Hi Brother Karamba, Thank you for your kind words, and for taking the time to quickly respond to the question I posed. You seem to be blaming the Gambian character for PDOIS' poor performance at the polls, rather than opening up the People's Organisation for Independence and Socialism for a clinical examination. Writing that "..our our society by and large is not interested in honesty, integrity and the values of hardwork and deferred gratification" seems to me to convey the dangerous illusion that moral degradation is coextensive with the biochemical make-up of Gambians. i.e our country is beyond redemption, and that PDOIS' purpose is delusional at best. It is a fact that in every society, there will always be those who will do anything for pleasure or for profit, but I would like to opine that what you mentioned are rather unfortunate symptoms of a society afflicted with widespread material deprivation and hosts of complicated miseries. I think it is important that we look at those factors that convinced people that a vote for Sidia Jatta was not in their best interests. But it is equally important for us to discuss to what extent PDOIS itself has been responsible for its permanently dim prospects for an electoral victory in Gambia. A couple of years back, I wrote here that it cannot be the case that the people do not want honest and dedicated leaders. It rather is that " they would not walk an honest road if they are convinced it leads to a poor and dark city". I still believe in the truth of that statement. Thanks once again Mr. Touray. Momodou S Sidibeh -----Original Message----- From: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of [log in to unmask] Sent: den 2 december 2001 17:56 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Mr Momodou Sedibeh/Commentary Mr Sedibeh, I am one person who wish you were engaged on Gambia-l more often than you are currently able to. I enjoy your participation. I would like to advance a response to the question you posed regarding PDOIS and their inability to garner traction with the Gambain electorate. I agree that the party is led by selfless, educated and motivated Gambians with impeccable integrity. Even as I support the coalition, I am convinced PDOIS approach constitute in an integral part of the kind of democracy most of us would like to see evolve in our country. Halifa, Sedia and Sam are examples of serious people who bring depth and a sense of purpose to issues of governance. You may not agree with their approach in it's totality but they people you want to have at the table. Their electoral failure even after two decades of being the apostles of progressive and squeaky clean politics is a reflection of the deep and inherent flaws of Gambian society when it comes to choosing their political leaders. PDOIS has failed to win elections because our society by and large is not interested in honesty, integrity and the values of hardwork and deferred gratification. We tend to excel at expediency, dishonesty and finding every excuse to avoid doing what is right. Gambia is not conducive to the very things people seem to say they want. Our people for the most part know that our overall problems atleast for our contemporary history revolve around bad leadership and when the few good among us work hard and tirelessly to offer an alternative, the majority would simply not do their part to safeguard their futures. If you pick up a phone and randomly call someone anywhere in The Gambia, after five minutes he/she would give you a litany of all that is wrong with the country and how they are heading into the abyss. It would all be true. But our national tragedy is you absolutely cannot rely on that same complainant to do all he can to get rid of the criminals and murderers actively destroying the country and replacing them with folks who would spend sleepless nights working on making their lives and country better. It is a hopeless situation that most certainly will cement our place firmly in the colony of failed states. That is why our country is now beset by the kind of shameful beggar mentality you read about everyday. Government employees engaging in fist fights about monetary 'gifts' from their socalled President who is actively collapsing the institutions of government and handing it over to people that worse than clowns. It is an unmitigating disaster and the Gambian people in large measure can be expected to aid and abet their own destruction. People revel at receiving the crumbs of corruption and decadence and they always try to peddle nonsensical justifications for their fatal flaws. I have concluded that our nation is doomed unless we expunge from our national psyche our tolerance for all the things associated with retrogression. Unless our society strive for honesty and integrity and embrace people who demonstrate selfless devotion and have the ability and talent to lead us, we shall for the forseable feature be stuck with criminals intent on destroying the only place we call home. And if we don't change fast we may not for long have politicians with the endurance to actually see through peaceful change. A nation that tolerates un repentant murderers will not go anywhere. We must bring the entire leadership of this regime before a competent Gambian legal authority not constituted by rented jurists and charged them with capital crimes and other serious felonies and administer the law to it's full extent. Karamba <<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>> 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] <<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>> <<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>> 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] <<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>