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Pa Musa was big personality and a great figure head. I was very young during the 1982 elections. but since AK Touray my Dad's younger brother contesting against Pa Musa, even us kids were in the know of events. Sandu being a cocktail of Fula, Sarahuleh, mandinka, Jahanka and Jola, politics was enjoyable at best. i can remember the stories about Pateh Sambaru, a key figure in sandu. politics even today is communal, but certain folks make leaders, this the mandinkas would call kandalu. a kanda is someone with a firm voice, who can sway public opinion. jawara's politics was more on that line. he utilises authoritative voices. Pa musa being famous and having statue that is difficult to ignore, his rivals were ever so determine to get rid of him by any means necessary.] Suntou.
Thank you for the memories Suntou. I have been temporarily disabled from Gambia-L but a friend forwarded this mail to me. I want to thank the listmanagers for their graciousness in subscribing this here addy. I am pleased they agree to be burdened with "eccentric" Haruna. I don't wanna hear it. Thanx Ceesay, Sey, Sidibeh, Loum, Jaiteh & Associates. Men this sounds good enough to be a friggin law firm.
I digress. Anyway Suntou, it appears from this nugget, that in effect, politics in Gambia is more about linguistic and ethnic alignments than about bribery and exploitation. I cannot remember a time when my father brought home loot from his campaigns. PDOIS repulsion at the mirage of corruptible politics therefore may be shortsighted and illusory. I have always wondered why they are not taking a clue from Uncle Sidia's many successes in Wulli and copy that everywhere. Uncle Sidia speaks Mandinka, Fula, wollof, Sarahule, French, and I think Jola, and he is well-versed in the Quran. He is also a respected member of the Wulli community. He goes to Wulli frequently even when there are no elections so he can stay grounded and in touch with his constituency. It helps that one of his brothers was chief before. Uncle Sidia does not take excessive gifts from his constituents, in fact part of his parliamentary salary goes to sustain the Wulli Fund,
a visaca facsimile. However, he does not shun moderate gifts of food and invitations to weddings, christenings, and other cultural festivities to include the religious festivities. PDOIS has Halifa who is also a polyvalent. Halifa speaks French, mandinka, fula, wollof, and I think serer and Jola. He does similar things for his constituency in Serrekunda as Sidia does for Wulli. Why then did Halifa lose his seat in the NAM? I know the dynamics of NADD had a lot to do with it, but I declare it may have more to do with style than the NADD-effect because I don't see anyone in Serrekunda who matches Halifa's stature.
Now then, if PDOIS reconnoitres and offers peoples' candidates (multi-lingualism and cultural maturity are a big plus) in all the other constituencies, I am confident their fortunes will improve. They must jettison the pretense that when you get too close to the people, you will become corrupted. A good person is un-corruptible. You must always work to resist undue temptations. That is the essence of life. PDOIS' over-reliance on churned-out marxist and socialist rhetoric must be reconsidered. The emphasis on inflexible ideology that clouds their democratic values must be tempered. And whatever they do, their candidates must come from the communities they serve. None of this useless militant crap. They only end up alienating the voters for their cluelessness. There are promising young PDOISARDS who understand the rural areas and are also well educated. I think they ought to tap into those. One who comes to mind readily
is Dr. Omar Touray. If he can be convinced to re-enter politics, he stands a good chance of winning. He will have my unreserved support anywhere.
[the sarahulehs wanted a representation, one of them to be their voice, eyes, hands and everything. the politics became punctuated by a language divide. my grand father was then the cheif, who passed away, so the cheiftency moved back to Diabuku. the sarahulehs wanted to be the chiefs and the MP. the Drammehs so to speak. Batapa won the earlier 1977 election. Pa musa lost. the voting pattern indicate langaue alliance, this is a powerful tool. but then sadly for Batapa, he was mad soon after the results where decleared.] Suntou.
Indeed Suntou. All politics is local. Not only the Sarahules desiring representatives who are Sarahule, the mandinkas, the fulas, the Jolas, the wollofs, the serers, the Akus, all want representatives from their own ethnicities. It is therefore not wise to blame ethnic bias for ones electoral misfortunes. One must endeavour to identify with as many ethnicities as possible so that you up the ante. Multilingualism is therefore of immense value in multi-ethnic societies. We recognize this at The GDP and we will be focusing more of our energy on this area for democracy's fortunes. Even though your notes bear heavily on my dear father's experiences, it is the case throughout Basse, Rufisque, Koulikoro, Conakry, Bissau, Freetown, Monrovia, Wasilla, Austin, Chicago, Kuala Lumpur, Grosny, and Trabulus.
[Haruna, many accussations started flying arround. the talk was that Pa musa made Batapa mad. how absoud! but this was believable as there was no other explanations your Dad's rivals could advance.] Suntou.
Absurd is what I call it too Suntou. You should hear a story Hon. Hamat Bah narrated to me about my father some years ago. I was beside myself at how people could believe in others' extraordinary powers so. If I were them, I'd ask my Dad for proof of such powers. How do we know my Dad wasn't capitalising on the undue reverence and fear of his opponents???? My Dad is just like me, and I like like to milk a cow to oblivion. I mean milk a goat to hell. Yero, just don't get any funny ideas. I could have extraordinary powers you know. I just have to come up with proof. Workin on it.
[your grand dad was a also a key player in Sandou. his islamic education and leading of islamic affairs made folks respect him a lot.. so stop messing about.] Suntou.
Go away Suntou. Don't get any funny ideas. I don't mess around men. Just a mirage of it. I do fondly remember my grand-dad. The same thing. He spoke the languages of the communities surrounding our home and he was a part of their everyday lives. He was never too big to send us to help out at the farms of the Sarahules, Mandinkas, or the Fulas. Most of their children had gone to the towns and Banjul or overseas so every summer we would be hauled off to the provinces and there would be a schedule of farms around the villages we were to sojourn at. These folk appreciated this so much and my grandpa never accepted payment in lieu of this assistance. Boy did I wish he charged the bejeebes out of them, so I could afford the best clothes and shoes when I returned to school. I did enjoy many a Meremindos though. I so miss this spirit of community.
[Any way, whatever made Batapa crazy was unclear.] Suntou.
It could be the side-effects of his schemes against my father. You never know. We come again to this Jinn-Virus thingy. I did recall that we had respect for BaTappa's family at the time. So I don't know where this blame Pa Musa bit came from. I also remembered my father declining to contest the bye-election on the heels of BaTappa's misfortune. Word had it he was almost forced. I think Sir Dawda can shed some light on that. That's another memory. The first time I saw Sir Dawda and was aware of his stature was when he visited with local Sandu Chiefs at the guest house behind our home. He stopped to say hello to my grand-dad before proceeding to the guesthouse. They had a procession of hunters with loaded guns lining the trail from the dock at the marina all the way to the guest house. Wouldn't you know it. Not a single one of those guns could fire as he passed them. From then, I had formed my own superstitions about DK. I had always admired the
circumspect Sir Dawda prior. But I revered him then. Just a side note Suntou.
[a bye-election return Pa musa back to representing Sandou. then came the 1982 elections. a unique elections. where young blood clash with old school. the susas, the tamadins, the fula music groups, the mandinkas drumers. Hear Buba Baldeh was starting out in politics. remember that Buba's Dad was also a monumental figure in basse's politics and community. the fulas would do anything for his dad. but Buba knew unseating Omar Sey wouldn't be an easy task. he opted for Jimara another strong fula stronghold. he won that election more than convincinly. Buba being the great speaker he is, campaigned with AK Touray on an independent ticket. the issues was that sarahulesh wanted Pa musa out at all cost but the superstition of Batapa was still in folks memory. No one among them wanted to take on Pa Musa. he was feared for no reason at all. Then comes my step- dad then a court cleark. He was approached to challenge Pa musa which he did
without any hesitation. to cut a long story short, Ak took most of the sarahuleh votes couple with some his other supporters. he won easily. the graceful thing is, Pa musa knew when to call it quit. he retired from contesting elections and assume diplomatic duties. he was a good son of sandou and we pray that Allah grant him Jannah. amen.] Suntou.
I always wondered why we had these people Buba and AK contesting as independents instead of NCP or PDOIS. I never understood the politics of Independents then. But I think looking back on it I can appreciate why they did not want to associate themselves with the two opposition parties. For the same reasons they wanted to oppose the PPP candidate. It was, and still is intensely ethnic. The politics of Gambia. But as Ethnic flavour goes, so does the ethnic union called Gambia, and there will be no constituency PDOIS could contest. Word to the wise.
[I hope this short narrative helps.] Suntou.
It was an eye-opener and chock full of actionable information for all opposition parties, particularly PDOIS. I thank you for it. Keep them coming. I'm getting to like your behind again Gaddamn it. I am not comfortable. Someone has to raise cain up in here. My girlfriend is telling me She supports Obama because he looks like a Fula man and that I should consider supporting him too for that reason. I asked her do I look like a friggin Fula??? And does she know Hillary and Edwards are not Fula deep down. What an idiot. Ooops. She is due here in a minute and she is a silent partner here with us. I think I just fucked up.
Masoud. MQJGDT. Darbo. Al Mutawakkil.
suntou.
