You know, I could care less *why* Halifa did what
he did! If others want to question his motives than go right
ahead... However, the fact of the matter remains that he went on a
fact-finding mission regarding the "witch-hunts", was arrested for it, and had
charges brought against him! Where were the other politicians while
all of this was going on? He was the most outspoken out of all of the
opposition politicians.
Having said that, though, just like the Republicans
and Democrats in this country can't do anything right in the other's eyes, so
goes with the various opposition parties (and their supporters) in The
Gambia. If it had been Ousainou Darbo or someone else, then someone would
probably be coming along and questioning Ousainou's motives too.
I don't think that anyone in PDOIS is any more or
less prone to hero worship than a supporter from any other party, but I've
always detected a hint of, I can't find the right word for it, but a hint of
defensiveness and and a sorta cult-like hero-worship where Halifa is
concerned, though this definitely doesn't hold true for every PDOIS
supporter. And Halifa is human, prone to error, just like anyone else,
though if you listen to some people talk, he's the best thing since sliced
bread, and if you don't support him, then there's something wrong with you,
you're stupid, uneducated, or any number of invectives.
Notwithstanding all of this, at least in the most
recent case of witch-hunting, no matter why Halifa did what he did, he did
it! And if anyone wants to question Halifa's motives for doing so,
I'd like a little more than speculation, i.e., direct quotes, hard evidence,
etc., for example, to sit there and say "if Halifa knew he'd be arrested, he'd
not have done what he did". Which doesn't make sense to me because if
memory serves me, Halifa has been detained before, so surely he knew that
his actions could well land him in detention of some sort.
Anyway, I've only read through some of the posts as
the back-and-forth was giving me a headache. And it's just the same old
"Halifa is selfish/thinks we're stupid/whatever" meme against Halifa, and the
"Halifa is great and wonderful and how dare you question him/we all know what
you're trying to do/you're trying to tarnish the image of the most courageous
Gambian to ever walk the face of the earth/what you're saying about Halifa is
patently untrue", on the other side.
And from my vantage point, the true is
probably somewhere in the middle of those two extremes. Halifa hs done
much to educate Gambians, has done much to empower them electorally, and he has
put his life on the line to stand up for Gambians. But last I checked, he
was human just like the rest of us, he's not perfect, and just like the other
opposition leaders (who by being opposition leaders and human rights lawyers,
etc., have also put their lives on the line for The Gambia), have also made
mistakes.
Ginny