And that is the crux of the matter!

Jabou Joh

In a message dated 2/11/04 4:42:30 AM Central Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
>
> APRC's Decline Imminent Waa Juwara Posits
>
> The Independent (Banjul)
> NEWS
> February 9, 2004
> Posted to the web February 10, 2004
>
> By Abdul-Wahab Hydara
> Banjul
>
> In an assertion that flies in the face of members of the ruling party, keen
> to preserve their image as a political organisation, Lamin Waa Juwara has
> posited that the APRC was on a predictable and imminent course of
> disintegration and decline.
>
> In an exclusive interview with The Independent the leader of the National
> Democratic Action Movement (NDAM) said anybody with a grasp of the
> country's political situation cannot avoid concluding that members of the
> ruling APRC party were tearing themselves apart and that it was just a
> matter of time before the inevitable happened. "They are disgracing
> themselves and people are watching them laughing. They have indicted
> themselves by this exercise and Gambians now know what we have been saying
> about these people are all true" he emphasised.
>
> He said far from bolstering the image of the APRC, Juwara argued that
> Operation No Compromise has confirmed what he and others have always known
> about the endemic corruption and lack of conviction of the country's
> leadership towards national development.
>
> According to Juwara, the president knew for a long time that the level of
> corruption was so endemic that no institution was left untouched by the
> practice, which he (Jammeh) did not make brave, conscientious efforts to
> stamp out but allowed to continue unabated.
>
> "Amazingly, the Central Bank is now the focus of corruption. If we probe
> deeper into the matter, I tell you, nobody in the APRC would be left
> untainted. The entire upper echelon of the administration is corrupt and we
> have been saying this over and over again. Now the chicken is bringing
> itself home to roost. The APRC has not been popular due to strangulating
> economic realities and it is even more unpopular now that it is bringing
> its own linen in public for all to see" he charged.
>
> "Looking at the scenario when the military staged a coup in July 22 1994,
> they set up a Kangaroo Commission of Enquiry. But it turned out that they
> maliciously did so in order to gain political relevance in a country where
> militocracy had no appeal. Juwara believes that if President Jammeh and his
> APRC administration were pursuing Operation No Compromise in order to gain
> political support to arrest their dwindling grassroots base they would be
> disappointed "because Gambians now know who the real enemies of the people
> are"
>
> "The population is so disenchanted with this regime that the APRC is now
> forced by the circumstances, which it does not find fanciful to make
> scapegoats out of their own people. Theirs is a revolution that has failed
> totally. They need scapegoats so that Jammeh can survive. Under these
> circumstances, I don't think they will ever be successful" the NDAM leader
> outlined.
>
> He said after years gauging the feelings of Gambians, he can now
> confidently conclude that the people are quite aware that all the problems
> they are facing be they economic or political are due to the bad management
> style of the ruling party.
>
> "They are aware that the economic decline, the hardship everything are
> attributable to this regime and even Jammeh knows that he must be seen to
> be acting if he want to stay in office. But the use of scapegoats is wrong.
> The whole problem is with the leadership of which Jammeh is the head"
> Juwara argued.
>
> Juwara believes that the creation of an anti-corruption commission that
> would probe government officials including President Jammeh should be set
> up.
>
> "Otherwise Jammeh would be seen as going back to his words. President
> Jammeh should first go before such commission to declare his assets. There
> is no way corrupt practices should have been tolerated by the APRC regime"
> he added.
>

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