haruna , to start with golf is not my cup of tea ,i am more a football person. nice comments though.i made a calamity in my last posting. i forgot to quote the comments of some the gambians i met ,so i acknowledge that erorr . i will be brief ,the number of gambians that were involve in the discussion at any one time is about 10 to 15 ,people were rotating in the hall .my own stand point is that both pdois and udp can be an alternative to aprc ,depending on the agendas of this parties .i also consider pdois not to be anti-religion .i do not consider them as a cummunist party either. i do not know ousainou darboe personaly ,so i cannot make any comments about his formidability or not. i consider him as some one competent and well breed .the comments about halifa and sedia to retire was made by close to five people ,one of them a former education employee .this are his comments '' this people have tried to convinvce the gambian populace for over twenty years to no avail'' , he went to further to ask ,''why can't they just retire ''? yet this man hates every thing yahya or aprc. the substituting of pdois with nadd is what many believe them to be .i know for a fact that pdois is not nadd . i certainly don't care whether state house has a mosque or not ,our country is a secular state ,i believe strongly that if the president wants to pray in a mosque he can go to the banjul central mosque . haruna my own take on politics is this ,any genuine gambian can lead a party so long as you are welling to listen and delicate matters to the right people .to lead a paprty is not rocket science but it is about commitment and loyalty to ones nation .if yahya can rule for fourteen years ,sorely darboe and halifa can even do better . you are right ,i am not even close to being the cleaner in the offices of pdois let alone an executive member. haruna ,my comments are a bit emotional but i was'nt in any way trying to impose my veiws on any one ,i am too ineloquent to manage to do that . another issue worth commenting about the illitracy .i said and i quote ''many gambians blame the illitrate population for the three election victories of yahya and aprc '' which to me is baseless .we have educated gambians doing the bidding for yahya daily . later mr darboe . Haruna Darbo <[log in to unmask]> wrote: Suntou, I was busy enjoying the Deutche Bank Open when I saw your notes. I will try to share some ideas see if I could help allay your concerns. I am pleased to see Davis Love III again after a rather long hiatus. The Deutche Bank open in Norton Mass. is one in a series of playoff matches toward the fedex cup. I think the next stops are in Chicago and Atlanta. Tiger, Veej, and Lefty have been paired yesterday and today. Makes for exhilarating golf. Anyhow, if golf is not your fancy, You had shared your resignation with gambians when it comes to politics and gambia. I hasten to add that perhaps you misunderstand gambians and their various politics. When I read you, I understood you to want gambians to share your own understanding of politics and when that did not happen, you concluded they (gambians) misunderstand politics and Gambia. Let us consider more specific items: You met very educated and sober gambians and you shared that when discussion went the way of politics, you understood that pdois/nadd is not the alternative to aprc. That statement may be very confusing to begin with. Do you understand pdois to be a synonym for nadd? I think pdois will be the first to share that they are not nadd unless of course you mean differently when you say nadd and NADD. Do you suppose the gambians shared that pdois is not a better alternative to aprc and not pdois/nadd? If they should say that both pdois and or nadd are not good alternatives, that should not concern you. If you're interested, I would make pdois/nadd the alternative that the gambians desire. From this you concluded that the majority of (the gambians) misunderstand the ideas of pdois. If I was told that pdois was synonymous with nadd, I would be confused too. And if pdois were separated from nadd, I would agree with the gambians you met that pdois is not a desirable alternative to aprc. Forgive me. You asked if the pdois executive is aware of this misunderstanding. The pdois executive do not regard there is a misunderstanding. They are concerned however in making pdois a more accepted party among gambians and they are working hard as they always have done to make it so. They recognize their shortcomings but they are also aware of their values and one thing they cannot alter is the raison d'etre of pdois distilled in the manifesto. You charged that the gambians accused pdois of being anti-religious. Nothing could be farther from the truth. This is a lie and I do not think any sane person would accuse pdois of such. I don't believe the gambians you spoke with accused pdois of being anti-religious. This is not a matter of opinion, it is a statement whose veracity can be established. And you shared that the gambians are not illiterate. You also shared that they believed pdois to be a communist party. Now this one is a matter of opinion and perception. I happen to think pdois is a communist party also. Forgive me. Then you said you tried to explain (your understanding) to them but they wouldn't listen. Perhaps what you tried to explain, they had read for themselves and as far as the anti-religion quip was concerned, maybe they do not hold that view and diddn't think it worthwhile to spend time on it as opposed to not wanting to listen. Besides, I don't believe you are part of the pdois executive are you? Next Suntou, you made a scary quantum leap to theorize that "if pdois is not an alternative and Halifa and Sidia should retire, who is the alternative to aprc". I was shocked Suntou because: 1. Pdois is an alternative to aprc. Anything is an alternative to aprc. The question is is pdois Suntou's preferred alternative to aprc? 2. I did not remmember where you shared that the gambians you spoke with suggested that Halifa and or Sidia retire. Is that Suntou's personal suggestion or was it the gambians' suggestion? The reason I am confused Suntou is that whether Halifa and or Sidia ought to retire, is the purview of PDOIS and no one else. Besides, their constituents' opinions carry more weight than anyone else don't you think? Is the suggestion that they ought to retire from gambian politics or retire from representing their constituents in the National Assembly? Suntou, as I read further, I realized that you had blamed illiterates for aprc's prior electoral victories. I am baffled and I think you ought to ammend that notion. Literates and illiterates both have rights to their opinions and desires especially for governance. I think you should try to persuade the illiterates to share your desires rather than blame them for not sharing your desires. "Some agreed with UDP's policies but the majority (of the gambians you spoke with) don't consider Darboe a formidable leader" you continued. Wow!!! You shared Suntou that there were a hundred or so educated gambians at this gathering. Did you engage the hundred in this politics chat or maybe 5 of the hundred educated gambians present????? It makes a big difference you know for statistical reasons. I'm sitting here thinking that all the 25 of the 100 agreed with the UDP's policies and 75 of them do not think Ousainou is a formidable leader. I would be most appreciative if you could qualify the numbers. Be that as it may, did you ask them what makes a formidable leader in gambia?? And do you need a "formidable" leader to contest governance of gambia? Was Yahya a formidable leader to be chosen by the Junta to become President? SO Halifa and Sidia should retire, Ousainou is not a formidable leader, and pdois/nadd is not an alternative to aprc, and Yahya continues to exploit gambians because these conditions keep the door open for Yahya to continue to abuse what you call the "backward way of thinking about our politicians. You must admit that you have prepared the bed of backward way of thinking and you, Suntou, are preparing to lay in it but you wish for company. I don't think the gambians you spoke with (if more than 5) shared these views you assign to them Suntou. We must be very careful not to require others to adopt our personal opinions and desires. I am a bit disappointed Suntou. Thanks for sharing your thoughts though. I would advise some clarifications in order to more accurately represent the conversation you had with the gambians. Haruna. ************************************** Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL at http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour いいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいい To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] いいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいい いいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいい To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] いいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいい