Word reaching us from the grapevine in Banjul has it that under the influence
and indeed the backroom direction of Jammeh and his henchmen, the IEC
commissioned a Senegalese polling firm to carry out a polling exercise to see
how Jammeh is faring or going to fare in the October elections. Needless to
say, the results stunned the moron to the point where he has slumped into his
depressive and maniacal mood-swings; and has now resorted to issuing his
usual 'six-feet deep' threats to those folks who dared vote against his
corrupt and tyrannical regime. The results of the poll merely confirmed what
any astute Gambian political observer always knew to be the case: in a free
and fair election, Jammeh stands no chance against even, say, the NRP - the
newest entrant in the Gambia's political terrain. At any rate, even i - never
known for extending credits to Jammeh - wasn't prepared for this shocker of a
poll. As it happened, this IEC commissioned poll saw Jammeh's popularity
ratings dip some 30% down to barely making the 20% threshold of an average
fringe political entity. The moron has a steep mountain to climb from now
till polling day. Tough luck for him since APRC supporters are defecting en
masse to join the 'velvet revolution' that continues to build momentum under
the leadership of the Alliance. Be that as it may, this glad tidings is no
occasion for us to rest on our laurels. Matter of fact, from now till polling
day, there should be no room for complacency; and the need for
around-the-clock vigilance is of paramount importance to the eventual
flushing out of the moron and his corrupt APRC regime by the Gambian peoples
in the October.
Just as there were glad tidings for the Alliance and the Gambian peoples, so
there was a set-back. Developments vis-a-vis the counting of votes in the
coming presidential elections confound our suggestions that the IEC and
Gabriel Roberts are in cahoots with the conspiracy concocted to illegally
force Jammeh on the Gambian peoples yet again. The IEC's decision - it calls
siding with the APRC position on vote-counting a "unilateral" decision
reached by the IEC because no party was willing to change their original
position on the issue - to uphold the gov't specious arguments in favour of
a more centralised vote-counting merely goes to show the extent to which that
outfit is nothing but a marionette stuffed with disreputable puppets like
Roberts and with Jammeh pulling the strings behind the scenes as and when it
comes to fundamental and make-or-break issues like vote-counting. As events
continue to evince very clearly as we edge closer to October 18, this
impartial, independent and make-believe imagery of the IEC as a progressive
departure from what used to be the case during the PPP era, is becoming an
everyday nonsense and an insult to our intelligence. Stuff is: there is a
sense in which if you chafe the surface of this make-believe imagery of the
IEC being committed to free and fair elections that Roberts is busy parading
around trying to market to Gambians, you will discover disreputable instances
which confound what we have always said of Roberts' return as chairman of the
IEC. This relentless PR attempt to assure us of the impartiality of the IEC
is all eerily reminiscent of the fraudulent stunt the IEC helped perpetrate
on the unsuspecting Gambian peoples in 1996, when Roberts handed the
presidency on a plate to Jammeh. Gambians must hold on tight to their seat
belts for a possible replay of such a scenario. Just like in 1996, Roberts is
busy assuring Gambians that he will carry out his duties as a referee in an
even-handed manner. Haven't we heard all that before? The empty assurances
and re-assurances when the reality is that he is but a disreputable puppet
and part of a vast conspiracy to steal the elections? Little wonder then that
in one online Gambian newspaper, i read with a sense of deja vu Roberts'
claims that:
"the commission was left with no other option but to take a unilateral
decision considering the financial, material, human, and security
requirements involved."
Has it not occurred to Roberts that in his capacity as an impartial
adjudicator to rival claims to a position, his should have been that of a
third party perspective; that is to cherry-pick from the arguments paraded
for or against 'on the spot counting'??!! Let's put things in perspective. As
i understand it, it is only the APRC that is opposed to 'on the spot
counting' - for obvious reasons, of course - whilst the Opposition parties
generally favour that mechanism. What should Roberts' duty have been as a
supposedly independent and impartial adjudicator on two such deeply polarised
rival claims? He should have taken into account greatly the extent to which
concessions can be granted to both sides without appearing to side with any
rival claims. In this instance, Roberts could have adequately addressed the
grave concerns of the Opposition parties that when ballot boxes are in
transit to centralised counting centres, they stand a very good chance of
being tampered with and in effect weaken any perception of integrity the
electoral process may lay claims to. Like-wise, the logistic and financial
burden - that the APRC cited amongst others as reason for opposing 'on the
spot counting' - could still be tenuously hedged to incorporate a moderate
decentralisation of the counting of votes without running amok with the
election budget. As per the security concern raised by the IEC and the APRC,
this is another specious argument. Security issues should be a non sequitur
herein. Has not the AFPRC/APRC created a paramilitary outfit, increased army
intakes and defence spending continues to surge to new heights? Pray, i ask
them: what are these soldiers and paramilitaries be doing on election night?
Guarding our borders with Senegal? Are these security outfits not paramountly
beholden to provide security to the Gambia and Gambians when need be? Is
election night any different from any other night when national security is
an issue? Are they now telling us that with these record high defence budgets
we don't even have enough security to man polling centres for God's sake??!!
Let Roberts and his co-conspirators give us another excuse; this is one is so
pathetic that it looks like child's play to expose its earnest emptiness and
weaknesses.
Roberts' pathetic claims that the IEC had choice but to "unilaterally" decide
to reject Opposition demands for 'on the spot counting' is quite simply a
clever but disreputable way of conceding to Jammeh what he had earlier on
unilaterally declared as untradeable. That Jammeh is on the record for
bragging that 'on the spot counting' will only occur over his dead body
attests to the fact that Roberts had no choice but to accept Jammeh's
declaration as a given ultimatum. As things stand, i strongly counsel the
Alliance not to let the matter drop without stating condionalities wherein
their concerns and interests are adequately addressed before they partake in
the impending elections. The Alliance ought to fight for as much concessions
as realisable under the circumstances. Such concessions must include amongst
others the condition that ballot boxes before, during and after elections are
not the primary responsibilities of Returning Officers only; but any ballot
box that belongs to the Alliance will be the paramount responsibility of an
Alliance Election Agent. Any such assigned responsibility should be ala the
matrimonial vows of "till death do you and your ballot box apart". Any ballot
box that turns up at any given counting centre without its assigned Election
Agent should, without any further ado, be appropriately contested. More to
the point, the assigned Election Agent must promptly notify the appropriate
Alliance authority for further consultation with the Alliance leadership to
take the appropriate actions in the event of electoral improprieties. The
Alliance must remember at all times that we are dealing with certified crooks
here, who will not hesitate to cheat if we for a second lower our guards.
Hamjatta Kanteh
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