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STGDP Political Strategist Musa Jeng, trash accusations from UDP - UK Secretary
General SS Daffeh

Disingenuous? Gambians, Welcome to STGDP

by Musa Jeng

e are few months from the General election 2011; unfortunately UDP UK’s erudite

Secretary General SS Daffeh continues to make the same arguments and debates on

the NADD’s registration, as to who was responsible and what really led to UDP’s

withdrawal.

Following the 2006 General elections, I personally catalogued all the party leaders’

contribution and their role in the disintegration of NADD, and I am not sure there is

usefulness in going through that again. It is fair to say that STGDP’s involvement over

the years in this coalition process has given us an insight to the complexity of it, and the

importance of finding a middle ground that may help in bringing about a coalition.

Any student of coalitions in Africa and political coalitions in general will understand that it is not always very simple, and
ultimately takes a compromise to succeed. After a big disappointment in 2006, STGDP had a choice to walk away from
the process, instead we decided to use the lessons learned from the experience and see whether we will still be able to
give it another try. Clearly, a democratic Gambia, under a rule of law, independent judiciary and ultimately freedom for
all our people is worth the effort. STGDP refused to give up on Gambia, and we will never give up on our commitment to
see a free Gambia from tyranny.

Mr. Daffeh, the Secretary General of UDP UK, from his latest commentary would like you to believe that STGDP is
indeed disingenuous, and was only using me a member to show our true colors. Not too long ago, I floated out a
proposal duped as “The Compromise” which Daffeh and my humble self-debated the issue, and other people echoed
their views, and we ended the debate to agree and to disagree and moved on, apparently my good friend seems to be
still offended by the floated proposal. Let me be absolutely clear to everyone including Daffeh, I still believe that there is
wisdom and merit in looking into this proposal in order to find a common ground and hopefully a chance to take on the
APRC under one entity. I would also like to say that I am tempted to engage Daffeh’s assertion about acceptable world
norms in coalition making, UDP’s role in the formation of NADD and of course whether the registration of NADD led to his
party’s withdrawal. But, on second thought, I found it to be lot more important to revisit STGDP’s latest effort to bring a
coalition in 2011, and leave it to the people to decide whether STGDP is a responsible and genuine partner in this
effort.

For starters, couple of years ago we sent this proposal to UDP party, the parent outfit for UDP-UK. We are few months
from the General election and I am yet to see a proposal from UDP-UK or their parent party….Please read on

SAVE THE GAMBIA DEMOCRACY PROJECT
PROPOSAL FOR THE ALLIANCE OF OPPOSITION PARTIES

The Save the Gambia Democracy Project (STGDP) is hereby presenting this proposal for the opposition parties in the
Gambia to forge an Alliance to confront Jammeh and the APRC in order to create an environment in The Gambia within
which democracy and all its instruments can be nurtured and enhanced for a better Gambia. The term opposition
parties in this context shall mean but not limited to: UDP, PDOIS, NRP, PPP... or ARC – UDP and NRP, and NADD –
PDOIS and PPP.

Since 1994, the Gambia has been under one of the most repressive regimes in the world, and President Jammeh has
really become one of those dangerous leaders that have brought death, poverty and mayhem to our country, and there
is no illusion that the worst is yet to come. This proposal is premise, taking into consideration the dire situation in the
Gambia: there is total lack of the rule of law, the APRC government is in total control of both the legislature and the
Judiciary, the independent media continues to face intimidation, disappearance, jail and fines, and the Gambia is really
under the total control of President Jammeh and the Executive branch of government. Under this atmosphere, it is
impossible to really pursue a genuine party politics from the opposition and expect to bring effective change or the
removal of an entrenched dictator. There is a strategic need for the opposition, civic groups and all peace loving
Gambians to come together and form an Alliance that will restore democracy, rule of law and an end to political
intimidation and fear to the citizens of the Gambia.

