-------- Original Message -------- Subject: [>-<] Talking Point: Mbarodi-The Party (Political) Leader That Never Was And Will Never Be From: "THE POINT NEWSPAPER" <[log in to unmask]> To: "Gambia | Post" <[log in to unmask]> Talking Point Mbarodi-The Party (Political) Leader That Never Was And Will Never Be Please kindly allow me to react to certain statements made by Lamin Waa Juwara (Mbarodi) against the UDP leader, Mr. Ousainou Darboe, in which he called on the latter to resign as party leader. Having ignored the many provocative statements made by Mbarodi as a party "loyalist", I can no longer contain my concern and dismay at the low depth of ignominy that this executive member of the party has fallen into. My reaction that follows is designed to show not only the chameleon character of Mbarodi but also the weakness of the allegation he made against the party leader. The political hidden agenda of Mbarodi and the baseless nature of Mbarodi's call for the party leader to resign. But who is Mbarodi? Lamin Waa Juwara (Mbarodi) hails from Dankunku where after his primary education, proceeded to Kaur and from there, he went to Armitage Boarding School. Here, he worked his way up to became the school Seyfo. At Armitage, the first signs of Mbarodi despicable character came to light when he instigated students to go on a strike which failed because he chicken out. >From Artimage he went to the Yundum Teacher Training College and as a student leader, he again organised an abortive demonstration which also ended up in failure because he lacked the appropriate qualities of the leader that can effectively organise a movement confrontationally, to achieve its objective. After a brief spell in the teaching field, Mbarodi made his way to Bulgaria through the assistance of the late Jay Saidy who was the leader of African Students Organisation. At the University of Sophia, in Bulgaria, Mbarodi settled down and the first thing he did successfully was to undermine Jay Saidy's leadership which he achieved without any moral guilt to his conscience. Are we therefore surprised that Mbarodi is trying to do the same thing to Mr. Ousainou Darboe? After his studies, Mbarodi came home and joined the civil service. He served as a commissioner in almost all the divisions of the country. His administration as commissioner was marked by confrontation with the local leaders in almost all the divisions he served. In the North Bank he had a confrontation with the late Chief Kebba Jammeh almost resulting in the latter's dismissal. In the Upper River Division he picked up a quarrel with the later Chief Muhammed Kurubally, trying to illegally re-enter the latter's property but without success. In the Central River Division, he manipulated the Chieftaincy election on behalf of the late Momdou Tubb at the expense of the Ceesay Kunda Family, the traditional cheiftancy household. In the Lower River Division, he unsuccessfully tried to destroy the ex-chief Buwa Kinteh. The point to note here is that 'Mbarodi is the type of character who believes that nobody deserves to lead except him. Wherever he goes, his first agenda is to belittle leaders who refuse to dance to his tune. It is therefore not a surprise that he is trying now to belittle the UDP leadership so that be can assume the position. Mbarodi became a member of the PPP under the leadership of his so-called uncle, Sir Dawda Kariaba Jawara. He was however later expelled from the party for anti party activities. Mbarodi joined the NCP from which he resigned after failing to dislodge the party leader, Sheriff Mustapha Dibba. As he is doing now, Mbarodi embarked on a campaign of vilification accusing Sheriff Dibba of running the NCP as a personal property, not answerable to any one and using the party, for his personal needs. These allegations were found to be untrue and the NCP decided to part company with Mbarodi. The above is the character of the man called Mbarodi who now shamefully embark on tarnishing the image of the UDP leader without any justification, apart from satisfying his ego. Mbarodi has a hidden political agenda. He wants to be a leader without possessing the qualities of one. He does not want to be led by anyone and yet to has no followers to lead. Before analysing Mbarodi's allegations, I will be pleased if he could give honest answers to the following questions: a) As the propagandes secretary of the UDP, did he exhaust all the appropriate avenues within the party structure to air out his grievances or concerns before going public? b) If Mbarodi has no hidden agenda, why should he be continuously chastising the party leader which he claims to represent and support? c) How effective or productive was Mbarodi as the propagandes secretary of the UDP? d) Can Mbarodi discredit the party and its leader for failing to adopt his style of confrontatual politics? e) What proof does Mbarodi has to justify the claim that the party leader helped himself with party funds to pay for his income. f) Are these baseless and rhetoric statements aimed at satisfying his own ego at the expense of the UDP leader? g) Does he Mbarodi believe