Despicable. I have lost all respect I had for these people. I will give
MRDG(UK) the opportunity to respond appropriately to this gibberish before I
send my other comments. Suffice for me to say at this stage that I would
respectfully counsel the Movement to catalog all the efforts they made to
include PDOIS in this meeting. I am also offended by PDOIS characterization
of Movement members as refugees in Britain. People like Bahoum are not
refugees. What happened to words like political exiles?

This is just disgusting. PDOIS should realize that what this Movement is
trying to do is not an indictment on the Opposition on the ground, per se.
The Movement is trying to complement the efforts the genuine Opposition on
the ground is doing. PDOIS' attendance at the Briefing could have only added
to the strength of the Opposition. To argue that PDOIS' presence at the
Briefing would some way undermine the Opposition, is simply absurd.

No one is putting our entire fate in the hands of 'a British MP'. That does
not make sense. But the help that British MP can give, should not be
downplayed simply because that help alone cannot solve all our problems.
This Briefing is not the only thing the Movement is engaged in. PDOIS knows
that.

To also suggest that going to Britain somewhat undermines the British High
Commissioner in Gambia, is also illogical. As I understand it, the Deputy
High Commissioner was at the Briefing. So what is PDOIS talking about? Even
if we (in the Diaspora) want to undermine the High Commissioner, it is quite
legitimate. Under the High Commissioner's watch, Britain restored military
aid to Yaya. US State Department reports about Gambia is significantly
different from the reports that come from Britain. The High Commissioner has
something to do with that. What effective moves did PDOIS make to redress
the insensitivity of the British to the plight of Gambian children? Where
was PDOIS when top British military officials were feting the security
forces that massacred our children in broad daylight?

We, on the other hand protested to the British Foreign Office and all we got
were boiler-plate letters filled with patronizing garbage. This Briefing
became partly necessary because of the lack of positive response from the
executive branch of the British government. As patriotic Gambians that
understand the British political landscape, the Movement sought the help of
the legislative branch in order to change Britain's clearly erroneous policy
towards Gambia. What is wrong with that? Why does PDOIS have to try and
undermine these noble and legitimate efforts?

If PDOIS thinks that the work to restore democracy in The Gambia is a
'limited' affair, one wonders whether PDOIS should be taken seriously when
they say that they want to change the society. Bringing democracy to the
country is the single most important change we can bring to the country. If
we had democracy, thugs like Yaya would not be leading that country. It is
not a small and 'limited work' that should be left in the hands of 'human
rights advocacy groups'. Every well meaning Gambian should join in the fight
to restore democracy in the country.

PDOIS opened their ill-advised statement by saying that they were not clear
about the purpose of the meeting. This is absurd. If that is one of the
reasons why they did not show up, why did they not ask MRDG(UK) to clarify
the purpose of the meeting before the meeting was held? Alternatively, why
did PDOIS not just show up with their own agenda and say whatever they
wanted? For Halifa Sallah to stand up now and say that it is not worth his
while to attend the Briefing while few months ago he was willing to come to
London and debate Hamjatta Kanteh, speaks volumes of this man.

Frankly, I think the Opposition is better off without these characters. If I
were NRP and UDP, we will forget about PDOIS and do our own thing. PDOIS is
closer to APRC than NRP and UDP. As far as I am concerned, I have personally
given up on these people. They should recognize that they are certainly
doing something wrong. They have been in the Opposition since time
immemorial, and they cannot show much for it. Halifa Sallah cannot even win
Serrekunda East. There is something terribly wrong here.

To the rest of the Opposition, I say, let us move on. At this critical
juncture, we should jettison the doubters in our midst and consolidate the
people that have made up their minds about the rotten state of our country.
Some of these people are only interested in fighting old wars that do not
matter to Gambian children at this juncture.

I apologize to the Movement for preempting their official response (if any).
I was so disgusted by PDOIS' stance that I could not prevent myself from
saying what I feel. I again commend Opposition members that took part in the
Briefing. It was a noble and patriotic thing to do. Ignore the
tantrum-throwing of the APRC and their sympathizers. They are just making
fools of themselves. I think I read somewhere yesterday that Joseph Joof was
saying that participating at the Briefing tantamount to treason. What planet
is this man from? He is now equating Yaya with the whole government and the
country. Now if you challenge Yaya's human rights record, you are committing
an offense against the state. Utter rubbish.
KB



