Good day L'ers, Prior to the by-elections and after, I have been reading and re-reading all the interesting and informative analysis of the political situation back home. There are a number of pertinent points which have been brought up and which must be addressed: 1. Like someone rightly said, (I think it was Kebba), we are dealing with vermin that will do anything to stay in power: look at the amount of electoral manipulations; vote buying, intimidation, etc. 2. How can we combat the overwhelming financial advantage of the ruling party? 3. There is a need to continue educating the electorate on voting issues to see beyond personalities and tribalism. 4. There must be opposition "Unity" if we want to effect changes in The Gambia. 5. There is disappointment at PDOIS not being an effective factor in the by-elections. PDOIS has a lot contribute but one keeps praying that they will move from theory to practice before the Presidential elections! Through FOROYAA , they are disseminating information but as an L'er pointed out one sometimes wishes they would publish a simple leaflet, in simple English that can be absorbed by the ordinary man in the street! Please let us now look for solutions. Ousting Yaya can be done through the ballot box. There is a lot of work to be done before then. I was in Banjul about three months ago. People are "MUTE" on political issues. There are no issues being debated publicly in general or even among friends or family One gets the impression that people are giving up or have given up! If the general elections are rigged, (and all indications are they will be rigged), are Gambians prepared to oust Yaya in Gbagbo fashion,(Cote d'Ivoire) or a la Milisevic??? I have my doubts. Let us put heads together and come up with practical solutions . I have heard reactions like: Oh you people who are out of the country, its easy for you to sit back and from the comfort of your homes , "prescribe" solutions for us. In the meantime, we are the ones suffering on the ground! What can WE do to dispel such attitudes? The initiative of catting with opposition leaders on line is laudable. We can begin to be in touch with them and know what they are really after. I look forward to tactful, down-to-earth solutions. We should not get caught up in too much rhetoric, time is running out. Lets develop strategies together and have all the practical input for solutions that will effect changes. Thank you. Edrissa. This is my first contribution to the L. _________________________________________________________________________ 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 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. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------