Let me make something clear at the outset. I am MERELY an Alliance
Supporter. My rhetoric should NOT make anyone decide to join the Alliance or
leave it. Granted, I am very passionate in my support and I lobby hard
people that I share certain views with, BUT I am NOT calling any shots for
ANY Party or Alliance. So let no one use what I have to say to justify not
joining the Alliance.

Having said that, I will argue my points strongly and hope that it
influences the thinking of our leaders. I read with amazement the
double-talk of people in this forum. I hope from the bottom of my heart that
Gambians on the ground making life and dead decisions about these elections
are NOT as hypocritical as some I see on G_L. I hope Darboe and the Alliance
have their eyes on the ball. We should be looking FORWARD to Sunday and the
future of our country. I take this opportunity to appeal to the Alliance NOT
to look back and reconvene another Meeting to pick a leader. We ALREADY have
a leader for the Alliance: Ousainou Darboe.

What Parties like NCP want will NOT happen. Gambians are sick and tired of
this Jawara bashing. People were all over G_L reacting to APRC lies and
saying all sorts of things to PPP; calling them power hungry for wanting to
dominate the Alliance and bring Jawara back. Others worked doubly hard to
ensure that PPP realize that it is NOT their place to dominate the Alliance.
Now, PPP came out and say that they have no interest whatsoever in fielding
a presidential candidate. They were going to support a CURRENT Opposition
leader (Ousainou Darboe) to be the presidential candidate. Dibba thinks he
should be the presidential candidate. He had an NCP stalwart to nominate him
at the Meeting. OJ nominated Ousainou Darboe. Dibba thinks that this is a
stalemate. I urge him to go and do his math again. Whereas his candidacy was
supported by only one Party (his own), Darboe’s was supported by both the
PPP and the UDP. This is NOT a stalemate.

Before the Meeting, all the Parties knew what was going on. I live thousands
of miles from Gambia and I knew what was going on. Now, a lot of things are
beginning to make sense to me. I now understand why people like Adama Bah
went berserk when I reported that there was progress in the Alliance talks.
Some people wanted to pretend that there were secretive meetings and
conniving going on. Clearly, that is a big lie. Like I said, there are
numerous Gambians in the Diaspora and in Gambia that were aware of what was
going on between all the Parties. Dibba himself acknowledged in his press
conference that he was in consultation with other Parties before the Monday
Meeting. PDOIS themselves acknowledged receiving the Letter from Assan Musa
Camara and also revealed that they spoke to Camara regarding postponing the
Meeting. Were they conniving with Camara?

What both Dibba and PDOIS realize here is that the numbers are NOT in their
favor. They knew that if they went to the Meeting they will be overwhelmed
by the majority of the Alliance. But there is nothing wrong in that. We are
talking about democracy after all. If Parties had a problem with Assan
Musa’s proposals, they should have said so BEFORE the Meeting. They should
have the conviction to come out and tell Assan Musa that they did NOT agree
with the format of the Alliance Meeting. Dibba did NOT complain about PDOIS’
absence until after the fact. When he went to the Meeting and before the
proceedings started, he should have queried PDOIS’ absence and walked out
there and then. But he did NOT do that. He partook in the proceedings until
he realized that he could NOT win the leadership battle and walked out on
our people. That is exactly what we reported here and what Dibba’s piece in
Foroyaa confirms.

I read Dibba’s interview and I felt sorry for our people. The man spent most
of his time talking about Jawara and PPP and his (Dibba’s) 11 months
incarceration in the aftermath of the 1981 coup. This is someone who has
been virtually incarcerated by Yaya for 84 months. You are launching a Party
to fight the presidential elections. Yaya is the current president. Jawara
is NOT even in the country. He is NOT running for the presidency. Probably,
will NEVER run for the presidency. Let NCP tell us how on earth these
anti-PPP sentiments can help the Opposition at this juncture. On the
contrary, this is very detrimental to the Opposition, because Dibba went
further to argue that Darboe is a PPP front when he (Dibba) knew that that
is NOT true. Now, Dibba supporters just want us to overlook these attacks.
We are trying to fight Yaya and the man is fighting us. PPP gave a
legitimate reason why they do NOT want to fight the presidential elections.
UDP asked them to support their presidential candidate and they did. What is
wrong with that?