Clearly, in an ideal political environment, multi-party democracy would be the strategic goal and the Gambian citizen will
have the final say to choose their own leaders. After fourteen years under the APRC rule, a regime that came into office
through the barrel of the gun, it is going to take lot more than the normal party politics that we have been engaged in
the past to bring about change. STGDP is very conscious of the 2006 NADD tactical alliance, and the fall out that
ensued; however, we still believe that a tactical alliance is the best hope to bring an end to authoritarian rule in the
Gambia. Our options to facilitate changing the dangerous status quo is very limited: we can sit and wait to see a violent
removal of Jammeh because the present trend cannot continue forever; we can also participate in elections that can
never be free and fair and ultimately give legitimacy to the regime; or we can pursue an Alliance, not only for elections,
but a continuous effort in fighting this dictator as a single voice. STGDP strongly believes that there is a need for the
entire opposition parties to come together under an Alliance, with a strategic goal of challenging Jammeh and fight to
bring rule of law, restore democracy and bring an end to political intimidation.

The strategic goal of this alliance is to come together and fight for the removal of Jammeh, and bring about a transitional
period of seven years to build the institutions of democracy, good governance, human rights, rule of law, and finally
elevate our country to be respected in the international arena. The strategic alliance is going to focus on two fronts: the
Alliance will launch a fight to create a democratic environment where the human rights of all Gambians are respected
and protected by the current regime, and to make sure that free and fair elections can be held which will give the
Gambians to freely choose their leaders in a peaceful fashion. This is not an alliance just to come together to contest an
election and hope that Jammeh can be defeated, instead this is an Alliance to come together to halt the human rights
abuse of the APRC government, create the environment for free and fair elections, and ultimately make a tactical move
to contest the election under one Alliance candidate for the presidential and National Assembly elections as well.

Creation of an Alliance
1. The Name of the Alliance is “Save the Gambia Alliance”, which means to save the country from the slide to the abyss
and bring an end to disappearance and death.

2.The goal of the Alliance is to bring all the opposition parties under one tent, and start a formidable struggle to bring an
end to Jammeh’s authoritarian rule. The Jammeh APRC governments will be replaced with a transitional government
which will be comprised of the parties of the Alliance.

3. Strategic objectives:

a. Demand and campaign for the guarantee of constitutional rights of Gambians to free speech, freedom of assembly
without the hindrance from state agents.

b. Campaign and inform all Gambians the impact of the APRC government since they took over, in terms of
disappearance of individuals, continues firing of civil servants and campaign of intimidation by state agents and the
continuing violation of their human rights.

c. The Alliance will at every issue speak with one voice, and make sure that an alternative view is put out to counter the
APRC spin.

d. The Alliance will highlight and speak out to all corruptions or violation of the constitution committed by the sitting
government.

e. The Alliance will work with international media and organization to bring an end to human rights abuses, especially
directed to the independent media.

f. The Alliance will champion and bring about laws and safeguards the independence of the media.

g. The Alliance will bring about a fundamental shift in making sure that the other branches of government: the Judiciary
and the legislature are in no way subordinate to the executive branch of government.

h. The alliance will put in place an entrench law to make term limit the office of the president law of the land and can
never be changed.

i.Launch a seven year transitional program in order to build a solid democracy, rehabilitate our economy and create an
environment that would champion national unity, peace freedom and justice for all Gambians.

The second phase of the struggle will directly deal with contesting elections in 2011, and bring an end to tyranny in the
Gambia. This second phase of the struggle is to contest the elections in order to usher in a transitional government that
will cleanse our country from APRC rule, and begin the building blocks of a genuine multi-party democracy.

Given that there exist no individual opposition party that can defeat the incumbent APRC party with its muscle,
inducements, and intimidation tactics, we believe that after the formation of the Alliance and the pursuance of the first
phase of the relationship, it will put us in a better position to enter the election in order to bring an end to the APRC rule,
and usher in a system change of good governance, rule of law and recognize the sovereignty of Gambians.

