Brother Suntou:: 

You are well aware that I am not a member of the CORDEG Exec, and did not have any contribution to the policy document that was sent out. For me, what is required at this critical stage is to give the entity a chance to survive, and that means to be very critical but not to put a dagger at its heart. I have always held the belief that it is going to take unity of some sort to remove Jammeh, and at least CORDEG is a start. We have not put in all the time and effort to allow it to dwindle into nothing. Like some of you, I also caution CORDEG not to see it self as some Government in any waiting, or even getting into policy formulation in regards to how a post Jammeh Gambia should be. CORDEG's fundamental role is inscribe in the Raleigh Accord, and as long as it stays within the margins of the Accord, all of us should do whatever it takes to not only fight for its survival but be part of helping it to succeed. 
  
note: LJ, I will remember the offer when I announce my candidacy for the presidency, and of course the western region is critical..lol 
  
Thank you 
  
Musa JEng 
----- Original Message -----

From: "Malanding Jaiteh" <[log in to unmask]> 
To: [log in to unmask] 
Sent: Tuesday, April 8, 2014 9:57:33 AM 
Subject: Re: [G_L] CORDEG's very blurred vision 

Suntou, 
Earlier in my career I spent a lot of time out doors. I have observed social creatures like ants carrying centipedes to their burrow.  Looking closer I would notice that not all ants pull the same direction. Depite the chaos as always the miracle is the centipede gets to its destination.  
I cannot claim to know how they did it but my conviction is that the majority of the ants  somehow know or perhaps blind conviction that even  the stubborn fellow has the same intent as everyone else, that is get the centepede to the burrow.  
I know Gambians are no ants and I am no fan of blind conviction but still believe that we can drag this proverbial elephant from  State house to a room in mile two if we trust that everyone in this (CODEG, UP, POP, PDOIS, you name it) has the best of intentions.  

Malanding Jaiteh 

-------- Original message -------- 
From: suntou touray 
Date:08/04/2014 05:37 (GMT-05:00) 
To: [log in to unmask] 
Subject: Re: [G_L] CORDEG's very blurred vision 

Modou 
Precisely, you answer Musa Jeng well. 
I think a man of calbire who use the word 'political strategist' should come clean as to whether he was among the behind the scene drafters of a document like this. I will not refer to Musa as naive, but shortsighted in assuming that, our editorial on CORDEG is to get readers... 
Musa, if you have been in the struggle for long, I think many of us on Kairo are not far behind, if not on equal footing. Hence, whatever we do, we have done and shall continue to do regardless. I for one don't bark wantonly at the wrong trees. What is unacceptable and contemptible should be demonstrated as such. 
CORDEG drafters where either lazy, shortsighted or assuming the reader to be dull in not taking the time to diagnose all that is put together. This is meant to be an Umbrella organisation with political parties on the ground as partners. From the get go, CORDEG left those partners behind and is running its mouth blindly. No amount of twisting or radio chat will correct it. The drafters need to sit on it again and detach themselves from the issue, place the Gambia in it. 
Every actor is doing something, hence to assume that, people only criticise is nonsense. The current central message of CORDEG will not register, neither approve by wiser readers. Away from the political wrangle, CORDEG should have rise above many things... 
Suntou 

On Fri, Mar 28, 2014 at 9:24 PM, Modou Nyang < [log in to unmask] > wrote: 



Musa, 
I must say that is your organization which i have some regard for, is to survive and not die the infant death you ascribing it to, it will be based on the sober reflection of your very self and the others closely associated with it. This sober reflection means that you and your pals will critically look into your organization's position and role in our general political struggle for democratization and arrive at a realistic and honest conclusion. 
Like i said in my previous post i do not pay much credence in the tribal angle when looking at the set up at CORDEG, but the mere fact that there are people wearing such lenses and as you informed in this writing that you in fact were sensitive to it, a little attention to that reality would have save you from that. But again, for me the executive set at CORDEG does not comprise the most important aspect. What is of significant importance is the policy statement put out in the public domain as signifying your vision and mission. And as LJ stated it is the vaguest and blurriest policy statement one can ever imagine from. sometimes i wonder whether it is the acclaimed Dr. in political science who is having his hand in those reactions and policy statements i read out here in the public forums. Even a crash high school graduate like myself who is still struggling to earn an AA degree appears to know better. 
Lets continue this discussion in the spirit of working out a solution instead of submitting to despair and hopelessness. I think we have can have this discussion going because personally i am not interested in even being handed a watchman position at CORDEG or any other similar organization. 

