All, below are the reasons why we lost in Sare Ngai, according to the Coalition Coordinator. This is also a lesson for us out here, that those on the ground need our contributions to win elections too. Thus, I am appealing to folks to join the STGDP in its campaign to raise funds for the coalition. Now matter what we do or say here, fine speeches and all, if we fail to contribute financially to the campaigns, we loose, pure and simple. The STGDP sent about D40,000, 99% coming from its associates for the Sare Ngai campaign. We banged doors on the post and L for contributions but all doors remained closed. Folks, we will loose in 2006 if we continue to do that. Yes, the people on the ground were complacent in organizing rallies in many other places that they should have according to Halifa, but my question is, where were they going to get the money to do just that when we flatly refused or ignored all calls to contribute financially? A word to the wise is sufficient and I hope we pay heed. please continue. Halifa: Sare Ngai defeat, a lesson for Coalition By Yusuf Ceesay & Sanna Jawara Oct 22, 2004, 18:04 Email this article Printer friendly page Halifa Sallah, the coordinator of the opposition coalition has said that the defeat of Karamo Touray in the Sare Ngai ward by-election is a wake-up call for the coalition. Speaking to the Daily Observer at his offices yesterday, Mr Sallah said “the opposition coalition has learned its bitter lesson in Sare Ngai for not conducting too much of mass political rallies due to the time factor during the last ward councillor by-election”. NAM Sallah said that due to lack of time and complacency, the coalition leaders could not mobilise to call mass political rallies in many villages in the area. He pointed out that though the coalition were defeated the results indicate that the ruling APRC has lost some of their votes as compared to the previous election in April 2002. “As the APRC is the ruling party and also fully in control of the Basse Area Council (BAC), if there performance did not motivate one third of the voters in Sare Ngai ward then these voters are against the APRC,” he explained. He said the APRC candidate, Momodou Barrow, won by 261 votes and added that a break down of polling station results shows that apart from Sare Ngai, Chamoi and Gunjur Kuta, which are all APRC “strong bases” the opposition won in all the other sub stations indicating a downward trend in voter support. Mr Sallah further said the results determine that the APRC, with all its resources has little space to maneuver while the coalition has a fertile ground to grow if it adopts mature politicking that will attract a great percentage of voters who abstain themselves from voting. © Copyright 2003 by Observer Company _________________________________________________________________ Don’t just search. Find. Check out the new MSN Search! http://search.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200636ave/direct/01/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~