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I was forwarded this article by Al Jawara, amicus to Mr. Musa Jeng's thesis on the basis for a Gambia opposition party alliance. A compromise of sorts. I want to commend Jawara for a careful and studied amicus and for his due-diligence in ventilating the underlying tenets of the Jeng Compromise. Vis; An alliance of equal partners for the removal of an odious governor in Yahya.

I am very pleased with Jawara's meticulous attention to detail and the benign tone with which the masterpiece amicus was delivered.

In amicus to Mr. SS Daffeh Esq., I wish to submit these notes for Jeng and Jawara's considerations. Perhaps a meeting of the minds is in the offing.

[Mr Jeng’s Article and Mr Daffeh’s Reaction

I can’t sit back without expressing my delight at Mr Jeng’s initial suggestion for a compromise, but most importantly his response to Mr Daffeh’s article. He has clearly shown that he is a candidate of what would be described as elderly statesman.

I hope Mr Daffeh read the point newspaper this morning that Hamat Bah is contesting the next election as a presidential candidate and not ally of the UDP. There is much to learn from this and I hope it opens up Mr Daffeh’s eye to see what people are really talking about.] Al Jawara.

I happened to be within earshot of Hon. Hamat's statements disposition at the conclusion of the UDP's party congress recently held in Jarra Soma. Hon. Hamat is to be commended for landmark gallantry and sacrifice in his clairvoyant association with the UDP for a commoner prosecution of the 2006 election in Gambia. And like all other such sober amalgam, Hon. Hamat informs all Gambians and sundry that absent any other serious effort at a common opposition party alliance, the NRP would reconstitute to reclaim NRP's singular appeal and gravitas. It is this gravitas that earned Hon. Hamat and the NRP a seat at the infamous alliance conversations leading up to the 2006 vote. I am delighted Hon. Hamat is a reliable partner in those conversations and he and the NRP deserve our full support and grace.

[I wanted to call the spade a spade here;
If you people wanted to take comfort in ‘‘Mandinka majority tribe/Mandinka support UDP’’ phenomenon, then good luck, but you need to sit back and closely peruse the two articles from Mr Jeng and Jallow. UDP can continue to finish second in every presidential elections as long as time permits, but of what benefit will that pride generate for their electorates and the country in general.] AL Jawara.

It is rather unfortunate that Jawara infuses ethnic discord in his otherwise brilliant summary. To discount the voice and support of his majority mandinka fellow citizens demonstrates an ominous malignancy in Jawara's thought process and must undermine the populist yearning of the compromise of sorts that Jawara affords amicus for. The Mandinka people of Gambia are a conscientious people like all other ethnicities of Gambia. Any political party of Gambia would desire the support of the majority of Gambia's Mandinkas. It is safe to say that PDOIS, APRC, NRP, GMC, PPP, and GDP, all enjoy a certain level of support from Mandinkas of Gambia and any of them would desire more formidable Mandinka support to equal that enjoyed by the UDP. The best way to garner that Mandinka support is not to estrange the Mandinka people or demagogue their conscience to brow-beat them into adoption. Conversely, it is common knowledge that UDP, APRC, PDOIS, GMC, GDP, and PPP all have a certain level of Fula, Sarahule, Wollof, Serer, Aku, Jola, and Manjago support. All of the opposition parties desire to augment their support among all these ethnicities and the best way to garner that support would certainly NOT be to estrange or villify the ethnicities but to EARN their support. Whether UDP finishes first, second, third, or fourth in any election it prosecutes in Gambia, must not and will not diminish the wisdom in augmenting its support among the Mandinka, Jola, Fula, Sarahule, wollof, Aku, Serer, or Manjago communities. The pursuit of support among any of Gambia's ethnicities is a positive endeavour and is not a guarantee of finishing first, second, third, fourth or fifth. The Mandinka just happen to be the majority ethnicity of Gambia but an equally significant constituent part of the Gambian polity. I encourage Jawara to reconsider his dispensation toward any of the constituent ethnicities of Gambia. PDOIS will still need Mandinka support if it were to govern Gambia.

[Please note that Yaya Jammeh continues to garner support in every Mandinka constituency
in the country. In fact he won each of those constituencies during past elections except Kiang West and will continue to win them in coming elections.] Al Jawara.

