The proposed Unity Rallies comprising of UDP, PPP, NRP, and GMC are scheduled to take place
on Saturday December 14th
These unprecedented gatherings are the result of the ongoing collaboration between the opposition
parties on the ground and the diverse diaspora community as represented by the Committee For
The Restoration of Democracy in The Gambia (CORDEG).The purpose of the rallies are to bring all
the forces of democracy under one tent and then jointly fight the necessary battle to end tyranny.
We call on all Gambians to show solidarity by supporting these critical efforts to bring our people
together. We are specifically asking our compatriots on the ground to clear their schedules, shake
their fears, and turn out in historic numbers to attend these two events. The key to resolving our
long national nightmare is unity, dedication, and focusing on the cause that only we the Gambian
people must pursue. We ask all who can provide resources to do so, those who can help with turn
out through family and community connections to do so and more importantly we solicit the prayers
and good wishes of all Gambians for the ultimate success of all the endeavors associated with the
fight for justice. May God guide our actions. Thank you!
CORDEG and GUC Rallies Communications.
2013 in Serrekunda, and Sunday December 15th
2013 in Brikama.
> Date: Tue, 10 Dec 2013 00:12:21 -0500
> From: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [G_L] The Human Capital Balance Sheet of Our Nation: Assets & Liabilities/Owner’s Equities
> To: [log in to unmask]
>
> Our the years I have articulated my views of our political problems and possible solutions. I’ve not only expressed my views but also advanced a proposal that will address these problems. In additions I wrote and circulated a document titled ‘The Working Paper” in draft that detailed out democratic governance arrangements from Banjul right down to the villages with clearly separated powers. In that documents I went to an extent to deliberate how such arrangement can be put in place and safe guard its functionality to serve our nation as a people rather than accentuating an individual or few’s interest.
>
> Am I right/wrong? Would it work/not work? I don’t know unless tried/tested. It may and/or may not work. I would hope history has that answer. However, I pride myself for coming up with a proposal. Beyond concept, 2 important features of this proposal are - stepwise showing what needs to be done/how/when/where, etc and what my role will be if called upon by the nation/peers/struggle. The later is important in that I will not expect/demand of others what I will ordinarily shy away from - like going to war.
>
> My proposed solutions seem to be different from the mainstream of our struggle (or at least some perceived it so). I used [seem] because I don’t personally believe there is difference to our underlying goal or even the approach. Although there are few or no comprehensively articulated proposals how we solve our problems many seem to settle for ‘The Removal of Yahya First’ as the primary goal or first order of business. This group view Yahya as the/maybe the only problem. I disagreed with this view not because Yahya is not a problem but there is hardly no practical means of achieving that political objective outright. By the way am not opposed to Yahya going first but how will that be done at this stage is what doesn’t readily lend itself to our struggle. If anyone has a practical plan/proposal please share it - mere utterance of sentimental statements are not going to remove Yahya.
>
> Of course there’re several ways that could remove Yahya anytime. Unfortunately we’re not likely to dictate the eventual outcomes of any such eventualities should they happen today. We’re neither organized nor mobilized into any credible force that any assuming powers will likely listen to. They’re as follows:
>
> Natural Death
> Elections
> Military Coup
>
> The election route is the closet to us unfortunately is the least likely of the 3 simply because Yahya is a contestant and at the same time the referee of such elections.
>
> On the contrary I suggested for us to work to put in place a National Face (National Organization) that garners political leverage that can force Yahya to political negotiations for democracy, a rewrite of the constitution, rearrangement of governance structures and protection of human rights. I am not that naive to think our goodwill or nice smile will incentivize Yahya to such lofty grand standing……..it’s the fear/value of the levers that will force him to negotiate. I also stated that this is no short-term endeavor and I haven’t seen any viable short-term answer to problems that have being in the making all of the almost 50 years of our nationhood.
