How disappointing to see seemingly intelligent people being hoodwinked into believing that indeed there is an alliance of opposition parties or that PDOIS or the NCP are not sincere about their commitment to join a coalition of opposition parties. What utter nonsense. Now let’s have a closer look at the just formed alliance. This is an alliance facilitated by the leader of an unregistered GPP and comprising of an registered PPP, a UDP whose national assembly members are die-heart NCP stalwarts and a GDP that is little known except that has fulfilled the requirements to be registered as a party and has done so. Add to that the recent revelation by the PPP that it sponsored the UDP for both presidential and National assembly elections. Now rather speculating and insinuating that the PDOIS and NCP are spoilers who are only interesting in leading an opposition coalition why can’t people wait until they get all the facts or justify their accusations based on known facts. My take on this based on known facts is this: There were a series of secret meetings between the banned parties of the PPP, NCP and GPP. From these meetings we were told that the NCP and PPP had decided to re-register their parties whilst the GPP had decided not re-register their party until after the presidential and National Assembly elections. We were also told that Mr. Assan Musa Camara, the leader of the GPP, has assumed the role of an elder statesman to facilitate the formation of an alliance of the opposition parties. To this effect we were informed that he had sent out a one-page document to the existing parties to which they are yet to respond. We also learnt through FOROYAA that PDOIS will respond quickly to Assan Musa and that the leader of the NRP had travelled. Earlier on, the PDOIS clearly stated its position on the formation of an opposition alliance. It had stated that the party believed in an alliance that would support a single presidential candidate and that if the alliance wins, it would oversee a transition government of one year. It also stated that during this transition period the government should undertake to conduct civic education to enlighten the electorate and carry out constitutional changes that will consolidate democracy in the Gambia, establish a governance programme that will ensure free and fair elections and remove from our statute books all obnoxious laws. It also stated that during this same period parties would be free to sell their programmes to the electorate with a view to seeking their mandate come the elections to be held at the end of the transition period. As far as I am concerned this is my understanding of PDOIS’s position on the formation of an opposition alliance and I am yet to know the views of the other parties. Now what I find difficult to understand is why the many secret meetings without the existing parties such as PDOIS and the NRP and what the relationship between the PPP and the UDP is. How can anyone in his/her right mind even infer that the NCP and PDOIS are selfish parties that put self over national interest? As far as I am concerned there is NO ALLIANCE OF OPPOSITION PARTIES. What you have is a MERGER OF THE UDP AND PPP. It seems that the PPP having resolved the problem of who should be their presidential candidate simply wanted the NCP to endorse it and knowing that they will not come an agreement with PDOIS or the NRP simply ignored them. This, the NCP will not agree to. I stand to be corrected. Have a good day, Gassa. _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------