I will come back to give perspectives. Kah does have some good points BUT severely misplaced.


Why is the PPP era relevant to the big show Jammeh managed in this elections one may wonder, well, come to think of
it, if we look at it squarely we will see the answer, it may not appear obvious but the links are apparent, during it's tenure
in office for three decades, the rural areas were the most neglected, hardly can one find a solid structure apart from the
groundnut selling centres the 'seccos' cooperative centres. The villages or even the main so called towns do not have
any facilities or amenities, the absence of basic institutions was glaringly obvious, the only good schools if any were
mostly missionary schools scattered across the country side. The Government had no initiatives, they built no Roads,
Schools, Hospitals, Health Centres, nothing. There were no boreholes , the wells from which animals and humans share
as sources of drinking water were primitive, there was hardly any electrification in the rural communities, hence the
people were almost living or experiencing conditions only akin to the stone age. This was the Gambia Jammeh inherited
from Jawara's rule, for three decades they cannot show anything to the people in terms of development, in fact in the
urban areas there was only one government high school, The Gambia High School and in the rural area - was Armitage.
Since independence the state cannot account for building any tertiary school but one, most of the institutions in
operation were institutions inherited at independence.

The situation was so dire that donkeys use to transport pregnant women to nearby hospitals found in main towns such
as Basse, Bansang or Brikama and these were more like reception centres than hospitals, with such a legacy it only
needed a simple novice to do little to convince the people that there is a different development blue print that is doable
and achievable and this is the script the APRC came with.

As soon as the AFPRC/APRC took the helm in 1994, they wasted no time embarking on development programmes that
had unprecedented impact in the lives of the ordinary people. The people in the rural areas started to experience the
real presence of government in the sense of concrete infrastructural programmes, these projects became an eye
opener to the local people that with a dedicated leader they can can register a difference in their lives. At the onset the
people were not convinced, as the AFPRC was essentially composed of soldiers, hence when they metamorphosed and
disposed of their military outfits, the people were still to be convinced and at the same time the PPP machinery was not
completely dismantled, they were able to gather and rally around the newly founded party UDP lead by the veteran
lawyer fondly known as Lawyer Ousainou Darbo. At the first elections held after the inauguration of the new constitution
heralding the second republic, it is believed in many circles that the UDP probably won that elections. This is adduced
for the simple reason that the reception Darbo was attracting all across the country suggested that he was more popular
than the metamorphosed junta. Fast forward, in 2006, the support base of the UDP starts to dwindle, because by then
Jammeh had started consolidating, using the state machinery and the politics of patronage a lot of people switched side
joining the ruling APRC government, by then they have become more astute and sophisticated politicians, they were no
longer green horns, they had developed good well groomed politicians such as Yankuba, Fatou Jahumpa, and Baba
Jobe. These crop of politicians were very articulated and very conversant with the political parlance.

Notwithstanding Jammeh continued to register more programmes of development, albeit loans and grants, he was being
credited as championing, bridges, rural trunk roads, water boreholes, for clean drinking water, schools, hospitals etc.
With all these projects happening at an unprecedented rate the ordinary people are bound to be impressed, they were
witnessing development hitherto unseen in the history of the country and these projects were across regions, tribes and
villages. Jammeh provided farming machinery, to most rural communities, he adopted his philosophy as eat what you
grow and grow what you eat. This became a catch phrase; he castigated the west for not helping or complimenting his
development agenda, Jammeh portrayed himself as a man of pragmatism, he would be shown farming with the locals, he
preached about back to the land, this became a slogan for all Gambians all these thing seemed to have resonated with
the ordinary people. Whilst all these were happening, the media was reinforcing the virtues of his excellency extolling it
to a an unprecedented hype at the same time the opposition parties were never accorded a voice to sell their
programmes or give any explanation as to what was happening. Every development was attributed to his excellency, the
level of sycophancy became unprecedented. In the mean time the opposition was conspicuously absent, all voices of
dissent muzzled.

The television and radio was being used to portray Jammeh as the most benevolent a very religious, kind and very
giving person, people ululate about his accomplishments which is constantly shown on Television, the private media with
draconian media laws is cowed, therefore no alternative voices exist, to challenge anything any opinion expressed in
favour of Jammeh. In such circumstances with a weakened opposition and very lame civic society, the by product is
obvious and that is a society, that is genuinely grateful and at the same time intimidated.

Armed with a formula for development and a machinery for intimidation, Jammeh has effectively discovered his moment
of Eurika. He has a formula that can win him an election every time he contest, in fact his machinery is much more
sophisticated than that of Jawara. Jawara was a smooth talker with no development credentials, Jammeh is hard talker
with development credentials and this explains why the Gambian people gave him a resounding victory.
Many of us in the diaspora are bewildered by the results but come to think of it our concerns and those on the ground
are bound to be different, we are more pre-occupied with human rights and the due process of law as well as freedom of
expression, well the ordinary people in the rural community do not share such concerns, after all they do not write
anything controversial or advocate for anything that will put them in conflict against the state, hence they have no one
intimidating them. All they care about is having a good harvest, good marketing, good roads, hospitals and schools and
when it comes to these Jammeh is delivering. With regards to human rights, of course it is vey important indeed, but
speak to most people in the urban and peri-urban areas, they would lament to you that most of those incarcerated by
Yaya Jammeh were former thugs, who executed heinous things toward the populace there is little sympathy and people
are not willing to die for such collaborators who helped torture and maltreated them. With regards to freedom of
expression of course they care and would want to see more opening, but Jammeh is not relenting on this one and this is
more of a concern to the elite than the average Gambian who can hardly read.

The politicians in the opposing camp did not do themselves any favours as well, up to the eleventh hour to a major
elections, they were locked in a room arguing about the modalities of forging a united front, whiles the candle of time
was burning slowly against them. This attitude hindered by lack of media access as well as funds to engage the
electorate, has dented any prospects of making any impression all these factors conspired against them hence Jammeh
was left to sail home unhindered.
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