For all that it is worth, i'm not amongst those who were taken aback by the smarmy, cynical, treacherous, arrogant, self-righeous and tawdry posting of the PDOIS on the London Briefings. Whatever these left-wing turncoats do or say when it comes to Jammeh never surprises me. In their condescending and smug posting, the self-righteous editorialists informed us that: "PDOIS considers its self to be more effective in promoting change in the Gambia than a British MP. In our view, the limited work of trying to promote the restoration of democracy in the Gambia should be done by human rights advocacy groups. PDOIS is engaged in the work of transforming the Gambia. We are now building grassroot committees for the enlightenment of the people." Needless to point out that for all their servile treachery, PDOIS has nothing to show for succumbing to the tyranny of Jammeh. Since the slaughter of the students in April last year, PDOIS was exceptional amongst all the parties in swallowing the lies that Cheyassin came up with. Even then i pointed out to them that given their record, the APRC can ever be expected to keep their pledges. Talk less of the very terms of reference of both the Coroner and Commission set up to "investigate" the slaughter of the students - a move which the PDOIS was only full of plaudits for. So since then, what practical achievements has the PDOIS got to show for its servile reception of the crap that the APRC continues to throw at them? Last time i checked with them, they are still burying their heads in the sand chanting songs of, ahem, truth and reconciliation commissions. Are these people for real? For more than six years they were witnesses to the most violent political repressions and thuggery the Gambian peoples had experienced ever in their entire history since independence. Since that fateful day in July 1994, nothing has changed with this gov't. And we have the editorialists of Foroyaa still claiming that "PDOIS considers its self to be more effective in promoting change in the Gambia than a British MP" What nonsense. Can they honestly point out to me what their servile low risk and soft criticism of Jammeh brought for oppressed Gambians? Froth and nonsense. Save revealing that they have been reduced to an appendage of the APRC and a rump of fanatical obsessives for whom the enemy can only be Jawara, Jawara, Jawara and only Jawara! Somehow, it must be grinding them inside to see the likes of OJ re-invent themselves and being accepted by Gambians after being in the political wilderness since July 1994. Sharing the same table with the likes of Jawara, OJ, Femi Peters, et al to discuss issues common to all Gambians is just too much to ask of these holier-than-thou do gooders. What i did find utterly nonsensical about the PDOIS posting is their assertion that to convene at the House of Commons to dialogue with British MPs tantamounts to treason - perhaps the editorialists of the paper helped draft the gov't's line of argument against the London Briefings. Indeed, with all the usual froth, it told us that: "PDOIS also call on opponents of the government to trust our own abilities to change the country. We must not undermine our achievements. We must not see our salvation to depend on a British MP. We must show that we are capable of defending the sovereignty of this country. We must therefore rely on our people for change. Gambians abroad should know that they do not have impotent opposition parties who need to be rescued by British MPs." Cobblers. It is this type of hubris that has helped fuelled all these monstrous travesties of justice that currently prevails in the Gambia. In a posting a day before the London Briefings, i noted categorically that: "The West no longer has a moral duty to do for Africans what is their duty to do for themselves. If there is any role left for the West in Africa, it is to complement locally initiated endeavours to turn the tables around - especially with "preventive diplomacy" and working with democratic opposition forces to fight the scourges of African despotism." This was the very spirit behind the London Briefings. If the Gambian people continue to get repressed incessantly by the terrorists of the APRC notwithstanding PDOIS' servile and futile efforts, why on earth should we not ask for help from outside when we feel it could complement our efforts in rescuing the situation in the country? But that is precisely the problem with PDOIS: its jockeying back and forth as some sort of rational middle course between Jammeh and a return to Jawara. It is all part of the hypocrisy they have been finessing since they did that historic U-turn after their trial in 1995. Witness how they caricature the meeting as being instigated by "refugees" who were formerly PPP officials. Or the sheer cynical manner in which Malick Kah paraded the names of former PPP members in his report to that sodding Foroyaa paper? And in a delightfully