From: Lamin Darbo <[log in to unmask]>
To: GAMBIA-L <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tue, Nov 22, 2011 3:27 pm
Subject: [G_L] Fw: Petition to Party Leaders on a united front for November 24
Fellow Gambians
At the suggestion of Yero Jallow of Gainako Online Newspaper, some Diaspora-based supporters of the Gambian opposition contacted certain party leaders on impending talks for a united front against the APRC in presidential elections slated for November 24.
Acting on my conviction that Halifa Sallah - leader of the People’s Democratic Organisation for Independence and Socialism (PDOIS) - was the major stumbling block to a potential deal on a united opposition front, I contacted him by email to plead my case for why unity was imperative against a powerful incumbent like Professor Jammeh.
Convinced this is significant material for the public record, I provide fellow Gambians with a verbatim record of that conversation with Halifa Sallah for a better appreciation of how the opposition arrived at its current destination due mainly to one man’s intransigence. He abandoned the conversation without explanation.
I ask that editors retain the integrity of the material by publishing it as forwarded. Text colouration was part of the actual conversation, and should be maintained if at all possible.
Lamin J Darbo
----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Lamin J Darbo <>
To: LJDarbo <>
Sent: Tuesday, 22 November 2011, 19:58
Subject: FW: Petition to Party Leaders on a united front for November 24
Date: Mon, 19 Sep 2011 11:39:34 +0000
Just a reminder I still await fulfilment of the promise you made in your last mail (see below). Please let me know where we stand as far as that ongoing conversation Lamin
Date: Mon, 5 Sep 2011 22:42:57 +0000
Thank you and I await further views from you. On public issues, I am wholly committed to civility and good faith. Lamin
From: halifa
Subject: Re: Petition to Party Leaders on a united front for November 24
To: dabanani
Sent: Monday, September 5, 2011 12:19 AM
Please refer below to Dr Abdoulie Saine's piece I referenced earlier At the very end (highlighted in red), his proposal of a UDP-led united front constitutes a sea change from his views in 2006 when he asked Ousainu Darboe to step aside. He clearly did not arrive at this position lightly, and I think this pragmatism is based mainly on the view that this route apart, the likelihood of opposition victory over President Jammeh is impossible.
Lamin J Darbo ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: halifa
From: halifa
Subject: Re: Petition to Party Leaders on a united front for November 24
To: dabanani
Please refer to letter intended for you and other oposition leaders reportedly engaged in exploratory unity talks for November 24 Thanks for your time
Lamin J Darbo -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In light of the intricate challenges threatening our nation's very survival, the current crop of opposition leaders have a special rendezvous with destiny. I implore them to follow the stars that will lead to a new dawn for The Gambia. I hope they follow the path of courage and determination and Gambia shall forever be grateful. A nation's hopes for peaceful change are solidly in their hands. How tragic if that sacred trust should be desecrated for want of political courage and vision!
From: Lamin J Darbo <>
To: LJDarbo <>
Sent: Tuesday, 22 November 2011, 19:58
Subject: FW: Petition to Party Leaders on a united front for November 24
From: dabanani
To: halifa
Subject: FW: Petition to Party Leaders on a united front for November 24
Dear Halifa
From: dabanani_
To: halifa
Subject: RE: Petition to Party Leaders on a united front for November 24
Dear Halifa
Date: Mon, 5 Sep 2011 15:03:36 -0700
Dear Lamin
Thank you for the article.I will do a critique of it. I think i will be able to convince you that our position is pragmatic.I will be willing to surrender to any suggestion given by you if you ultimately disagee with my view.I hope we will continue the exchanges in good faith.
Halifa
Thank you for the article.I will do a critique of it. I think i will be able to convince you that our position is pragmatic.I will be willing to surrender to any suggestion given by you if you ultimately disagee with my view.I hope we will continue the exchanges in good faith.
Halifa
From: Lamin J Darbo dabanani
To: Halifa Sallah
Sent: Monday, September 5, 2011 12:19 AM
Subject: RE: Petition to Party Leaders on a united front for November 24
Dear Halifa
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Date: Sun, 4 Sep 2011 16:40:25 -0700
Subject: Re: Petition to Party Leaders on a united front for November 24
To: dabanani
Dear Lamin
Thank you for the observations.I would be grateful if you would acquaint me with Dr Saine's observations.?I am not sure whether you are referring to the one i read which castigated all opposition leaders as cowards who cannot take on the regime.I will engage you constructively once i get the article you are referring to.
