I think Mr. Njie is so wrong about the UDP. Iwill spare calling him lying due to his very valid points. But I will come to that later for now let me try correct him on the point he blamed the UDP leadership that it glued on a party led or no coalition. We never said so in fact if Mr. Njie is a constant follower of Gambian politics, UDP had invited PDOIS long time before this coalition talk kicked off. I knew fror a fact Ousainou personally called Halifa on his house phone on several occation to no avail. PDOIS said according to Halifa that any talks on coalition should be discussed with SEDIA.
I ask Mr. Njie what would he have done if he were in UDP's shoes? Ousainou went further and met Sedia at his (Sedia's) compound to discuss. only for PDOIS to bring forth the agenda 2011 on the table.Infact Sedia went further to discuss details with the press. That in my view was not only unprofessional but unwise because that was the first phace of talks for a united opposition all geared by the UDP. What Leadership are you guys talking about?
I think though Mr. Njie though brought valid points which are so important to us all, he has failed to give the bones to the right dog and sent other hunting dogs hunting. I beleif both cannot be wrong together one has to be more wrong than the other and I want to know which of us betrayed Gambians most.
The Coalition talks we initiated it but they came with their programmes and ask each to sign which Ebrima Manneh Admin Secretary of UDP signed. In any even we in the UDP called for that meeting in any sensible view it should have been UDP preparing the programmes ect.
Joe Joe tell me if I am wrong. Talks failed because there was more than a party led or Convention to that meeting of opposition leaders.
UDP cannot be blameless yes I agree but not on what Mr. Njie accused us of. Come up with another blame and I will accept if you right for Gambia is bigger than UDP nad King Bamba is scare of no one.x
king
Date: Mon, 7 Nov 2011 12:32:11 -0600
From: [log in to unmask]
Subject: The Value of the Opposition - by Njie (Courtesy Maafanta)
To: [log in to unmask]
"The Value of the Opposition
‘Party-led’ or ‘convention’ – it is now clear that the Opposition have not achieved what is required to save the Gambia
from self-destruction from a murderous regime that is all too clear for one to see. The split by the opposition once again
demonstrates the value of the parties and leaders that this small country has. In the face of clear and present danger
posed by the ruling APRC to the very existence of the Gambia, our Opposition leaders have decided to fail Gambians at
the most defining moment, yet they and their supporters do not want anyone to put them under scrutiny for their failures.
How could we have an opposition that fails the nation in its most trying times and yet still we build the hope that they will
save the country when they assume power?
It appears our opposition are either ignorant of the writing on the wall of the imminent danger that this country faces or
they consider themselves to be more important than the present and future destiny of the Gambia. The profile of the
Gambia in the past 17 years shows clearly that there is self-perpetuating, tyrannical and violent regime in
place. You just have to count the number of Gambians who have lost their lives at the hands of soldiers,
police officers, personnel of the fire brigades, in our prisons, and by unidentified gunmen including other
armed men and women attached to the State though without any definition or identified role or name. How
many Gambians have been sacked without due process by the Executive even when it does not have the mandate to do
such sackings? How many members of the legislature and the judiciary as well as other statuary bodies such as the IEC,
NCCE, and Ombudsman have been sacked without regard to the constitutional provisions designed for such actions?
Yet how many Gambians have been tortured in our police, NIA and Prisons and confirmed in our courts without any
redress? How many Gambians have been subjected to arbitrary arrest and detention and even when the courts demand
that such persons be produced or released, the State refused to abide by these court orders in broad daylight? How
many Gambians have been forced to flee their land of birth simply because the State which is supposed to protect their
person and security rather became the very perpetrator of violence against these innocent Gambians?
How many Gambian business men and women have been forced to close down in order to satisfy the insatiable lust for
wealth by President Jammeh? Have we not seen that in 17 years we have produced a president that has personalized
and commercialized the State leading to the virtual dismantling of sound and genuine economic activities and growth,
and stifle the growth of private enterprises undertaking by well-meaning and hardworking Gambian men and women?