mischievious way, paraded Chongan's name as being one of those behind the mov't's activities. They were deliberately trying to portray the meeting as an all PPP affair. Was this not the same line taken up by the gov't spokesman? Why in God's name does PDOIS resort to being a last resort defender of the despotism in the Gambia? They can deny it all but we are not fooled when we hear the gov't spokesman excusing PDOIS with the following exerpts from the Foroyaa report:"The secretary of state took the opportunity to apologise and then proceeded to assert that PDOIS WOULD NOT ATTEND SUCH A MEETING". [emphasis mine]How does the gov't know that? Anyone familiar with the current political terrain of the Gambia is in no doubt that PDOIS has more in common with the APRC, albeit all the pretense to the opposite. When a situation calls for joint action against the regime, they act unilaterally and advocate for inaction. Most puzzling about the PDOIS is the manner in which they snootily shrugged off the meeting as inconsequential as bordering on hysteria and misplaced enthusiasm which was best handled at home by the opposition. As it noted: "While PDOIS has no objection for any Gambian abroad to try to promote good governance in the Gambia for PDOIS representatives to leave the Gambia only to brief a British MP on what is happening in the Gambia so that he can raise parliamentary questions when the opposition has earned so much respect from the British High Commission to the point that the high commission often reacts to any deterioration of the democratisation process would tantamount to acknowledge of impotency. Such briefings should be done by Gambian refugees who should be contributing their quota at that level." This is just unbelievable. Since the piece in question bears the imprints of Halifa's mindset and style of prose, one is stuck between whether to laugh or cry over the very disingenuous assertion that attending the London Briefings was a trivia and a trifling humbug and not worth the hype being made over it. I mean is this the same Halifa Sallah who last year thought travelling to London and teaching a nonentity like Hamjatta Kanteh a lesson would further Gambian democracy? Just last year this man was all set to come to the UK to show off to his programmed fanatics by demolishing a non person like Hamjatta, yet prepared to rubbish genuine efforts to restore decency in the Gambia - a task to date he has failed to show anything for. Talking about impotency, what does PDOIS has to show for its potency? Did their potency stop soldiers butchering the students?? Did it help bring any of those indicted in all the heinous crimes committed against the Gambian peoples since Jammeh came to power to justice? Has their potency stopped Jammeh repressing Gambians? To this very day, Jammeh and CO remain remain unrepentant and remorseless - witness their gov't spokesman's statement to the press on the London Briefings. We also hear and see reports that the students are on the verge of being tried for the April incidents. Talk about adding insult to injury. How is PDOIS potency helping these students in their plights? And they dare serve sermons on what is potential and impotent. What utter peurile piffle. Needless to say that their potency in taming Jammeh is just a figment of their feverish imagination. Somehow, Halifa and CO has still not come to terms with the fact that they backed the wrong side since 1995 and the very fact that they might have invested too much political capital in the so called transition process and thus haemorrhaging so profusely that they might just have penned with that sodding piece on the London Briefings their "suicide note" on Gambian politics. One pauses here to reminisce wistfully that PDOIS and Foroyaa were once conduits to vent out frustration with official despotism and never failed/hesitated to call a spade a spade. Today, PDOIS/Foroyaa is a mere rump and indeed a ghetto of Halifa Sallah's misconceptions, delusions of grandeur, inferiority/superiority complexes, fanatical obsession with Jawara and the PPP, intellectual hauteur, inflated ego, snooty elitism and all the personal baggages that come with that. This is the tragedy of the PDOIS: How one single person's inflated ego, arrogance and grudges has come to exemplify the very core of a party once upon a time that stood for justice and liberty. With their disingenuous stance and in extension their sodding piece on the London Briefings, PDOIS left unhinged and unrescued from Halifa's worst excesses, might just have penned its "suicide note" in Gambian politics. And very few will mourn its passing away, tragic as that might be. PDOIS after Jammeh? RIP Hamjatta - Kanteh [log in to unmask] [log in to unmask] URL: http://hometown.aol.co.uk/hamzakanteh/myhomepage/newsletter.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask] if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------