DISCLAIMER: THIS ARTICLE WAS NOT WRITTEN NOR ENDORSED
BY ME JUST FORWARDING.


                                         
Who said Darboe is not sellable?

Mr Editor

Let me begin by commending Dr Abdoulaye Saine for a
very positive call he made in his article of 15th
February 2006. He wrote:
‘Now that many of us have expressed our thoughts and
feelings about Darboe’s resignation from NADD, we must
discuss ideas to find a workable solution to the
challenges we face- how to send Jammeh packing this
year.’ 

It is indeed very patriotic of a man of his standing
to make such a patriotic and noble call. This
demonstrates a sense of appreciation on his part, of
the facts that no matter how polarised our opinions
are, we cannot afford to be protagonists in the
struggle to dislodge the APRC.  The APRC is a very
organised, almost entrenched, sophisticated and
resourceful party, not to mention the incumbency
factor synonymous to its name. Any enterprise designed
to dislodge it from power must have unity of suppose
at its core. I hope the likes of Fatou Jaw Manneh and
the discredited STGDP realise this. The level of
tribal sentiments and other nasty game tendencies that
characterised the whole debate of who should lead NADD
were as sicken and backward as the appalling old
waxwork politicking of Lamin Waa juwara. If any
overseas-based group think it can remote control the
politics of the Gambia, they might as well start
drinking tea in Washington or Minnesota or better
still in Hamilton, Ohio because it will never happen.
That is the reality, and they got to live with it.

The opposition in the Gambia have always had their
differences in ideology and personality. That is why I
always believed that gauging opinions within NADD as a
litmus test in determining who should lead a unified
opposition is not a tangible solution to the problem
confronting the struggle to unseat the APRC. The
recent NADD impasse was a vindication of my position.
Nevertheless, I believe that finding a workable
solution is not too late and is still achievable.
There is no better time than now for the opposition to
depart from furthering personal vendettas on behalf of
certain unscrupulous opposition figures and start
heeding to Dr Saine’s patriotic and noble call.

One of the significant of holding regular elections in
a democratic society is that it provide the people
with an opportunity to express their views as to
whether they are happy with the status quo or not. In
the 1996 presidential election, the total number of
votes cast was 394,541. Out of this, 220,011 went for
President Jammeh, 141,387 for Lawyer Ousainu Darboe,
21,759 for Hamat Bah and 11,337 for Sedia Jatta. In
2001, the total number of votes cast was 404,343. Out
of this, APRC scored 212,141 votes and 192,202 went
for the opposition combined. In other words, 212,141
people voted for Jammeh to remain president, while
192,202 voted against him. Out of the later figure,
16% [32,198] voted for Hamat Bah to become president,
7% [13,595] for Sheriff Mustapha Dibba, 7% [12,819]
for Sedia Jatta and 70% [133,590] for Lawyer Ousainu
Darboe. Mr Darboe’s score was twice more than the
other opposition combined. That establishes a very
strong, healthy and consistent vote winning record in
favour of Mr Darboe as oppose to other opposition
contenders. This is a very compelling fact, which no
serious and realistic political strategist can afford
to ignore. What it shows is that Gambians have
consistently considered Mr Darboe as a real
alternative to President Jammeh. Why would anyone want
to ignore such a compelling fact? Despite the intense
wrangling in this forum, no body is in a position to
present any credible and ascertainable evidence as to
why these facts are no longer relevant.  In fact if
the Brikama show down is anything to go by, Lawyer
Ousainu Darboe is still a vote magnet. Mr Darboe’s
electoral record is actually a good foundation for the
opposition to build on. If the opposition is really
serious about looking for a realistic option to
dislodge APRC, they need to recognise this and rally
behind the UDP/NRP Coalition in the interest of their
ultimate common objective, which is to dislodge APRC.
In the same way, NADD should drop the idea of Staging
up Halifa Sallah as a candidate in the up coming
presidential election. This man has being the face of
PDOIS for decades and yet he never achieved anything
more than 3% for that party.  How on earth can anybody
even dream of choosing such a man as President
Jammeh’s challenger and expect Gambians to take you
seriously? This is absolutely bizarre. Halifa’s
disciples can say all the good things heaven knows,
about him. What matters to the course is can he
deliver the votes? For decades now, he has
consistently proven not to be a vote winner. If
anybody thinks Gambian politics is all about
Serrekunda/Bundung politics, time will tell. In my
view, it is about time for NADD to stop being cynical
and myopic, and to start considering joining the
UDP/NRP Coalition in the interest of their ultimate
objective. That is the only tangible and workable
solution to the problem. Anything in the contrary
certainly has a great potential of making the upcoming
presidential election a Chinese take-away for the
APRC. What should matter to them is a Gambia without
APRC at the reign of power. If that is not their
focus, how justified is it for them to describe the
likes of Mr Darboe ‘power hungry’? It would be a
complete sheer hypocrisy, isn’t it?