Are we not witness to a head of state that is weakening state institutions and corrupting and disempowering Gambians
at the same time, and using legality to legitimize his blatant corrupt and violent methods in all spheres of life in the
Gambia? How can we obtain justice when the house of justice has been handed over to non-Gambians, who bear no
affinity and feelings to neither the Gambian people nor do they have any allegiance to the Gambian nation, yet
paradoxically, we expect them to deliver justice for our citizenry? How can we have justice when judges, magistrates and
state counsels are hired for the money rather than to deliver justice for service to the Gambian nation? Have we not
seen the unbearable cost of living, high unemployment and taxation, excruciating poverty and deplorable living
conditions that the masses of our people live? In the face of such dastard maladministration, we have the most wasteful,
inefficient and unprofessional state in the region.
If these realities that are present and obvious in the Gambia did not inform the opposition as to what
course of action to take, how can we trust that these Opposition leaders share our feelings and passions
and will be there for us at our hour of need? By the split that has taken place among them, can any
Opposition leader tell Gambians right in our face that the people have therefore been strengthened further
by their decisions and actions?
A cursory analysis of our Opposition will indicate that their failure did not start with this split in 2011, rather our
opposition failed since 1997 when constitutional rule was supposed to return to the Gambia. In a democracy, the amount
of space that a ruling regime enjoys depends on the amount of space that the Opposition has occupied or conceded to
the regime. In our case, our Opposition has always conceded space to the regime to occupy to the extent that the
regime is now able to establish itself as a de-facto monarch. It is a pity that our Opposition does not know how to oppose
a regime, but to oppose themselves. Our Opposition has spent the better part of the last 17 years opposing each other
than really serving as a meaningful and mature alternative to the APRC. The amount of time and resources they
allocate and spend on attacks against each other - if such time and resources were qualitatively used to confront the
APRC, by now Yaya Jammeh would have had his tail between his legs in a very small cell in the Gambia or at the Hague!
Rather the Opposition conceded all of the space and allowed the APRC, in spite of its classic corruption, incompetence,
mismanagement and atrocities to shamelessly stand tall over Gambians as if we are not men and women!
So what has this split shown us? It demonstrates that our opposition is immature and given the mantel of state
leadership they are not going to be good decision makers. It has shown us that they will rather run away from
responsibilities and seek scapegoats even when the nation is shattering. This is very clear. If UDP, NRP, PDOIS, GPDP
(NADD does not exist because one party cannot form an alliance with itself even though PDOIS is ridiculously insisting
on it) can bear 17 years of Yaya Jammeh, it beats one’s imagination that anyone of them would reject the leadership of
another party among them for just 5 years for any reason especially give the clear and present danger that this country
faces? By going into two formations, these so-called alliances therefore have protected Yaya Jammeh’s chances to be
returned to power to the detriment of all Gambians. But more outrageous is the NRP-led coalition! It was Hamat who had
said long time ago that he was no going for any coalition and unleashed severe aspersions on his colleagues. For the
new kids on the block, the GMC - they had also publicly announced a long time ago that they were aligning with UDP. So
why did they finally abandon UDP in a meeting called by UDP itself for the making of an alliance only to surface with the
Convention group and then withdraw a few days later? Is this not laughable at best and insulting at worst! What
message is the GMC sending to us?
For PDOIS, it appears they have not yet distinguished the difference between classroom intellectualism and academism
and realpolitik. The art of assuming state power requires immense thinking and analysis. But the practical conditions
and realties on the ground require that such analysis and theories are inspired by the quality and extent of
circumstances and forces on the ground. This requires that strategic compromises, sacrifices and alliances be
developed. In other words, practical politics and strategic leadership require total understanding of the environment –
nature of leaders and parties, mindsets of the people and assessment of resources and power in one’s hands. In this
case one would realize that one may have to delay objectives, or even abandon key goals temporarily by prioritizing
objectives and conducting an environmental scanning, i.e. assessing strengths and opportunities as well as weaknesses
and threats in order to develop a theory of change.
This theory cannot always be smooth and straight like an even path. It has bumps, it can be derailed. It can stagnate
and even get confused and become totally uncontrollable. But all this is merely for a transitory period as long as there is
a strong and strategic leadership that is also visionary and steadfast. This is where PDOIS failed most Gambians who
expected much to come from it even though it has the smallest support base. We recognize the quality of the party by
the quality of its intellect. Where PDOIS failed is to place theory over practice and focus more on the analysis than try to
understand the people and their conditions, its resources and extent of power, and the circumstances of the
environment and the rest of the stakeholders. PDOIS like all Gambians have to realize that our country is not democratic
even though it has all the paraphernalia of democracy. Many countries that have exploded had the same features. The
APRC regime is a militaristic and violent power without conscience.
