A Summary of the UDP Meeting

The United Democratic Party held a meeting on Sunday, June 03 at the Gambia
Society Hall in The Bronx, New York City.

The meeting, which was organized by The Gambia Society, did not kick off
until 6pm, three hours after it was scheduled to begin.  Moderated by
Sheriff Ceesay, a member of the Society, various speakers condemned the APRC
record and called on Gambians to vote out President Jammeh come the October
presidential elections.

Speaking in English Saihou Mballow, the UDP candidate for Jimara in the last
parliamentary elections refuted allegations that the UDP is a Mandinka
party.  “The UDP's membership is drawn from all the ethnic groups in The
Gambia,” he said.  “You have Mandinkas, Fulas, Wolofs, Sarahules, Jolas in
this party,” he continued. Mr. Mballow who is the UDP Youth Secretary
pointed out that his party’s Deputy Leader, Yahya Jallow and the Youth
President, Momodou Single Nyassi are not Mandinkas.

The UDP party leader, Ousainou Darboe, who delivered his entire speech in
Mandinka without any interpretation, gave a quick run over of what he
considered the inept APRC government.  Speaking of the country's poor
infrastructure he said, "the roads in The Gambia are so bad that it can
easily take you 30 minutes to travel from Brikama to Serrekunda."  He spoke
against the BIVAC project (which I thought had been scrapped off) and how it
ruined the economy.  This certainly struck a cord with some of the business
people in the audience for his remarks were greeted by murmurs in the crowd.
  Occasionally interrupted by applause from the audience, Mr. Darboe noted
that President Jammeh's economic policies were ruining the country.  "If I
should as a president behave in the same way, please do not hesitate to vote
me out," he challenged the Gambians. He added that his party's opposition of
President Jammeh is not based on tribalism, but on the way the APRC has been
running the country. "Yankuba Touray, Baba Jobe, and Edward Singateh are all
Mandinkas, yet they are members of Jammeh's government against which we are
fighting," he added.

Mr. Darboe concluded his remarks by thanking The Gambia Society for
organizing the meeting and for the assistance programs they undertake within
the New York City community.

Mr. Darboe introduced the UDP Administrative Secretary, Ebou Manneh as a
Balanta who could not speak Mandinka.  Mr. Manneh teased the audience in
Balanta for a few minutes before he continued his speech in Wolof.  In a
rabble rousing fashion, he asked people to put their efforts together to
bring down the APRC from power.  He noted that the economic situation in The
Gambia would have been worse had it not been for the remittances sent out to
Gambian families by their relatives living abroad.

Femi Peters, the UDP Campaign Manager started off in Aku by saying that he
would not have much to say since the previous speakers had said the
essential.  Continuing in standard English, he chided President Jammeh's
government for its human rights record.  “This is a government that harasses
and intimidates its people, and we have to ensure that we vote out the
APRC,” he said.

In his speech, the President of The Gambia Society Mamudou Jaiteh explained
how security officers had subjected him to humiliation on his way to the
Kombos.  “Even when I gave the security officers my driver’s license (which
has a photo), they insisted that I had to produce either a national ID or a
passport,” he said in Mandinka.  He warned that such demeaning treatment
meted out to Gambians in their own country spoke volumes about President
Jammeh’s government.

Later on in the evening Bakussa Dukuray delivered a speech in Sarahulle, the
contents of which I was later told were more of an exhortation to the
audience to unite in voting out the APRC government.

My Observations

I think the UDP failed to sufficiently talk about the party’s socio-economic
programs if they should take over from the APRC.  No opportunity was
provided for any questions from the floor. I spoke to several people who
expressed their frustration in not having a chance to put their questions
through.