 I have heard cynics saying Darboe is never even
elected into the National Assembly, how can he win the
presidency? Well, he never won a National Assembly
seat because he never contested one, period. Even
though he didn’t win the Sami and Fulladu West
Constituencies in the past presidential elections,
something his critics have persistently use as a
weapon against him, that doesn’t mean he cannot pick a
parliamentary seat in one of these constituencies
should he decides to seek one. Gambian electorates
tend to have different ways of deciding who should
represent them in Parliament and who they want to
become their President. In the past two presidential
elections for example, the people of Wuli refused to
vote in favour of Sedia Jatta and yet the same people
who rejected him as a presidential candidate voted him
three times into parliament. This shows how outlandish
and absurd such arguments are. As a matter of fact, we
are talking about a presidential election here, not
parliamentary elections. Owing to their localised
nature, parliamentary elections simply do not fit in
the equation. Nevertheless, since there is another
school of thought who may disagree with this, I now
venture to compare Mr Darboe’s electoral records with
that of NADD’s chosen Halifa Sallah in respect of
former Serrekunda East and Serrekunda Central from the
period 1996 to 2005. In the 1996 presidential
election, Twelve thousand, three hundred and
thirty-three [12,325] people voted for Mr Darboe as
opposed to Eight thousand five hundred and twenty-nine
[8,529] votes for Halifa Sallah in the 1997
parliamentary election. That is a majority of Three
thousand, seven hundred and ninety- six votes in
favour of Mr Darboe. In the 2001 presidential
election, Eight thousand, one hundred and thirty-six
[8,136] people in Serrekunda Central [Halifa Sallah’s
present constituency] voted for Mr Darboe as opposed
to Five thousand, five hundred and eight-three [5,583]
votes for Halifa Sallah, in the 2002 Parliamentary
elections. That is a majority of Two thousand, five
hundred and fifty-three [2,553] votes again, in favour
of Mr Darboe. It is to be noted that the splitting of
former Serrekunda East Constituency by APRC, gave
birth to Serrekunda Central. In the September 29, 2005
by-elections, Mr Sallah managed to secure a surplus
vote of only Three hundred and twenty-eight [328]
despite the backing of five political parties. Even
with this, he still trails behind Mr Darboe’s 2002
record by a margin of Two thousand, two hundred and
twenty-five [2225] votes in his [Halifa] own
constituency. This demonstrates how incomparable Mr
Darboe’s popularity is to that of Halifa Sallah in the
later own constituency. Taking cognizant of these
facts, how can any reasonable person conclude that
Halifa Sallah is more sellable than Lawyer Darboe? Are
people behind such a bizarre argument actually
interested in seeing the back of APRC? These kind of
disingenuous arguments are a complete menace to our
common objective and it is about time for people
engaged in it to re-examine their positions. I
challenge Halifa Sallah’s disciples to come up with
tangible explanations as to why they consider him more
sellable than Lawyer Darboe. Make sure your arguments
are backed with statistics and ascertainable facts,
and please keep them within the scope of the topic.
Your Ayatollah is a great believer in statistic. I
therefore expect you to use them in your arguments.
Otherwise, you may risk earning the wrath of Ayatollah
Sallah. I am not interested in vague arguments or
sweeping statements and I am not going to be dragged
into any sort of idle talk.

