There are good people who just cannot walk away from hope; it is not naivety but rather lack of very many options. Countless hours are been spent trying to keep hope alive, as Jesse is quip to say, and there is indeed hope. Unfortunately, partisans are looking at the complexity of the task ahead and are basically resorting by allowing their emotions to get the best out of them. Alliance or no alliance, what you are doing cannot be a winning formula. Recently, we have been getting calls from people who were really beginning to like the narrative that was coming out from the parties, and slowly they are beginning to rekindle back the lost hope. Of course, ideally in a democracy, nothing is wrong with the battle of ideas but let us build that democracy first and then we can have the slugfest. Folks, bottom-line is, tearing each other in the name of telling the truth, helps only person: the continuation of the status quo. You can keep buying into your own BS, but remember the DAY AFTER….. That is what keeps STGDP in this fight. Sometimes, we take four steps forward, and your narratives will come and pull us two steps backwards. We will keep hoping because, I guess the DAY AFTER is still in our minds.BY THE WAY, TUNE IN TO THE GAMBIA JOURNAL AND HEAR THE STGDP INTERVIEW WITH MUHAMMED LAMING SILLAH, AND AGAIN STGDP THANKS THE GOOD FOLKS AT GAMBIA JOURNAL FOR SEEING THE BIG PICTURE AND THE TASK AHEAD
Thanks
Musa Jeng
----- Original Message ----- From: "bailo jallow" <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] Sent: Wednesday, February 3, 2010 9:51:33 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: Re: Foroyaa News : HALIFA SALLAH COMMENTS AFTER THE APRC TOUR
Sheikh Haruna,
You seem to be in denial but that is sadly the truth. The APRC is far from credible and from the perspective of the potential electorate, neither exists a more credible alternative. Otherwise, the opposition would have won last time. The opposition ought to stop blaming each others personnel and tools and even lack of adequate time and henceforth try to focus on reversing the massive voters' apathy for instance.
Which Party official was speaking for another party? Halifa? Wrong answer! Try again.
From: Haruna Darbo <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Foroyaa News : HALIFA SALLAH COMMENTS AFTER THE APRC TOUR To: [log in to unmask] Date: Thursday, 4 February, 2010, 1:44
So there is no credible ruling party and there is no credible NADD. I suggest the two don't contest the 2011 elections. Halifa telling other opposition parties to tell the people the truth is akin to the thief hollering saachay mboh when the crowd takes to their heels after him. And we are asked to go back to the drawing board to create a credible ruling party and a credible NADD. Allahu Wakubaru. It will be helpful if the party officials speak for their own parties rather than for all other parties. I wonder if distributing incompetence is a way to make everyone else roll over and play dead. ye beggar hear of it.
Haruna. Thanks Dad for sharing. I suppose this is PDOIS in campaign-mode. I encourage APRC and UDP/NRP to focus on their own campaigns unless this is their style too.
-----Original Message----- From: Modou Nyang <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] Sent: Wed, Feb 3, 2010 7:41 pm Subject: Foroyaa News : HALIFA SALLAH COMMENTS AFTER THE APRC TOUR
Foroyaa News : HALIFA SALLAH COMMENTS AFTER THE APRC TOUR, NO CREDIBLE RULING PARTY NO CREDIBLE OPPOSITION A NEW WAY FORWARD NEEDED
After the completion of the APRC tour, Foroyaa approached Halifa Sallah for comments. This is what he said:
“Political leaders should tell their supporters the truth. A political vacuum exists in the Gambia. Some supporters of the APRC said that the opposition parties in the Gambia are not credible. They should also add that the ruling party is not credible. Their assessment of Gambian politics as it stands would then be correct and balanced. Some leaders who do not want to be honest to their supporters are trying to give the impression that the statistics I have been putting out are over statements. They are not telling their supporters the truth. Political leaders should tell the truth. For only the truth shall set us free. I have relied on empirical evidence to conclude that at this very moment we do not have a credible ruling party or opposition party. We have a duty to create both. Those who are offended by this statement are not prepared to do what is necessary to save Gambian politics from being an exercise in mediocrity.
After the presidential elections in 2006, I wrote a pamphlet in which I quoted the statistics to confirm my assertion. Gambians have to be reminded these statistics to awaken each from our political apathy.
According to the IEC, 670, 336 voters were registered prior to the 2006 presidential elections. When the results were delivered the IEC indicated that the APRC candidate who was also supported by the NCP had 264,404 votes. If this is subtracted from the total number of registered voters it would mean that 405,932 voters did not vote for the APRC candidate. The UDP candidate who was also supported by NRP and GPDP had 104,808 votes, while the NADD candidate had 23,473 votes. The total votes of the opposition amounted to 128,281 votes. If this is subtracted from the total number of registered voters it would be apparent that 542,055 voters did not vote for the opposition. Wherein lies the credibility of the ruling party and the opposition party if politics is reduced to its lowest common denominator as contest based on the number of votes.
Interestingly enough, in 2001 the APRC candidate had 242,302 votes when it forged no alliance with the NCP. At that time there were 501,304 registered voters. Suffice it to say, even though the number of voters increased by 169032, by 2006 the votes of the APRC could only increase by 22,102 votes. The UDP candidate had 149,448 votes in 2001. Even though it developed alliance with NRP, which had 35,671 votes in 2001, its votes went down 104,808 votes in the 2006 elections, despite the increase in the number of registered voters by 169032 voters.
Foroyaa: What is your advise?
It is therefore necessary for political leaders to go back to the drawing board and map out a new way forward. How is the opposition to attract the 542,055 voters who did not vote for them is the subject at hand. This is what Agenda 2011 is all about. Even though I am not excluding acceptance of candidature, I have already declared that the best option is to select a neutral candidate who will be able to run a non partisan transitional cabinet for a period of 2 to 5 years and then step aside after a genuine multiparty contest. It is left to Gambians to decide whether they have a better way forward.
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