The regime has no regard for the rule of law and democratic ideals. In this circumstances, each and every party and
citizen is required to exercise exceptional and strategic leadership and participation in order to bring about change,
peacefully and nonviolently, not by solely deepening and trusting the democratic institutions and processes, but rather
by utilizing people’s power and exploiting and exposing the weaknesses of the regime. Utilizing people’s power requires
that the parties form a single alliance and ensure that most people vote for it so that even with the strength of
incumbency and corruption of the regime cannot obtain majority vote. Thus when it loses, it makes it easier to mobilize
the masses and garner international support against the regime. The opposition has to ensure that in fighting a
militarist, violent and unscrupulous regime, you do not only need a win, but a landslide that will put the regime in a total
position of weakness and place the opposition in a position of power. This is the practical analysis that PDOIS failed to
realize hence together with its colleagues generated a situation where the people’s power have now been seriously
diluted.
A UDP-led alliance is not only cheaper, but also more convenient and practical at this stage. A convention is a long term
project for the Gambia that came too late in the day, and is laden with potential risk factors. The fact that it went
smoothly at the Atlantic Hotel was mainly because they had to prove UDP and party-led supporters wrong. Thus it was a
matter of survival that they came out seemingly successful. But indeed there was no success for the Gambia as the
failure to allow the only and single UDP-led coalition to emerge disempowers the masses and strengthens the APRC
regime. The UDP-led coalition may not be the best option we could have, but in the circumstances it is the most
practicable tool at our disposal.
However let it also be said that the UDP exercised total disregard of the circumstances and demonstrated poor
leadership by arrogantly insisting on either their way or no way. Just because UDP is the largest party does not
necessarily indicate that it therefore has to lead by any means. The UDP should have been aware of the circumstances
of the Gambia and demonstrate leadership that does not allow the weakening of the people. Given that we are talking
about a five-year transition, the UDP must be prepared to support any smaller party to ensure that this regime is booted
out first. The idea that Ousainou is a winning candidate is a farce. Any candidate that stands at the top of a single
unified coalition in the Gambia right now will have won the elections. So the winning factor we have is not in a candidate
or party, rather the wining factor is the COALITION! Thus by refusing to move away from its position, the UDP has
contributed to endangering the Gambia equally. We can rationalize these issues now, but if Yaya Jammeh is returned to
power on November 25, am sure many Gambians, on reflection will come to realize the cost of the opposition split and
certainly all of us will have no option but to place the responsibility of a Yaya Jammeh victory on the opposition and their
leaders. Time will tell!
by Njie"
I am in agreement with the overall analyis of Njie above. We have a Hatfield - McCoy problem in UDP and PDOIS. Their actions and inactions brought us to this point. They have failed Gambians and no amount of counter vollies will excuse their lack of regard for the plight of Gambia under the clutches of a murderous regime. To Halifa and Ousainou, Gambians will never forget your handywork. However, we will pick up the pieces and the people will prevail. You managed to put us down, but we are resilliant and will never stay down. We shall rise up and be the agents of our ouw change. Folks we have a lot of work ahead, so be ready to be your own change.
Joe
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html
To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤‘Party-led’ or ‘convention’ – it is now clear that the Opposition have not achieved what is required to save the Gambia
from self-destruction from a murderous regime that is all too clear for one to see. The split by the opposition once again
demonstrates the value of the parties and leaders that this small country has. In the face of clear and present danger
posed by the ruling APRC to the very existence of the Gambia, our Opposition leaders have decided to fail Gambians at
the most defining moment, yet they and their supporters do not want anyone to put them under scrutiny for their failures.
How could we have an opposition that fails the nation in its most trying times and yet still we build the hope that they will
save the country when they assume power?
It appears our opposition are either ignorant of the writing on the wall of the imminent danger that this country faces or
they consider themselves to be more important than the present and future destiny of the Gambia. The profile of the
Gambia in the past 17 years shows clearly that there is self-perpetuating, tyrannical and violent regime in
place. You just have to count the number of Gambians who have lost their lives at the hands of soldiers,
police officers, personnel of the fire brigades, in our prisons, and by unidentified gunmen including other
armed men and women attached to the State though without any definition or identified role or name. How
many Gambians have been sacked without due process by the Executive even when it does not have the mandate to do
such sackings? How many members of the legislature and the judiciary as well as other statuary bodies such as the IEC,
NCCE, and Ombudsman have been sacked without regard to the constitutional provisions designed for such actions?