The foregoing is therefore evidence that the Mandinka ethnicity is neither monolithic in desire, nor absolutely tribalist in their outlook for Gambia. I am pleased that Mr. Jawara so soon recognizes Yahya's intelligence in not discounting the voices and support of the Mandinka community. I encourage him and PDOIS to actively seek the support of all the constituent ethnicities of Gambia without sleight or exception.

[So a true coalition that is ethnically diverse, based on honesty and trust, and devoid of ‘I am entitled to this’ concept is what is needed for achieving the number one goal that all of us shared – ending Jammeh’s presidency.] AL Jawara.

It appears that Mr. Jawara has forwarded a false premise of an inferior Mandinka calculus in that if the UDP takes the Mandinka vote for granted on account of ethnic affinity of Hon. Ousainou Darbo, the UDP will continue to come second to first and by denegrating the value of his fellow citizens' votes, Jawara aims to reduce the aversed fellow citizens' sovereignties. A concept PDOIS has hung a lantern on for the good part of its utopian and lethargic existence in Gambia. It ought to serve as instruction for Jawara and PDOIS therefore that an ethnically diverse political party should be the resolve of any conscientious party aspiring to governance in a multi-ethnic society. When ethnically-diverse political parties seek to form an alliance, automatic diversity is realized effortlessly. I encourage PDOIS to redouble their efforts in marketing their ideas for governance to all Gambia's ethnicities and actively seek their company in PDOIS. SHort of that, PDOIS cannot be a reliable partner in any meaningful alliance or coalition building. 20 years is a long time to be stuck at 2.25% affinity in small Gambia.

[No body disputed the premise that UDP could lead the opposition coalition, but there need to be a process to get to that.] Al Jawara.

Indeed and nobody in their right mind would dispute that obvious premise. If in fact as Mr. Jawara leads us to believe that he nor PDOIS disputes this premise, I encourage them to answer UDP's call to fall in line behind the UDP, GDP, NRP, GMC, and PPP and prosecute the 2011 elections with Hon. Ousainou Darboe as flagbearer. I share with Jawara therefore that the process necessary to accomplish that is to publish in Foroyaa and The Point that such is their decision. The UDP, GDP, NRP, GMC, and PPP will come pick them up from that press conference. Or does Jawara have a different idea of process after recognition of the premise. I am comforted that it is a PROCESS that brings Mr. Jawara and PDOIS to NOT disputing the premise of a UDP-led alliance.

[I personally does not subscribe to an entitlement syndrome especially when it comes to politics.] Al Jawara.

It is foolhardy to train on intransigence for intransigence's sakes. Instead of NOT subscribing to an entitlement syndrome, I encourage Jawara and PDOIS to review the entitlement proper and discern whether the right to such entitlement is issue. It is not helpful to say on the one hand that "No body disputes the premise of a UDP-led alliance" and on the other that "I personally do not subscribe to an entitlement syndrome" because the one who has the malignant syndrome is the astigmatism patient. Jawara must examine his conflicting messages. Is the UDP entitled to leading an alliance of Gambia's opposition parties or not?

[The examples you put forward to invalidate Sidia’s legitimate opinion is inaccurately presented and I am sure deliberately malicious. I take you as politically astute but for you to rely on such examples as similar to that of Gambia is what I will call superficial (glib) argument and artful at best than SIdia’s. If the British constitution was that of Gambia, or the other countries you quoted, then there would be no need for conservatives to form a coalition government with liberal democrats. The conservatives would have formed a government by themselves and would not need a coalition.] Al Jawara.

This is the problem with blowing hot air. The conservative Party of Britain needed the Liberal democrats of Britain in order to FORM A GOVERNMENT of GREAT BRITAIN. WHether or not the British constitution is a fact simile of the Gambian constitution or vice versa. Forming a GOVERNMENT is premised on majority universal suffrage of the constituent ethnicities/interests of Britain. It was not the instruction of the British constitution that the Conservative party form a GOVERNMENT with the Liberal Democratic Party. As a student of democratic governance, Mr. Jawara ought to know that the election is the precursor to government not a deliberation by a constitutional court. I suspect Mr. Jawara wished to frame his notes another way.