>
> Whether these are differences or not….i consider myself a loyal member of our struggle. We may seem to disagree on strategies and maybe even on the broader goal but you can always count me as member without reservation. In one of my writings I pointed out that I am no convert into the struggle. What I meant by that was I have never supported Yahya even when the overthrow of Jawara administration was announced on Radio Gambia. Yet I was no fan of Jawara either. My position has always been democracy - thick or thin! More importantly critical thinking, differences and tough questions should not only be encourage but cherish not only for our struggle but to better move our nation forward. If we’re looking to ask our political leaders especially Yahya hard question we should be prepared to take even harder and uncomfortable questions ourselves. People of a vibrant society or one wanting to become one should not expect of individual members be ‘dead-fish’ (carried along flow of tides) and I welcome no stone left unturned. Such a rigorous debate done in good faith can only bring the best out of all of us and consequently advance our common cause.
>
> Recently I was taken back by a respond from an esteem colleague of mind in the struggle - Demba Baldeh. Over the years Demba has not only become a partner in the struggle but a colleague/friend. Demba is a journalist. A profession which for me is the ‘Public Clearing Court’ of our struggle to receive and critically examine each word/positions/views, etc. Besides his professional role Demba is also good voice of the struggle through his own views and participation.
>
> Hereunder my original question posted at Gambia-L about dictatorship:
>
> “----Original Message-----
> From: Burama FL Jammeh <[log in to unmask]>
> To: GAMBIA-L <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Thu, Dec 5, 2013 10:51 am
> Subject: Dictatorship
>
> Just been curious about this elusive human phenomena - Dictatorship? Why Humans
> are instinctively dictators/power lust at least many?
>
> I haven’t come across any empirical and/or some form of quantitative study that
> help answer this question. If you know of any please let me know. However
> there’re lots of qualitative facts and/or observation that all point to human
> being is a conquering animal.
>
> From the Old Europe to Adolf Hitler is all barbarism. Of course new Europe
> especially Western Europe has made great strides with. Asia is still so so.
> Middle East/Arabic world still mimic their past which looks more like old
> Europe. Africa has come from territorial clans to kingdoms to nation states but
> the idea of rulers and imposition of that rulers wills are still alive. In fact
> to large extent some of the ruled aid the ruler on his/her crime ridden
> enterprises.
>
> The question I have and need your help - Why are human being dictators?
>
> Is it race, in our case tribes? Is it culture or livelihood or broader socio
> economics? Is it something else I haven’t even mention? Please whatever your
> take, elaborate a bit for analyses.
>
> Please consider ‘dictator’ beyond what a president or king or queen
> does/doesn’t. Look at it in our daily interaction as people and how one side
> want to override the other. I guess you can add intolerance! Be mindful not to
> derail out of topic.
>
> Thanks!
>
> Burama”
>
> Demba’s Response - A:
>
> “Good question Burama. But again this question cannot be answered in a vacuum. It is like asking why do human beings commit crimes. There is no right or wrong answer without putting it into context.
>
> Thanks
>
> Demba”
>
>
> Burama’s responded to Demba’s respond - A:
>
> “Demba
>
> You maybe right it will be difficult to answer in vacuum. That’s not what my curiosity is. One can conduct an independent empirical study with dependent variables to determine why.
>
> Numerous such studies are there that tells why crime/criminal. That area is compressively covered by social scientist and academicians.
>
> Collecting data on dictatorship maybe a challenge…..but I can run regressions to determine factors with an appreciable degree of precision. Equally wie can subject the outcome to statistical test to determine accuracy to certain probably.
>
> Regards
>
> Burama”
>
> Demba Responded - B:
>
> “Oh yeah Burama we are leaning more towards the academic theory right? It only complicates the whole fight for freedom and dignity and distracts us from prioritizing our struggle from FREE Gambia which is what this whole thing about.
>
> Have a good weekend.