that by trying to sow seeds of discord he could provoke a chain of negative reactions that could distract the party? The common denominator of all these allegations is that they are false, inflammatory and irresponsible. On the first allegation, Mr. Ousainou Darboe did consult before conceding defeat and congratulating the president. It is on records that the party leader consulted the president of the party, the late Sam Silla, the UDP Co-alition partners through the Chairman Mr. Assan Musa Camara. Mbarodi was right that he was not consulted but with reasons. As propaganda secretary, he has been found to be unproductive and failed in his duties to co-ordinate the activities of our field co-ordinators which partly cost us the election. Instead of going into the field, Mbarodi chose to spend his time either in his Brikama residence, surrounded by fanatics or at Brikamaba killing away his time with a bottle of brandy. Such a party official does not deserve to be consulted. Mbarodi was not only unproductive but was very dishonest in helping himself with funds meant for the field co-ordinators. His third allegation that Mr. O.N Darboe used the party funds so settle his income tax arrears is the most ridiculous of all. As far as the settlement of the tax arrears is concerned, I wish to emphasise that not a single butut of the party was used. Mr. Darboe himself raised the funds through the sale of his landed properties and quite a number of executive members are living witnesses to this except of course Mbarodi. For obvious reason, accessing Juwara to certain confidential information which are personal in nature can be detrimental. The present events have proven the leadership to be right for taking such a posture. I want to emphasise once more that Mr. O.N. Darboe settled his tax arrears through his personal funds and not through the party. On the fourth allegation, he quoted the action of Momodou Lamin Sedat Jobe in resigning honourably and asked Mr. Darboe to do likewise. May I remind Mbarodi that he is the very one who should take a leaf from Mr. Sedat Jobe's action and not Mr. Darboe. Mr. Momodou Sedat Jobe resigned on principle when he disagreed with certain measures. Mbarodi likewise hqas disagreed with certain ways in which the party is being handled. The honourable thing to do is for him to resign instead of raving and ranting on issues arising from his figment of imagination. As can be seen from the above, all the allegations made by Mbarodi are at best, fallacious and indicative of a man wishing to be accepted as a leader without the qualities and moral standing of a leader. He is dishonest, disloyal and nakedly ambitious. I would like to reassure Mbarodi that the leadership of Mr. Darboe he is now questioning is his democratic right. Unlike him however, lawyer Darboe is not power hungry nor a selfish person. Mr. Darboe sees his leadership as a great responsibility entrusted upon him by the majority of Gambians While he Mbarodi was languishing in jail in Janjanbureh, Mr. Darboe known for his trustworthiness, did not impose himself on others. He harbors no personal animosity towards anyone evev under severe provocation such as the character assassination and mudslinging Mbarodi is now engaged in. An evidence of this statement is Darboe's continued silence despite the frequency of Mbarodis vindictive and baseless attack on him. Inspite of the weakness and emptiness of Mbarodi's allegation, he shamelessly proceeded to advocate for Mr. Ousainou Darboe's resignation. Regarding the congress that he Mbarodi is advocating for, yes this will be convened at the appropriate time because the democratic stance of the party is unquestionable. The people will obviously be given the opportunity to choose the leader in the most transparent manner. Surely there will be aspirants but it will be to the party's delegates, not a handful of Mbarodi's cohorts who congregate under his mango trees in Brikama, to choose an alternative to Mr. Darboe. Finally, I would like Mbarodi to bear in mind that when the UDP was formed, he was not around. He found the party functioning and joined us. If he is not satisfied with the way the party is handled, he has the democratic right to resign instead of calling for the party leader to resign. Mbarodi cannot usurp the leadership of an organisation when he is not a founding member. He attempted it with the NCP and miserably failed. His current attempt of doing the same thing with the UDP will also fail. He cannot impose himself as a leader. Mbarodi, leave the people to choose you. Your chameleon character, adept at undermining leaders, will render you as a leader that never was and will never be. Concerned Supporter UDP, URD Kebba.K. Krubally Alias K.K.Krubally © 2002 The Point Newspaper, P.O Box 66 Banjul, The Gambia [August 19, 2002] -- There is a time in the life of every problem when it is big enough to see, yet small enough to solve (Mike Leavitt) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To unsubscribe/subscribe or 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] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~