>From: Momodou Camara <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: FWD:On The Meeting Of Gambian Opposition Parties In London
>Date: Wed, 7 Mar 2001 14:33:29 +0100
>
>The following is culled from Burning Issues (FOROYAA Publication)
>Wednesday, 7
>March 2001
>
>*********************************
>
>On The Meeting Of Gambian Opposition Parties In London
>
>Dear Editors,
>We have been hearing about a meeting between Gambian opposition parties at
>the house of commons in Britain. It is not clear to me whether PDOIS was
>invited or not. It is also not clear what the meeting was all about.
>Gambians are very much interested in knowing PDOIS's position on the
>meeting.
>
>The rumours are many. Some claimed that the opposition parties are calling
>on the British government to put pressure on the Gambia government to
>remove
>Decree 89. Others are saying that the meeting intends to call for
>intervention of the British government  in pressurising the Gambia
>Government to have greater respect human rights and democracy.
>It would be appreciated if FOROYAA explain PDOIS's position.
>A concern citizen.
>
>
>FOROYAA's Explanation
>Some Gambians in Britain such as James Bahoum who is the chairman and
>Chogan
>who was once Deputy  Inspector General of Police have established a
>movement
>called Movement for the Restoration of Democracy in The Gambia. MRD. The
>movement saw a British member of parliament to lobby for his support. As
>the
>reader knows Gambian members of National Assembly do ask questions and
>speak
>on certain subjects at the national assembly . The British member of
>parliament can also question the policy of the British government on Gambia
>in parliament with the view to influence the policy.
>
>According to John McDonald, the  MP for Hayes and harlington there are many
>Gambians refugees resident in his constituency. He therefore saw the need
>to
>get briefings from representatives of the Gambian opposition on the plight
>of the Gambian people.
>
>Mr. McDonald therefore convened a meeting on Wednesday 28 February 2001 at
>committee room 10 at the house of commons to which representatives of
>opposition parties were invited to brief him.
>
>While PDOIS has no objection for any Gambian abroad to try to promote good
>governance in the Gambia for PDOIS representatives to leave the Gambia only
>to brief a British MP on what is happening in the Gambia so that he can
>raise parliamentary questions when the opposition has earned so much
>respect
>from the British High Commission to the point that the high commission
>often
>reacts to any deterioration of the democratisation process would tantamount
>to acknowledge of impotency. Such briefings should be done by Gambian
>refugees who should be contributing their quota at that level.
>
>PDOIS considers its self to be more effective in promoting change in the
>Gambia than a British MP. In our view, the limited work of trying to
>promote
>the restoration of democracy in the Gambia should be done by human rights
>advocacy groups. PDOIS is engaged in the work of transforming the Gambia.
>We
>are now building grassroot committees for the enlightenment of the people.
>
>What we need from Gambians are resources to carry out the work at a much
>faster pace. PDOIS is capable of challenging the APRC regime. We cannot be
>intimidated by any one. PDOIS recommended for the banned politicians to
>cooperate to have a test case, for example any one of them especially
>Sheriff Dibba could have put up his candidature for Central Baddibou to see
>whether the IEC will reject his nomination papers or not. He could have
>even
>withdraw his nomination papers if it was accepted. On the other hand, he
>could have gone to the supreme court for further declaration on the
>constitutionality of decree 89 in light of the rights to stand for election
>granted by section 26 of the constitution and paragraph 6 of the second
>schedule which requires the modification of laws to suit the provisions of
>the constitution.
>
>PDOIS is willing to support any move to ensure that only the Gambian people
>will decide who should represent them. PDOIS considers it to be outright
>tyranny for any political leadership to arbitrarily exclude any other
>Gambian from exercising their right to stand for elections. Regardless of
>how we see the PPP, PDOIS holds that it should be left to defend its record
>before the people if it has any record to defend. PDOIS maintains that the
>APRC's  draconian decree is unconstitutional and should be challenged. It
>is
>an obstacle to the democratisation process. If all parties were allowed to
>operate freely after the transition Gambia would have now had a political
>atmosphere under which the parties would be pulling their records before
>the
>people and be judged on the basis of the merits of their programmes instead
>of the situation we have now when human rights issues are the burning
>issues. The APRC needs to gain maturity after 6 years of AFPRC and APRC
>government. Going into hysteria just because those it bans are holding a
>meeting in London is not the answer. The answer is to lift the ban and then
>get the mature party  supporters who can argue their case against the other
>political parties in order to win the support of the people.
>
>PDOIS also call on opponents of the government to trust our own abilities
>to
>change the country. We must not undermine our achievements. We must not see
>our salvation to depend on a British MP. We must show that we are capable
>of
>defending the sovereignty of this country. We must therefore rely on our
>people for change. Gambians abroad should know that they do not have
>impotent opposition parties who need to be  rescued by British MPs. What
>they need to do is send resources to the parties of their choice to
>facilitate a change of  government.
>
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