Thank you very much, my brother. It is the height of ignorance, arrogance and naivete to think that UDP leaders like Darboe and the candidates in Kiang and Baddibu talked about nothing but irrelevant issues. These people had numerous rallies in those constituencies; canvassed various compounds; had supporters in Kiang bringing to them 3000 voters' cards; ran Yankuba Touray and his cohorts out of Baddibu. Yet, doubters want to close their eyes to all these signs and blame the party for running a lousy campaign, hence the election debacle. Need I point out to people AGAIN that the party won in Baddibu? How did the 'message' work in Baddibu and not in Kiang? Since the 'message' was the problem, was a different party (other than UDP) campaigning in Kiang for UDP? Or did UDP put out a 'message' in Baddibu but forget to put one out in Kiang? This is ridiculous especially coming from people that were not on the campaign trail and did not know what issues were actually discussed and which were left out. Saul, you see, what these people don't want to hear is exposes like the one you gave us on Mahawa Cham and admissions from despicable characters like Baba Jobe that they were involved in vote-buying. They also do not want us to talk about the divisive campaign Buba Baldeh was engaged in by pitting the Fullas of Kiang against the Mandinkas. This is what they do not want to hear. They will try every thing to divert attention to UDP and blame the party leadership. But just as you demonstrated by parading the credentials of the respective candidates, these APRC supporters and doubters in our midst, do not have the facts to support their lies and bogus accusations. Maybe you will be luckier than I am in getting a coherent answer as to why Kiang people will support child murderers and vote for a semi-illiterate whose party would not even ensure that the groundnuts of our farmers are bought at competitive rates. Thanks again for your contributions. KB >From: saul khan <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list ><[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Re: My opinion. >Date: Thu, 17 May 2001 14:04:27 -0000 > >Ousman, > >Joe is right. While some of the questions being raised are valid, him or >none of the other leaders of this drive can give anyone answers they simply >DON'T have. We're all cognizant of the huddles the Opposition face back >home >-especially when it comes to funding. Therefore, if we're sincere about our >support for them, we ought to give what we can to help them fend off the >APRC's open Money Politics. So, unless I'm missing something, I just don't >see the sense in pestering the leaders of this fund drive with questions >about what the fund will be used for. That's quite self-evident: The fund >will go to an Opposition Coalition (even if that doesn't turn out to be ALL >the opposition parties,) with our stipulations/conditionalities. We all >have >some ideas about what type of Constitutional/Legislative Changes The Gambia >needs to prosper, and these will be presented to the Oppositioon Leaders >next week, and we'll take it from there. Other than that, I just don't know >what people want Joe Sambou, or Dr. Saine to assure them. Time is going, >and >our help is desperately needed. Should we dip in our pockets and do what we >can so the Opposition can unseat Yaya thru' the ballot (and avert something >more undesirable,) or should we continue to engage in irrelevant enquiries >to cast aspersions on the wisdom of the whole drive? You tell me. > >And on the Kiang defeat, be careful here Ous. Remember, I was one of the >first people to react to the results, and I was really inclined to blame >the >UDP -until I spoke to people on both sides of the fence. If it wasn't >vote-buying that did it for APRC, I'm dying to hear what did. Fancy this: >MaHawa Cham (APRC) -Secondary Four education; NEVER had a job in his life >-unless if you want to call July 22nd Movt thuggery a job; no family life >to >speak of. (Yus Dabo will be here this week. He was MaHawa's classmate at >Kiaf Primary School. You talk to him.) >Fabakary Jarju (UDP)- Semi-professional; had solid employment before the >APRC came on the scene; respected member of the Kiang community; >responsible >family man and father; has hosted hundreds of his kin when they visit the >Kombos over the years; (from reports) has helped many Kiang School >graduates >find jobs over the years. >Remember, both candidates have a similar social and ethnic background. > >Question: Who among these two do you truly believe Kiang people will vote >for in a level-playing field? Who do they owe something? Specifically, what >does anyone owe MaHawa? If it wasn't the money that Baba Jobe, Nai Ceesay >and others were throwing around that corrupted those desperate people, I'm >very curious to hear what did it. It's erroneous to think that the UDP was >only hilighting the APRC's Human Rigths record. That's what Kebba Jobe >Daddy >Nying want's us to believe for obvious reasons. In reality, they discuss >bread and butter issues relevant to ALL Gambians! >Saul. > > >_________________________________________________________________ >Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.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. >---------------------------------------------------------------------------- _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.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. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------