Nyang 

On Friday, March 28, 2014 11:46 AM, Musa Jeng < [log in to unmask] > wrote: 

<blockquote>

It is the tone of the opening paragraph that set the message of the write-up, and left me with bewilderment and disappointment. Let me preface by saying that I have a tremendous respect for Lamin Darboe, someone that brings lots of experience from the bench with an unquestionable sharp legal mind that a future Gambia really needs in the new dispensation of justice in the judiciary, a required building block for a viable Gambia. If one of our best hopes could reach to these conclusions, and decided that it needed to be said in order to help in our aspiration to rescue our country from divisive politics, has really left me discouraged and confused. What is really behind some of these accusations leveled by our good Magistrate? There are three issues highlighted in the write up that I would like to give my two cents: CORDEG’s claim or attempt to position itself as an entity lot more relevant than the political parties back home; secondly, that a national project was high jacked by one of the culturally close friends- euphemism for Wolof tribalist, and that CORDEG original intent was the creation of a group that would play a role in helping the political parties in our struggle to remove Jammeh. 
As one of the original people that held lots of conference calls to plan and execute the Raleigh conference, I am very much familiar with the contours of the thinking, discussions, arguments and ultimately the finding of a common ground that led to the creation of the Raleigh conference. It all started after the disappointment of the proposed Dakar summit, STGDP refused to give up on the idea of bringing all the players from the Gambia and all over the Diaspora to meet at a location and find a way of harmonizing our efforts in order to remove the infighting among Diaspora groups, and to close the gulf between Diaspora organizations and the political parties on the ground, in order to focus on our collective efforts to confront and hopefully the removal of the Jammeh’s tyranny. The goal was that such a summit will help us find ways to remove Jammeh, and to also start having a conversation for a post Jammeh in order to eliminate the potential power vacuum that we could find ourselves in. During one of mornings commuting telephone conferences, one of the things we capitalize on to deal with the terrible Atlanta traffic nightmare, Banka told me about a call he had from the previous night from one Alkali Conteh. I have known koto Alkali Conteh and have engaged in demonstrations in Wahsington DC with him and have spoken on the phone quite a few times, but that was the first time I have heard of the group GDAG. According to Banka, like us they are also interested in organizing a summit meeting in order to deal with our political situation in the Gambia. They were focus on bringing all the groups in the Diaspora and because of our experience they wanted to coordinate with us to make it happen. Even though, I was not sold on what they wanted to do, we decided to have a conference call to see how we can further deliberate on the idea. From the start of the discussion with GDAG, it was clear that what STGDP had in mind is not the same with the GDAG folks, and GDAG was very apprehensive with the idea of including what they kept referring the “international dimension”. They were very concerned with the financial and the logistical requirement of including political parties from the Gambia and groups outside of the Gambia. After a contentious discussion, the meeting was adjourned because they wanted to go back and talk among themselves. For STGDP, we were adamant that the only summit meeting we will be interested in is to bring all the players from the Diaspora and the political players on the ground in order to create a unified force to effectively confront Jammeh’s tyrannical rule. This new initiative was not going to be like the STGDP effort year’s earlier where organizations in the Diaspora came together to facilitate and play a supporting role to the parties on the ground, we have been there done that. 
Of course, in his write up my good friend indicated that the original intent for the Raleigh conference was to create a group that will have a supporting role, which in his argument that some people up to no good with a sinister agenda changed it to suite their grand strategy. Let me be absolutely clear, the Raleigh conference was never about playing second fiddle to the opposition parties back home; in fact the meeting organizers did not want it to be about the political party’s differences or to even bring back the NADD debacle. But, there was unanimity that the political parties are an important group to be included in the meeting, and of course the reality is that there is no way that we can launch a peaceful removal of Jammeh without having all the opposition parties as partners, especially in the event to pursue the electoral route. The bottom line was that there is a need to build a grand alliance and that starts with having all the players under one tent. I really disagree with my good friend that CORDEG has a grand agenda of positioning itself to overshadow the role of the political parties on the ground, especially when the reality that a peaceful and electoral change in the Gambia starts and end with the political parties. 
Now, to the last point that CORDEG Executive was high jacked by culturally close friends, brings us to the most irresponsible and odious statement that I still cannot fathom would ever come from the good Magistrate. I have always held the belief that the Gambia is somehow different from other African countries plagued with tribalism, yes, we have sometimes the exploitation of tribal sensitivities to either get ahead but not to the extent of what we have seen in other countries. But, after first reading the so called formation of the CORDEG executive group without regard to diversity from KAIRO News,  I convinced myself that this must have been driven by an enthusiastic journalist interested in sensationalism to introduce their new paper, but now after reading this write up from Lamin Darboe for the second time, it is very clear that our collective hope for a new Gambia not saddle with tribal issues is more of a fantasy and we are all poise for a rude awakening. Is this whole pronouncement of democracy, rule of law and good governance, just a cover for something else? I remember in the early days just before the Raleigh conference, I had a discussion with Alkali Conteh as to the selection of a Steering committee that will continue the work of post Raleigh. I suggested to him that what I am about to say might not be very democratic, but knowing all the different groups in the Diaspora and the parties back home – maybe there is a need to try and manage the democratic process. This will give us an opportunity to come with a committee that is balanced, culturally diverse, regionally accommodating if we are ever going to be able to build this big tent. My Koto warned me that we should focus on the democratic process, and we cannot be seen as managing the process. Now, a democratic process was put in place, the people who voted were culturally, regionally and very much group diverse. An executive was chosen out of that process, now how that is in line with the allegation that some Wolof tribalist high jacked the process and Mandikas were left holding the bag – I refused to nuance what my good friend really said. 
My good friend has already warned us that time will take care of his concerns, and here I do agree with him that CORDEG will not survive because the very members are not interested in its survival. The people who are suppose to be fighting for the survival of CORDEG has become cheerleaders, furnishing the very cannon fodder that will finally kill CORDEG. A friend always reminds me, of course a sympathizer of the APRC, you guys think that Jammeh is bad but you have no idea some of the folks you guys see as partners…hmmn should I put credence to such a warning? God help us 
Musa Jeng                                                                                                                                     