While I believe that African languages should be given prominence over
colonial languages, conducting the proceedings of the UDP meeting in
Mandinka did not alleviate rumors that the party is pro-Mandinka. When
Sheriff Ceesay gave his introductory remarks of the UDP party leader in
Mandinka and Mr. Darboe himself started presenting his speech in Mandinka,
some people in the audience raised their voices to have the speeches
interpreted for the non-Mandinka speakers.  When their protests went
unheeded, I noticed some people leaving the meeting before Mr. Darboe was
even halfway into his speech.  There may have been African-Americans or
other nationalities or even Gambians who could not understand what was being
said in the various vernacular languages.  It is noticeable that neither
Halifa Sallah nor Hamat Bah has insisted on conducting their meetings in
their own languages during similar meetings in the United States.  This is a
lucuna, if it can be considered as such, that the UDP leadership has to
watch if they want to discard the ethnic tag that has been pinned on them.
Such ethnic sensibilities can easily polarize a society.

Last year when Halifa Sillah was invited to NYC to give a speech on the
Student Massacre and other socio-economic issues in The Gambia, the Gambia
Society indicated that they're a non-political organization and as such did
not want to get involved in such events.  According to one of their members,
the Society could not provide their hall for Halifa's meeting for free,
which makes sense considering that they pay mortgage fees for it.  To my
understanding, the organizers of that event paid for the hall at a
discounted rate.  It did not escape everyone's notice that not only did The
Gambia Society organize the UDP meeting, but also its members were some of
the prominent speakers, thus contradicting the Society's non-alignment
policy.

There is an apparent schism between the Movement for the Restoration of
Democracy in The Gambia (New York) and The Gambia Society of New York.  The
MRDG in New York has been accused of harboring a pro-PDOIS agenda although
some of its members are known to be card-carrying members of the UDP.  I
noticed that the MRDG kept a very low profile during the UDP meeting for
whatever reason.  This could be a retaliation for the Society's
non-involvement in MRDG-organized activities.  Again, it could be that the
Movement was not invited, as this was a UDP meeting. It is obvious that
there is no love lost between the two.

Conclusion

As we approach the presidential elections, it is incumbent on all forces
fighting to unseat President Jammeh to concentrate on the prize-money: the
downfall of the APRC government.  Even if the opposition parties cannot form
a coalition due to their ideological differences, they should at least not
fight against each another.  There are many ways to get to Mecca.  It is my
opinion that there is a lot of mudslinging and inter-party criticism going
on, to the obvious advantage of the ruling APRC.  Some militants and
sympathizers of the various opposition parties constantly aggravate this
situation through such adverse criticism.

It is my view that coalitions are only necessary when the combined forces of
the parties concerned can upset the balance in favor of the opposition. For
such a coalition to succeed, however, there has to an informed and educated
electorate, alternative options of viable socio-economic programs, a
sustainable political platform, and sufficient campaign funds.

A look at the Senegalese political landscape prior to the "Sopi" victory
that brought the downfall of one of the longest ruling parties in Africa,
the Socialist Party (PS), shows that the Senegalese electorate had reached a
point of no return.  We had almost reached the same point with the senile
PPP government when the khaki boys struck in broad daylight on July 22,
1994. However the electorate in Senegal tends to be more mature than its
Gambian counterpart.  People are so involved in the country’s political life
that a simple price increase in the cost of cooking oil or flour has in the
past led to a successful strike by housewives.

Last year, over 14 people mostly teenagers were killed in cold blood in The
Gambia and beyond the condemnation by human rights NGOs and the opposition
no one has yet taken to the street to demonstrate publicly against the
heinous crime.  I bet my grandfather's head that most Gambians don't have a
clue about the programs of the parties that they support.  They know
virtually nothing about the UDP's economic and political agenda; they hardly
know what NRP, APRC or PDOIS stands for.  Most of them still vote along
ethnic and regional lines, caring less what type of individual is elected.
Hence the bunch of paper tigers in the Gambia National Assembly.

Convincing such an electorate to come under a coalition would first require
rigid voter education.  Simple rhetoric against Yahya Jammeh is not what
will convince someone who just came back from Mecca on an APRC ticket to
vote for Sidia, Ousainou or Hamat.  An ignorant voter can be equated with an
uneducated soldier: they both shoot the wrong target.  The vilification of
efforts undertaken by a certain party in favor of another is not what will
convince the vilified party to join a coalition.  As the inept APRC is the
target, it is my opinion that the shots should be fired at them.

I apologize for this long posting.

Hamadi.


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