This whole talk about UDP being made up of NCP and PPP supporters is just
mind-boggling to me. Where do people expect UDP to get their supporters
from? Mars? PPP and NCP were the main Parties during the Jawara era. They
were banned in 1994. Obviously, the Parties that emerged after 1994 will
derive their supporters from the former Parties. Goes without saying. The
issue is whether those supporters will return to their old Parties. Yusupha
Jow gave a very lucid analysis about the demographics and where the PPP and
the NCP supporters are in the present Opposition. PPP has already started
taking back their supporters from APRC and bringing those supporters to the
Alliance. As far as NCP is concerned, the jury is still out on that. I am
happy to learn that up to today all the former NCP heavies that went to UDP
are still with UDP.

Dibba can still help by joining the Alliance or if he still insists on going
solo, let him do the Alliance a favor and concentrate on Yaya (the menace in
our society). Jawara is now a nonentity (person without influence). He
CANNOT order the slaughter of our children or just wake up one day and ban
Dibba from participating in politics. We need to move FORWARD from the
Jawara era. It is absurd to refuse to support Darboe because one hates the
PPP. Did Dibba forgot whose side Darboe was on when he (Dibba) was
victimized by the Jawara regime?

It is disgusting how people are willing to tolerate a child murderer in our
midst because they are still angry about things that happened to them
decades ago. We all have our bad experiences with the Jawara regime, but we
do NOT go around taking that out on poor Gambian children that Yaya and his
gang can slaughter willy-nilly. What I see happening here is people saying
that we would rather have Yaya than Jawara back. But this is a very
dishonest posture to take. Jawara is NOT coming back. Get over the man.
Darboe is the Presidential Candidate.
KB



>From: "[log in to unmask]" <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: [log in to unmask]
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Now That SM Has Spoken
>Date: Thu, 16 Aug 2001 17:37:10 -0400
>
>Comrades:
>
>I personally want to apologize to anyone that I offended relative
>to the recent controversy within the opposition.  I have fought for
>a free Gambia, and would hate to associate of being part of a group
>that conspired to deny Gambians their right to political democracy.
>SM has spoken and I believe that his narration of facts should be
>given legitimacy.  It is now up to the kang of four in PPP to refute
>SM's narration of facts.  If we want to be fair, we should also ask
>the PPP gang of four to come out clean.  We in the NCP have not
>forgotten old wounds and we will not stoop that low to throw punches.
>
>
>I am appealing to the rest of the gang, including cousin Ousman Bojang,
>sisters Jabbou Joh amd Mariama Diop, and brothers Dampha, Kanteh and
>the rest of the people affected.  Now is not the time for party politics.
>We should rise above that and reach out for conciliatory strategy in
>flushing out the dictator of kaninlai.  It is quite disturbing that the
>PPP strategy according to SM contributed to this controversy.  I am really
>appreciative of him explaining in detail about Assan Musa's role.  I
>candidly thank Assan for what he had done.
>
>Our journey in this far-reaching endeavor is a struggle exemplified by
>patience and goodwill.  We must realize that there are many who are
>inspired by our relentless and uncompromising desire for a Gambia of
>inclusion.  I could not start work until I let go this inconsistency
>of behavior that is unnatural of me. I am determined, however, to protect
>the integrity of NCP.
>
>I hope we can come to the realization that we will be doing more
>damage to ourselves if we continue this pattern of behavior.  I
>was touched by Brother Sambou's message and thought about an elder
>Karonika man in my native village of Faraba Banta, Kombo East
>Constituency.  The late Fa Ansumana Sambou if he were around today
>would chastise me for a sudden change of heart in a struggle so
>vital to me.  My late grandfather, Imam Jassey who to this day lays
>at the Berending Mosque in Kombo East Constituency did not raise me
>to be a divider.  I must follow a family tradition of love and
>compassion.  The truth will always prevail.  Though I am NCP, the
>cries of those innocent school kids murdered by jammeh must serve
>as a reminder.  For those of you who want fairness, equity and
>truth, it is now your obligation to ask the gang of four in PPP to
>speak up.
>
>As we say in Kombo Santosou, "we are one Gambia and one tribe."  May
>the efforts of our elders materilize.  May the devil who caused this
>division within us vanish?  May our efforts in flushing out the
>dictator become a reality?  May I conclude by paying respect to a dear
>late headmaster, Mr. John Jawo?  The Gambia is our country.  We alone
>can save our country.  Our personal ambitions and the opening of old
>wounds will have negative impact on our struggle.
>
>As I leave you with this message, I hope you can close your eyes for
>a moment and take a breath of fresh air.  Please let us go back to
>work.  We have more at stake than the evil we are creating within
>us.  We must also be willing to speak the truth.  Enemies who pretend
>to be our friends are only interested in their individual survival.
>
>Naphiyo,
>
>Comrade ML Jassey-Conteh, MBA
>Greensboro, NC/Kombo East Constituency
>
>
>
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