I now turn to Omar Amadou Jallow, alias OJ. The last
time this man contest election was in 1992. That is
almost 14 years ago. Since then a lot of significant
things happen in the body politics of the Gambia and
to his own party. We know that the PPP was kicked out
of office in a military coup in 1994 and then banned
from participating in two subsequent elections. This
gave rise to new political parties like UDP, APRC and
NRP. The ban imposed by the obnoxious Decree 89 on
first republican parties led to the indefinite seizure
of PPP party logistics. Among them were several
vehicles. Most of its constituency chairmen,
Chairwomen and other strong party stalwart including
former ministers and parliamentary secretaries also
ended up joining other parties. OJ himself recognised
these developments as problems facing his party, and
even stated them as some of the reasons why they had
to joint the UDP led Coalition in 2001. These problems
have actually crippled the grass root structures of
the PPP very severely. This is why even the much
talked about PPP congress could not be held and this
is the reason why the party is still under an interim
leadership. So, it has always been clear to OJ and the
PPP that they cannot stand on their own. That is why
they are gambling with options. For them, any option
that can help them re-establish their party in
politics is as good as anything one can think of. The
problem with that is, no other party is willing to see
this done at their expense, and that is why OJ is not
an option. 

Although partisan consideration is incompatible with
NADD’s MOU, it is practically impossible to ignore it
given the nature of Gambian politics. That is why the
initial selection process was hijacked by partisan
considerations. Even without Partisan consideration,
as a matter of records relevant to the Second
Republic, there is nothing in OJ that could enable any
reasonable person to conclude that he is sellable.
When most banned political heavyweights were pulling
strings behind closed doors, he chose to be in East
Timor earning United Nation’s Dollars. He only
returned when it was clear that the robust UDP
political and diplomatic offensives against the
obnoxious Decree 89 were paying off. Even after his
return, he did not participate in any election as a
candidate, not even in his former constituency. What
stopped him from contesting the Serrekunda
East/Central seats in the 2002 parliamentary
elections? How about the mayoral seat of the Kanifing
Municipality? As the saying of the Banjul wollofs
goes, ‘if you like Akara, you have to put up with
chilli pepper.’ If OJ wants to be taken seriously, he
must show us what he is made of. Since he hasn’t done
that, how can anybody take him seriously? I think
choosing him, as a presidential candidate of a unified
opposition would have been very reckless of the
opposition. I have nothing against OJ. I particularly
adore his Yai Compin politics because he is very good
at it but that is as far as it goes. 

I agree with Dr Abdoulaye Saine when he said: ‘we must
see the current impasse within NADD as a struggle for
power and control over the state and the resources
within society. People in power or those who aspire to
wield power will often use ‘tribe’ to appeal to the
most basic [primordial identity] for support. Others
will also use it for lack of a better explanation. The
latter is the case in this forum.’ The anti-Darboe
Camp is merely finding ways to conveniently articulate
their anti-Darboe sentiments. Since it is always hard
for them to do this, they desperately resort to
tribalism and character assassination as an
alternative option. They have absolutely nothing to
offer, not even Custard biscuit. The fact that even
calls from within OJ’s own party for him to withdraw
from the leadership race was branded ‘tribalism’ shows
how obscure these charges are. One thing they must
realised is that Gambians will never be hold at ransom
by such outrageous charges. 

Let justice guide our actions towards the common good.

SS Daffeh
Chelmsford, Essex. [UK]





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