Whether it is the Aprc, the UDP or the PPP that is in power, if the opposition
to that power is reduced to simple self interest the line of loyalty becomes
constantly redefined. Our opposition to this regime is an opposition to all
forms of social, political and economic injustice the call to move on is
missing this very important point.
I see no deference between this call to move on with that of
“Cyber Heroes” who have displayed all the characters of a fascist out of
political power in dealing with their opponents at a time when they have no
political power let alone should they manage the affairs of our country and
their opponents at reach. Let us forget the past and forged an alliance with
UDP/PPP and move on. Some are not even saying so; they keep denying the
history of those long years of political nightmare of the Gambian people, with
so much arrogance and infantile behaviour. We can only move on by learning
from the past and those who deny history or are interested in rewriting
history belongs to the opposition that did not have as its objective a
permanent and consistent struggle against political oppression and economic
exploitation.
This is even the problem that the article by Mr Daffeh,”The new Majority”,
seems to be struggling with, the article almost spell out Gambia as a society
with the immidiate objective to fight the old order and it becomes not so
accidental that the author was faced with another problem when he did tried to
free the State from the very ideology it represent. The murdering of
defenceless students is fascist, Mr Daffeh insisted. That Mr Daffeh refusing
to see the link between this act of barbarism and the Indemnity bill passed in
parliament by a great majority to be in line with the ideology of the
rullingpower is very unfortunate, because, in the first place the author still
remains an important ideological authority in Gambian politics. Secondly,
that Jammeh is been voted in as the president of the Gambia, that there are
only 3 opposition members in parliament and the rest APRC is no objective new
situation, what is new perhaps, is the open and more clear stand of the
different opposition forces. We have never in the history of our country faced
with both a petty bourgeois backward military turned to civilian leadership
and on the other hand, representative of neo-colonial forces at the same time.
Our position in this situation should neither be, the enemy of my enemy is my
enemy or any talk of the rolling back of what has been won. Unless the author
is speaking of a new law of dialectics beyond my comprehension.
Yes that APRC won both the parliamentary elections and presidential election
what more is there to tell? That Gambians have spoken? That Gambians will have
Jammeh as their leader? That the brutality, the harassment, the daily
humiliation should just continue. I am of the opinion that the Gambian people
are still to be convinced to speak their minds at the poling station. Was this
not the same routine that they have been involved in during the 30 years of
the PPP.Where there any election that Jawara did not win and the PPP being the
majority in Parliament. Who was dancing in the streets of Serre kunda and
Banjul when the AFPRC took over power ?It was not people from another planet,
but the very Gambians who go to the poling stations to vote every five years
for the man who oppressed them and keep oppressing them. It is my opinion that
the opposition to the APRC regime will never be found at the poling stations,
not this time around anyway, otherwise one could find it in the every day life
of the Gambian people. I am of the believed that the people must be convince
that what is at hand, m is not that a parliamentarian should be voted in
office to a new status. I am of the opinion that if Gambians were convinced
that voting on election day has to do with their day to day struggle for
survival they will be more than able to handle a president whose army can just
open fire on their defenceless children, murdered them and demand that they
forget. I have on several occasions,when talking politics with ordinary
Gambians, been told that “We “ (referring to us with the formal school
education ) are birds of the same fearther. To me here lies the whole problem,
because what they mean is that we are opportunist, this is what they have
learned in practical experience. Some of them having been voting in people to
office that claimed to be educated, since the time some of us were just little
babies,know better what they are talking of. What have they gained out of
routine voting of every five years? Did they move from their huts? Did they
have good and safe drinking water? But they have seen one after the other
growing big fat bellies with all type of possibilities and opportunities. They
even have to make long lines at the office doors to get their children to
school. It is under such circumstances some of us accused these people for
selling their votes for money and or do otherwise on Election Day and even
take them to be the most backward people. We might wait to see for parliament
to vote that all farmers who are not able to sell their groundnuts have a
right to compensation from the State, that they have a right to pension money
when they are no longer able to work on their farms, that they have a right to
negotiate the price of their groundnuts with the buyer, that their children
have a right to free and compulsory education, that force marriage is illegal,
etc, yes they are tax payers and they are not paying tax to live and die in
hut houses and or go in rags for the rest of their lives.A little bit of
respect for their ability to think might even get some political parties to
nominate them as candidates rather than decorating them as YaYe
Compins,District Chairpersons etc,my boots.Perhaps we might wait long before a
farmer enter the parliament to discuss the national budget in Mandinka ,but we
might not wait long ,not as long as the day when the Chinese start to discuss
their national budget in English.
You see, I don’t mean that Daffeh was equating 1879 in Paris with the
situation in the Gambia after the presidential election, Daffeh is too
intelligent for such, but he should have tell us that if there is anything to
learn from that situation in Paris, is the insistent of the most oppressed
Parisian in demanding total political power and putting the parliament under
serious control and a continuous declaration of loyalty. The new majority that
arises out of that situation was neither with the bourgeoisie nor with the
left forces and this gave them the free zone of consistency, putting every
parliamentarian under their control.But the most important lesson migh have to
be directede to those in power,that when the people demanded political
power,nothing was to stop them. Gambians have now forgotten that they have
been to the poling station and the next five years will be another struggle to
survive.
We are not going to move on by denying that this regime is oppressived, we
must continue to tell this regime that they are brutally oppressing g people
who can at anytime put their political power to rest, it has happened all over
the world and there are no reason for them to be dreaming that this could not
happen with them. They should not fool them selves that because they organised
elections and people voted for them, as if this is enough for them to
continue their oppression, for it was not that long a go that they themselves
overthrew a government that the people voted for every five years .The day the
opposition is able to solve its contradictions with the people, the day the
Gambians people are convince of the facts that they are going to the poles to
vote for a genuine change in their day to day life, we might be a witness to a
new political situation. I did not stop a single moment and will not even
after this day. The Gambia must be liberated, “no Compromising,no sell-out”
Malcom X
For Freedom
Saiks
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