From: "Lamin Darbo" < [log in to unmask] > 
To: [log in to unmask] 
Sent: Thursday, March 27, 2014 9:10:52 AM 
Subject: [G_L] CORDEG's very blurred vision 

CORDEG’s Utterly Blurred Vision 

Its leadership is almost entirely Diaspora-based, with some absent from The Gambia for two, maybe three decades. Under Professor Jammeh’s Constitution, none of those leaders are qualified to contest any public elections slated for 2016/17. Outside the cyber political world, the organisation and its leadership are unknown, and crucially, to all but probably a negligible fraction of the home-based electorate. With no money on the table, it nevertheless pretends to the title of “... home to Gambian opposition political parties and Civil Society organisations at home and in Gambia’s various Diasporas”. Without so much as a passing justification, it seeks to wholly diminish the established and singularly significant home-based political opposition by proposing to commingle its influence in an egalitarian commune populated by purported civil society entities peopled, in the overwhelming number of cases, by a handful of individuals. Even more egregiously, what should have been a national project was hijacked and placed in the exclusive control of three very close social and cultural friends. 

Welcome to the make-believe world of The Committee for the Restoration of Democracy in The Gambia (CORDEG). As if to compound the illogical and unsupportable claim it is “... home to Gambian opposition political parties and Civil Society organisations at home and in Gambia’s various Diasporas” it asserts that “CORDEG recognises the autonomy of its constituent members as equal partners in the struggle to democratise The Gambia”. Whoever its “constituent members” maybe as of March 2014, it is unreasonableness personified to contend that CORDEG itself has the clout to demand “equal partner” status with political parties whose followership number in the hundreds of thousands! 

As the latest organisational progeny of the Gambian Conference on Democracy and Good Governance, Raleigh, North Carolina, 17-19 May 2013, CORDEG was originally projected as a facilitating mechanism for party-based opposition unity in Gambia’s fight for national democratisation. At least that was a plausible understanding of its primary objective based on the marketing literature put out by conference organisers. In the subsequent Raleigh Accord, some reference to the G6 was maintained but the role of home-based political parties was progressively diluted to a point all specific reference to their very central significance to a project that must be fought and won inside Gambia’s geographic contours was dropped from the just-published CORDEG “vision” statement. 

Without question, there is a yawning gap in CORDEG’s incomprehensible reasoning. As an “independent, non-profit transnational democratic umbrella organisation that is committed to peaceful, non-violent democratic change in The Gambia”, it stands to reason that CORDEG can effect change in The Gambia only through the electoral process. With no political base where it matters – in The Gambia – and deficient in critical aspects of the political process such as funding, it is hard to appreciate the locus of the leverage CORDEG assigns itself as the “... home to Gambian opposition political parties and Civil Society organisations at home and in Gambia’s various Diasporas”. The established political parties have no reason to subsume themselves in an unknown entity that purports to control them and their clear influence. Herein CORDEG’s disconnect with reality as far as Gambia’s political terrain. 

Or maybe there is no disconnect, but what calculations are driving CORDEG’s so far opaque strategy are too opportunistic to openly communica 




</blockquote>

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