Halifa
From: Lamin J Darbo
To: Halifa Sallah
Sent: Sunday, September 4, 2011 8:05 PM
Subject: RE: Petition to Party Leaders on a united front for November 24
Dear Halifa Indeed, I read your interview with The Point, and as a person interested in a united opposition front against the incumbent, the only significant aspect of that conversation centres on the vexing issue of how a flag bearer is selected for 24 November. Disappointingly, it harks back to the NADD flag bearer selection system, as well as mirroring that of Agenda 2011. I have serious doubts about the workability of your insistence on united front flag bearer selection mechanisms that consistently devalues the objective might of the UDP in any such project. To insist that even clearly marginal players like the PPP be entitled to delegate numbers equalling those of the UDP is to fundamentally ensure failure even before the process effectively commences. This is regarded by many, including the likes of
Dr Abdoulie Saine, and some of your very own Diaspora-based supporters, as calculated to thwart a deal on a united front. Considering Dr Saine's position in 2006, the shift in his thinking is of fundamental significance.On the objective record, there appears to be no question the selection mechanisms for NADD , as well Agenda 2011, both originated with you. You are also the architect of National Conference/Convention system floated in your Point interview for selecting a united front presidential candidate for the November contest. It should by now be obvious that independent minded Gambians are not taken in by supposedly impartial presidential flag bearer selection systems which consistently failed in garnering any positive result on opposition unity.
My view is that as proposed by you, the so-called National Conference/Convention is a roadblock to the unity agenda, notwithstanding the apparently high minded "non partisan Selection Committee" for supposedly ensuring fairness in electing a presidential candidate. In sum, I think it is in your interest to seriously ponder what Gambians yearn for, and drop your express and implicit conditions around the united opposition candidate issue. If you have worries around "self perpetuation" and other negative traits in our public life post-Jammeh, that ought to be catered for in guarantees you should seek from other parties, e.g., the UDP as the largest opposition party.
Another observation I should highlight is that when I emailed you, I addressed you by name, and closed with my own name. Courtesy dictates you do the same, and your failure to embrace this basic aspect of communication protocol is strongly suggestive of irritation, or at the very least, of a lack of interest in any intervention that fails to actively support your vision. As you regularly highlight in your public conversations, sovereign Gambians like myself are masters of our own destinies. We have independent minds and will contribute to the national dialogue according to our considered view of the best interests of Gambian polity.
Again, thanks for your time.
Lamin J Darbo
Date: Sat, 3 Sep 2011 11:51:18 -0700
Thanks for your concern. Have you read my interview in the point. What is your opinion? We are proposing the holding of a National Conference or Convention to select a flag bearer.
From: Lamin J Darbo
To: halifa
Sent: Saturday, September 3, 2011 8:52 AM
Subject: Petition to Party Leaders on a united front for November 24
Dear Halifa
Adrift in the political waters: the crushing humiliation awaiting a fragmented opposition on November 24
“The lesson is clear, we cannot fight in isolation”
Dr Fox, The Gambia Echo
In just over two months, The Gambian elects a Chief Executive for a fresh five year term. If the country’s opposition leaders continue their current conduct in refusing even to engage each other in purposeful talks, much less agree the architecture of a united front against an all-powerful incumbent, the person who assumes the mantle of President will not be Ousainu Darboe, leader of the UDP. He will neither be Hamat Bah of the opposition NRP, nor Halifa Sallah of PDOIS.
A fragmented opposition on November 24 can deliver only one outcome, and that verdict will not be what a suffocating nation yearns for. If only to restate what, to a person, observers at home and abroad accurately surmised, there is no question a fragmented opposition will comprehensively collapse in any, and all efforts, to electorally consign APRC to the archives of Gambian politics. Such an outcome cannot, under any plausible reasoning, be assignable to the electoral appeal of His Excellency Sheikh Professor Alhaji Doctor Yahya A J J Jammeh, Nasiru Deen (the Professor), but to the decidedly one-sided nature of Gambian public life, with the state, and its entire coercive arsenal, controversially concentrated in one
person.
Indeed, the current crop of bona fide opposition leaders expressly preamblised in the Memorandum of Understanding of the defunct NADD that “no single opposition party can put an end to self perpetuating rule given the culture of patronage, intimidation and inducement that has already taken root in the political life of the country”. Clearly this prognosis is as relevant today as it was in 2005. In light of this admission, it is extraordinary that 2011 is shaping to be a possible four-way contest for the presidency of the Republic of The Gambia. Without question, an opposition vote split three ways, will go down in humiliating defeat to the APRC. And it cannot be overemphasised that in an unrelenting dictatorship, the presidential contest offers
absolutely no consolation prize!
A political environment anchored in lawlessness and self perpetuation, with their full panoply of attendant perversions of democratic accountability, cannot but further corrode the fabric of our public life. And a state of affairs where a sizeable segment of the population accepts governmental heavy-handedness as normal, and the majority lives in fear, cannot, in any way, be a harbinger of pleasant tidings for Gambian polity. In light of our quite precarious existence, it is astounding that opposition Gambia - having explicitly recognised that alone as entities, none can compete with that juggernaut of the Gambian state, aka the Professor, and his ruling APRC - are still bent on a fragmented presidential contest in a mere three months.
Our country resides at somewhat of a permanent crossroads since 1994, but an explosion in civic awareness meant a decision must now be made to vacate that location and continue the national political journey. Will the decision to leave the fork in the road be made by Professor in a trademark unilateralism that cements his notion of himself as embodiment of nationhood and national security, and of all that is good for Gambian republicanism. Or will the decision be made collaboratively in genuine national conversations in the scant months, weeks, and days, to November 24?.