>
> Demba”
>
> Burama’s Respond to Demba’s Respond - B:
>
> “Demba
>
> I don’t understand your”
>
> From a simply question - what( why) is it that make humans become dictators given the chance to theories and academics complicates our struggle and distracts us from prioritizing….… The gap in-between is wide for me.
>
> I always try to separate my national views to my person. Certainly my person, education, culture, religion, age, tribe, etc. may influence my thought processes but with matters dealing with the nation I tried as humanly as I can to make my reasoning based on democratic ideals and principle.
>
> Demba maybe responding in good faith but felt there is wrong undertone in his last respond. Maybe I am being too paranoid and/or hyper sensitive.
>
> Here are how I analyze/digest his responses
>
> In my question I asked if we are born or made dictator. Is it about our culture, socio-economic, race/tribes, etc. One would think since I advanced few factors that maybe possible determinants of dictatorship…….am certainly not saying/thinking dictatorship exist in vacuum as Demba reminded me. The word vacuum exist in another answer to another question in another debate…….hence I felt a pattern is developing. I don’t also think crime can explain dictators/dictatorship. They do use crime and ill to run a dictatorship. The human instinct to be dominant (to be a dictator) maybe psychic/natural existence - I don’t know for sure. On the other hand crime is a legal frame - adultery is not a crime in Gambia (certainly socially/religiously frowned) but a crime in Saudi Arabia. However my question was not what but why!
> There are right and wrong answers what’s a crime and why people commit crime - it’s call motive. It’s a crime in many or all the states in US to smoke cigarette under the age of 18 but its not a crime in The Gambia. The question of why people commit crime ( or why criminals) are usually explain by livelihood. Some crimes were also explained by mental state such as those who take comfort in killings and playing with the remains of the victims. The tendencies of crime and types of crimes per given locality are/can be determined. Certainly we in Gambia and many other developing nations are not yet information savvy but that’s difference from we can’t/it can’t. The point being we can give right and wrong answers to crime.
> Crime maybe an important tool in a dictatorship but the 2 are different - otherwise there would have been no need to create one of the 2 words
> I wouldn’t ask anyone for general purposes what or why crime/criminal. Because there exist existence studies I can refer to and reference. Unlike crime, dictatorship (the why question) has no such extensive literature to refer to. In fact I’ve asked for those with knowledge of the existence of such literature to help out with such sources
> I said I can study dictatorship provided I can put data together and/or compile it from secondary sources. I recognized it will be difficult because you have to first determine the factors that influence dictatorship - that’s hypothesis development. This process is the conceptual/theory part. Using the most suitable regression method one can simply run a test of that hypothesis. Statistics can be used to determine accuracy of the test results to certain probability. Stochasticities (randomness in all/some dependable variables) may make testing a hypothesis difficult but it’s not a no….they are accounted for in the error term. It’s a matter of more work! In fact every social science study has some degree of randomness and data is an important influence to test results……. maybe pure science laboratories can conduct experiment with exact factors.
> Theories and academics complicates/distracts our struggle is what struck me hard - is it to say we don’t need them for our struggle. Or is that an attempt to minimize/diminish/belittle education as a whole or my person (my skill set). Either one is not good. As I said before maybe am been paranoiac.
>
> Information/Basic Social Data Management is one of my articles 3-5 years ago. I argued the very essence of accurate information for decision making without which democracy cannot function adequately. I also took issue with lack of any or very little in our nation. I even suggested that an encrypted Excel Spread Sheet can handle things like National Birth Register, National Death Register, Auto Vehicle Register, National Voter Register, etc. if we can’t afford specialized or customized softwares. I also hammered our inability to improve on the basic accounting of government functions from where colonials left. Gambia still pay in cash - there’s nothing wrong with this until you begin to consider how many things can go wrong without a documentary prove and the fixes are simple and operationally cheaper. In that article I argued that Gambia Government cannot prove they issued my birth certificate because no register and/or accurate register exist. I cited the fact that my kids were issued several birth certificates due to erroneous name spellings and each copy has a different serial number without reference to the previous. Do they exist in the register if there is one that much times? In this age of computing beyond imagination anyone can produce such documents with ease. Unless one has an impeccable system of documentation and verification how can one be certain that document is yours.
