During the months preceding the October no-election, consensus had been that only a coalescing opposition could retire the APRC devil. Funds were raised (albeit meagre - its the honor that counts) and pleas went out to all opposition parties. APRC began to shake in its dirty boots. They embarked on fatalistic plans to infiltrate the conscience and efforts for a coalition and inserted moles (some unbecoming) amid the sincerity.

 

An erstwhile and decrepit leader came out of the woodworks to rekindle the passions of yesteryear and reclaim lost audience on the promise of the coalition. The excuse for the long silence was inorder to spare The Gambia of the very violations that were the reason for the coalition. The insincere apparatus was propped up and NCP re-emerged.

 

The maiden meeting of a proposed coalition was mishandled due to instinctive fears of the cancer of the saprophyte and complacency on the part of UDP that it alone can win with a patchwork of a ppp alliance. PDOIS of principle and integrity always rejecting fraudulent agency, declined to attend the meeting unless it was properly orchestrated and rightly so. PDOIS then embarked on efforts to salvage the union by designing the protocol for a sustainable coalition. NRP didn't know what to do so they conveniently absented themselves. Honorable all the same.

 

Sherriff Dibba attended even though his invitation was not properly executed for such a meeting of national import. I wonder why he did not decline to attend given the flaws inherent in this maiden meeting? Anyhow, with Gambia's interest at heart, he attended. Sherriff insisted on his nomination to head the coalition. When denied, he sulked and walked out. This was the beginning of the unravelling of the mystery mole. The rest is recent history.

 

Knowing of his insignificant value in the process, he decided to campaign anyhow on tribal lines (NRP and UDP/ppp took the bait) and dilute what little goodwill the electorate had for an opposition victory. The funds raised by the diaspora gradually dissolved and was divided among the parties. Who is the NCP now? who constitutes the NCP? Were they consulted on Sherrifs post-election jump to APRC? Should the honourable members of the former NCP come together and reorganise into a party with a different name inorder to salvage their honour? Was the NCP always Sherriff Mustapha Dibba and not a party of principles? Sherriff obeyed yahya's decree to ban all former politicians from engaging for fear of Gambian bloodshed. He joins the APRC who banned him then for delusional efforts at Gambia's development and nation-building. Imagine a gang of thieves and marauders violate your home, pillery your property, scare you out of your conscience, and you decide that the solutuion to the problem is to join this gang in violating your other countrymen's rights and property. Any principle you invoked in acquiring that property and honour just went out the window and your prior existence on deceit and hate surfaces as your inherent character. Such is the state of affairs with Sherriff Mustapha Dibba. Illegal arrests, torture, disccriminatory firings, thievery, and murder still continue unchecked. Maybe one day Sherriff's logic for joining the APRC will yield fruit.Unless of course that was a copout. In experiential circles, it is widely believed that water seeks its own level. When load-bearing columns are severed, september 11 happens. Kandahar falls. Mazar e sherriff changes hands. One anti-aircraft gun cannot stop daisy-cutters. Palm trees will still bear fruit. Cattle will be herded and milked. Asobis worn around elction-time. Votes will be negotiated at a fair price.

 

Shalom.