For now, that decision lies mainly with the Professor as sole custodian of our national police power. After November 24, the journey must continue, and depending on the reality, or perception, surrounding the outcome of the presidential poll, in a potentially more chaotic, free for all manner. Travelling the latter route will almost certainly end in regrettable tragedy for The Gambia, not necessarily in the immediate aftermath of the polls, but somewhere along the inevitably arduous stretch to 2016.
Notwithstanding the potential disaster of cohesive collapse heralded by the storm clouds over our national space, a fully united opposition front against the Professor on November 24 can avoid the tragedy of unrest inherent in limitless executive power. Regardless of the ultimate outcome under a united front, the opposition performance could be compelling enough to materially enlarge the democratic space by eliminating the extreme manifestations of arbitrary executive conduct from Gambian public space.
Even accepting that Diaspora Gambia’s views on the slow pace of opposition unity talks for the presidential contest may irritate some party leaders, I reject the contention that the decision on whether to unite or not remains their exclusive prerogative. As stakeholders, the opposition’s supporters are entitled to a say on how the November elections ought to be contested, and our verdict is a near unanimous call for unity. It is my view that, as the victims of tyranny, and the intended beneficiaries of dislodging APRC from our councils of state, any project in this regard is our enterprise. Clearly crucial to providing direction and momentum to the ultimate success of that enterprise, the party leaders are nevertheless mere trustees of a vital national
project. As fiduciaries, their duty is to the people they intend to liberate from the clutches of tyranny. Their duty is to us, and we accordingly have standing to challenge their vision on the way forward. I urge Gambians to do precisely that in this crucial period for unification negotiations!
Notwithstanding the public pronouncements of opposition leaders provisionally committing to a united front, they may still be of the view that referring to 2011 as a make or break year mischaracterises the magnitude of our national condition. Even to the casual observer, the overwhelming evidence of the gathering storm over our national space must be obvious. The relentless atmosphere of repression is simply not sustainable, and something has clearly got to give. On the grounds that no Gambian deserves to suffer in a civil conflict over the absence of genuinely inclusive and participatory democracy, I still contend for the proposition that the electoral process must be the principal route and a united front the main vehicle for ushering in change. Against
a fragmented opposition, however, it is delusional to even suggest the electoral vulnerability of APRC under our first-past-the-post system. In the best of current political circumstances, no single party can come close to effectively challenging the APRC electoral machine. .
And so they are not amiss in anchoring their hopes and policies firmly in reality, national leaders who toy with any form of parochialism are better advised to accept that Gambia’s communities are eternally damned to a common fate, whatever that may be. We are condemned to survive or collapse as a national community, not as communities within a nation. Sink or swim, we must experience our plight as a collective. That fate is absolute and allows for no variation whatsoever!
Never in doubt about the agonising challenge of fashioning a workable united front, I am nevertheless of the firm view that those who aspire to the rarefied task of directing the destiny of a nation must be mature and pragmatic enough to appreciate and navigate the bottlenecks inherent to a project of such critical import. We are alive to the reality that a deal for a united front is bound to present special problems of intense agony. However, trapped as we are in a totalitarian system without independently viable institutions, the challenge for our opposition leaders is akin to that of America's founding fathers, those architects of statehood who carved the world's most distinguished political jurisdiction out of extremely acute conditions. Their enduring
legacy is not the phenomenal and extraordinary material prosperity of the United States, but the creation of a nation of laws, and a land, even if at incremental paces, of liberty.
There is no defensible rationale to suggest that Gambians are incapable of instituting a governmental system based on the rule of law. The notion, in some quarters, that God installed the Professor and that we are therefore divinely required to accord him unquestioned obeisance until the naturally ordained time for his departure, must be rejected as manifestly stupid. Every people have control over their destiny, and as God does not install despots, He leaves them in place for as long as they remain unchallenged. By our apathy we allowed despotism to thrive wonderfully. As a people we chose failure in permitting the Professor to exercise a fierce stranglehold over our public life. It is therefore not contentious to argue that we
have a right to redemption through a united opposition front for 2011.
I have no hesitation in commending our opposition leaders for the very idea of united front exploratory talks on this third day of September 2011, but the Gambian populace will reserve its accolades for the final ratification of an enterprise whose true significance, in the fullness of time, will rank for us as among the seminal political achievements and events of human history. A wrong turn and our accelerating demise into a failed state will be confirmed beyond question. The relentless repression of the Professor’s APRC regime threatens a national break up and opposition leaders must never share in that responsibility by scuppering the only peaceable strategy to rid The Gambia of persistent repression.
Ala The Gambia Echo’s Dr Fox, the lesson is indeed clear that we cannot fight in isolation. What Ousainu, Hamat, Halifa, and their colleagues in lesser parties do may constitute part of their leadership prerogative, but opposition foot-soldiers are calling for nothing short of a genuine united front against Professor Jammeh in the November presidential contest.
I sincerely hope you can give us a united front!
Lamin J Darbo
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