As a Gambian who voted for the opposition in this past presidential election, I am seriously re-thinking my vote. Elections, like most people have stated before, is only one of the functions of any thriving democracy; therefore the business of fighting for people’s rights, and ways and means to look for answers to our developing challenges should be on going activities, so I thought. During the days of the campaign, opposition party leaders echoed their commitment to the protection of my rights, highlighting their platforms and policies and what it would mean for me as a Gambian citizen. Some even threw the gauntlet by saying that there would be lots of widows if the election was to be rigged and our rights are violated. The elections are over and President Jammeh is elected to be the President for the next five years. But, I am also terribly confused and trying to make sense to what I might have done wrong. Where is it written in the constitution or any of the laws of the land for that matter, that by getting 52% of the vote gives you the carte blanche for total monopoly and everybody else stands idly by. Where are the party leaders? Are they only available during election year to talk about my rights? I am a farmer in Sandu, Basse and voted for the opposition, and I am beginning to regret it, and frustrated with the significance of the whole exercise. My entire family is confronted daily with harassment by the party leadership in the village, and it is becoming a difficult problem for my family and our survival in the village. We have become an outcast, and in the eyes of the police and the law, we are characterized daily as troublemakers. Anything from the government brought to the village, whether are agricultural extension workers with tractors for our farms, or medicine donated from NGOS we are always excluded from such benefits. The explanation is, we did not vote for the APRC and why should we expect anything from them? My brother who was a Permanent Secretary has just been fired from his job, and being the breadwinner for the entire family, this would be a very difficult Ramadan. Apparently, some people at his Ministry decided to blow the whistle that he was a sympathizer to the Alliance party, and thus the end of his twenty year career as a civil servant. What happen to the protection of rights of the civil servant, and why is their hiring and firing becomes a call of a single individual? Also, my brother-in-law has just lost his license to operate his radio station, in fact he was closed down by the security apparatus, and I am having hard time reconciling the security threat alluded to by the NIA, or then again, when did they become Tax agency? Where are the opposition party leaders that I supported, and now paying a heavy price for it? Frankly, although we lost the election, but by getting 48% of the vote does not amount to any political leverage? In a country of over a million, are we saying that four hundred eighty thousand of the people that voted for the opposition are going to be treated as foreigners in their own land. If the reality of the situation is, nothing can be done, then maybe I need to re-think my vote come this parliamentary elections and maybe vote for Jammeh and the aprc. At least my job will be protected and I will be treated differently in the eyes of the law and the police. Apparently, you opposition leaders cannot do anything about it, and I am not going to wait for another election year to hear the tough talk, or the throwing of the gauntlet. If we are to cherish stability, peace and maintenance of law and order in the Gambia, it is going to need the responsible participation for both the government in power and the representative of the minority vote the opposition. If the government in power decides to trample the rights of the 48% that rejected them, then maybe the right of every Gambian should be sacrificed. This is not about democracy, but about simple fairness for all Gambians. And if the whole ideal of the democracy we yearned for comes down to electioneering alone and everything else is compromised, then this is one democracy that we can do without. Just a thought! Musa Jeng <<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>> To view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] <<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>