Buharry, quite an interesting piece. But I think it unestimates the
political savvy of the badola in Gambia. I know the gambian people (no
matter how poor or how far they live away from the urban area) are more
matured politically than they are often given credit for. I have watched
garba jahumpa (PPP) lost to dodou taal (UP) who in turn lost to jabel sallah
(UP) when he (Taal) crossed-carpeted to PPP; despite that the likes of fisco
poured money in banjul south. recently, sam sillah (PPP) lost to Dembo 'by
force' (NCP ....forgot the guy's last name). sam had influential and rich
friends in PPP who could not help him win. when sam petitioned the court in
the wake of his elections defeat, one of his complaints was that bakau
police officers were ferrying dembo supporters in their police vans to go
vote for dembo. see the irony! government police officers accused of rigging
elections for the opposition. but if you know dembo, you would not be
surprised to know that he can get that kind of support. when i was in
gambia, i observed that dembo would go to every funeral and ngainteh in
bakau. he literally lived at the immigration dept. in banjul. sensitive of
the fact that most of his constituents had family members that wanted to go
abroad, he would tirelessly weild and deal at immigration to get them
gambian passports. so together with the token gesture you noted on behalf of
sidia, add dembo in those notations. in my book, his gestures were more
appreciative. people familiar with politics in sabach sanngal will tell u
how saihou sabally even at the height of his power would campaign very hard
to win elections... or basse people will tell u about Omar sey or MC Cham
(PPP). i can go on and on (giving you gibou jagne vs. A.A. Njie)  just to
illustrate that gambians are capable of removing the government of the day
(or people with deep pockets) if they believe that the government is not
good for them in terms of providing basic things such as acknowledgement
that comes with going to one's funeral. so the problem is not about people's
naivete or shortsightedness or misplaced priorities. the problem is with
free and fair elections. this government will use any means to rig the
elections, ranging from the most rudimentary forms (stealing ballot boxes)
to the more subtle forms (threatening to cause chaos if they lose). as a
matter of fact they already began. if the more subtle forms succeed, people
will vote for them and give them legitimacy and their supporters can stand
up and claim that the elections were free and fair because no independent
observer saw them running away with ballot boxes. so before political
parties and proponents of elections in the gambia help further legitimise
this government, they have to make sure that they have a fighting chance in
any elections. i don't think they do. it is high time we call a spade a
spade and declare nuclear war on yaya and forget about elections childplay.
he's the problem and not the gambian electorate or opposition politicians.
after what he did on april 10 and 11, this man should not even had stayed in
office one extra day let alone contest in elections. WE HAVE TO REMOVE THIS
MONSTER BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY.
KB


>From: MOMODOU BUHARRY GASSAMA <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: The "Badola" And The Politicians
>Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2000 18:42:04 +0200
>
>Hi!
>      As it is nearing election time back home and seeing the beginning of
>the campaign period marred with violence, I would like to discuss the
>people most likely to be the ones caught up in the midst of the violence
>yet they are the ones to benefit the least from the fruits of electoral
>office - the "badola" or poor people. The "badola" have been taken for
>granted in all election campaigns as a source that is going to be there to
>volunteer everything to bring about victory for politicians. Then they are
>forgotten for five years and courted again when election time comes. I'll
>try to look into the "badola"-politician relationship.
>             First, it is the "badola" who send their children to arrange
>the meeting avenues and ensure that everything is in order before the
>politicians arrive. Now I ask: where are the politicians' children? They
>are probably home studying with the help of a private tutor to ensure that
>they are prepared to take over when their time comes.
>
>             Second, most of the "badola" are so poor that getting the
>correct nutrition is a problem. When the "yaayi compin" gives out
>"ashobis", these same "badola" are the first to forget about their and
>their families' stomachs and other commitments to borrow or otherwise
>scratch out from somewhere the necessary money to buy the "ashobis".
>
>             Third, while the "badola" wives and mothers are busy drumming,
>dancing and chanting slogans, the politicians' wives and mothers are at
>home resting or selling in their shops or taking care of other business
>engagements. This is a sure way of continuing the status quo.
>
>             Fourth, who are the ones who get pushed about, beaten, injured
>and even killed? The"badola". Because of the fact that many politicians
>leave their families back home, they are not in the midst of violence. The
>"badola" however are right there in the "chumbohlo" getting beaten etc. The
>politicians in many instances would not even visit them when they are hurt
>or help them with medical bills.
>
>             Opposition supporters are harassed and arrested many a time
>especially in Africa. If the politician were arrested, maybe even the
>"badola" would ensure that his/her family would not go hungry. When the
>"badola" is arrested during a campaign rally, who cares? It is the
>"badola"'s family that suffers.
>
>             Marriages even break sometimes when the women ignore their
>family responsibilities due to the time invested in these campaigns.
>Sometimes the children are not properly taken care of or the cooking was
>done hurriedly etc. The politician probably had taken his family to a
>restaurant somewhere just before coming to the meeting.
>
>             Now, what happens when the politician wins? Apart from the few
>like Sidia Jatta who takes part of his salary and gives it to the "badola",
>the "badola" are a forgotten quantity till the next elections. The
>politician moans and groans when they visit his/her office complaining
>about how they spit here or there, how they are so loud and uncouth, how
>they are so "getaynay" when they ask for a few dalasis etc. They however
>didn't notice all these negative things when these "badola" were neglecting
>themselves and their families to sacrifice everything for them. I therefore
>urge my fellow "badola" to revisit the terms of our relationship with the
>politicians. As it stands now, most of the politicians, apart from lacking
>vision and ability to do anything constructive for our country, are only
>there for themselves and their families. We as "badola" also need to look
>out for our families and ourselves. Thanks.
>
>
>                                                              Buharry.
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L
>Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------

________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L
Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html

----------------------------------------------------------------------------