"By the same token the opposition
politicians must realise that a
divided house can never stand and they would
be condemning themselves to
perpetual marginalisation and the nation to the
abyss if they insist on
singularly taking on a ruthless tyrant. I say come
together now."
Karamba,
I only hope that the opposition parties take heed to the above. I concur that it
is the best solution for the political situation in The Gambia.
Abdoulie
Jallow
Suppose representatives of UDP, PDOIS and
NRP retreat into a room somewhere
in town and work tirelessly until a
deal is cut that encompasses to an extent
what each of them feels
is the right path for the country. At the suceesful
conclusion of the
talks leaders of all three parties emerge to publicly
initial the
agreement and an addendum that broadly describes the agenda they
intend
to pursue. Here is what I envisage to be at the core of such a
historic
allaince.
1-A single slate for both the presidential and parliamentary
elections that
would pin alliance members only against the APRC.
This would mean the faction
with the most viable candidate would present
the alliance's choice for a
particular constituency. This would avoid
spliting the vote in such critical
constituencies as Serrekunda east and
west.
2- A strategic decision to vigourously campaign for only 26
constiuency seats
because trying to equally compete in all would spread
them too thin to
effectively do the kind of door to door campaign
centered on personailities
crucial in electoral politics in
Gambia
3-While the UDP would field the Presidential candidate, the
agreement must
give Pdois atleast two cabinet portfolios they believe
they can make the most
impact in with a clear cut mandate to shape it in
a manner that reflects
their ideas. Similarly the NRP too should have one
cabinet position. Besides
the cabinet allocations the coalition partners
would all pertake in the
general direction of any and all government
policy especially those at the
core of their agreed upon agenda. The
presidency would be structured so that
the Chief Executive is able hear
out all his partners enabling him to make
well informed decisions that do
not necessarily reflect the minds of his
close aids even if those people
turn out to be the best.
4-Since reforming the structure of the Gambia
government which they all
concluded during their coalition talks is
utterly dysfunctional, a small
technical group would be empanneled to
come up with ideas that would tailor
the government to do the people's
business in a much more efficient manner so
that by 2001 a blueprint for
the new government structure would be ready
for
implimentation.
Finally since this grand coalition would
actually have be elected to begin to
reverse what has surely been a sorry
post independence history, a manumental
effort to secure resources
has to be a critical part of the entire effort.
In that case two things
are clear: first they need a lot of mnoey to
successfully campaign since
they would be either ostracised or totally
ignored by the shamefull
entity that passes for our national media. Secondly
they would
never be able to raise that kind of money from their supporters
who
are already reeling under grinding poverty. That then leaves those of
us
who are abroad to do all we can to give the coalition a fighting
chance.
Sure it is a struggle for most of us out here , we are
nonetheless the only
hope if we are ever going to make a
difference. To this end assuming the
coalition comes into being before
the end of the year, preparations can begin
for Mr Darboe , Mr Sallah and
Mr Bah to embark on a one month swing into
Europe and North America with
message in hand and appeal for all the help and
support they can get from
us the sons and daugthers of Gambia and all the
while meeting US
and European government officials. Here in the US they can
meet and raise
funds in auditoriums, town houses and apartments in the
following regions
where Gambians are centered: NewYork encompassing the New
Jersey area,
the Washington DC metro area comprising of DC ,Maryland ,
Virginia and
Pennsylvania,North Carolina , Atlanta where the very
proficient
organiserscan get the folks from Texas and Florida
to all come together
and finally to Seattle where people in California
can join up. I am sure we
can have our great DJs, Kora players
photographers and vodoe operators all
pitch in to make for very
successful fund raisers. It might be physically
gruelling for the leaders
but i am sure it is price they would very wiiliing
pay. A similar kind of
swing can be arranged in Europe with special emphasis
laid on the need to
meet as many people as possible. While they may not
return with a plane
load of money , they would surely have had heard from us
the assurance
that they are not alone in their battle to make a difference.
Helping
them become a winning allaince, list members, would constitute
the
greatest contribution we can make from afar. By the same token the
opposition
politicians must realise that a divided house can never stand
and they would
be condemning themselves to perpetual marginalisation and
the nation to the
abyss if they insist on singularly taking on a ruthless
tyrant. I say come
together
now.
Karamba
european governmet
officials
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