A toast for the UDP Bully, bully. This is what Jammeh wants to do to the United Democratic Party(UDP). In fact, if it were not for impending international outrage and condemnation, Jammeh would hammer the UDP out of existence by incessantly unleashing terror on the party hoping to smash into smithereens, the party's growing membership and its political crusade. He is poised to snuff life out of the UDP. But like former Zambian president Kenneth Kaunda discovered in the opposition party Movement for Multiparty Democracy(MMD)under the leadership of the loose-tongued and acerbic Frederick Chiluba,then a trade unionist,Jammeh will find the UDP a hard nut to crack. Of course, Kaunda never tried to unleash thuggery on the MMD. But Jammeh does it to the UDP in ways unimaginable. The UDP is, however, destined to stay. Its stinging criticisms, which Halifa Sallah of PDOIS recently paraphrased, "attacking the president from all angles," of Jammeh's tyranny and corruption, must be sustained in pursuance of accountability in government and its constituencies. Effective, credible opposition is so vital to the functioning of a true democracy that it will be unthinkable to live without it. The fact of the matter, however, is that, an opposition needs outrage, aggression and even more importantly, a powerful political machinery to be effective in calling the government to account. Which is what the UDP has been doing in its chequered four-year-existence. Speaking of which:consider the sum of $21.7m,which was a loan from Taiwan, and which was held at the Citibanks of Switzerland and New York. And consider also the second sum of $30m which "was sent to a special development account in a New York bank." The Governor of the The Gambia Central Bank, reported the UK-based New African magazine, was instructed to "write to the Taiwanese government to confirm receipt of the loan funds." Yet the magazine reported that the funds had not arrived in The Gambia. Lawyer Ousainou Darboe frequently questioned the government about these "missing millions". He even went as far as alleging that these amounts were deposited by the then AFPRC spokesman Captain Ebou Jallow in accounts under the name of Yahya Jammeh. The president hasn't sued Darboe to court yet. Worse still for the president, Darboe later discovered the secret oil deal Jammeh struck with the late Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha. With outpourings of criticisms of Jammeh's corruption, the UDP has forced the president on the defensive. His response to the crude oil scandal has been at best misleading; at worst, dubious. Next week, the National Assembly will debate a UDP-sponsored proposal to mount an investigation into Jammeh's crude oil deal. Which is nightmarish for Jammeh. But the Lawyer and his party remain doggedly stubborn. They ought to be. They must continue their outpouring of outrage each time Jammeh unleashes his excesses on the people. They must also continue using whatever available legal means to fight their political case. In the past the UDP sued the government on a number of issues. The pursuit of legality should be continued while Jammeh self-destruct himself with his despicable despotism. In the end sanity will prevail. Cherno Baba Jallow Detroit, Michigan ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------