>
> This is to buttress the need for good information and manners to achieve it. Academics or theories are neither a distraction nor complication to our struggle and/or nation building in general. Instead theories/hypothesis/academics are not just good but essential! We should go to the extra mile to use them as much as we practically could - it can only make us more credible.
>
> That said those with skills to afford our nation with this material benefit should not be overlooked and/or be thrown a low blow. Instead it should be cherish and encourage so that if and when we came out of these difficult situations we can count on these necessary human capital to set sail this wrecked ship to a desired harbor and not just any harbor. We’ve to avoid the old way of doing business that brought us where we are today. No chest pumping, after all it’s an achievement and not a hand-out, I’m one of many Gambians with such skill sets that can hopefully be someday be put to use to advance the cause of our nation. Just think about failure in simple/basic information such as current traffic density, volume and 50 year projection to construction the Banjul - Serekunda Highway. Without this basic information the basic engineering requirements, economic cost and life expectancy are all likely to be a mere guess work. Since I came to know what is GDP, every budget speech tells us an average of 3-6% increase. First what those that number measure with an economy largely informal. The informal sector has no verifiable measurements in place at least as far I as know. Regardless sustained GDP growth should have a direct bearing on livelihood in Gambia……you take it from here. Thank goodness many of our young wo/men are remitting back home. We can never overstate the importance of information.
>
> My views/positions about our struggle are public and fair game for public critic. After passing through the meticulous scrutiny of MO Sonko, Falai Baldeh, Church Baldeh Sako Jobe, Karafa Manneh, Kekoto Manneh and Ousman Cham; being critical of my work can only make me even want to work harder. As a person or my ‘make-up’ should not be drag into the national debate otherwise chances exist the merits/demerits of my views/positions be clouded by my person. Equally I viewed my knowledge/skill sets to a large extent a private property which I hope will be an asset to the our nation as well for my person development.
>
> Discounting the value of theories/academics is no good idea either. It’s the bases of the expansion of human knowledge and know-how that produced unimaginable outcomes more so in the last 2 decades. Hope one take a look at the development of the trip to the moon…….or even the recent 1st Golf War that removed Saddam from Kuwait. But even in our own daily living (consciously/unconsciously) we do plan almost everything we do - amazing isn’t it!
>
> Journalist are human, hence they will take sides. They’ll have positions. Notwithstanding journalism requires a greater restraints and more acting as devils advocate in the public sphere in order to bring out the best of all than be outright dismissive. I look to our journalist to be the public Clearing Court House of our struggle where issues/ideas are adjudicate base on substances, facts, numbers and not on sentiments and rhetorics.
>
> Finally……questions - just view! Is Burama an asset or liability to himself, our struggle, Gambia and to humanity in general? Or Is Burama something other than any of the above? Do we need developed human capacity or not? Should we measure or just act on intuition? Should we discuss/argue on facts or sentiments? Should decision-making be inform by facts/numbers or sentiments? How’re social information collected? How’s it process, stored and used? What’re best practices in data collection and over all information management?
>
> Let me know if Burama is complicating our struggle! Let me know if Burama is a distraction! More importantly let us know what you think is The Problem and How To Solve That Problem. Please don’t just say we are going to remove Yahya. Tell us in stepwise how that will be done. Who will do it - preferably identifying me and your active role in such a proposal/plan. To be honest I don’t like the outsourcing thinking - that’s your solution is for someone else to execute.
>
>
> Burama FL Jammeh
>
> Founder/General Secretary
> The People's Movement for Democratic Gambia
>
> [log in to unmask]
> Facebook.com/buramajammeh
> Twitter.com/@bfljammeh
> Skype.com/bfljammeh
> 810 844 6040
>
> ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
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