[For the Gambia, in case you don’t know, even 20% of the vote could make you president as long as it is the highest.] AL Jawara.

And for 20% to be the highest, the majority of those who voted in such election would have to vote for the President therefore. All the more reason an alliance of opposition parties is far superior to each of them prosecuting the election independently unless the voter roll is substantially augmented and electoral fraud minimized or eliminated totally. It is evident therefore that Mr. Jawara desires an alliance of opposition parties to prosecute 2011's elections in Gambia.

[Gambia is a multi-tribe country and I can say for certain that Gambians are not strictly tribal. Even at household level, Gambian families are the most multi- culturally diverse and intertwined institutions in the sub-region. There is so much inter-marrying and jokes going around that the only time people begin to really look at tribal identity with seriousness is when Jammeh came to power.] Al Jawara.

Generally when people consider an issue, they gather their faculties and train on sobriety. In this instance, Mr. Jawara reassures us that an undue reliance on the support of a majority ethnicity for superlative electoral performance is a welcome treasure. He also certifies that even though Yahya is the inurer of ethnic discord and considerations, the Mandinka, Fula, Jola, wollof, Aku, Sarahule, Serer, and Manjago communities continue to sustain him in office. Why then would Yahya's pursuit of the Mandinka vote be detrimental to the UDP or PDOIS for that matter. If PDOIS had as much Mandinka support as the UDP or NRP, imagine what the conversation for alliance would sound like Mr. Jawara.

[Because of his cowardice, he played the tribal politics so wisely to his advantage. It used
to be Mandinkas who bear the brunt of his vicious tactics, but now tribe is no longer the issue and as long as his lieutenants pass their effective utility, they will be sacrificed no matter what tribe they come from (case in point is Lang Tombong, Bo Badgie etc). His game is going on well for him.] Al Jawara.

I trust Jawara is pleased now that Yahya is ethnically-blind. Is it therefore healthy to re-introduce ethnic discord and sleight into the PDOIS politics I wonder.

[So Daffeh what people are talking about is a sensible compromise that will put all the opposition parties under one big tent.] Al Jawara.

And what would that "sensible compromise" be pray tell?

[There is no need for UDP supporters to be arrogant because of their so-called size.] Al Jawara.

It is never useful to be arrogant when you seek augmented affinities. If anything, the UDP is not resting on their laurels for humungus sakes. The UDP, NRP, APRC, GMC, GDP, PPP all continue to engage the electorate to augment their support. And they should be encouraged by all of us in that light.

[Mai Fatty is a faint line in the sky with no significance (or as Mandinkas will say – the decoration at the base of a gun has no use to the gun because whether it is there or not the gun will fire).] Al Jawara.

I am informed the Sarahule, wollof, Jola, Fula, Aku, Serer, and Manjago all have similar proverbs in their literary repertoir. It serves no useful purpose to denegrade GMC or Mai Fatty or to cast aspersions on the Mandinka supporters of UDP and GMC. That will never be valuable for PDOIS or Mr. Jawara's ethnicity. The Mandinkas' significance in Gambia can only issue from the significance of the Sarahule, Jola, Aku, Serer, Fula, Manjago, and wollof. I encourage Mr. Jawara to train on greater sobriety.

[Case in point is that people are not interested in fault finding but a way forward. I wanted you to make sense of why Hamat Bah has decided to go out of the UDP camp to contest the next election as a presidential candidate on his own.] Al Jawara.

In case Mr. Jawara was not within earshot of Hon. Hamat and NRP's reasoning, I would encourage him to seek audience with Hon. Hamat for greater clarity of his position in this matter. It is disturbing to realize that because UDP has attained what PDOIS has spent the better part of its life foraging for, and instead of refining its message to garner more support, PDOIS spends its time tearing UDP, NRP, GMC, APRC, and GDP down. Time was, PPP was PDOIS' greatest enemy and PDOIS did not realize then that a diminutive PPP equals an even more lethargic PDOIS. They tore PPP down in their charlatanries only to inherit the residue of PPP. And with unbridled glee. It will be the sign of the changing times.

Haruna Darbo.

Fort Oglethorpe.