From: Haruna Darbo <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: voting patterns in the gambia
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Friday, 3 October, 2008, 5:06 PM
Suntou,
Thank you for the political memories of my late father. I often hear stories of his political expeditions although I was too young or more focused on school to appreciate those dynamics. If anyone can, yourself, Hon. Hamat Bah, Buba Baldeh, Alhajie Touray, BaaTappa, Alajie Mpamara, Chief Jatta of Wulli, the then Kantora Chief, Ebrima, Sidia Jatta, and the multitudes who narrate untold stories to me to include the people of Sandu, can bear more vividly on it. The stories go far beyond electoral numbers and for me it is personal honour to more comprehensively remember my dear father.
My father's allure includes his careers as a teacher at Armitage in Georgetown and his students who honour me for one reason or the other for being one of his children. I am confident his efforts in teaching and politics had earned him both friends and enemies and I shall be ever proud of him for his singular desire for common prosperity and commoner salvation. If it were not for him, I will not have had the knowledge and discernments in religion, both Islam and Christianity. I have been impressed with his ever-optimistic view of the world before and after Gambia gained independence and he joined the PPP to do the people's business. My father spoke Fula, Sarahule, Mandinka, wollof, and Jola with equal ease. I did not grow up knowing which one of these ethnicities I would more likely belong to. Only that they are the languages of our community of which we are a part. Our ancestral home in Gambia lies
between large Sarahule, Mandinka, Fula, and Jola communities. I remmember vividly when folk would share with us that the Darbos are an aberration in Sandu. We have not been exclusively aligned with any ethnicity but we welcomed all ethnicities. The colonial guest house in Sandu was erected behind our ancestral home. I have always wondered how that came to be? Perhaps in honour of our family's sacrifices with the colonial armies overseas. I would like your perspective on our family as I'm sure you are aware. The Tourays are our uncles by way of uncle Sidia and the late honourable chief of Wulli, Kabaa Jatta.
I adore and thank my father for having been my father. I am humbled by the admiration of folk whose lives he had impacted, one way or the other. The common thread in the stories was that he had been positive if unyielding force in the lives he touched. Indeed he has taught us to view his political opponents as our bretheren, only representing an alternative point of view. I therefore look forward, with honourable reminiscence, to your stories of him and from your point of view.
Haruna. MQJGDT. Darbo. Al Mu'Umin.
In a message dated 10/3/2008 2:57:10 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [log in to unmask] writes:
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Thursday, 2 October 2008
The 1992 Election result and total MP party percentage score. THIS IS THE VOTES CAST FOR THE RESPECTIVE PARTY MP’S.
Overall votes percentage of vote
The PPP TOTAL VOTES 109,059 54.23%
The NCP 48,845 24.29%
The GPP 13,937 6.93%
The PDP 9,291 4.62%
The PDOIS 4,632 2.30%
The INDEPENDENTS 15,331 7.62
201,095 100%
the total votes for the over all respective party MP's was as usual favourable to the PPP. the strange thing is, even the new party founded by eccentric business man Solo Darboe, The PDP collected more per head mp votes than PDOIS. another significant port of call is the existence of independent candidates in Gambian political land scape. With over 3 parties in our country, why do we still have independent candidates? is this a failure on the part of all our establish political parties?
it will be interesting to analyse recent election trends.
THE
TOTAL PERCENTAGE FOR EACH PARTY LEADER IS HAS FOLLOWS: 1992 election
DK JAWARA PPP 117,549 58.48%
SHERIFF DIBBA NCP 44,639 22.21%
ASSAN MUSA GPP 16,287 8.10%
LAMIN BOJANG PDP 11,999 5.97%
SEDIA JATTA PDOIS 10,543 5.24%
2O1,017 100%
Source: the political history of the Gambia 1816-1994, pages 330-344.
Initially my interest was about the voting pattern of my own constituency Sandu. But then it is apparent that there is a need to analyse the number of Gambians voting and their party of choice.
It seems to me quiet an overwhelming number of Gambians aren’t voting in numbers. If our population is said to be over a million, then two hundred thousand odd voters is too minimal for effective democracy.
Now coming to the election history of Sandu, where the honourable Musa S. Darboe dominated until his final retirement from contesting election after losing the 1982 general elections to Alhagie AK
Touray.
The vote counts for the candidates are: 1982 election
Musa S Darboe scored PPP 2,480
Alhagie AK Touray Independent 3,193
Kissima AK Sillah NCP 250
This means AK Touray won the elections with a large margin. Musa Darboe was a heavy weight. Ak Touray did his campaign with the Basse's famous orator Buba Baldeh who contested in Jimara and won as an independent. Buba's fame and mass support was overwhelming, his car is sometimes lifted up by jubilant supporters.
I will try to shed some light on the records of the late honourbale Musa S. Darboe's election results for the 1970's. the bye-election he won after Batapa was became insane. musa won the bye-election.
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