering the misinformation that is coming from
Observer and other government controlled media.

I also hope that the Opposition read into what APRC is trying to do with Dr.
Saho. Everyone is denying the story because they do not want the Opposition
to start pouncing on Saho. They want to wait until the last moment and bring
Saho out and then give the Opposition little time to lay out Saho's record
before the voters. I respectfully urge the Opposition to run against anyone
that is mentioned for the APRC ticket. If Saho does not want to be
associated with the APRC, he should come out and say that he does not
support the party. Otherwise, he is fair game and the Opposition can talk
about Saho's record with some of our donors and potential investors that
came to The Gambia during the PPP regime.

This election is very important. We should not tolerate any foul play. If
the elections is free and fair, UDP should recapture those seats.
KB

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