Yet how many Gambians have been tortured in our police, NIA and Prisons and confirmed in our courts without any
redress? How many Gambians have been subjected to arbitrary arrest and detention and even when the courts demand
that such persons be produced or released, the State refused to abide by these court orders in broad daylight? How
many Gambians have been forced to flee their land of birth simply because the State which is supposed to protect their
person and security rather became the very perpetrator of violence against these innocent Gambians?
How many Gambian business men and women have been forced to close down in order to satisfy the insatiable lust for
wealth by President Jammeh? Have we not seen that in 17 years we have produced a president that has personalized
and commercialized the State leading to the virtual dismantling of sound and genuine economic activities and growth,
and stifle the growth of private enterprises undertaking by well-meaning and hardworking Gambian men and women?
Are we not witness to a head of state that is weakening state institutions and corrupting and disempowering Gambians
at the same time, and using legality to legitimize his blatant corrupt and violent methods in all spheres of life in the
Gambia? How can we obtain justice when the house of justice has been handed over to non-Gambians, who bear no
affinity and feelings to neither the Gambian people nor do they have any allegiance to the Gambian nation, yet
paradoxically, we expect them to deliver justice for our citizenry? How can we have justice when judges, magistrates and
state counsels are hired for the money rather than to deliver justice for service to the Gambian nation? Have we not
seen the unbearable cost of living, high unemployment and taxation, excruciating poverty and deplorable living
conditions that the masses of our people live? In the face of such dastard maladministration, we have the most wasteful,
inefficient and unprofessional state in the region.
If these realities that are present and obvious in the Gambia did not inform the opposition as to what
course of action to take, how can we trust that these Opposition leaders share our feelings and passions
and will be there for us at our hour of need? By the split that has taken place among them, can any
Opposition leader tell Gambians right in our face that the people have therefore been strengthened further
by their decisions and actions?
A cursory analysis of our Opposition will indicate that their failure did not start with this split in 2011, rather our
opposition failed since 1997 when constitutional rule was supposed to return to the Gambia. In a democracy, the amount
of space that a ruling regime enjoys depends on the amount of space that the Opposition has occupied or conceded to
the regime. In our case, our Opposition has always conceded space to the regime to occupy to the extent that the
regime is now able to establish itself as a de-facto monarch. It is a pity that our Opposition does not know how to oppose
a regime, but to oppose themselves. Our Opposition has spent the better part of the last 17 years opposing each other
than really serving as a meaningful and mature alternative to the APRC. The amount of time and resources they
allocate and spend on attacks against each other - if such time and resources were qualitatively used to confront the
APRC, by now Yaya Jammeh would have had his tail between his legs in a very small cell in the Gambia or at the Hague!
Rather the Opposition conceded all of the space and allowed the APRC, in spite of its classic corruption, incompetence,
mismanagement and atrocities to shamelessly stand tall over Gambians as if we are not men and women!
So what has this split shown us? It demonstrates that our opposition is immature and given the mantel of state
leadership they are not going to be good decision makers. It has shown us that they will rather run away from
responsibilities and seek scapegoats even when the nation is shattering. This is very clear. If UDP, NRP, PDOIS, GPDP
(NADD does not exist because one party cannot form an alliance with itself even though PDOIS is ridiculously insisting
on it) can bear 17 years of Yaya Jammeh, it beats one’s imagination that anyone of them would reject the leadership of
another party among them for just 5 years for any reason especially give the clear and present danger that this country
faces? By going into two formations, these so-called alliances therefore have protected Yaya Jammeh’s chances to be
returned to power to the detriment of all Gambians. But more outrageous is the NRP-led coalition! It was Hamat who had
said long time ago that he was no going for any coalition and unleashed severe aspersions on his colleagues. For the
new kids on the block, the GMC - they had also publicly announced a long time ago that they were aligning with UDP. So
why did they finally abandon UDP in a meeting called by UDP itself for the making of an alliance only to surface with the
Convention group and then withdraw a few days later? Is this not laughable at best and insulting at worst! What
message is the GMC sending to us?
