Demba

Points well taking. I would think all of your points can do us good.

However, we have to have a beginning of whatever. What I mean is a Nation Unity government supposedly will come after Yahya is down. How do we defeat Yahya? Who defeat Yahya will largely determine what happen in the aftermath. 

Should he go down through an intervention of our struggle, we will be in pole position to advocate and probably manage National Unity govt. On the other hand if Yahya is down through several other ways we will largely not be at the table to contribute what should happen.

We should find that 1/2 or whatever number is it that we can work on to pressure the dismantling of Yahya power. That will lead to his demise and as well place us in a bargaining position.

Everything on the table we should initiate a serious national dialogue with a view to come up with a program of the people. Otherwise 'post Yahya' may likely be something worse than that of Yahya era. 

Several pieces of a broader political push are happening on  ad-hoc basis and what we need is a National Concerted Effort with a clear democracy agenda. We can do it, we have to come together and listen to one another.

We also have to lower the obsession over Yahya. He is bad - no question. We are making him feel relevant than he should. It is also politically untenable to ask for his removal before anything.

Lets make Gambia (Democracy & Republic) the issue. That will leave everything else irrelevant to the extent we deviate from those issues. On the other hand we will be relevant to the extent we stay focus on those 2 issues.

Equally this has little to do with political parties as they currently constituted. They're operating under the assumption we're in a normal democratic political environment. Hence they want to conform with laws and contest elections. They can assume leadership of the struggle if they modified to a broader political operation with preparedness to break off and adopt militancy when and where necessary. That is a difficult call to make and  I prefer leaving that to the organizations to see if they're up to that task.

However, me and you and many others has almost an open ended opportunity to make this work with very little risk to our life and property.

Lets discuss.


Burama

On Oct 20, 2013, at 5:14 PM, Demba Baldeh <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Thanks Burama for sharing your thoughts. I have been thinking along these lines a lot as well. However, I was wondering if Gambians should begin to think about a Government of National unity post Jammeh? This government should probably consist of a combination of very competent people who will oversee the restoration of Democratic institutions, rule of law, and good governance. Don't you also think that as more of our people become more politically aware, we should start to detach our politics from personalities instead towards institutions/parties where one individual like Jammeh will never again be able to dictate the terms of their political party much more a country?

What are your thoughts on this folks?

Thanks

Demba


On Sat, Oct 19, 2013 at 4:04 PM, Burama FL Jammeh <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Talking about it would have more meaning had we had/have plan working on that realization. Such plan would dictate the way and manner Yahya is defeated and broader democratic governance is arranged and decentralized.

In the absence of a(the) plan for our struggle, how Yahya falls and who manages that process will largely depend on his successor and not me and you with our wish list.

I don't know what will happen. I don't see what will happen the next minute much more in an hour or day or year. However, I hold the view it can't be any different from 'Post Jawara". That is Yahya overthrew him and rule us based on his desires. I can't see anyway Yahya fall and not on our terms.

Should he die of natural cause - I would assume some military rule. I would be surprise if the letter of the Constitution is followed, that is VP ascend to the presidency until so-called IEC organize a general election as prescribed by the Constitution.

Falling through an election gives a better chance for pluralistic participation but there are no guarantees the leader would not concentrate power under his/her armpit. In fact our socio-cultures and socio-economics largely encourages such behavior. That was/is partly why both Jawara and Yahya became more powerful than the sovereign people of The Republic of The Gambia.

Falling through a coup definitely mean the coup leader will impose his/her will. In fact s/he is likely to arrogantly ask us to be patience because we've let Jawara for 30 years and Yahya 20 and counting. Remember those are some of Yahya's lazy arguments when he's desperate.

He will certainly not vaporize in thin. Humans don't and he will not. I have friends who kept telling me he will not last the year. That was more than a decade ago - Yahya is still here and kicking. The Pharaohs was more brutal than Yahya is every which way (that's according to biblical literature), yet he last long period before sinking at the bottom of the Red Sea.

So the question I have for all those whoever postulate about post Yahya; what are your assumption of ending Yahya? Knowing all these assumptions could probably give us a base for planning 'A People Centered' downing of Yahya and consequently manage the aftermath on our terms. Unless we dictate how Yahya go down we cannot guarantee what we think Gambia should be after him.

There are very good ideas out there! The problem seem to be our inability to get out of our comfort zones to confront our problem as one nation. Surely many efforts were tried but hardly any is truly based on 'Making Gambia A Functioning Democratic Republic. Certainly it may seem that was the case but almost all trials were to house this effort through a political party and/or groups of political parties. Nothing against political party(ies). In fact I supported and voted at least once for a party. If I am still in The Gambia I would surely vote for one. Gambia is more concerning to me than my allegiance to a particular leader.

The nature of our problem(s) is(are) beyond the scope of the conventional role(s) political party. Multipartyism by nature seek divergence of views and in the contrary we seek everyone in opposition to Yahya to support one person is a natural contravention to human nature itself. Fortunately we can ask all including those supporting Yahya to stand with us of the question of our founding as a nation - 'A Democratic Republic of The Gambia'. Notice that the words 'Democratic' and 'Republic' in that official name has a meaning never known to the average Gambian. This is the only common reference as citizens of that nation we can truly call upon everyone. Everything else we will likely differ.

To conclude, I want to tell you the reader that these problem(s) will not go away until we solve it. We can choose to remain in our groups of comfort/agreement, or pretend they don't exist, or in denial of it all, or keep arguing amongst self without a pathway to action point, etc. History will judge us failing a nation that has contributed to the development of her human capital that has gone awol in times of her need.

Please let us open the doors of fruitful dialogue that do not focus on how bad is Yahya(that's known)......but what is the problem, what should be done, what's the appropriate vehicle(s) and what's our role. These may seem fundamental but our failure of strategical planning left us disjointed far too long and in the meantime Yahya has climbed from strength to strength.

I will be glad to support whoever want to coordinate this effort. We can cheaply start over the internet, Skype, telephone, etc. Basically collecting/sharing with individuals and/or groups who has plans/thoughts/views on the way forward. This will be an interactive process that will log all the good ideas with a view of having a national dialogue to agree on a platform and its vehicle that we will take to Banjul. This in my view will better inform us 'A Post Yahya Gambia' because we will be at the table when its happening.

Please share your thoughts, views, suggests, comments, questions, etc.

Burama FL Jammeh
Founder/General Secretary
The People's Movement for Democratic Gambia

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Facebook.com/buramajammeh
Twitter.com/@bfljammeh
Skype.com/bfljammeh
810 844 6040

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