Dampha & Yus,

I was not going to respond to you two on this topic anymore, partly in
deference to those who have appealed for cessation in this exchange, and
partly because your blind defense of the PPP regime has resulted in you two
just searching my response only for points that you can use to have the last
word in this exchange, therefore, it is a waste of time to engage you on this
issue. However, I must make some things abundantly clear.

Dampha, you even quoted the email sent by Jasseh Conteh to Mariama Darboe
Diop in an email to me to give the impression that I was engaged in some sort
of smear campaign because of my views on this alliance. That is your tactic,
not mine.

Mariama and I have had the same views on some issues as well as disagreements
on certain issues, including this alliance, but never to the point of loosing
sight of the real issue. She is not in agreement with me or Conteh on the
issue of this alliance, but to her credit, she has  stuck to the issues. I
have no reason to engage in any smear campaigns on anyone  to have the upper
hand in any exchange.

Regarding the issue of why i think the PPP has hijacked the alliance, please
see my contributions on this topic from the day I first sent my views on the
issue. I urge both yourself and Yus to go to the archives and read all of
them, and this time, if you are not just looking for points to shoot at me,
you will see the reasons i maniain this position. I maintain them whether you
share the same views or not. That is my right, and the day that there are
more people who questions things and demand answers, as well as make it clear
tht we do not want to go from worse to better, but to a new place altogether,
then we will have real progress.

Your statement about being "worrying about an old man" referring to Jawara
shows that you have concentrated on arguing to the point of loosing sight of
the real issues here. Hasd it not been established according to the
Constitution that Jawara is not eligible to run for the presidency anymore?
Also, Jawara alone did not constitute his enire administration, and members
of his former administration feature very well in this UDP/PPP alliance.
You also said the PPP was not registered, but I believe I read tht they are.
At any rate, this is not the point at all. Whether the PPP is registered or
not, the UDP still owes an explanation to the Gambian people as to what the
role of those PPP stalwarts will be if their allinace wins the elections. Is
the PPP merely supplying voters and will just fade into oblivion after the
elections? These are questions Gambians have a right to ask because these are
people whose  30  year rule is less than ideal and the yare the only partners
the UDP has at this time.

Yus, you have tried to shoot holes in my contributions on this issue by
coming at me with quite a few things,  and you believe you have finally found
the trump card that will convince you that you have prevailed in this
exchange. You have asked that I prove that the PPP regime was engaged in
human rights abuses.

Well,  acusations have been made and this is a matter that can only be
decided in a court of law when the acusers can present their side and their
witnesses and evidence, and the PPP should gladly agree to that if they are
as innocent as you maintain. I have said this to Dampha before, that  if
anyone thinks they can decide this issue on the L or anywhere else just by
beating their breast and  calling people liers, they are indeed foolish.
Therefore, it is infantile and preposterous to ask me for proof here in
cyberspace.

One thing i can asure both you and Dampha and any other PPP regime defenders
is that this cyber campaign to vindicate any regimes that have wronged our
country and people in various and sundry ways will not be decided by people
talking too fast and too loud here or elsewhere.

The point is that if we are cleaning house, let us do it thoroughly, instead
of just recycling the same old perpetrators of our inability to progress as a
country, and these culprits have become partners in a exercise many deem
underhanded. I am not the only one who has expressed that view.

This i my whole point, and the fact that you have spent precious time trying
to shoot this down shows the kinds of obstacles we face in making real
progress. Even those who are supposed to know better seem to be agenda driven
as opposed to thinkig on a larger and more inclusive manner.

No one who claims to be for progress can be a defender of anyone who has led
us for 30 years with not much to show for it, nor can the ybe defenders of
the curent regime whose record is legend now.
.However, it is always the defenders of  mediocre and less than ethical
administrations in our midst that perpetuate this unacceptable behaviour, but
the ydo it shouting at the top of their voices, insisting all the way, that
the yare the sober thinkers amongst us.

Jabou Joh

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