For PDOIS, it appears they have not yet distinguished the difference between classroom intellectualism and academism
and realpolitik. The art of assuming state power requires immense thinking and analysis. But the practical conditions
and realties on the ground require that such analysis and theories are inspired by the quality and extent of
circumstances and forces on the ground. This requires that strategic compromises, sacrifices and alliances be
developed. In other words, practical politics and strategic leadership require total understanding of the environment –
nature of leaders and parties, mindsets of the people and assessment of resources and power in one’s hands. In this
case one would realize that one may have to delay objectives, or even abandon key goals temporarily by prioritizing
objectives and conducting an environmental scanning, i.e. assessing strengths and opportunities as well as weaknesses
and threats in order to develop a theory of change.
This theory cannot always be smooth and straight like an even path. It has bumps, it can be derailed. It can stagnate
and even get confused and become totally uncontrollable. But all this is merely for a transitory period as long as there is
a strong and strategic leadership that is also visionary and steadfast. This is where PDOIS failed most Gambians who
expected much to come from it even though it has the smallest support base. We recognize the quality of the party by
the quality of its intellect. Where PDOIS failed is to place theory over practice and focus more on the analysis than try to
understand the people and their conditions, its resources and extent of power, and the circumstances of the
environment and the rest of the stakeholders. PDOIS like all Gambians have to realize that our country is not democratic
even though it has all the paraphernalia of democracy. Many countries that have exploded had the same features. The
APRC regime is a militaristic and violent power without conscience.
The regime has no regard for the rule of law and democratic ideals. In this circumstances, each and every party and
citizen is required to exercise exceptional and strategic leadership and participation in order to bring about change,
peacefully and nonviolently, not by solely deepening and trusting the democratic institutions and processes, but rather
by utilizing people’s power and exploiting and exposing the weaknesses of the regime. Utilizing people’s power requires
that the parties form a single alliance and ensure that most people vote for it so that even with the strength of
incumbency and corruption of the regime cannot obtain majority vote. Thus when it loses, it makes it easier to mobilize
the masses and garner international support against the regime. The opposition has to ensure that in fighting a
militarist, violent and unscrupulous regime, you do not only need a win, but a landslide that will put the regime in a total
position of weakness and place the opposition in a position of power. This is the practical analysis that PDOIS failed to
realize hence together with its colleagues generated a situation where the people’s power have now been seriously
diluted.
A UDP-led alliance is not only cheaper, but also more convenient and practical at this stage. A convention is a long term
project for the Gambia that came too late in the day, and is laden with potential risk factors. The fact that it went
smoothly at the Atlantic Hotel was mainly because they had to prove UDP and party-led supporters wrong. Thus it was a
matter of survival that they came out seemingly successful. But indeed there was no success for the Gambia as the
failure to allow the only and single UDP-led coalition to emerge disempowers the masses and strengthens the APRC
regime. The UDP-led coalition may not be the best option we could have, but in the circumstances it is the most
practicable tool at our disposal.
However let it also be said that the UDP exercised total disregard of the circumstances and demonstrated poor
leadership by arrogantly insisting on either their way or no way. Just because UDP is the largest party does not
necessarily indicate that it therefore has to lead by any means. The UDP should have been aware of the circumstances
of the Gambia and demonstrate leadership that does not allow the weakening of the people. Given that we are talking
about a five-year transition, the UDP must be prepared to support any smaller party to ensure that this regime is booted
out first. The idea that Ousainou is a winning candidate is a farce. Any candidate that stands at the top of a single
unified coalition in the Gambia right now will have won the elections. So the winning factor we have is not in a candidate
or party, rather the wining factor is the COALITION! Thus by refusing to move away from its position, the UDP has
contributed to endangering the Gambia equally. We can rationalize these issues now, but if Yaya Jammeh is returned to
power on November 25, am sure many Gambians, on reflection will come to realize the cost of the opposition split and
certainly all of us will have no option but to place the responsibility of a Yaya Jammeh victory on the opposition and their
leaders. Time will tell!
by Njie"
I am in agreement with the overall analyis of Njie above. We have a Hatfield - McCoy problem in UDP and PDOIS. Their actions and inactions brought us to this point. They have failed Gambians and no amount of counter vollies will excuse their lack of regard for the plight of Gambia under the clutches of a murderous regime. To Halifa and Ousainou, Gambians will never forget your handywork. However, we will pick up the pieces and the people will prevail. You managed to put us down, but we are resilliant and will never stay down. We shall rise up and be the agents of our ouw change. Folks we have a lot of work ahead, so be ready to be your own change.
Joe