We believe that such an alliance if entered in good faith and sincerity can bring about the liberation that Gambians have
been yearning for and the Gambian electorate will embrace such an Alliance. Here are the various scenarios that such
an alliance can be composed:

ELECTIONS

1. The main objective of this phase of the Alliance is to use the momentum from the first phase, and contest
the elections under an Alliance ticket.

2. The Alliance will comprise of all the opposition parties, and will select one of the leaders under its party
to contest the General election against president Jammeh.

3. The Alliance will strategically select the Flag Bearer from one of the opposition party with the largest
following base on the last presidential elections.

4. The leader of the Alliance will pivot out from being the leader of a political party, and become the leader
of an Alliance for a transitional government.

5. The leader of the Alliance will become the president to oversee the amendment process of the
constitution, the building of the institution of democracy, the overhaul of the security apparatus, and the
stabilization of the economy.

6. It will be strategically important for the leadership of the Alliance to be seen as the leader of the Alliance
instead of a leader of one of the political parties. This will create a massive force that the entrenched
dictator will not be able to withstand, and will bring enthusiasm to all opposition supporters.

7. The leader of the Alliance, and hopefully the president of the transitional period of seven years, will not
seek an election for a second term or endorse any candidate for the office of the president.

8. The Transitional leader will create a level playing field for a mature democracy that Gambians will be free
to choose their own leaders and representatives
.
The role of the Diaspora

As part of the success of an Alliance to usher in a transitional government, the Diaspora has a significant role to play to
bring about its success. The formation of Alliance of opposition parties in the Gambia will definitely help in bringing the
entire Diaspora under one tent, and invariably make us much more effective as a democratic advocacy group. The
Diaspora will focus on two issues: an aggressive campaign against Jammeh in the international community and at home,
and to build a fund to help finance the programs of the Alliance.

A. The launching of an aggressive campaign in the international community to show them what a terrible person
Jammeh is, and help in isolating him as a pariah.

B. STGDP & GPU will write letters to the leadership of St. Mary’s College to suspend its overseas study program until
such time when human rights are restored in the Gambia. We will also campaign for the University to rescind his
honorary Doctorate Degree.

C. Re-launch an aggressive letter writing campaign to the US State Department and the European Union, raising the
human rights abuses of the Jammeh regime.

D. Launch a campaign to big international tourist tour operators, informing them of the real conditions existing in the
Gambia and urging them to suspend trips to Gambia until human rights are restored back to the Gambia.

E.Write to NGOs and organizations doing business in the Gambia, urging them to provide humanitarian help to the
fullest, but not to provide any help to the Government directly that can be used to violate human rights.

F. Find out international investment groups doing business in the Gambia and ask them to withdraw investments
because they are a party to the violation human rights by the APRC government.

G.Launch a campaign urging Gambians, for at least a month not to send money to the Gambia to their love ones. This
will be a coordinated effort by all Gambians living in the Diaspora, and the very symbolism of the action will be helpful in
exposing the APRC human rights violation.

The other important element is the raising of funds, to enable the Alliance on the ground to effectively do the things
necessary to rattle the cage of the Dictator. It is going to take money to travel the length and breathe of the country to
inform them of the human rights abuses of Jammeh and the APRC government, and to also get ready to launch a
serious election campaign against the APRC.

End

It is important to know that we did not expect the parties to accept or like everything in this proposal, but we saw it as a
start – something that parties can build upon. As we head on to the pools in November, we are yet to find a single
working proposal that the opposition parties are looking at.

In the continuation, I will send another important proposal sent to the political parties by STGDP that we thought could
help in bringing the opposition parties to work together and maybe help to re-establish trust and take on president
Jammeh.

To be continued…

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GOD BLESS THE GAMBIA.

LET US JOIN HANDS AND SUPPORT SHEIKH PROFESSOR DR. ALH YAHYA JAMMEH (NASIRU DEEN) TO BUILD OUR COUNTRY.